Hack_Slash_Sinker

Introduction

Hack Slash Sinker (or HSS) is a tabletop role-playing game

(TTRPG) based on monster hunting video games like Monster Hunter
or God Eater.

You are one of thousands of “Divers”, members of “Hack_Saw”, an

organization tasked with the research, hunting, and capture of
“Leviathans”, giant aquatic monsters who, if they surfaced in
polite society, would cause untold destruction and destabilize
the world at large. It’s a heavy weight to bear, but you have
help.

What_you_need

As you may expect from a ttrpg, to play HSS you need;a group of
people to be players, and a large set of six sided dice (d6).
More unique to HSS is the need for a set of tokens, these being
small objects that you can differentiate, they could be little
printed icons, colored dice, or game pieces from other games, it
doesn’t really matter what it is so long as you have ~6 different
variants.

Making_rolls

When a character encounters an obstacle that would be made more

interesting if they could fail, the Quartermaster may make them
roll.

When a character makes a roll, they roll 2D6, gaining one

additional die for every knack they have in common with the
knack’s assigned to the challenge (rolls in combat generally do
not have knacks).

If at least one dice from this roll comes up as a 1 or a 6 the

roll is a success. If there are more 1s than 6s, then the roll is
a risky success, and has some additional cost determined by the
Quartermaster. If there are equal or more 6s than 1s, the roll is
a full success.

Advantage_and_disadvantage

Rolls can have advantage or disadvantage if the Quartermaster

thinks it should be easier or harder, and both stack. For every 1
advantage a roll has you may convert a roll of 1 into a 6, every
1 disadvantage takes away a 6 or 1 from your final roll,
prioritizing 6s.

Knacks

Divers have a variety of knacks, these are things they are

especially skilled in. Each knack a character has can give them
one extra dice in rolls that they’re relevant to.

These include your clever knacks;fields of study and research

expected for scholars and bureaucrats.

Your hunter knacks;skills and physical abilities that have little

use outside of hunting Leviathans.

And your abyssal knacks;supernatural powers granted by the depths

below, they can be used freely by divers with them, but each
diver can only take up to 2 of the 4 of them.

The knacks are as follows:

Clever_knacks

● Biology:Knowledge of inhuman biology.

● Doctoring:Human biology and how to operate on it.
● Institution:Authority over the organizations of Hack_Saw.
● Engineering:Ability to operate machines.
● Deception:lying to and manipulating humans.
● Connection:Comforting and empathizing with humans.

Hunter_knacks

● Break:Bashing and shoving with force.

● Dissect:Carefully attacking with finesse.
● Menace:Attracting attention and inviting conflict.
● Endure:Resisting attacks and toxins.
● Swim:Moving quickly underwater.
● Lurk:Evading attention with care.

Abyssal_knacks (Max 2 per character)

● Lichtas:To add, reveal, and enhance with abyssal magics.

(Spells include;Light_make, Flame_tongue, and
Titan_strength.)
● Obscureas:To remove, conceal, and weaken with abyssal
magics.
(Spells include;Black_veil, Ichor_drain, and Grim_reminder.)
● Dynamus:To move and manipulate objects with abyssal magics.
(Spells include;Gale_force, Almighty_push, and Rip_tide.)
● Barrackus:To stop and immobilize objects with abyssal
magics.
(Spells include;Frost_bite, Scale_skin, and Great_wall.)
Character_creation

The_diver

Your character is made of two main parts, the diver sheet, and
the weapon sheet. Your diver sheet is made up of;your past, a
description of who you were before the diver business, and your
wing, a description of who you are as a diver. Both give you
access to knacks.

Deciding_your_past

Most divers were not born into the wings of Hack_Saw, and led a
perfectly normal life on the surface world. For some reason, that
changed. Your diver’s past provides them a choice between 4
knacks that they can choose 2 of, adding them to their character
sheet.

● Student:Biology, Doctoring, Engineering, Lichtas.

● Soldier:Institution, Engineering, Dissect, Barrackus.
● Professional Fighter:Break, Menace, Endure, Swim.
● Young Diver:Biology, Institution, Lurk, Dynamus.
● Criminal:Deception, Swim, Lurk, Obscureas.
● Conspiracy Theorist:Lichtas, Obscureas, Dynamus, Barrackus.

Choosing_your_wing

Every diver has been assigned to one of the many Hack_Saw Wings,
divisions, based on what secondary responsibility they’re made to
take when outside a hunt. Every wing provides a diver with a
choice between 4 knacks that they can choose 2 of, adding them to
their character sheet.

