@lordkintsugi.bsky.social
Beautiful!
January 20, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Beautiful!
By the way, the original title for the article was, "Bias as Opportunity Cost in Greyhawk" which belonged in a sociology magazine not an RPG fanzine. The current title is, "But I Want to Play a Goblin Hooker!" Which feels both genuine and a bit like a YouTube thumbnail.
January 19, 2025 at 8:59 PM
By the way, the original title for the article was, "Bias as Opportunity Cost in Greyhawk" which belonged in a sociology magazine not an RPG fanzine. The current title is, "But I Want to Play a Goblin Hooker!" Which feels both genuine and a bit like a YouTube thumbnail.
Greyhawk is a world with a lot of racist and misogynistic themes. These are often ignored in favor of high adventure and I feel like it lowers the possibility of what the setting can offer. Hopefully this will help start a conversation that will lead to better implementations than my first attempt.
January 19, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Greyhawk is a world with a lot of racist and misogynistic themes. These are often ignored in favor of high adventure and I feel like it lowers the possibility of what the setting can offer. Hopefully this will help start a conversation that will lead to better implementations than my first attempt.
These are cultural norms and should matter in the fiction as well. It's a guidepost and constant reminder, especially during downtime when you're most likely to be interacting with NPCs whose biases will shape play and the world around them.
January 19, 2025 at 8:52 PM
These are cultural norms and should matter in the fiction as well. It's a guidepost and constant reminder, especially during downtime when you're most likely to be interacting with NPCs whose biases will shape play and the world around them.
This comes out to a potential total of needing to spend an additional three levels worth of gold just to justify your existence. It's simple but shouldn't stop at mechanics.
January 19, 2025 at 8:51 PM
This comes out to a potential total of needing to spend an additional three levels worth of gold just to justify your existence. It's simple but shouldn't stop at mechanics.
So now I can explain fully. Each level requires you to spend a certain amount of gold on living your class fantasy in order to gain a new level. For each factor your character doesn't match the cultural norm of that class, it costs 10% more gold to advance.
January 19, 2025 at 8:32 PM
So now I can explain fully. Each level requires you to spend a certain amount of gold on living your class fantasy in order to gain a new level. For each factor your character doesn't match the cultural norm of that class, it costs 10% more gold to advance.
To add experience points in I decided to go back to the idea of gold as experience points. But it's not about how much you gather but rather how much gold your character spends acting like their class. What does that mean in your Greyhawk? Talk about it before play begins and interpret loosely.
January 19, 2025 at 8:30 PM
To add experience points in I decided to go back to the idea of gold as experience points. But it's not about how much you gather but rather how much gold your character spends acting like their class. What does that mean in your Greyhawk? Talk about it before play begins and interpret loosely.
There are no experience points or races in The Black Hack. I decided to keep with the spirit of the rules when it came to race, the only system it interacts with is my added experience points system which, I point out in the article, is completely optional.
January 19, 2025 at 8:27 PM
There are no experience points or races in The Black Hack. I decided to keep with the spirit of the rules when it came to race, the only system it interacts with is my added experience points system which, I point out in the article, is completely optional.
You can play any class as any combination of those factors, this system locks nothing behind any option, you just need to pay for it.
Now we need to talk about how I modified The Black Hack to make all this work. I know I still haven't explained everything, be patient.
Now we need to talk about how I modified The Black Hack to make all this work. I know I still haven't explained everything, be patient.
January 19, 2025 at 8:24 PM
You can play any class as any combination of those factors, this system locks nothing behind any option, you just need to pay for it.
Now we need to talk about how I modified The Black Hack to make all this work. I know I still haven't explained everything, be patient.
Now we need to talk about how I modified The Black Hack to make all this work. I know I still haven't explained everything, be patient.
So now each character begins playing with three factors, alignment, gender, and race. Each class then got assigned alignments (some were given multiple), genders (including non-conforming as an option on several), and races. These are what society expects to see.
January 19, 2025 at 8:22 PM
So now each character begins playing with three factors, alignment, gender, and race. Each class then got assigned alignments (some were given multiple), genders (including non-conforming as an option on several), and races. These are what society expects to see.
OD&D started with four races, dwarf, elf, halfling, and human. I decided that chaos needed proper representation here as well so I added in orcs and goblins. Now we have a short and tall representative of each alignment.
January 19, 2025 at 8:17 PM
OD&D started with four races, dwarf, elf, halfling, and human. I decided that chaos needed proper representation here as well so I added in orcs and goblins. Now we have a short and tall representative of each alignment.
By now you've probably come back to asking yourself, "How are they handling gender differences? Pretty simply. But first I need to discuss races. I know, I'm a tease but I promise it is important.
January 19, 2025 at 8:13 PM
By now you've probably come back to asking yourself, "How are they handling gender differences? Pretty simply. But first I need to discuss races. I know, I'm a tease but I promise it is important.
