Black Hack Condensed

Black Hack Condensed is a fan-made, single-page (double-sided) distillation of The Black Hack RPG, with a few house rules scattered in. I wanted a compact ruleset that still carried the full depth of a complete old-school core ruleset—classes, races, spells, monsters, level progression, and gear—without cutting corners. I love what rulesets like Cairn and Knave offer, but I’ve often wished for something closer to a classic D&D core book, complete with a bestiary, races, and level-based spell lists. I’m a fan of the condensed nature of The Black Hack, and I set out to summarize everything I wanted from the core rules into a much smaller format.

This sheet squeezes the essentials into just two pages:

• 40-monster bestiary

• Classic mage & cleric spells up to level 7

• Core classes with abilities

• Item list with prices

• A fan-made races section

Designed with solo and lightweight play in mind, it pairs especially well with single page tools like the Ultimate Solo Toolbox and the Juice Oracle for running deep adventures with very minimal setup. Originally created for my own use, I’m sharing it here in case others find it useful.

The complete original Black Hack rules referenced in Black Hack Condensed are available here. I recommend reading these rules to fully understand my reference document.

The Black Hack is by David Black. This is an unofficial fan resource, not affiliated with or endorsed by the original creator.