● Medical Wing:Biology, Doctoring, Institution, Lichtas.

● R&D Wing:Engineering, Biology, Break, Barrackus.
 ● Political Wing:Institution, Deception, Connection,
Obscureas.
● Scouting Wing:Engineering, Connection, Swim, Dynamus.

The_weapon

Divers are all provided with a custom-made “Leviathan_blade”,

giant weapons made for the destruction of Leviathans, most being
large engine powered melee weapons that propel themselves and
their users through water.

Weapons come in two parts, the “core”, and the “business end”,
each providing a unique passive or active effect in combat.

Cores

● HunterKiller_MKIII:Set your weight to 2D6. When you roll

initiative, you may “Split” your weapon, making your weight
1d6 to swap your prep action with an additional attack on
your turn.

● WitchKraft_VII:Set your weight to 2D6. At the end of your

turn, you may “draw blood” to start your “ritual”, gaining 2
rupture and a target. If you reach your next turn without
being damaged, your ritual competes, and you may perform an
effect from the list below if you have it’s required abyssal
knack.
Lichtas: Make a free attack.
Obscureas: Remove up to 2 target tokens from the board.
Dynamus: Remove up to 4 threat tokens from yourself.
Barrackus: Repair a weapon part.

● Vougn_&_sons_MKI:Set your weight to 3D6. When the

Quartermaster decides who has enmity at the start of each
round, you may force them to choose you if you didn’t have
it last round. You may defend yourself even if you have
 enmity.

● Grey_tallon_BESS14:Set your weight to 3D6. When you roll at

least one 6 and no 1s on an attack roll, you “critically
hit”, and may delay any damage dealt until the end of the
round and lose your defense action to damage an additional
undamaged part.

● Stoneshear_Civ-Grade:Set your weight to 4D6. You always

count as having a target token on you, when you flex you may
gain disadvantage instead to increase your weight by 2D6 for
your turn.

Business_ends

Melee_ends

● Fillet_razor:When you’re attacked, you may place a target

token on the attacking part. Gain the following attack
action;
Slice:Attack and roll weight with 1 advantage. On a success,
damage that part. If you fail, or it was risky, you gain
enmity.

● Gore_grinder:When you’re attacked, you may place a target

token on the attacking part. Gain the following attack
action.
Rip_&_Tear:Attack, place a target on yourself, and roll
weight. On a success, damage that part and get 1 “chum”.
When you recuperate, turn up to 3 of your chum into cure. If
you fail, or it was risky, gain enmity.

● Black_Divider:When you’re attacked, you may place a target

token on the attacking part. Gain the following attack
action;
Bifurcate:Attack, roll weight. On a success damage your
chosen part(s), if it was risky you gain enmity. If the roll
 was all 1s, “horizontally divide”, damaging an additional
undamaged part. If the roll was all 6s, “vertically divide”,
and destroy the targeted part instead. If either happen, you
cannot defend this turn. If you fail, or it was risky, gain
enmity.

Ranged_ends

● Spear_gun:When you aim, place an additional targeting token.

Gain the following attack action;
Pierce:Attack and roll weight, on a success damage that part
and give it a “harpoon” token, if an ally attacks a part
with a harpoon it’s removed, and they increase their weight
by 1d6 for the attack. If you fail, or it was risky, your
weapon is “unloaded” and you cannot use this attack until
you spend 1 cure to load it.

● Tesla_coiler:When you aim, place an additional targeting

token. Gain the following attack action;
Sparks:Spend 2+ threat on yourself to attack and roll
weight, if you can't, overheat and gain 1 rupture. On a
success, damage that part. If you fail, or it was risky,
your weapon is “unloaded” and you cannot use this attack
until you spend 1 cure to load it.

Combat

Attacking_enemies

In combat both players and enemies will “attack” when using some
of their actions, attacks share some properties, including
targeting a single part, needing to spend a target token on that
part it targets for it to resolve, and normally damaging a part
on a success, although these rules can be ignored if stated
otherwise.
Taking_and_dealing_damage

In combat, damage is dealt to characters by damaging their

“parts”. For player characters this is the parts of their weapon
as described in the weapon creation section, and for Leviathans
they will be given 1–3 parts that each have their own abilities.

When an ability deals damage to an undamaged part, it becomes

damaged, when it deals damage to a damaged part, it is destroyed.
Destroyed parts have no abilities and cannot be damaged.

When an ability repairs a part, it restores it to the previous

state of damage (destroyed to damaged, damaged to undamaged).

