Hucksters & Hexes

Hucksters & Hexes: Dealing with the Devil

"You pays your money, you takes your chances."

If the blessed are Heaven's chosen warriors, then hucksters are humanity's gamblers—men and women who've learned to cheat the devil at his own game. These card-sharp hexslingers discovered the secrets hidden in Hoyle's Book of Games, mystic formulae that let 'em contact spirits from the Hunting Grounds and wrest power from 'em through contests of will.

Unlike the blessed who pray for miracles, hucksters bargain with manitous—malicious spirits who'd just as soon fry a hexslinger's brain as grant 'em power. Every hex is a gamble, a high-stakes poker game played in the huckster's mind. Win, and you bend reality to your will. Lose, and... well, there's a reason they call it backlash.

What Makes Someone a Huckster?

Hucksters ain't born—they're made through study, practice, and a willingness to dance with demons. Most started as gamblers, card sharps, or traveling performers who stumbled across Edmond Hoyle's forbidden secrets. Once you learn to see the patterns in the cards and open your mind to the Hunting Grounds, there's no going back.

Key characteristics of hucksters:

• Knowledge of Hoyle's formulae—mystic patterns hidden in games of chance
• Ability to contact manitous in the Hunting Grounds
• Skill at mental duels with malicious spirits
• Risk of backlash when hexes fail or go wrong
• Often mistaken for stage magicians or con artists
• Widely mistrusted by both lawmen and common folk

Becoming a Huckster

Like the blessed, there's two ways to become a huckster:

Starting Out: If you're creating a huckster character, you take the arcane background: huckster Edge. You'll also want at least one level in several different hex Aptitudes (each hex is its own Aptitude). Most hucksters start with 2-4 hexes at character creation.

Learning Later: An existing character can learn to become a huckster, but it requires finding a teacher (another huckster) or discovering a copy of Hoyle's Book of Games with the mystic annotations. This usually takes weeks of study and costs Bounty Points to purchase the arcane background: huckster Edge.

The Great Game: How Hexes Work

Casting a hex ain't like saying a prayer. It's a battle of wills fought in the huckster's mind against spirits that would love nothing more than to drive you mad. Here's how it works:

Step 1: Opening the Channel

The huckster opens a mental channel to the Hunting Grounds—the spirit realm where manitous dwell. In their mind, they envision traveling there and challenging a spirit to a game.

• Make an Aptitude roll using the hex's skill level and associated Trait
• Need at least one Fair (5) success to contact a manitou
• If you go bust on this roll, you suffer backlash automatically—the manitou tears into your mind

Step 2: The Duel

Once contact is made, the huckster and manitou engage in a mental contest. Americans typically envision this as a poker game, though the game itself is just how the huckster's mind interprets the battle.

• Draw 5 cards from a standard 54-card deck (including Jokers)
• Draw 1 additional card for every raise you got on your hex roll
• Form the best poker hand you can from the cards drawn
• Compare your hand to the hex's minimum hand requirement

Step 3: Resolution

• If your hand meets or beats the minimum: You win! The hex works, with effects based on your hand quality
• If your hand is lower than the minimum: The hex fails, but at least you're not hurt
• If you drew a Joker: See Backlash below—things might get ugly

Poker Hands: Know Your Odds

Every hex requires a minimum poker hand to work. The better your hand, the stronger the hex's effect. Here's the ranking from weakest to strongest:

Important: Jokers are wild cards and can complete any hand—but they come with a price (see Backlash below).

Backlash: When Things Go Wrong

Here's the catch to being a huckster: backlash. When you lose the contest with a manitou—or even when you win but draw a Joker—that spirit gets to take a swipe at you. Backlash can range from a mental jolt that drops your hex skill, to physical damage, to driving you temporarily insane.

When Does Backlash Occur?

• Going bust on your hex Aptitude roll (automatic backlash, hex fails)
• Drawing a black Joker (always causes backlash, regardless of skill)
• Drawing a red Joker when your hex skill is less than 3 (causes backlash)

Avoiding Joker Backlash:

Experienced hucksters can sometimes fool a manitou even with a bad hand. If you have skill level 3 or higher in a hex, you can treat a red Joker as a wild card with no backlash. You're savvy enough to bluff the spirit.

Black Jokers always mean backlash, no matter your skill. That's the price of dealing with demons.

Core Hexes: The Basics

Here are some of the most common hexes hucksters learn. Each hex is tied to a specific Mental Trait (Cognition, Knowledge, Mien, Smarts, or Spirit) and requires a minimum poker hand to work.

Phantom Fingers

Trait: Mien | Hand: Pair | Speed: 1 | Duration: 1 round/level | Range: Smarts × 5 yards

This hex creates invisible "fingers" that can manipulate small objects from a distance—perfect for palming cards, untying ropes, or pulling a trigger. The fingers have the huckster's Dexterity and can perform any task the huckster's own hands could do.

Hand Effects:

• Pair: Can manipulate objects up to 1 pound
• Two Pairs: Can manipulate objects up to 5 pounds
• Three of a Kind or better: Can manipulate objects up to 10 pounds

Soul Blast

Trait: Spirit | Hand: Pair | Speed: 1 | Duration: Instant | Range: Spirit × 10 yards

The huckster's bread-and-butter combat hex. You channel raw spiritual energy through the Hunting Grounds and blast it at a target, causing them pain and damage without leaving a mark.

Hand Effects:

• Pair: 2d6 damage to target's guts
• Two Pairs: 3d6 damage
• Three of a Kind: 4d6 damage
• Straight or better: 5d6 damage

The target feels like they've been punched in the gut by an invisible fist. This is Wind damage, so it won't kill unless the target's already seriously injured.

