Behind the Hearth

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An arcanist and a mercenary engage in combat!

Combat in Of Hearth & the Harrowing

Combat in Basic Roleplaying games runs the gambit from highly simulationist to very narrative, depending on which optional rules are used. For Of Hearth & the Harrowing we lean in heavily on powers so have pulled back some of the crunch in some areas, such as simplifying initiative. The best way to see how combat really runs is to play the game, but here is an example from the Core Rulebook of how combat runs: The heroes Tomas, Hamish, and Gareth encounter four corrupted wo

Jared W Twing

7 days ago4 min read

Character Advancement in "Of Hearth & the Harrowing"

One of the things that sets Basic Roleplaying (BRP) games apart from other systems it the way characters advance and get better. There is no experience points and there are no levels that guide how you grow your character. Instead, the character grows organically from your actions in game. Each time you make a successful skill roll, power roll, passion roll, or personality roll you get to put a check in the XP box for that roll. Example skill that is ready to be advanced! Th

Jared W Twing

Dec 16, 20253 min read

Creating a Hero in our Dark Fantasy RPG

Creating a character in our dark fantasy RPG Of Hearth & the Harrowing is fairly simple. There is a lot of detail to a character, but don't be intimidated by the sheet. WIP (nearly final) Character Sheet for the Game It can be broken down to two different lists. The high level overview of the character creation is fairly simple and that list really is only four major decisions: What is your ancestry? This is your biological heritage and in BRP this determines what dice you

Jared W Twing

Dec 12, 20252 min read

Basic Roleplaying Book, character sheet for Of Hearth & the Harrowing

Intro to Basic Roleplaying, the system behind the BRP compatible horror game "Of Hearth & the Harrowing"

We talk a lot about how Of Hearth & the Harrowing is a Basic Roleplaying (BRP) compatible horror game. In the last blog post I talked about why we chose BRP for the game . In this post, I want to take a step back and talk to those people who have never played a BRP game before, I'll introduce you to the mechanics for BRP and get you up to speed on the basics. Released under way back in 1980, the system has been around for a very long time. Later editions were released sinc

Jared W Twing

Dec 2, 20255 min read

Why Basic Roleplaying?

Once in a while, when talking about Of Hearth & the Harrowing I am asked why I made it as a Basic Roleplaying game, rather than as a D&D 5e conversion, Savage Worlds setting, or some other popular existing game system. There are several answers to that question, and all of them are true. But it is really the preponderance (not me knowing the word, but having to look up how to spell it...) of all the reasons that pushed me in that direction. First, I like the mechanics of ch

Jared W Twing

Nov 8, 20252 min read

Creating Meaningful Downtime

Heroes Helping Out at the Hearth The Hearth phase in Of Hearth & the Harrowing is part base building phase, part advancement, and part downtime. It was originally inspired by Runequest's adventure system where adventures often have plenty of time between them. If you want to adventure after you have used up all your Rune Points in that game, you can, but waiting until after a holy day where you can worship and get your points back is how you go at it with all your resources.

Jared W Twing

Oct 24, 20252 min read

Nature of Corruption

A Corrupted Rat Corruption as a Concept Corruption in Of Hearth & the Harrowing is a magical force that mutates that which it infects. It is very real, not just a moral stance on the morality of a being, but a physical and magical manifestation of a malevolent force. I've always been fascinated with idea of malevolence turned to reality, that the corruption in one's self could manifest in a world that contains magic, into a blight that could spread if unchecked. Media Simil

Jared W Twing

Oct 10, 20253 min read