Out in the Black Hack

THE JANKY SPACE SHIP OF ZINE RPGS Out in the Black Hack is a science fiction sitcom (situation comedy) roleplaying game. It uses a modifed, old school, d20 based system with unique mechanics added to boost comedic aspects. It favors short, episodic play with hilarious outcomes. It's inspired by many sci-fi movies, television shows and comedy classics, including Red Dwarf, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Lost in Space, just to name a few. Characters start out on a space vessel devoid of most of its crew due to some catastrophic event the GM chooses or determines from a table. There are also tables to determine everything, including ship's AI appearance and personality, character backgrounds and professions, and random story encounters. Each game session should play out like a television episode based on the zany tropes many of us grew up watching. Discovering who clogged the only working toilet stall and fixing it will be just as important as the Creature of the Week who just dropped by (to have you) for dinner. Players are also rewarded for epic fails and hilarious moments more often than victories over foes. This game has tools you can use to play sci-fi adventures with all the usual staples like starships and drooling alien monsters, plus the ability to emulate that within scenarios that could be pulled out of Seinfeld or Parks and Rec. Instead of playing paragons of virtue or edgy antiheroes, you will be playing neuroses-ridden misfits. The rules are pretty straightforward, using a d20 roll to determine success or failure with a d6 added to determine benefits and hindrances that may pop up. You might succeed at hacking that computer terminal based on your d20 roll, but a 1 result on the d6 could mean that you tripped a security system, and now murderbots have been dispatched.. The system is compatible with many d20 based, OSR and similar products. There are a few Creature of the Week style monsters included to challenge your players, but you could mine just about any source to include threats. The game is fairly rules light but has enough to cover all of the bases. All art has done done by a human. The A.I. will be too busy running the many operating systems on board your ship such as those wonky life support systems. It will be also making the necessary calculations that will keep you from spiraling into a neutron star. It swears it's really good at math. Or.. reasonably good.