When a character has all destroyed parts, they are defeated and
removed from combat. At the end of combat, all damaged parts are
healed, and all destroyed parts are set to damaged.

Turn_order

Combat in HSS is tracked with a set of “rounds”. At the start of

each round, after enmity is placed, each player rolls
“initiative”, using their weight dice. The player(s) with the
lowest total value among their dice may pick up all of their
weight dice and take their turn.

If more than one player picks up their dice here, either can
choose to roll initiative again or to take a joint turn, where
each player can take their turns in any order they agree on.
After this, the Quartermaster acts as if one player turn just
ended.

This repeats until there are no dice remaining, the round then
ends, and a new one may start with a new initiative roll.
The_players

On a player’s turn, they may take a prep action, attack action,

and a defense action, but only in the order listed below. Actions
a player gains from their weapon are added to their list of
actions they can use.

Prep_actions

● Aim:Place a target token on a part of your choice.

● Flex:Gain 1 advantage on your next attack roll this turn.

● Heal:Repair a part of an ally without enmity, end your turn.

Attack_actions

● Thrash:Attack and roll weight, on a success damage that

part, if it was risky you gain 3 threat tokens.

Defense_actions

● Taunt:Remove all other enmity tokens and add one to

yourself.

● Defend:Remove 3 threat from characters who don’t have

enmity.

● Evade:Remove 2 threat from yourself.

● Recuperate: Gain 1 cure, a special token that can be spent

to remove an equal number of special tokens of your choice.
The_leviathan

Combat in HSS is played without a map, using a set of tokens to

track all relevant information instead. At all times in combat
there is a “Leviathan”, and they have three “leviathan tokens”.
These are the “enmity” tokens, the “target” tokens, and the
“threat” tokens.

● At the start of every round, the Quartermaster will

distribute the enmity token to a character who didn’t have
it already, and remove any other enmity tokens.

● After odd player turns (I.e. turns 1, 3, 5…), the

Quartermaster can distribute two target tokens between the
players and a number of threat tokens equal to the
Leviathan’s threat value.

● After even player turns (I.e. turns 2, 4, 6…), the

Quartermaster can use each of the Leviathan’s abilities
once, consuming the number and type of tokens it describes.

● When the round ends, remove threat and target tokens from
players.

Some Leviathans can also inflict special tokens unique to them

that are not removed at the end of each round. Those tokens are
as follows:

● Bruise:Can be spent as threat by the Leviathan.

● Rupture:Gain an equal amount of threat at the start of each

round.

● Snare:Cannot target parts other than the snarer until it’s

damaged.
 ● Daze:When you roll, lose one of these and take 1
disadvantage.

● Charge:Has no effect.

Quartermasters_guide

Running_a_hunt

Unlike many ttrpgs HSS is designed to be played in isolated

“Hunts” rather than a single continuous story, and as the name
implies a Hunt will almost always be contextualized with the
investigation, tracking, and hunting of a specific Leviathan.

Three_act_structure

Though there are no hard rules behind how a Quartermaster can

choose to write and run a hunt, the way that I (Joel) find it
easiest to plan one –Especially on short notice–is to follow a
simplified version of a “three act structure”.

Act_1_setup

Also referred to as the “first act”, and sometimes done in the

form of “opening narration”, the setup is meant to give players,
and to a lesser extent the characters they control, context for
the remaining acts. In terms of what context can / should be
provided, I would consider the following points essential to
cover for running this game specifically

● How high are the players in Hack_Saw’s ranks.

● What reason are you given to hunt a leviathan.

 ● How much do you know about the leviathan you’re hunting.

● Are there any other people in play other than your group.

These don’t need to individually stated or outright confirmed in

any way, so long as you have an answer ready for the players if
they ask, and have a reason why they can’t know the answer to any
of these questions yet. An example of a short but effective setup
for an HSS one-shot are as follows;

“A group of apprentice divers are called to their commander’s

office, a ramshackle thing loosely welded to the side of their
relay base, she tells them that it’s time for their first hunt.
Some 3 point leviathans have gotten too comfortable poking around
the supplies left outside the base, and you’re the only divers
here with idle hands.”

Act_2_confrontation

The 2nd act, or the “rising action”, can be defined through it’s
focus on increasing tension and involving the players
(characters) in the action as directly as possible, without
cutting off a route to a dramatic finish.