Corporeal Twist

Trait: Cognition | Hand: Jacks or Better | Speed: 1 | Duration: Instant | Range: Cognition × 5 yards

A vicious hex that twists a target's body, causing real physical harm. Unlike soul blast, this causes actual wounds that bleed.

Hand Effects:

• Jacks or Better: 2d6 damage to random location
• Two Pairs: 3d6 damage
• Three of a Kind: 4d6 damage
• Straight or better: 5d6 damage, and target must make a Vigor roll or be stunned

Cat's Eyes

Trait: Cognition | Hand: Pair | Speed: 1 | Duration: 10 minutes/level | Range: Self

The huckster's eyes glow faintly (usually only visible in darkness) and they gain the ability to see in near-total darkness as if it were twilight.

Hand Effects:

• Pair or better: Perfect night vision for the duration
• Three of a Kind or better: Duration increases to 1 hour/level

Trinkets

Trait: Knowledge | Hand: Ace | Speed: 1 | Duration: Permanent | Range: Touch

This hex imbues a small object with minor magical properties—a coin that always lands heads, a die that rolls slightly better than average, or a card that seems to appear in your hand when you need it. It's subtle magic, but useful.

Hand Effects:

• Ace: The trinket provides +1 to a specific, narrow use (like a gambling check)
• Pair or better: The trinket provides +2 to its specific use

The trinket lasts until used or until the huckster creates a new one (you can only have one active trinket at a time).

Deflection

Trait: Spirit | Hand: Pair | Speed: 1 (Vamoose!) | Duration: 1 action | Range: Self

This defensive hex requires the huckster to "vamoose" (use an action card) to cast it in response to an attack. If successful, the attack is deflected away harmlessly—bullets veer off course, blades slide aside, even supernatural attacks can be turned away.

Hand Effects:

• Pair: Deflect one physical attack
• Two Pairs: Deflect one attack of any type
• Three of a Kind or better: Deflect the attack back at the attacker!

Gambler's Luck

Trait: Mien | Hand: Jacks or Better | Speed: 1 | Duration: 1 hand of cards or one game | Range: Touch

The huckster (or someone they touch) gains supernatural luck in games of chance. This hex is subtle enough that it's hard to detect as cheating, but it definitely tips the odds in your favor.

Hand Effects:

• Jacks or Better: +2 to all gambling-related rolls for one hand
• Two Pairs: +4 to gambling rolls
• Three of a Kind or better: +4 to gambling rolls for the entire game

Helpin' Hand

Trait: Spirit | Hand: Two Pairs | Speed: 5 minutes | Duration: 1 hour/level | Range: Touch

The huckster summons a semi-visible spectral hand that follows them around and can assist with tasks. The hand has a Dexterity equal to the huckster's Spirit and can perform simple manual labor.

Hand Effects:

• Two Pairs: One helping hand
• Three of a Kind: Two helping hands
• Straight or better: Three helping hands

Playing a Huckster Character

Here's some advice for bringing a huckster to life in your Troubleshooters campaign:

Embrace the Risk: Hucksters are gamblers by nature. Don't be afraid to cast hexes—just be smart about when you push your luck. Save your most dangerous hexes for when you really need them.

Keep It Secret: Most folks don't understand the difference between a huckster and a devil-worshiper. Smart hexslingers present themselves as stage magicians, card sharps, or "consultants" rather than advertising their true abilities.

Know Your Odds: Learn the poker hands and their probabilities. An experienced huckster knows when to risk a hex and when to rely on their gun instead.

Diversify Your Hexes: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Having 2-3 combat hexes, 2-3 utility hexes, and maybe a defensive hex gives you options. Remember, each hex is a separate Aptitude.

Backlash Happens: Don't get discouraged when backlash hits. It's part of being a huckster. The occasional brain bruise or temporary madness is the price you pay for wielding power that doesn't come from God or science.

Huckster Archetypes

Here are a few examples of huckster characters you might play as a Troubleshooter:

The Card Sharp: A professional gambler who discovered real magic in Hoyle's book. They use their hexes to win at cards and survive the inevitable fights that follow when someone accuses them of cheating (which, technically, they are).

The Stage Magician: A traveling performer who uses real magic mixed with sleight of hand. Nobody knows which tricks are real and which are illusions—that's how they like it.

The Reluctant Hexslinger: Someone who learned huckster magic out of necessity but hates dealing with manitous. They only use hexes when absolutely required and rely on their gun the rest of the time.

The Scholar: A student of the occult who views hexes as a science to be studied and perfected. They're constantly experimenting with new applications and pushing the boundaries of what's possible.

The Desperate Soul: A person who turned to huckster magic as a last resort—maybe to save a loved one, maybe to get revenge. Now they're stuck walking a dangerous path, hoping they can control the power they've unleashed.

Hucksters and the Troubleshooters

Among Colonel Brennan's Troubleshooters, hucksters occupy an... interesting position. The Colonel's practical enough to recognize that hexes get results, but he's also aware that having a huckster on the team makes some folks nervous. Rangers, in particular, tend to get twitchy around hexslingers.

Smart huckster Troubleshooters learn to work alongside blessed characters (who often distrust them), mad scientists (who view them as superstitious), and regular folks (who just think they're creepy). The key is proving your worth through results while keeping your methods discreet.

The Colonel's advice? "I don't care if you're getting your power from God, the devil, or a mail-order catalog. Just get the job done and don't blow up the town in the process."

Next: Mad Scientists – Those gear-head inventors whose contraptions defy the laws of nature...