Black Jam: a Post-Apocalyptic OSR Adventure

Description

Black Jam is an old-school adventure that doesn’t require a separate RPG system—it comes with its own! Inspired by The Black Hack, this streamlined system keeps gameplay fast and intuitive, echoing the feel of the earliest editions of the World's most popular role playing game.

This document has everything you need to jump right into the game—system rules, a full adventure, monster stat blocks, and player rules, including four unique classes designed for this setting.

Character creation is quick and easy: choose a class, roll your attributes, note down your hit points—and you're ready to play. The hardest part? Picking your character's name.

If you have played The Black Hack before, it should be very familiar to you. If not, these is a summary of its core mechanics:

• Six attributes, just like in D&D.
• Roll a d20 and aim below your attribute to succeed.
• Everything is an Attribute Test—including attacks and defense.
• The GM rarely rolls dice—players roll to defend against monster attacks, etc.

What's different in Black Jam?

• Armor works differently—like The Black Hack 1st Edition, armor absorbs damage instead of evading it.
• Simplified Usage Dice—resources degrade faster, represented by a single die type.
• No traditional weapons or armor—players must scavenge for objects to fight and defend themselves.
• Rare and dangerous magic—instead of spell scrolls and magic items, mysterious devices fueled by Black Jam create magical effects.

 

Once, magic made life easy—floating towers, flying horses, and endless prosperity. Then Skull (Elven Enterprise Technologies) got greedy. Their reckless control over magic led to destruction, exploitation, and a global uprising.

Desperate, they launched an anti-magic missile at Voluntas, the goddess of magic. It worked—but at a catastrophic cost. Magic rebelled, arcane storms ripped the world apart, and civilization crumbled. Now, all that remains of magic is either the volatile Black Jam or the deadly arcane storms raging in the skies.

This is the world you inherit—a broken land where survival means scavenging, adapting, and facing the remnants of a shattered magical age.

In this adventure, players set out to gather vital resources for their village’s survival—only to discover their task is far more complex than it seems. Worse yet, the corporation behind the magical apocalypse wasn’t wiped out as many believed. Instead, they’ve returned with even more sinister plans.