I decided to rename the Magic User to Wizard as it quickly became the name of choice for that class. Fighting Man I left as is because it better grabs the dichotomy that this take on the setting is attempting to emphasize.
January 19, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I decided to rename the Magic User to Wizard as it quickly became the name of choice for that class. Fighting Man I left as is because it better grabs the dichotomy that this take on the setting is attempting to emphasize.
Fighting Man -> Gladiatrix
Cleric -> Priestess
Thief -> Courtesan
Magic User -> Enchantress
Barbarian -> Barbarian
Druid -> Witch
Barbarian seemed pretty gender neutral and unfun to try and bend in either direction so it is equally common to see either.
Cleric -> Priestess
Thief -> Courtesan
Magic User -> Enchantress
Barbarian -> Barbarian
Druid -> Witch
Barbarian seemed pretty gender neutral and unfun to try and bend in either direction so it is equally common to see either.
January 19, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Fighting Man -> Gladiatrix
Cleric -> Priestess
Thief -> Courtesan
Magic User -> Enchantress
Barbarian -> Barbarian
Druid -> Witch
Barbarian seemed pretty gender neutral and unfun to try and bend in either direction so it is equally common to see either.
Cleric -> Priestess
Thief -> Courtesan
Magic User -> Enchantress
Barbarian -> Barbarian
Druid -> Witch
Barbarian seemed pretty gender neutral and unfun to try and bend in either direction so it is equally common to see either.
Now they needed feminine opposites (less the default is male than assuming Gygax's default was male). I stole liberally from Gygax's own choices for these as many just made sense to me.
January 19, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Now they needed feminine opposites (less the default is male than assuming Gygax's default was male). I stole liberally from Gygax's own choices for these as many just made sense to me.
No, I'd say they're more Neutral flavored. They also appear to represent a second pair of diadic representations, Martial and Magic for each. So where is Chaos? They came later in the form of the Druid and the Barbarian.
Now we have a martial and magic pair for each alignment.
Now we have a martial and magic pair for each alignment.
January 19, 2025 at 7:59 PM
No, I'd say they're more Neutral flavored. They also appear to represent a second pair of diadic representations, Martial and Magic for each. So where is Chaos? They came later in the form of the Druid and the Barbarian.
Now we have a martial and magic pair for each alignment.
Now we have a martial and magic pair for each alignment.
So in OD&D you had the Fighting Man, Magic User, and Cleric, that's it. Greyhawk introduced the Thief which brings us to what I and many others feel is the core set of options for classes.
Cleric and Fighting Man are coded pretty lawful but Magic User and Thief aren't really chaos flavored.
Cleric and Fighting Man are coded pretty lawful but Magic User and Thief aren't really chaos flavored.
January 19, 2025 at 7:56 PM
So in OD&D you had the Fighting Man, Magic User, and Cleric, that's it. Greyhawk introduced the Thief which brings us to what I and many others feel is the core set of options for classes.
Cleric and Fighting Man are coded pretty lawful but Magic User and Thief aren't really chaos flavored.
Cleric and Fighting Man are coded pretty lawful but Magic User and Thief aren't really chaos flavored.
In OD&D the only alignment that mattered was law vs chaos. Good and evil was a question for clerics to ponder but the balance of law and chaos was what shaped the world. It's important to keep in mind as I take a walk with you through the classes as they rolled out.
January 19, 2025 at 7:49 PM
In OD&D the only alignment that mattered was law vs chaos. Good and evil was a question for clerics to ponder but the balance of law and chaos was what shaped the world. It's important to keep in mind as I take a walk with you through the classes as they rolled out.
I don't really have anywhere in the article to really discuss the classes I chose so I figured I'd talk about it here.
Let's start at the beginning, alignment. Alignment was very important in OD&D. The balance between law and chaos was a huge factor in how the world of Greyhawk was built.
Let's start at the beginning, alignment. Alignment was very important in OD&D. The balance between law and chaos was a huge factor in how the world of Greyhawk was built.
January 19, 2025 at 7:31 PM
I don't really have anywhere in the article to really discuss the classes I chose so I figured I'd talk about it here.
Let's start at the beginning, alignment. Alignment was very important in OD&D. The balance between law and chaos was a huge factor in how the world of Greyhawk was built.
Let's start at the beginning, alignment. Alignment was very important in OD&D. The balance between law and chaos was a huge factor in how the world of Greyhawk was built.
It also gave me a unique opportunity to dig into the nebulous design that was how classes were chosen for OD&D. I decided to make these classes for The Black Hack and they will be appearing in the spring issue of a Greyhawk fan zine, just like the original article.
January 19, 2025 at 7:15 PM
It also gave me a unique opportunity to dig into the nebulous design that was how classes were chosen for OD&D. I decided to make these classes for The Black Hack and they will be appearing in the spring issue of a Greyhawk fan zine, just like the original article.