Hanukkah World

In Hanukkah World, it's 167 BC. Antiochus Epiphanes the IV is the ruler of the Seleucid empire. He's just outlawed the worship of YHWH. You're a devout and violent Jew. You're there in the middle of town when his 2-harm gang small 2-armor rolls up to Modiin and orders the priest to sacrifice a pig to Zeus on YHWH's altar. You know some Hebrews about to get buckwild all up in this history. Hanukkah's about to exist. Time to purify the Land.

 

This is basically a few rules variants, a few rules additions, a little character and gear reskinning, one big overall countdown, and one front. It's a holiday one-shot or a mini-campaign for whenever. (You can even use 3 dreidels instead of 2d6 if you want.) There's no "first session" since we've already established what's going on and who's who.

Pardon the sketchy presentation below, but my goal was to think it up and write it out sufficient for a playthrough in one day. And that's what's in my next post.

In general, though, you keep most of the playbooks and reskin them all. You make all tech and weapons and armor appropriate to the period. The world's psychic maelstrom becomes the spirit world.

The big thing is that there's an overall countdown. When it gets to midnight, the temple is purified, no matter what. It's happening. This last segment of the countdown is triggered EITHER when the PCs defeat the five divisions of Antiochus Ephiphanes IV's (hereafter "IV") armies and retake Jerusalem OR when all the PCs are martyrs.

Here's the flow. The goal of the game is to defeat five armies and retake Jerusalem. To have any chance to win a straight up battle with an army, especially in the beginning when your army is 12 people with crap gear, you've got to go around "satisfying the needs of the Land." This part of the game is pretty DitV-y. You roll in, see what's wrong, and deal with it by your lights.

Each time you satisfy one of the Land's needs, your army gets +1 holy. Holy is the stat you roll to fight an army battle. Holy rolls ignore the opponent's size, armor, etc. You rank up Holy like Hx, and your advances let you get a bigger, better equipped army. Repeat.

If people are interested in this idea, I'll be inclined to flesh it out a bit more. But, from the next post alone, after a couple reads, you should be able to run the game.

HANUKKAH WORLD
The Apocalypse is Antiochus Epiphanes IV's oppression of Israel.

Hence, barf forth apocalyptica also means to show the misery and oppression of the people

New open your brain question: why are you with the Hammers (the insurgent cell)?

Mark XP when you meet a need of the people or the land.
The needs of the people are vengeance, judgment, and comfort.

When you get to 12:00 harm, you're at the gates of Sheol. Choose one:
Pass through and die (becoming a martyr if you died fighting Israel's enemies)
Ask the GM what the thing looks like that saves you, where it carries you, and what it tells you to do. When you wake up, you still show all the marks of the violence that killed(?) you, and some part of you is weird now: your face shines (you have to veil it out of politeness), you've got horns, your feet are cloven, your eyes are pieces of coal, your skin is 729 degrees Fahrenheit to the touch, etc.

When you open your brain, you open it to the spirit world.
To open your brain, you must fast and/or meditate for an extended time, make a sacrifice, be at the gates of Sheol, or use divination, forbidden or otherwise. Casting lots and consulting with the high priest are not forbidden.
Using forbidden divination puts you under the curse but is really quick. Just find a witch. I hear there's one in the wilderness that was Jerusalem. It will work, but whoever or whatever shows up will not be happy with you.

Angels are not babies or hot chicks. They either look like normal people or freaky fire-beings.
When you see an angel's true form, choose one: fall on your face, run away.

You get a new basic move: take an oath/make a vow: get +1 ongoing to all rolls in pursuance of the object of the oath/vow. Only one oath/vow active at a time. If you do not fulfill it in reasonable time, you suffer a curse: -2 ongoing to all rolls; Heaven rolls a 10+ to interfere with you every time. Persists until atonement is made.

The characters all live in Modiin. They all know each other.

