So far I am fairly happy with the design of The McHack. I feel like the rules and mechanics are simple yet meaningful, and I’m happy with the feel of the game. There are two areas I would like to improve on at some point: Thief Skills, and Magic. In this post, we will look at the former.

I really don’t like skills. They seem to lead to “eyes down” gaming, where players constantly scan their character sheet for what their character can do, instead of using their wit and imagination to creatively solve problems. As such, they kind of work against the ethos of the game. I do like the simple, versatile Task mechanic in The McHack, whereby the players can describe what they want to do, the referee sets a d12 target (if they believe the outcome is not certain one way or another), and a roll is made adding any ability (or sometimes class) modifiers. It’s so easy, and replaces potentially hundreds of micro-rules with just one. And yes, it is basically stolen from Traveller.

So, I have decided to try a tweak to the first draft Thief rules. Instead of the additional Skill Points mechanic where the thief gains a certain number of bonus points to apply to various skills each level, thieves will instead get a blanket Task Bonus that increases with levels (like Explorers do in the first draft rules). Explorers will move to a flat +1 Task Bonus so as not to steal the thief’s thunder.

Anything the thief wants to attempt will be treated just like any other Task, however there will be some Tasks for which they need Thieves’ Tools (can’t pick a lock or disarm a mechanical trap without these). Also, the Referee May will rule that certain thief-like Tasks can only be attempted by a Thief, or non-thieves may have a higher Task Target to meet. For example, the Thief may be given a Task Target of 8 for scaling a wall, hiding, or moving silently, where other party members may be give a Target of 12. As always, if the player concerned can give the referee a reason to lower or even remove the Task Target through clever play or description of their actions, then great!

Lastly, I may create a small list of Tasks that are specific only to Thieves, such as Assassination, Pick Locks, Pick Pockets, but these will just be attempted using the common Task mechanic.

We need to test this in play, obviously, but I think this is going to both simplify the game mechanics while also giving thief players full license to try all sorts of actions. I think it will also restate the Explorer as a basic, competent party member whose main option for advancement is to increase Ability Scores so they can join another Class.

Cheers,

Mog