MurderHobos

“…the combat system is solid and fast paced and the whole thing screams out for some gonzo play….Murderhobos doesn't disappoint.” – Johua De Santo, Genius Loci review

“Best 6 pages of gaming I've read in awhile.” – Joe E on Google+

MurderHobos is a tabletop RPG made for when you just want to kill things and take their stuff.

You roll different dice. Your character strangles things with his hands, stabs from the shadows, or calls down unholy fire from the sky. You play a MurderHobo.

Download now from DriveThruRPG for USD $4.99

The game package includes:

A 6-page PDF containing all the rules, with awesome art by Khairul Hisham and Peter Seckler.
An .azw3 file for use on newer Kindles.
A .mobi file for use on older Kindles.
An .epub file for use on iPads and other eReaders.

System Overview

Each character has 4 primary stats:

Killing
Avoiding Being Killed
Knowing Shit
Talking Your Way Out of Anything

You put 4 points in one of these, 2 points in another, and 1 point in each of the others.

Each character also has 4 secondary stats:

Avoiding Magic
Avoiding Traps
Avoiding Poison
Avoiding The Law

You put 4 points in one of these, 2 points in another, and 1 point in each of the others.

Rolls are d20 + the relevant stat vs. a target difficulty number.

What Makes It Different?

Monsters don't attack. Instead, if you miss a Killing roll against a monster, it gets an attack against you.

If you roll exactly or 1 less than the target difficulty, you get a partial success. The rules include a table that lay out suggested partial successes for each stat.

Weapons break. (Though it's rare.)

Weapons are differentiated by basic type (melee, ranged, thrown) and cost. More expensive weapons break less often. There's no statistical difference between a short sword and a long sword.

There are no Hit Points; there's just a number of hits (successful attacks) you can take.

Magical healing is really fucking dangerous.

You heal up every day. Because you're a murderhobo.

Adventures

Who has time to create adventures? Here are the winners of the first-ever MurderHobos Adventure Challenge. Read 'em and play!

Gold from the Ceiling by Brian Wille, winner of the challenge
The Crossroads by Tim Werner
Thumbing the Lich by Joe England (a micro-adventure of one paragraph!)

Sample Characters

Buff HardBack, Brutal Fighter

Killing: +4
Avoiding Being Killed: +2
Knowing Shit: +1
Talking Your Way Out Of Everything: +1
Avoiding Magic: +1
Avoiding Traps: +2
Avoiding Poison: +1
Avoiding The Law: +4

Hits: 4
Class Skill: Murderous Rage: When you succeed on an attack, deal 2 hits.

Splint ChestHair, Sneaky Bastard

Killing: +2
Avoiding Being Killed: +1
Knowing Shit: +1
Talking Your Way Out Of Everything: +4
Avoiding Magic: +1
Avoiding Traps: +4
Avoiding Poison: +1
Avoiding The Law: +2

Hits: 3
Class Skill: Backstab: If you are the first person to attack someone, add +2 to your Killing roll. This can be used multiple times per day.

Whip SlagCheek, Unhinged Priest

Killing: +2
Avoiding Being Killed: +1
Knowing Shit: +4
Talking Your Way Out Of Everything: +1
Avoiding Magic: +4
Avoiding Traps: +1
Avoiding Poison: +2
Avoiding The Law: +1

Hits: 3
Class Skill: Magic Choke: Hit an enemy. The enemy must make a saving throw against Magic or fall unconscious for about 5 minutes.

Fist RockBone, Mad Sorcerer

Killing: +2
Avoiding Being Killed: +4
Knowing Shit: +1
Talking Your Way Out Of Everything: +1
Avoiding Magic: +4
Avoiding Traps: +1
Avoiding Poison: +1
Avoiding The Law: +2

Hits: 2
Class Skill: Fist of Fury: For the next hour, you generate a spectral hand that's about twice the size of your own. It has mass but can take no damage, and can pick up and carry things up to 150 pounds in weight. It can move up to 50 feet off the ground. It can also drop whatever it's carrying, all the way to the ground. It can move fast enough to count as a ranged weapon.

Play Sample

<html> GM: It's dusk in the swamp. The croaks and splashes around you grow louder. You know you're near the place where Lord Fossil said the lizardfolk camp would be. Suddenly, three lizardfolk leap out of the underbrush at you! Everyone, roll your Avoiding Getting Killed.

Bob: Okay, Buff has a +2 in that. I roll a 12, plus 2, so that's a 14.

Sarah: Splint only has +1. I roll an 8…plus 1, so that's 9.