Front: The Oppression of the Land
Expresses: Hunger (for power)
Agenda/Dark Future: to martyr the Hammers and all their people
Stakes: Will the players be revenged upon Alexander? Will IV die a dog's death? Will the PCs retake IV's fortress? Will the Hellenizers be purged from Modiin?
Cast: Antiochus Epiphanes IV, Apollonius & Seron (IV's first two generals, each with a division), Jason (Hellenizer leader), Alexander (commander of the fortress), Lysias (chancellor of IV) and Gorgias and Ptolemy and Nicanor (his generals, each with a division), Menelaus (apostate high priest)
Threats:
Antiochus Epiphanes IV (Warlord: Dictator).
When IV makes a show of force, he has his subordinates:
Hang uncircumcised babies around their parents necks
Set up a Greek idol on an altar and sacrifices swine to it
Burn the scriptures
Execute Jews for keeping the sabbath, keeping the scriptures, circumcising children
Force Jews to strip naked and wash in the gymnasium
Swoop in to steal supplies to restock his fortress in the City of David
Whatever other destruction-demanding depravity you can imagine
The Five Divisions of IV's Army (Brutes: Enforcers)
The Hellenizers (Brutes: Cult)
IV's Fortress (Landscape: Fortress) in the City of David

There's a countdown to Hanukkah. Increase it by one each time the PCs defeat a general's army. There are five generals: Apollonius, Seron, Nicanor, Gorgias, and Ptolemy. Apollonius and Seron are the only ones active at first. When they are destroyed, Lysias sends out the remaining three. Increase it the last tick when they take the fortress at Jerusalem. So, it's like all the segments say "the Hammers defeat a general" except the last one, which says "the Hammers take the City of David."

The characters are:

The Priest (Hocus)
Your cult is the most faithful (or at least zealous) where you minister

The Seer (Brainer)
All brainer equipment is implanted, not worn. You can gain one piece of new brainer equipment as an advance. It's not equipment. It's a supernatural ability.

The Horseman (Driver)
Your car is a horse. Your other car is also a horse (or donkey or camel or wolf).

The Nazir (Gunlugger)
You have vowed not to drink alcohol, touch the human dead, or cut your hair.
Your vow does not count as broken until you violate all three elements.
If you break your vow, you lose all Nazir moves. You can regain them for one fight, after/during which you will die. But your fight will accomplish your intent.
You do 3-harm unarmed. If you pick up an improvised weapon, it does 4-harm; but, at the end of the fight, it reverts to its normal harm.

The Avenger of Blood (Battlebabe)
You are furious, not sexy
You are after someone who killed someone related to you; who?

The Elder (Hardholder)
You are a de facto, popular leader and judge, not a government official.
Your gang is the people who respect you.

The Patriarch (Chopper)
Your gang is your sons, brothers, nephews, cousins, and servants.
You hate at least one of them, and at least one of them hates you.

Your army gains +1 holy when you: satisfy a need of the land

The land needs:
all male Jews to be circumcised (and, if not, exiled or killed)
the execution of rapists, murderers, sabbath-breakers, idolaters, adulterers, sexual deviants, abusers of parents, blasphemers, and kidnappers
idols destroyed and desecrated altars purified
the razing of gymnasia
the expulsion/slaughter of a town's occupiers

Your army loses -1 holy when:
your army gets out of control
you miss a holy roll

When your army gets out of control, there is sin in the camp.

While there is sin in the camp, you cannot win a battle vs a general's army.

To remove sin in the camp, atonement must be made. This usually involves the execution of the involved parties, maybe even their whole family. Open your brain to see what you'll have to do. On a miss, someone you really don't want to be involved is involved and/or you have to go way further than you would want.

When you army gains +4 holy, immediately reset to +1 holy and advance the army:
They gain souls
They get better equipment (weapons or armor, pick one, up to 2-armor and 2-harm max)
You get +1 ongoing to restrain them from a particular vulnerability

When you fight one of the general's armies straight up, once the battle starts and there's no going back, roll +holy:
10+: You rout the enemies of Israel. Trade harm for harm, giving your gang +2 harm and +2 armor for this battle only. You may pursue them and inflict harm, taking none yourself. This counts as the same battle; so the +2s still apply.
7-9: You rout the enemies of Israel. Trade harm for harm, giving your gang +1 harm and +1 armor for this battle only. You cannot pursue them effectively.
Miss: There is sin in the camp. You are routed by the enemies of Israel. You cannot succeed in battle until the sin is atoned for.

Gain +1 ongoing for a battle if the whole people have sanctified themselves for it.

Weak harm means that it is -1 harm versus armor but normal vs unarmored folks.

You start with 12 people in your army, including the PCs (2-weak-harm gang small 0-armor). Cousin Jeroboam has an oxgoad. Your little sister Deborah has a scythe.