Maze-Travellers of the Unknown

Hey world, it's my first hack!

awesome art by someone I don't know! drop a comment if you know and I'll credit accordingly!

A snatch of conversation over on the NSR Discord, ignited by this recent Flintlocks and Witchery post, revealed to me an essential and heretofore overlooked link in the OSR timeline: Searchers of the Unknown.

What is this sorcery? Released in 2012, it's the perfect distillation of a minimalist d20 system, providing a character "stat block" equivalent to those listed for monsters in the original OD&D and B/X modules. If it's enough for the GM to run, it's enough for the players. It's inspired many hacks (also available via the link above) but it seems interest in the system has cooled a bit in recent years.

Now previously I hadn't been much inspired to pen my own hack (my Anydice history notwithstanding) but something about this weird streamlined one-page game with an ultra-basic layout that shouts "do it with Google Docs!" — something about this special little treasure just got my ink flowing.

Of course I have a soft spot for the old 2d6 knucklebones — maybe it's the long hours camping in the Pacific Northwest rain, huddled under the tarp with a backgammon board, smoking far too many cigarettes — but that pure simplicity of tossing a couple normal dice onto the table, that gentle cozy bell curve; it just sits right with me.

Flavour-wise it's Yet Another Unnecessary Fantasy Game, nothing revolutionary. However, there are a few moves here that I think are worthy of note:

- Optional Mix-n-Match Classes: inspired by World of Dungeons, of which I've been playing loads lately.

- Spellcasting: the classic list has been condensed into a d66 table, containing 18 Wizard-flavoured and 18 Cleric/Druid-flavoured spells. Power effects are based around Level + Move, so a Fireball at L1 looks quite different from one at L10.

- Advancement: Maze Rats-style, where you select a bonus each level.

Check it out over here! Feedback is always welcome and appreciated.