HackMaster: The New Edition

w_earle_wheeler

First Post

• May 1, 2007

• #1

HackMaster books have shown up with heavy discounts -- $5 each at TitanGames, half-off at many game stores.

On the K&C message boards, there is a stickied thread "What you want to see in HM 5th Edition?" http://www.kenzerco.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=18

WotC might be bringing all of their licenses home. K&C currently has the license to publish 1e AD&D type material.

The OSRIC project has found a way to make the 1e AD&D ruleset open for use and further development.

With these four points in mind (the first point being highly subjective -- you may not have discount HackMaster books in your area), what are your predictions for the future of HackMaster?

What would you like to see in a new edition of HackMaster? If you have been previously disinterested in it, what would make you more likely to try it out?

 

log in or register to remove this ad

T

T. Foster

First Post

• May 1, 2007

• #2

Wow, $5 apiece? Maybe I should buy some more Hackmaster books (currently have only the PH, the B1 and B2 remakes, and Sir Robilar's City of Brass -- the PH was a very fun read (but didn't make me want to actually play the game), all of the others failed to impress)...

 

Kafkonia

First Post

• May 1, 2007

• #3

I'm probably a bit of an odd'un, because I've never played Hackmaster and likely never will, and yet I own Temple of Eexistential Evil, Little Keep on the Borderlands, City of Brass, Tomb of Unspeakable Horrors, and Slaughterhouse Indigo. Their adventures are quite good, and can be readily adapted to D20 (surprise, surprise) to keep even experienced players on their toes. CoB and LKotB get high marks from me, with ToEE as one of my favourite modules of all time (and yes, of course, there's a heavy debt to the original D&D modules, but for ToEE especially it is different enough to stand on its own.)

I'd like to see a few more updated "classics", personally, and I'll definitely have to check the TitanGames site when I get home to see if I can snag any more

 

W

wayne62682

First Post

• May 2, 2007

• #4

To be honest the main reason I never liked Hackmaster is that it seems to push the "joke" as shown in the KoDT comics a little too far; I know the game is intended to be a parody but it comes off as a joke system due to it. The whole "DM is almighty", "DM is out to get you always, don't trust a word he says" and "Do anything it takes to scrounge up XP" stuff put me off from it. Although to be fair, my one and only experience with it was a total disaster with a horrible, horrible group; I'm sure the veterans on the KenzerCo boards remember it.. it caused quite an uproar there a few years back.

 

T

trancejeremy

Adventurer

• May 2, 2007

• #5

They should make it a serious game, not a bad joke which makes fun of a game (AD&D) that a lot of people like. Names like "Little Keep on the Borderlands" just make me angry and want to have nothing to do with it.

 

Voadam

Legend

• May 2, 2007

• #6

Fewer poop jokes and anachronisms.

More books available as pdfs for a reasonable price. (no core books available or any of the classic modules yet).

 

thedungeondelver

Adventurer

• May 2, 2007

• #7

Enough with the "LOLOLOL AD&D SURE HAD LOTS OF FUNNY AND ARBITRARY RULES HEY HERE'S ANOTHER ONE WE'RE MAKING FUN OF LOLOLOLOL". That quit being funny about five minutes before the first HACKMASTER book was published.

What were HACKMASTER books printed on? Newsprint? Toilet paper? Howabout something that actually, you know, feels substantial?

-Just two things off the top of my head.

 

ColonelHardisson

What? Me Worry?

• May 2, 2007

• #8

Personally, I want the game to be very much like what the characters play in KoDT. The current version comes pretty close. Remove the humor, and the game has no point except as a retread of AD&D. And if that's what you want, there are other versions out there, from the original to OSRIC.

 

w_earle_wheeler

First Post

• May 3, 2007

• #9

thedungeondelver said:

What were HACKMASTER books printed on? Newsprint? Toilet paper? Howabout something that actually, you know, feels substantial?

Click to expand...

Personally, I feel that the move toward slick, thick paper is over the top. I'd rather have cheaper paper so that the book can be cheaper. For full color, I understand the shift... but for black and white, keep it cheap.


I also think that HackMaster should retain its elements of humor. The humor of HackMaster is, after all, a direct parody of how many people already played 1e/2e AD&D. However, I feel that the humor can be kept out of the rules, and the silly -awgma can be excised from the text. Put the Gary Jackson rant in sidebars or special chapters.

 

Philotomy Jurament

First Post

• May 3, 2007

• #10

I'm uninterested in Hackmaster as a system. I don't find the humor to be a draw, and I already have AD&D (and OD&D, and Holmes, and B/X, and BECMI, and the RC, and C&C, and OSRIC, and BFRPG).

I'd be interested in (new) adventure modules if they left out the humor. Those I can always use.