Fred: Ha-ha! Fist RockBone has a +4 in Avoiding Being Killed! And I roll a 7, so I'm glad I do! Total of 11.

GM: Okay, Sarah, one of the lizardfolk skewers you with his spear. You take one hit.

Sarah: Damn. That's my first of three. Only two hits left!

GM: Okay, who wants to go next?

Bob: I stab that one with my sword!

GM: Okay, roll your Killing.

Bob: Only a 9, so plus 4, that's 13!

GM: That's enough, and it's a killing blow.

Bob: My sword goes right through its gullet, and it falls at my feet, gurgling blood.

GM: Nice! Now, since you landed a killing blow, roll a percentile for me to see if your weapon breaks. Two d10s, where one is the tens and the other the ones.

Bob: Okay…58.

GM: Fine. Your sword remains as strong as the day it was forged. Now, who do you want to go next, Sarah or Fred?

Bob: Let's have Sarah go.

Sarah: Cool, thanks. Can Splint use his class skill?

GM: What did you choose?

Sarah: “Blades Everywhere: Attack up to 3 enemies at once.”

GM: Oh, definitely! Roll Killing for each of the lizardfolk. You can only use your class skill once per day, though, so that'll use it up for now.

Sarah: That's all Splint needs. That's a 16 and a 4, adding my 2 for Killing…that's 18 and 6.

GM: One of them goes down.

Sarah: Splint spins and cuts with his short knives. One of the lizardfolk manages to duck out of his way, but the other goes down under a whirlwind of flashing steel.

GM: Great! That was a death blow, so roll percentile.

Sarah: 26?

GM: Your daggers remain sharp and deadly. But you missed one of the lizardfolk, so it gets an attack against you. And it rolls…7. Too low, so it misses.

Sarah: Whew!

GM: Fred, you're next.

Fred: Hmmm. I don't really want to use my spell yet. Let me just attack with my staff as a regular weapon. I roll…a total of 10.

GM: That's enough!

Fred: Cool. I swing my staff and take its head off.

GM: Sweet. Roll percentile?

Fred: Oh, no! I rolled an 8!

GM: The strength of your blow snaps your staff in half.

Fred: Shit.

GM: They drop a total of…26 gold.

Sarah: Splint takes it.

(Cue long debate within the party about who gets to carry the gold. Sarah's character, Splint ChestHair, eventually convinces everyone else that he's trustworthy.)

GM: Okay. What do you want to do next?

Sarah: As a sneaky bastard, Splint wants to inspect the lizardfolk corpses and see if they have anything worth taking. Or if he can tell why they're out here.

GM: Okay, roll your Knowing Shit.

Sarah: Woohoo, I have a +4 in that! So that's a total of 16.

GM: Excellent. This is definitely a scouting party. As usual for lizardfolk, they're naked except for a leather strap around their torsos, which has a bag in it. The bags contain a vile mash of leaves which serves as sustenance for the lizardfolk, but is of no use to you.

Bob: What about their weapons?

GM: Simple spears. They're cheap weapons, so they're more likely to break.

Fred: I'll take it. My staff's useless. Can I still channel my magic?

GM: Oh yeah. Your weapons aren't tied to your magic.

Fred: Cool. What now?

GM: Well, you hear some rustling in the bushes…. </html>

Monsters

Lizardfolk Scout
1 hit
Difficulty 7

Lizardfolk Warrior
2 hits
Difficulty 9
When a warrior hits, it makes a second attack. If successful, it knocks its enemy on its ass with its tail.

Gelatinous Cube
5 hits
Difficulty 8
On successful hit, instead of rolling for weapon breakage, roll for weapon sticking and 15% to the chance. So, 100 gold weapons will stick on any roll under 25.
Special - If a Hobo's weapon sticks, the Hobo rolls his or her Avoiding Traps secondary trait vs. 10. If the Hobo fails, they are stuck and on next round they can roll again to get out. While stuck, if they fail they take a hit. This continues till they die or make a successful save.
Created by Joe E

Support

If you have questions about MurderHobos, please post them to the Google+ Community.

Other Cool Stuff

Fictive Fantasies created a shorter remix of MurderHobos, making it more genre-neutral and with no swearing.

Eda Schweiss created an awesome alternate character sheet.

Download a Spanish character sheet.

Credits

Thanks to T.W. Wombat, Bob Smith, and Brian Fitzpatrick for their design advice. MurderHobos wouldn't be nearly as polished without them.

Thanks to Khairul Hisham for the fantastic cover.

MurderHobos is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Brent P. Newhall's Musaeum of Fantastic Wonders

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