Day 16 of the 2025 #CharacterCreationChallenge and I’ll be using the post-apocalyptic roleplaying game Barbarians of the Ruined Earth. The book says this is a Black Hack adaptation and inspired by the animated series Thundarr the Barbarian from the 80’s. I show I remember watching back then, but I haven’t seen any episodes recently. I should do a re-watch. Now I’ve never done anything with Black Hack, but it sounds like a D20 OSR adaptation. So lets see what we have to work with.
I had picked up this PDF last year on DriveThruRPG when the game was on sale. I’ve had an affinity for post-apocalyptic games and movies for quite some time. Mad Max, Night of the Comet, Cherry 2000, Damnation Alley and a host of other movies that range from excellent to cheesy are still a cup of tea for me. So it’s shouldn’t be a surprise that I’ll pick up a post-apocalyptic game when a reasonably priced one becomes available.
The PDF has 170 pages in it with the character creation process starting on page 8. The character sheet is only one page. Let’s get started.
Being a D20 OSR game it has the standard attributes that we are use to. STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS and CHA. We are instructed to roll 3d6 in order, however if a stat is rolled at 15 or higher then the next stat must be rolled with 2d6+2. Then rolling returns to 3d6. There is an optional of rolling 2d6+5 for each stat. While the later sounds tempting, I really want to see what it’s like with the first method. Dang, none of them were 15 or higher. Oh well.
Selecting a race is next. The options are Human, Sorcerers, Beastmen, Robot and Vek (a raptorfolk) or the option to create my own. While the last is tempting I’m under a time crunch. The non-human races are treated as both race and class. I went and read the racial descriptions and selected the Robot. So this is also covering the next step of selecting a class. From this I rolled up my Hit Points and wrote down my unique abilities and starting equipment. I was asked to select the model of robot and I didn’t think it would be a combat robot with a really low STR score. A random name generator came up with Humanoid Lab Partner Robot which I turned into HLPR-47. But when I looked at the models available, there were no “science” type robots, so I selected a medical robot. It’s not entirely clear, but it appears that I roll for an interesting trinket and a life event (Life? Don’t talk to me about life.) Apparently HLPR-47 does not understand the whining and prattling of humanoids and has been chased off from towns for more than a few times due to mouthing off. Same HLPR-47, same.
I don’t understand why a robot was provided with torches in their starting equipment when they can already see in low light. I know it’s not see in the dark, but it made me raise an eyebrow.
The character creation doesn’t really have an ending. It starts with a list and then, like a lot of RPGs that I’ve read, just starts wandering off into the other chapters. I didn’t see anything about robots having any proficiencies. Under buying equipment it stated you roll for your starting currency (which is based upon the different kingdoms). I guess I’m done. Here is the character sheet.
Afterthoughts:
There is no attack roll by your character’s opponents. Apparently when you are attacked, you roll to see if your character successfully dodges/defends itself, etc. Interesting. I wonder how that plays at the table.
Destiny points appear to be the same as fate or luck points. With this optional rule you can re-roll a failed roll or obtain other benefits.
I may have to look into the other Black Hack products and see if some things are explained a little bit better. I could see myself playing this game, but it sounds like a quick pick up game instead of long term campaign option. Possible run at an upcoming SaltCON?
Additional Notes:
LexTenebris on Mastodon responded to some of the questions and comments that I made on the See You, Space Cowboy… entry I had posted earlier. yea, clearly a space mafia is… in space. They also said that See You, Space Cowboy… strikes him as a cheap rip-off of Scum and Villainy. I haven’t seen this game yet but it is a Forged in the Dark clone (which I also haven’t had a chance to look at yet). So I don’t have a comparison between the two games, but I’ll have to see if S&V come up for sale.
Coming Up Next:
The Witcher
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