iHunt with 24XX

iHunt is a fantastic urban fantasy book/novellas series by Olivia Hill.

It's about marginalized millenials killing monsters in the gig economy.
There's this app you see, where people can set up bounties on monsters, and you can make some money on it but its design is predatory and there's a ton of fuckery around the algorythm and very little security for the independent contractors. Like Uber except you kill draculas, but really it's about how scary being in debt and not being sure how you'll pay rent next time around because you got fired from being a Junior Executive Surface Cleaning Operator at Amazon after taking a bathroom break. And also killing monsters.
The stories are quick-paced and furious, often hot, and fairly funny and/or depressing at times. I like them a lot, and am still reading through the last novel, "Chosen One" which is about the main character having to deal with Totally Not Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and deals with privilege.

And there's a tabletop game, using FATE rules, also written by the author!
It is an excellent ressource even if you don't do FATE, with solid writing and a lot of interesting details about the setting without falling into the pit traps of other modern day urban fantasy games with vampires in them *cough* metaplot overdose *cough*. Instead you get a good evocative picture of the lives of iHunters, of San Janero (not Los Angeles, where the stories and game are set), and a bunch of short fiction that's actually really cool to read (I usually skip these in tRPG books) which can serve as adventure seeds. Heck, for my first session I straight up stole the gremlins story.

The thing is, I don't do FATE because I don't really do big rulebooks anymore, and more than a few pages (ideally a page) of rule stuff takes too much CPU from my ADHD millenial brain. Free Kriegsspiel's about worlds, not rules and this here is an excellent sourcebook to play in the setting of the books. I've also been very much into Jason T's 24XX series lately, and so after asking for Olivia's permission, I've written down some notes on how to run iHunt with 24XX. It's pretty sparse, cause like I said, the FATE version is really good and full of useful stuff even if you don't use the mechanics. So I'm assuming you're riffing off that book like I am. Here's what you'll need for the hack:


PLAY: Players describe what their characters do. The game moderator (GM) advises when an action is impossible, requires extra steps, demands a cost, or presents an avoidable risk. Players only roll to avoid risks.

ROLLING: Roll a d6 skill die — higher with a relevant skill, or d4 if hindered by injury or circumstances. If helped by circumstances, roll an extra d6; if helped by an ally, they roll their skill die and share the risk. Take the highest die.

1–2 Disaster. Suffer the full risk. GM decides if you succeed at all. If risking death, you die.
3–4 Setback. A lesser consequence or partial success. If risking death, you’re maimed.
5+ Success. The higher the roll, the better. If success can’t get you what you want (you make the shot, but it’s bulletproof!), you’ll at least get useful info or set up an advantage.

LOAD: Carry as much as makes sense, but more than one bulky item may hinder you at times.

ADVANCEMENT: After a job, increase a skill - none > d8 > d10 > d12, and gain 1$.
It's not actually one buck, it's an abstract notion that allows you to avoid growing hungry, cold and/or homeless for a little while. Say, one week if you're playing every week (you can have play time follow real time). If you need to get special gear or call in favours or what not, you ought to find the really good gigs, or skip meals and whatnot. This is assuming your PC has a regular day (or night) job, too.

DEFENSE: Say how one of your items breaks to turn a hit into a brief hindrance. Broken gear is useless until repaired.

HARM: Injuries take time and/or expensive medical attention to heal. If killed, make a new character to be introduced ASAP. Favor inclusion over realism.

RUNNING THE GAME: Lead the group in setting lines not to cross in play. Fast-forward, pause, or rewind/redo scenes for pacing and safety, and invite players to do likewise. Present dilemmas and problems you don’t know how to solve. Move the spotlight to give everyone time to shine. Test periodically for bad luck (e.g., run out of ammo, or into guards) — roll d6 to check for (1–2) trouble now or (3–4) signs of trouble. Offer rulings to cover gaps in rules; double back during a break to revise unsatisfying rulings as a group.


CREATING CHARACTERS
►Choose your character’s specialty.

THE 66: Skilled in Reading People (d8), Connections (d8). Take an extensive disguise wardrobe.

KNIGHT: Skilled in Hand-to-Hand (d8), Running (d8). Take two weapons.

EVILEENA: Skilled in Occult (d8), Alchemy (d8). Take an occult library (digital or scrapbook) and a totebag full of magical paraphernalia.

PHOOEY: Skilled in Hacking (d8), Electronics (d8). Take repair tools and a customized laptop.

WILDCARD: Apply two skill increases. Take two pieces of stuff.

► Apply 3 skill increases (from no skill > d8 > d10 > d12).
You can take new skills and/or increase skills you already have. I urge you to customize your skills by naming them something interesting like "Kung Fu Fighting" instead of "Hand-to-Hand". Flavour.

►Sample skills
Alchemy, Climbing, Connections, Deception, Driving, Electronics, Explosives, Hacking, Hand-to-hand, Intimidation, Labor, Occult, Persuasion, Running, Shooting, Stealth, Tracking, etc.


SESSION ZERO & FRAMING SUGGESTIONS
Like the OG (Origingal Game, ya know) suggests, I frame the game as a TV Show. That means ad breaks, flashbacks, flashforwards (all pacing tools and potential safety tools that we share as a group). One particularly important piece of advice I've found is the notion of cutting as soon as possible. That's what brings the punchy-ness and frantic pace of the cool TV shows and of the short stories and novels.
For characters, I don't go as detailed as the FATE version, but still want some drama fuel, so I ask players to come up with questions they want to answer through play about their characters, as well as questions on the relationship between each character. Then we play to find out what happens and try to keep these in mind for the more character developing scenes.