Hobomancer PDF Bundle

Hex Games is a proud sponsor of this year's WorldEmber. We'll be awarding a bundle of Hobomancer products to the world builder who submits the best article using the Vehicles template. The Hobomancer PDF Bundle includes the following PDF products, delivered through DriveThruRPG. Visit this page for more information about WorldEmber. 

Hobomancer

Cover by Jeffrey Johnson

Among the countless hobos who ride the rails looking for work in 1930s America, there exists a secret society of magicians known as the hobomancers. The hobomancers face all the same problems as rank-and-file hobos—hunger, mean-spirited railway bulls, bad hooch—but they must also concern themselves with defending reality as we know it. If the hobomancers don’t ride the rails and keep the songlines of the world in balance, dark magic will run rampant, monsters will ravage the land, and the very laws of nature will collapse.
Hobomancer is a role-playing game, designed for use with the QAGS Second Edition rules, which combines American history, folklore, and pulp fiction into a thick, rich Mulligan stew of adventure. This jam-packed 150+ page PDF includes: an overview of the songlines, the source of the hobomancers’ magic; details on the magical tradition of hobomancy; a description of hobo magic, including notable otherworldly entities the PCs can encounter; information about hobo life; a general overview of life in the 1930s; game-specific rules and character creation ideas; an explanation of hobo magic and Hobo Powers; GMing tips; game information on over 20 monsters, including the dream-snatcher, the gumberoo, and the traveling salesdemon; a full adventure, “Hobo of Hamlin”;

and appendices that include a Hobomancer Timeline, Hobo Signs, Hobo Lingo, the Random Hobo Name Generator (which offers over ten million possible hobo names), ritual magic rules, useful tables, sample characters, and more.
Hobomancer features both period photographs and original illustrations by Joshua LH Burnett, Jeffrey Johnson, Juan Navarro, and Chris Newman.

Hobomancer Companion

Cover by Jeffrey Johnson

“So, kid, you think you know all there is to know about hobomancers? Sassafras! You ain’t know but two things—doodley and squat. You say you know about train whisperers and stinkomancers? Shoot, everybody’s heard of them, but you ain’t never met a flame singer, a hoboserker, or the fabled beardomancer. And monsters? Ha! Boogey men and hodags is one thing, but they ain’t nothing like sneaky snakes and Draculas. Now sit your backside down, kid, and let me learn you wise.”
Hobomancer Companion is the first supplement for the ENnie Award-winning* Hobomancer. Players and GMs will find new lore to help out their heroes, as well as new menaces to challenge their courage and skills. The Companion includes new hobomancer powers and secret hobomancer signs; new monsters and sample evil sorcerers; an explanation of Histories, an optional rule GMs and players can use to quickly build relationships and back-stories between PCs; and the complete adventure “Bad Train a-Coming.”
Hobomancer Companion is written and illustrated by Joshua LH Burnett, with additional illustrations by Jeffrey Johnson.

Suicide's Run: A Tale of the Hobomancers

Cover by Jeffrey Johnson

A nation mired in the Great Depression elects a new president. Some men, supposedly “America's elite,” fear his reforms. They have a plan to overthrow Franklin Roosevelt and replace him with a dictator they control.
One man has the power to stop this dastardly plot. Unfortunately, after a failed suicide attempt, Jakob’s woken up in a hobo camp with no way to tell what he knows. His only hope - America's only hope - are the hobomancers, train hopping hobo wizards defending the world against monsters and evil.
In their way stand a corrupt wizard, vindictive robber barons, sadistic private eyes, and creatures who know only fire and death. The last hope to save themselves, to save the Union, and maybe the world, is SUICIDE'S RUN!
Suicide’s Run is a complete standalone novel based in the same world as the Hobomancer RPG; you do not need any familiarity with the game to enjoy the novel. For those who play the Hobomancer game, though, there is plenty of rich material that will help flesh out your game world, as well as game stats for the novel’s major characters.
Suicide’s Run is written by Hobomancer co-creator Carter Newton, and illustrated by Hobomancer cover artist Jeffrey Johnson.

American Artifacts: The Complete Collection

Cover by Jeffrey Johnson

Did you know that an angel wrote a history of the future on a series of silver tablets, and buried them in Alaska? That Thomas Edison designed a machine to communicate with the dead, Ben Franklin built a robot, and that one of Jimi Hendrix’s guitars can shoot fire? Do you know why occultists are willing to pay top dollar for a shard of the plane Buddy Holly died in?
American Artifacts: The Complete Collection gives full descriptions of 66 magical items uniquely suited to the New World. Some are objects from American history, like Crispus Attucks's musket ball, or from pop culture, like Clint Eastwood’s poncho. Some were created by wizards who act like scientists, and some by scientists who act like wizards; artifacts like William Faulkner’s pocket watch and Nikolai Tesla’s ray gun blur the line between magic and science. All 66 artifacts are suitable for use in a wide variety of games. Each entry includes a description of the artifact, background information, and game mechanics. A detailed timeline is also included, that offers a clear overview of the occult history of America.
This volume collects the entire contents of the PDF releases American Artifacts, American Artifacts 2, and American Artifacts 3. This is the complete edition, in print for the first time, with six never-before-seen artifacts.
American Artifacts: The Complete Collection is 100% made in America, edited by Leighton “Cincinnati” Connor and Carter “Nashville” Newton, with art by Jeffrey “St. Louis” Johnson.

QAGS Second Edition

Cover by Dale French

Want to spend more time gaming and less time calculating? Want to make a character rather than a walking equipment stash? Want a game that lets you have more fun in more genres for less money? With the Quick Ass Game System, you can create any character from any genre and start playing almost immediately. Pirates? Check! Ninjas? Done! Occult detectives? Easy! Romantic poets? Fast, simple, and fun!
QAGS Second Edition is perfect for newcomers looking for a story-friendly gaming system and seasoned veterans who want more from their games. Most RPGs have experience points, but only QAGS lets you use Yum Yums--edible experience points--to improve your character and influence the game world.
QAGS 2E features updated character creation rules to make better characters, not walking stat boxes. Our Qik Start Genre Guides give you the rundown on 10 popular genres so you can start playing faster. Along with that, you get all new Sample of Play Theater entries, Brand New Stupid Acronyms (BNSA), selections from the popular and sold-out supplement Stuff: The Equipment Guide, the Fine Art of Role-Playing, complete conversion rules for bringing your obsolete first edition game up to speed, Dumb Tables^TM, worksheets, a complete solo game, and adult humor that won’t get you thrown in jail.

So You've Decided To Run A Role-Playing Game

Cover by Steve Johnson

Everybody’s heard of tabletop role-playing games (RPGs), but unless you’ve actually played one you probably don’t know how they work. Even if you’re an experienced RPG player, most game manuals spend more time explaining rules and genre trappings than offering practical advice for first-time Game Masters.

Whether you’re a wannabe gamer who’s never rolled a twenty-sided die or a long-time player who’s decided to take the plunge and run your own game for the first time, So You’ve Decided To Run a Role-Playing Game teaches you how to go from thinking about running a role-playing game to actually doing it. So You’ve Decided To Run A Role-Playing Game starts by describing what actually goes on during a role-playing game, then provides step-by-step advice for organizing and running your own RPG campaign, from finding a gaming group to plotting your ongoing story.
So You’ve Decided To Run A Role-Playing Game is geared toward first-time Game Masters, but contains a lot of practical advice and helpful tips that even veteran Game Masters are likely to find helpful.