Jasperak - I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to "latch" onto your thread and post my review of Search for the Unknown. I figure this is probably better than starting up another thread on the same subject.
I should state here that I have never played HackMaster and never owned a HackMaster product before this one was sent to me in exchange for this review. (Thanks again, Noah!) I am a big fan of the Knights of the Dinner Table, though, so I had a pretty good idea as to what HackMaster would be like. I've also never seen the original AD&D In Search of the Unknown, so I'm not a good judge of how close the HackMaster version parallels the original. My review will not only cover Quest for the Unknown, but also spill over into my general impressions of the HackMaster game overall. I guess I'll put up the obligatory
SPOILER ALERT
notification, since I intend to discuss several of the creatures that can be found in the module. Let's get on with it then, huh?
STUFF I DIDN'T LIKE: Let's get this out of the way first, shall we? It won't take long; there wasn't that much that I didn't like.
1. First, the standard proofreading complaints: several typos, a bit of improper punctuation usage (actually, quite a bit if you consider the differences between "-" and "—" as I believe Mouseferatu mentioned in his review), and one example of "there/their/they're" misuse. (Which jumped out at me as wrong when I first read it, but I can't find now that I want to point it out. Typical!) Most of this could probably have been caught with one more proofreading pass before it went to the printer.
2. My biggest gripe was the way the room numbers jumped around all over the place. Down one section of corridor, the rooms in sequence are 17, 18, 19, and 23. (20, 21, and 22 are accessible from a completely different hallway.) Other instances include 25-28 in the same general vicinity, then 29 further north, then 30 back over by 28, then 31 back north again up by 29, then 32 even further south than 28...there should have been a better flow to the room numbering. It would have made life a little easier on the GM.
3. This might not even be a mistake, but the pcture of the giant kangaroo flea has huge eyes like a grasshopper, even though its description states that the creatures are blind. Actually, now that I look at it, the creature looks like a fat grasshopper more than it does a flea - fleas' heads are more streamlined with their bodies. More of a nitpick than anything else, but I really hate it when a monster's picture and written description don't match. Sadly, this seems to be common, regardless of game system.
4. I personally don't think it's a good idea to use current-day phrases and terms in the game world that wouldn't have been known to the inhabitants. Using "green eggs and ham" as a password and making "kevlar" the elven word for "body armor" does more harm than good, in my view.
STUFF I LIKED: Now, on to the good stuff!
1. Excellent artwork within the module. Nice, clean lines, not too cluttered. I really like the fact that almost every monster appearing in the module (including the wandering monsters) has a picture. I assume that these are just reprints from the various Hacklopedia tomes, but I still think it's a good idea - it's much easier to point to a picture of a monster on a page that's already open than to flip through a monster book (especially when the HackMaster equivalent to the Monster Manual is 7 or 8 volumes long). Plus, I'm a sucker for cool monsters.
1a. The hood winker is definitely a cool monster! Brings back memories of the executioner's hood from way back when.
1b. The insidious ichor certainly lives up to its name! I love the concept. I tried something silimar with my "blood pudding" awhile back.
1c. The cave gouger is another cool monster. I may just do up some 3E stats for some of these guys for use in my own homebrew game.
1d. I really liked the depiction of the homonculous. I wish the 3E homunculus looked as good! Instead, we get stuck with a monster that looks like it was handcrafted from moldy mashed potatoes. (Don't get me started on Monster Manual art...)
2. There were good GM prompts throughout, not just in the beginning sections. It was nice to see roleplaying tips (I love the idea of talking through a hole in a sheet of paper when roleplaying a rogue magic mouth!) and specific page numbers when the GM is being referred to another book. This is definitely a user-friendly module.
3. Along the same lines, the BATTLE SHEET at the end was great! Not only did it have stats for each creature in the adventure, but it had check-off boxes for each creature's hit points and anything else that needed tracking (like the number of rounds a PC is blinded by the feces-flinging lemur, or how long a dire firefly must wait for its electrical attack to recharge). I hope this becomes a standard feature in HackMaster modules.
4. It was nice to see that the players got their game aids as well. THe PLAYERS' BACKGROUND SHEET and TIPS FOR PLAYERS should be useful, especially for first-time players.
5. I liked seeing the "dungeon dressing." In a room filled with barrels, there's an accompanying table the GM can roll on to see what's in each barrel. The wizard's lab has a table showing just what might be in all of those flasks and beakers. This was a very nice touch.
STUFF THAT INTRIGUED ME: Since I was up until now a "HackMaster virgin," there was a bunch of stuff that piqued my interest.
1. Every monster has a "Fatigue Factor" and a "Threshold of Pain." Interesting.
2. Armor has hit points, that when lost decrease the armor class bonus? Cool.
3. I assume a backwards "S" on a map denotes a one-way secret door? Also cool. I hadn't seen that used before.
All in all, I'd say that Quest for the Unknown does what it sets out to do: provide beginning players and GMs alike with a "standard" dungeon crawl adventure that covers all of the bases - interesting monsters to fight, traps to discover (or set off!), hidden treasure to find, and a sneaky mapping anomaly that seems perfectly in tune with what I've seen of HackMaster in the pages of Knights of the Dinner Table (as in, "screw around with the players' minds"). It also served as an excellent introduction to HackMaster to me; now I know what everyone's been talking about.
Unfortunately, while I enjoyed my "taste" of HackMaster, I don't think I'll be plunking down the big bucks to pick up the Player's Handbook, Game Master's Guide, and 7 or 8 Hacklopedias to continue my HackMaster experience. On the other hand, I wouldn't be opposed to trying a game at GenCon - it looks like fun. I might also do a quick 3E conversion and use parts of Search for the Unknown in my homebrew campaign. Thanks, Kenzer!
And thanks again, Noah, for not only sending me the module, but also issue #4 of the Dungeons & Dragons: In the Shadow of Dragons comic book (and featuring a coloring job by none other than our own Doctor Midnight, too - nice job, Tom! I really liked the blue dragons.)
Johnathan
