Grizzled Adventurers vs The Black Hack
Compare Grizzled Adventurers and The Black Hack side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Grizzled Adventurers | The Black Hack | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Dungeon Crawl, One-Shot Friendly, Rules-Light, Low-Prep, Beginner-Friendly, Character-Driven, Theater of the Mind, Ascending AC | Rules-Light, Dungeon Crawl, Hackable, Beginner-Friendly |
| Core Mechanic | OSR rules: roll d20 under ability score for checks, d20 + attack bonus vs. AC for combat. Shared character creation via pass-around worksheets builds backstory and party bonds. Fortune Points grant rerolls and cheat death. Three classes (Warrior, Rogue, Mage) with familiar saving throws and hit dice. | Players roll d20 under their attribute scores to succeed at actions. Advantage and Disadvantage (roll 2d20, pick best or worst) modify difficulty. Armour provides a pool of d6 Armour Dice that absorb damage. Consumable resources use a Usage Die chain (d20→d12→d10→d8→d6→d4→gone): roll 1–2 to downgrade. |
| Dice | d20 | d20 + d4–d12 |
| Complexity | Low | Very Low |
| Availability | Paid | Free core rules |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | OGL 1.0a | The Black Hack Open Game License |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Publisher | Flatland Games | Gold Piece Publications |
| Year | 2022 | 2018 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | One-shot dungeon crawls with experienced mid-level heroes: perfect for pickup games or nights when a player or two are missing. | Groups wanting a fast, hackable OSR dungeon-crawling game with modern design sensibilities: roll under attributes, abstract distances, and usage dice that track resources without bookkeeping. |
| Highlights | Shared character creation instantly builds party history and bonds, plays a full dungeon in one evening, OSR-compatible with existing modules and monsters, includes dungeon-building tools for the GM, handout-driven setup requires only dice and friends | Highly hackable: spawned an entire subgenre of 'X Hack' games, core rules fit in about 30 pages, Usage Die tracks resources without inventory math, armour-as-dice-pool adds a tactical layer, conversational writing style makes rules easy to learn |
| Considerations | Fantasy dungeon crawl only: no overland or campaign play, very niche premise (old adventurers), three classes limit build variety | Only 4 classes (Warrior, Thief, Cleric, Wizard) in the core, limited character customization beyond class and background, no setting included, light on GM guidance compared to larger games, may lack depth for long campaigns |