About Smack

The original Smack was a campaign that I started running about 12 years ago. The first and most infamous Smack campaign ran for about 2 and a half years. Smack is a dark low magic fantasy campaign setting in a world plagued by subtle fiendish influences. The setting is predominantly human orientated but little people are known in on one of the continents. All other races if they exist are not common knowledge to most humans. Magic is considered witchcraft or a myth by most.

What’s in a name?
Smack was originally known as ‘To be High on Smack’ after the characters had participated in several crazy events and had a few nasty dreams that no sane sober person should have or be involved in. Smack ended up working as an acronym for Suicidal Maniacs And Cult Killers which aptly described the game and players well. It was always a little awkward when Tyrant Mithras who was only the tender age of 16 was telling his mother he was heading around to my place for some Smack. Still Smack is a name that worked and has moved far beyond the original comic reference we gave it.

Smack World Overview
As hinted in the title I should write a little about the Smack world. I do intend on working on a wiki one of these days which will present the world in much more glorious detail and deal with the different Smack Ages, power organisations, nations, religions, cultures, heroes and villains.

There are two primary contents in Smack, the eastern kingdom which is based off the old Roman and Alexandrian empires. A series of states bound under a single emperor, a myriad of cultures and religions based on ancient Rome, Greece, Macedonia, and some Indian cultural influences. The west continent is closer to dark ages Europe, split into 4 kingdoms along the eastern side of the continent and a large desert with middle-eastern like inhabitants and culture on the west. The Kingdoms are predominantly controlled by a Church inspired by some of the worst aspects of the Catholic Church during the Dark Ages. Kings are little more than powerful figureheads and the Church governs the day to day of the people.

Between the two continents are a string of islands through which most trade between the Empire and Kingdoms is done. These islands are home to freebooters, petty satraps and would be pirate kings. The satraps of these islands strike a delicate balance between allowing piracy unchecked for the incomes it brings and not allowing too much of it lest it direct Kingdom or Empire navies their way.

Hidden amongst the general populace, the political power brokers and the faithful, sinister cults, ancient beings and other entities make thousand year plans and quietly fight for the soul of a world oblivious to their existence. 

Play Style
It was a game where players turned up week to week to see what nasty things there characters might experience, what things they might try to prevent. The world was bleak enough that even the anti-heroes the characters became were a shiny lights in the darkness. The players loved it. They could feel the impact of their actions on the world, they came ready to play in character during game sessions and kept secrets they were privy to themselves. It was a strongly character development driven game, a strong story game. Combat was rarely random, was often deadly or had other consequences. The world reacted to them in real ways. They weren’t heroes known to the populace famed for slaying dragons. They weren’t kings, princes or emperors. They were for the most part three guys caught in bad circumstances trying to stop dark forces most of the world was influenced by but few new about. The game play had strong elements of Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness and Ravenloft. It had themes and ideas from everything from Dune by Frank Herbert, to Diablo 2 to Pirates of the Caribbean. We borrowed what we liked and discarded the rest. There were secrets layered upon secrets and the game kind of wrote itself. Even random choices made by myself and Yeti in the beginning ended up naturally having reasons.

It has been run on D&D 3rd edition and 3.5, GURPS 4th edition, Pathfinder, New World of Darkness and scratch built homebrewed rules. Still trying to find a decent set of rules that are easy enough to manage but allow the flexibility and power limitations I feel the game needs to work.

Afterword and Privilege
There is no greater experience as a GM than having a game that virtually writes itself, where players turn up week after week and participate in the game, not to get the next brass ring but to see where the story goes, how the world will react to their actions and what challenges they will be met with. To Yeti, Tyrant Mithras, His Neutralness, and Cassius the Brave I thank you for making Smack 1 what is it was for me and inspiring the legend that will hopefully make it out of its lunchbox one day for others to enjoy.

To Jo, Namloth, Jonathan, Gaia, Freya, Ruby, and the others who forged dark stories and spent their evenings unravelling dark secrets over a few drinks together, thank you for helping me round out and fill the world with stories and heroes.

Sadly the third and final arch of the campaign never got run. After the second arch finished, players’ lives became busier, some of us got married had kids and moved away. Other Smack campaigns were spawned but sadly the final arch of Smack 1 was never played but the story still lives on in my head with a promise that one day I will find time to run it or write it. In the meantime watch this space for stories, articles and lessons learned advice about gaming I learned from running Smack.

'You see Timmy it’s not fun listening to your friends talk and quote lines from a movie that you have no idea about and haven’t seen.'