Errant

240 pages, digest size (5½ x 8¼ inches), perfect bound softcover book, color cover, b&w interior. PDF included. You can catch my interview with the author here.
 
You are a failure.
You have no home.
You have no job.
You have no friends.
You have no family.
You have no prospects.
 
What you do have are a handful of pennies, a blithe disregard for your own life, and a particular set of skills. The kind of skills that make respectable folks avoid you.
 
Out there, beyond civilization, lies danger: monsters and magic and ancient ruins pregnant with treasure. Death is likely, but what did you have to live for anyway? At least out there is the chance to make something of yourself, and maybe even get back at those who wronged you.

This is no life for decent folk, but you’re not decent folk. You are an Errant.
 
What is Errant?
Errant is a classic fantasy role-playing game in the vein of the first few editions of that role-playing game and its many imitators and descendants such as Knave, Into the Odd, and The Black Hack. It is freely compatible with material for all those games as well as the newest edition of that role-playing game, with conversion guides provided within.

Errant is designed to be Simple, with no math above a 2nd grade level necessary. It’s a game that Cuts to the Chase by maintaining the smallest amount of time between players making meaningful decisions. Player abilities are Active, not Passive, giving them choices instead of bonuses. It’s a game of Options, not Proscriptions: all rules and procedures in Errant are intended as guidance, to provide a toolbox for play. Rules are written to be open-ended, extendable, and use natural language wherever possible. We trust you to make good decisions.
What makes Errant unique?
Errant is rules light, procedure heavy.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that the rules you need to play Errant are simple to understand and
minimal. At its core, the basic mechanic is to simply roll a twenty-sided die and try to get a result that’s in between two numbers (“roll high under” or “blackjack”) to resolve tasks.
However, Errant has a number of procedures that are designed to help you navigate different play situations in fair and interesting ways. Want to know how to run an exciting chase scene, or establish a fried cockatrice restaurant, or sue a demon for emotional negligence? Errant has procedures that can help you do that!
 
Procedures are not rules, but neither are they vague, general guidance. They provide a framework to structure the game, and can be adjusted, ignored, hacked, mangled, broken, stolen, or seasoned to taste.
 
While designed to be more comprehensive than the lightweight rulesets of many newer old-school role-playing games, all the rules and procedures of Errant are streamlined for ease of use and understanding. They have been hammered into shape by five years of rigorous playtesting. Every rule or procedure within the book has come into contact with a live player, and has changed as a result.
 
The Team:
Writing – Ava Islam
Editing – Joseph H. Vilas
Layout – Nick LS Whelan
Cover Art – Ian Hagan
Interior Art – Morrie B, Emiel Boven, Katrin Dirim, Madeleine Ember, José Eduardo “Jegs" González, lain Gruetter, Ian Hagan, Alexey Ivanov, David Lewis Johnson, Łukasz Kowalczuk, Gus L, Lazy Litch, Meatborg, Penny Melgarejo, L.F. OSR, T.S. Pendlebury, Brooke Penrose, Connor Ricks, Hodag RPG, Perplexing Ruins, SVARMAN, Jae Tanaka, Tony Tran, Daniel Vega, Peter Violini.