Grab your sword and shield of bronze, don your demonic breastplate, and recall the spells you stole from Elfheim. You must get ready for battle, for the enemy is threatening everything and everyone you’ve ever known. The struggle between Law and Chaos is coming to an end, and reality itself is in danger. You may have to sell your soul, and perhaps even lose your life – but if the world is to disappear tomorrow, you and your companions will go to your doom knowing you fought til the bitter end.

Black Sword Hack UCE is a rules-lite tabletop roleplaying game for two to six players and one gamesmaster. It evolves from the old-school renaissance play style (sometimes known as adventure gaming), using straightfoward rules that are easy to modify, expand on, or ignore. It will let you run dark fantasy epics inspired by the works of old masters of the fantasy and science-fiction genre, including Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, Karl Edward Wagner, Jack Vance, Robert E Howard, and many more.

The game eschews traditional classes in favour of backgrounds depending on the characters’ chosen origin: barbarian, civilised, or decadent. It is a quick and efficient way to build unique characters who will adventure in a world of your own design. Black Sword Hack also uses a Doom die mechanic to help push the envelope of traditional OSR lethality – at the risk of going too far and becoming doomed.

As a gamemaster, you are in charge of guiding your unlikely band of heroes in a world of war and decadence. What world? The one you design using the  procedures detailed in Black Sword Hack!  These easy to follow guidelines and inspiring random tables will spark an original setting in no time.

Your players will create a party of antiheroes who live by their swords, wits, and demonic pacts, and you’ll decide how the setting responds: which nations fight an endless war using dark sorcery, spirit alliances, or weird science (the game offers six forms of ‘magic’, including runic weapons of course). You’ll create a main antagonist and their plans to rule the world – or destroy it, or rebuild it in their own image – and challenge your players to do something about it.