Systems of Survival
MECHANICS
The Blight is merciless. To survive, your character must be more than a collection of characteristics and skills; they have passion.
Of Hearth & the Harrowing is built upon the time-tested Basic Roleplaying (BRP) Universal Game Engine, the same foundation used by Chaosium's greatest hits, Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest.
Every attempt, from shooting a musket to charming a settler, uses a single, intuitive D100 roll-under mechanic. Your skill percentage is your chance of success. This clarity ensures that when you face the corrupted, you know precisely the odds you are up against.
In the same way, every roll has a chance to critical or fumble, and without large pools of hit points to protect you, even the smallest danger could spell your doom.
Easy Mechanics, Brutal Outcomes
In the fight against the Harrowing, your character’s heart is as important as their hand. We utilize the BRP features of Passions and Personalities, meaning your deepest beliefs, fears, and loves are quantified. These aren't just background elements, instead they are mechanical levers that can provide a critical edge when you fight for what you believe in, or become a source of weakness when the darkness preys on your resolve.
Use a personality as an augment to a skill roll, giving yourself a crucial bonus when it is what you believe in. Or use a passion to re-roll a critical skill roll that failed. But be warned, if you fail your passion or personality roll, your character can become despondent and melancholy, their world view shaken and the beliefs challenged.
Passions & Personalities
You will never stop for a "level up." Your skills and attributes advance organically. When you successfully use a skill in a high-stakes moment, it earns you the chance to improve. Your character isn’t following a predetermined path, instead they are a living record of their survival, growing tougher, wiser, or more powerful with every successful expedition out into the wilds.
This intuitive advancement system lets you decide how you will grow your character. Every skill, passion, personality, or power that you use successfully may grow your legend. If the story takes your character in a different direction, you are free to follow that path, and not locked into a set of classes, subclasses, or levels.