The most important part of this act to consider as a

Quartermaster is why the story doesn’t end here. This should be
where your players first face resistance, be it a Leviathan
encounter or through their hunt being interrupted with a new
confrontation, and in either case the players will probably try
to end it there. They’re liable to kill the Leviathan, push past
the interruption, do whatever they can, and for one reason for
another they’re going to need to try something else.
Act_3_resolution

As expected from its name, the goal of the resolution is to make

the players feel rewarded for making it past the trials you’ve
thrown at them through Act 2.

If you only plan to run 1 session make sure to wrap up as many

loose ends as possible, gauging your players energy and
enthusiasm to see how much of it should be played through and how
much you can narrate to completion. If you’re planning to
continue keeping 1 or two obviously unsolved, you could even try
throwing in a mention to what setups are still left.

The_avienius_record

The following is a list of Leviathans that can be used in combat.

Each Leviathan is categorized with a “danger marker”, a shape

contained in square brackets whose number of points represents
the danger it poses to the average diver.

Feel free to combine different parts from each to create your own
Leviathan for your game! Said Leviathans will be written in order
of how many parts they have.

Skum_skipper[▼]:1 Part, 4 Threat Value.

● [Part]_Main_body:2 Actions, This Leviathan can deploy

alongside others, adding its threat value to theirs, adding
this part.
–Skulk:Remove target from this and place 5 threat on a
player with a target token. Cannot be taken before or after
other actions.
–Claw:Attack any players, spending up to 10 threat from
them, damaging a part on each player that lost 2 or more.
Finger_fin[♦]:2 Parts, 6 Threat Value.

● [Part]_Appendages:2 Actions, no passive.

–Grasp:Attack a player, they make a swim / endure roll. If
they fail, they take enmity and snare. Both last until this
is destroyed, or another player takes the effect.
–Crush:Attack any players with enmity, spending up to 8
threat from them, damaging a part of each player that lost 2
or more.

● [Part]_Main_body:1 Action, no passive.

–Tackle:Attack any players, spending up to 4 threat from
them, damaging a part of each player that lost 2 or more.

Drillnose_leaper[♦]:2 Parts, 6 Threat Value.

● [Part]_Drillnose:1 Action, no passive.

–Drill:Attack a player with enmity, spending up to 6 threat
from them, damaging 1 part per 3 spent. If 4+ was spent,
they must also make an endure roll or take 3 rupture,
receiving 1 rupture on a risky success.

● [Part]_Main_body:1 Action, no passive.

–Tackle:Attack any players, spending up to 4 threat from
them, damaging a part of each player that lost 2 or more.

Wyrm_shark[★]:3 Parts, 7 Threat Value.

● [Part]_Jaw:1 Action, no passive.

–Bite:Attack a player with enmity, spending up to 6 threat
from them, damaging 1 part per 3 spent. If 4+ was spent,
they must also make a swim roll or take snare, receiving 2
bruise on a risky success.

● [Part]_Main_body:1 Action, no passive.

–Tackle:Attack any players, spending up to 4 threat from
 them, damaging a part of each player that lost 2 or more.

● [Part]_Tail:1 Action, no passive.

–Whip:Attack all players with 2+ threat, spending all their
threat, each make a swim / endure roll, damage one of their
parts if they fail, they take 2 bruise on a risky success.

Paletrench_crab[★]:3 Parts, 7 Threat Value.

● [Part]_Slicer:1 Action, no passive.

–Slice:Attack a player with enmity, spending up to 4 threat
from them, damaging the same part once per 2 spent. If 3+
was spent, they must also make a swim roll or take 3
rupture, receiving 1 rupture on a risky success.
–Strike:Attack any players, spending up to 4 threat from
them, damaging a part of each player that lost 2 or more.

● [Part]_Crusher:2 Actions, no passive.

–Crush:Attack a player with enmity, spending up to 4 threat
from them, damaging 1 part and dealing 2 daze per 2 spent.
The target must make an endure roll, taking 1 additional
daze on a risky success and taking 1 rupture on a failure.
–Shield:Spend 2 charge to begin “shielding”, forcing any
effect that would damage one or more parts to damage this
instead.

● [Part]_Main_body:2 Actions, no passive.

–Take Stance:Spend up to 2 targets to gain 1 charge per 1
spent.
–Tackle:Attack any players, spending up to 4 threat from
them, damaging a part of each player that lost 2 or more.

Leviathan Modifiers

In addition to the different parts available, Levithnas can have

their individual parts modified with any of the following
modifiers;
 ● Tough:This part starts combat with a toughness token. When
it would take damage it may lose this token instead.

● Fragile:This part starts combat damaged.

The damage modifying modifiers should usually be used to make the

amount of damage a Levithan can take to match your Divers (4 per
diver).