Hellsquad

You are the greatest hero the world has ever seen. Sort of. To be precise, you are the mass-produced clone of the greatest hero the world has ever seen. You might not be exactly on his level —he made more in his life than you can imagine— but do you know what you're great at? One-liners. And spectacular deaths. Accompanied by other clones, aided by a board of geriatric white businessmen with token executives sprinkled here and there, and advised by a retail-grade algorithm disguised as an AI, you will fight against Alphakyllers™, a breed of violent conquerors from deep space. It will also be the livestream sensation of the century, which is always good for ad revenue and brand recognition.

What is Hellsquad?

Hellsquad is a thrilling, fast-paced game that uses OSR principles to tell a story about ordinary foot soldiers cloned from a mythical war hero fighting an impossibly large alien threat. 

Your mission? To land with your squad on a hostile planet, locate your targets, and accomplish your objective before a swarm of giant, aggressive crab-like monstrosities shatter your dreams of victory.

Do you have some hours to spare with your friends before your next high-concept, five-dimensional TTRPG Campaign? Hellsquad is designed for one-shots and conventions, with streamlined character creation and a quick setup for GMs. Drop, fight, extract. It's as simple as that.

How does Hellsquad play?

Hellsquad uses Blood Engine for its core rules, an even more lethal interpretation of the OSR experience that makes you kill monsters fast and die even faster. While inspired by games like Mausritter and MÖRK Borg, Blood Engine uses a tag system for items, feats, and monsters for a more modern and dynamic approach to personalization.

What's inside?

Hellsquad is a digital book that includes everything you need to play. It launches with two complete missions as bonus content.

1. The Rules of Hellsquad: learn how to roll dice responsibly and die anyway.
2. Player Characters: create your own Hank in quick, brutal steps.
3. Scenarios: build missions in minutes with no respect for PCs safety.
4. Alphakyllers: get to know your friendly intergalactic terror from outer space. 
5. Mission Scenario 1—Save the L0-LL0: recover the blueprints of an experimental helper drone while fending off quite disgusting mutants.
6. Mission Scenario 2—Alphakyllerlypse Now: Reactivate the communication beacons on a murderous planet, save civilians and possibly yourself.

About the Authors

Hellsquad is a project by Oddplan, an indie label and collective run by Nicola Santagostino, designer of the Blood Engine and Copperhead System.  Oddplan is based out of Italy, somewhere between lands. 

Designed by: Cristian Luna, Roberto Luna, Nicola Santagostino

Sample art credits: Roberto Luna, Cristian Luna.

Layout credits: Filippo Rivaroli