Hakaba v0
I finally finished reading every bit of UVG 2e! I'm putting it beside The Critique of Pure Reason at the top of my most difficult (and most beloved) books. It had me not only trying to picture strange scenes figured in a fundamentally different reality, but also working out how to present them at the table. It also sent me to the dictionary more often than any book I've ever read - beautiful prose!
Adventure Hour! Skeleton
Hakaba Stats
Ba/personality corresponds to grace bestowed by capricious gods. Points of ba can be spent to either add to the result of the caravan’s weekly misfortune roll or to re-roll it.
Ha and Ka act as buffers against misfortunes or effects that harm the body or soul. If you suffer such a misfortune and have 0 Ha or Ka, you gain a condition that occupies a physical/metaphysical inventory slot (the GM and/or players come up with a condition that makes sense given the context).
XP and levels are gained as usual per UVG. Upon gaining a new level, a character may do one of the following: gain a mutation; gain a pet (or improve a pet); gain a new skill (or improve a skill); gain a spell; add a point to ha, ka, or ba.
Resting for a week can recover one of the following:
- All injuries (a character can sustain a number of injuries equal to their Level+1 before they are taken out of the action)
- One stat (ha or ka or ba)
- 2d6 condition-occupied physical inventory slots
- 2d6 condition-occupied metaphysical inventory slots
GM-Facing note: Whenever the UVG text mentions Strength, Endurance, or Agility, substitute Ha. Substitute Ka for Aura and Thought. Substitute Ba for Charisma. Whenever the text calls to reduce Life or a SEACAT stat by some number of dice (i.e. -1d4 Endurance), the effect instead reduces Life or the relevant Hakaba stat by 1. If a stat is at 0, then come up with a negative condition that takes up a meta/physical inventory slot.
GM-Facing Note: Hakaba uses morale and level for creatures, but that’s about it for numeric stats. Level = the number of injuries the monster can take before defeat. For the creatures table on UVG pg. 202, redact Life, Defense, Bonus, and Damage Columns. Not every weapon/attack can cause injury to every creature - some are too big, skilled, or well-armored to be harmed by conventional means. Use common sense.
Character and Caravan Creation
Character creation, UVG p.4
- Hand out character sheets
- Assign 4 points across ha, ka, and ba (stats max at 5)
- Roll on UVG pages 2-3 to generate a character
- Add character-relevant NPCs/quests/locations of interest to the Big Map
- Characters with a connection to Metropolis or the Violet Citadel (with its Purple University of Magic) can use their character creation funds to buy spells
- Take two skills
- Take either a random spell (I use spells from synthetic dream machine, Maze Rats, or Cairn) a random pet (UVG 217), or a random mutation (UVG 200).
Caravan Generation
- Generate financier (UVG p. 176)
- Determine what trade goods the table is interested in and note them on the map (p. 173)
- Buy stuff
- Perhaps a starting Caravan (UVG p.174)
- Perhaps one of the sample Caravans (UVG p.175)
- Vehicles and Mounts ala carte (UVG p.180-187)
- Individual Gear (UVG p. 189-194)
- Optionally, choose or roll for a caravan quest (UVG p.178)
Skills, Tools, and Time
Skills grant advantage or obviate the need for dice rolling, especially when skill is combined with tools and/or time (Dice Goblin style).
They still come in the three degrees (skilled > expert > master), but there are no numbers associated with them. Just common sense rulings. Want to fix the busted ancient golem war rig? No chance if you're unskilled. If you're skilled, roll to see if you can. Expert? No roll needed! Master? You make it better than ever - now it can read hearts and minds and hover over water and oil!
Skills can be learned or improved either by leveling (in which case it's assumed that a character has been working on the skill in their downtime, or is suddenly gifted by the gods, or some other such reason), or by spending time studying the skill from four different sources (studying one week with each trainer/master/holo-library/disco sweat-lodge).
Spells
A spell or compendium of spells takes up either a physical or metaphysical inventory slot, depending on its style (determine using Luka's album style tables)
When casting a spell, roll 1d6:
4, 5, or 6: The caster needn’t pay any cost.
2 or 3: The caster must use their essence to fuel the spell and must either take on an injury or spend one point of ha, ka, or ba. If ha, ka, and ba are all 0, then a spell caster can take on a condition (improvised by the GM - nosebleed, perceptual lag, color blindness, etc.) that occupies a meta/physical inventory slot.
1: The caster must use their essence to fuel the spell (as above) and they risk corruption. A PC rolls another d6. If the second roll is also a 1, then they roll for corruption (Magitechnica, pages 14-19).
A PC can overcharge a spell to double its power at the cost of increasing the odds of corruption. A PC rolls 1d6 when casting, as usual. If the result is a 1, they roll again, and if the second roll is 3 or less, they roll for corruption, with -2 on the “What kind of exposure was it” table. Some powers can be overcharged further for even greater effect (and risk), per the table below:
Around the Circle Sea, magitech products and fantascientific training are controlled and accredited. Proper Wizard® status requires specific training.
Out on the Steppes, with luck and a little research, you can find black market sellers of bootleg psycho-magical mixtapes (the use of which, naturally, may entail existential risks).
Tweaks to equipment mechanics:
Cool: Sleeping without fire/warmth or blanket causes fatigue.
Hot: Failing to rest after exertion causes fatigue.
Powered: Damage/exhaust one stone/slot to boost combat prowess for 10 minutes.
Disregard “Armor” and “Type” columns.
The number in the “size” column shows how many physical inventory slots the armor takes up, and how many times it can be used to prevent injury before being repaired, recharged, replaced, etc.
Weapons, Pages 192-3
Disregard “Damage” column. All weapons cause one injury on a successful combat roll
Disregard ranged weapon “Reload” values. Per Adventure Hour!, all weapons take one “strike” against their ammo after a failed ranged attack roll. After a number of strikes, the ammo is out and the weapon needs to be reloaded with a stone’s worth of ammo.
Blinding weapons temporarily blind targets on a roll of 6. Rolls of 6/6 may blind permanently.
Burst weapons can deal damage in a small area if you choose to exhaust all ammo, and each target can choose to either take cover and forfeit their next move or take an injury.
Frag weapons cause slain targets to explode and injure/harm those nearby.
Mounted weapons deal two injuries when charging.
Attacking beyond a weapon’s optimal range imposes disadvantage on attacks.
Different weapons can impose different conditions/dilemas on targets, per their name and description. Players may propose such conditions/dilemmas during play.
Implants, page 194
Biomantic Implants have a 1-in-6 chance of permanently reducing Ha by 1 (if Ha=0, they permanently reduce physical inventory by 1).
Vampiric Implants have a 1-in-6 chance per week of requiring a sacrifice of blood/flesh/lifeforce, which harms/injures the implant’s owner (or another, if the owner can arrange a sacrifice).
Ego Purgative grants advantage on one Ka or Ba save per day.
Jewel Mind grants advantage on one Ka save per day.
Muscular Augment grants advantage on one Ha save per day.
Neural Overdrive grants advantage on one Ha save per day.
Radiothermal Heart: rather than “Increases Endurance by 1,” grants advantage on one Ha save per day.
Slagger Implant: character can take an injury to immediately reload and fire again after a ranged attack exhausts ammo.
Vome Arm grants advantage on one Ha save per day.
Vome Legs grant advantage on one Ha or Ka save per day.
Mental overload: an edge case
A character may lose a metaphysical inventory slot to a negative trait, but the slot may already be occupied by a trait. I asked Luka Rejec what might happen in this case, and he kindly whipped this up:
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