When is White Box No Longer White Box?

I’m working on a game tentatively titled White Box: Blades Undreamed Of. It’s a pastiche of the classic Hyperborea stories by Robert E. Howard and I’m trying to lean really hard into the genre, really push it to be something more than White Box in another skin.

Here are a few of my locked in presumptions:

White Box: Blades Undreamed Of is set in a nebulous era that exists in some far flung past or centuries advanced future from that of our modern day. It is Earth, with all its basic principles like gravity, seasonal changes, weather and tidal patterns, but only to serve as a touchstone and canvas for exciting sword and sorcery adventures. While this book provides a few specific details on this mercurial period, it is largely left undefined so that the Chronicler can flesh out the details to suit their own game and create a dynamic and unique experience for their players that isn’t wholly bound in a collection of defined locations or a fictional history.

The most important thing to remember about this world, known as Earth Undreamed Of, is that it is heavily inspired by the sword and sorcery pulps of Robert E. Howard, Fritz Lieber, and similar early 20th century authors, along with several fantasy films that have been released - particularly those of the 1980s. A few important generalities regarding Earth Undreamed Of are as follows:

• Earth Undreamed Of is a dangerous place. People who leave their village or community alone and without proper protection will probably die.

• Most people live in an isolated community with few large nation-states or countries ruled by warlords and tyrants. Outsiders are to be driven away or slain.

• The wilderness is vast, unexplored, and filled with predators both mundane and supernatural. It is an burning landscape of vast deserts, lush jungles, ageless mountains, and storm-tossed seas.

• The world is dotted with ruins from a mysterious, ancient civilization and caverns that are filled with dangerous monsters, but also with magical artifacts and unimaginable wealth.

• Sorcery is evil. There are no exceptions. Practitioners of magic have committed themselves to a vile path of corruption and those who dare to dabble in the arcane are stepping into a realm never meant for man.

• Monsters are rare, horrible creatures who care nothing for humanity.

• Steel, and the riddle of how to properly forge it, is known to only a few. Most weapons are made of iron, bronze, or even bone. Encapsulating metal armor is similarly rare, given the extreme temperatures of Earth Undreamed Of and its cost. Hide is the best most common mercenaries can hope for, while a breast plate of iron or bronze is a mark of a veteran warrior.

Two great empires once existed: Atlantis (or the Atlantian Empire) and Seru (or the Seru Empire). Atlantis was an island paradise with advanced technology and unbelievable magic that was claimed by the sea. The Seru Empire was a dark tyranny led by a cult of serpent-worshiping priests. These are the only universally agreed upon facts of these respective empires. All else is conjecture and it is up to the Arbiter to decide what is false and what is true.

No non-human PCs. Only two classes: Slayer and Thief. But they’re not your traditional “Fighter” and “Thief.” They’re much more suited to genre and lean harder into the grim, gritty vibes of the inspiring material.

I want the setting to be one where weapons are made of bronze, iron, and very, very rarely, of steel. Armor comprised primarily of metal is a rare thing in the setting - both due to the resources required and its adverse effects in extreme weather.

As mentioned above, magic is evil. Casting spells is trafficking with the darkness. It inherently corrupts both the caster and those around the caster. Sorcerers and cultists are always evil. Full stop.

I’m currently tooling around with the combat and I have a few thoughts I’m toying with.

Critical Hits: If you roll or receive a critical hit you’re dead. No save. No nothing. You’ve died or your target has died.

Making Combat Brief: I’m considering the idea of keeping combat encounters to three rounds or less. My initial idea is that on the second round of combat, all damage rolls are increased by +1d6. Third round, it jumps to +2d6. Another, less lethal idea is that the chance of a critical hit increases on the second round from 1 in 20 to 18-20 on an attack roll on the second round, then to 15-20 on the third round and all subsequent rounds. Neither of these guarantees combat will end after 3 rounds, but it sure as hell means if it carries on for a long time someone is gonna die.

Aggressive Initiative: Determining who acts first is simply by declaration. The first person to declare “I attack” literally attacks first. Players can interrupt a GM describing a scene or the GM can give minimal scene description before attacking. This forces players to rush to violence at the risk of being killed themselves.

I’m also tooling around with character advancement. I definitely don’t want it to be XP based. It should be based on some accumulating some combo of Plunder and Glory. Plunder is literally treasure that is recovered and spent, while Glory is a more nebulous measure of a PC’s growing reputation. I’m just trying to determine how to “gameify” that.

Economics are another thing to consider. Actual wealth, like coins of precious metal, should be rare. There’s no real “economy” in the “A sword costs 5 gold pieces” sense. I want a primarily trade driven economy, but trying to codify that in a way that’s not too overly complex is something I’m still processing.

The wilderness environment needs to be deadly. Like a day or two out in the wilderness should have a real risk of killing the characters - either by the beasts they’ll encounter or the sheer extreme nature of the environment.

But with all these changes (and more I’m not even mentioning), how long before it’s no longer a “White Box” game? Sure, I’m using White Box as a foundation - but is it still a White Box game given how far afield I’m taking the system? I think this game is going to be an exercise in answering that question.