Hametsu
Doug Cundall's solo and co-op monster hunting game from Black Site Studios. Four Hunters track Oni and bosses from Japanese myth across a feudal Japan wrecked by the Cataclysm.
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"My take on this one is coming soon."
What is Hametsu
Hametsu is “a solo / co-op monster hunting game set in post-apocalyptic feudal Japan.” It’s written by Doug Cundall and published by Black Site Studios, the people behind Don’t Look Back.
The setup: in 1500s Japan, a disaster called the Cataclysm tears open a portal, and the monsters of Japanese myth pour out across the land. You play Hunters trained to fight the Oni demons and the bigger creatures that came with them. Black Site’s pitch is four Hunters banding together to track these beasts “across the shattered landscape of what was once feudal Japan.”
It plays solo or co-op with one to four players.
How it plays
- Build a Hunter. There are nine Hunter classes across three schools, among them the Sumo, the Geisha and the Shinobi.
- Hunt the Boss. Each game is a hunt for a Boss. The Hunters start with the element of surprise: the Oni wander unaware until someone raises the alarm, and then they give chase.
- Fight or sneak. Bands of Oni stand between you and the Boss. You choose whether to fight them for resources or slip past.
- Level up. Between hunts your Hunters follow their class’s Path of Legend, gaining levels, new abilities, gear and ancient artifacts.
- Scenarios and a campaign. The core book has six premade scenarios, random tables for generating your own, and a first narrative campaign, The Wolf and the Devil, which runs 6 to 8 games and gets into where the Oni came from.
How to start
- Get the rulebook. The Core Rulebook PDF is $29.99. The hardback is $59.99 for 178 pages and comes with the PDF.
- Grab the free resources. The Hametsu resources page has reference sheets for tables, enemies, bosses and campaigns, a Hunter sheet, a token sheet, markers, and two Raids.
- Find your Hunters. Black Site sells Hunter packs by school, such as the School of Strength: three 32mm resin figures for $22.99. There are Oni, bosses and Japanese terrain in the range too, and a lot of it is also sold as STL files if you print your own.
- Add the expansions later. The Ryu & The Rain ($39.99, 78 pages) is a map-based campaign for max-level Hunters, taking them to level 12 in a Japan that’s slowly flooding. Hametsu Legends: Musashi ($29.99) is an 8-story solo campaign where you play Miyamoto Musashi. The Comprehensive Rules Bundle has the core book, both expansions, the School of Elements rules and three Raid PDFs for $99.99.
Community & reviews
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