Hackmaster "Quest for the Unknown" Review

[Sirius_Black]

I was one of winners of last Tuesday's free product giveway that Kenzer and Company have been doing throughout this week on the board. Thus, below is a review of one of the two products I received in the mail today.

**
Hackmaster’s “Quest for the Unknown” is an introductory adventure for characters level 1-3. The front and back cover feature fair art and should more than set the tone for the straightforward romp that lies within. The inside front cover and back cover feature concise game maps for the two levels that would be explorers will be surveying.
I like items that are exactly as described and this characteristic definitely applies itself to “Quest for the Unknown.” The makers state that this item is to be a “graphic example of a beginning dungeon.” It more than fulfills this promise. In fact the product should bring back memories to many DMs and players of the time when each was just beginning to game.
The story behind the adventure involves a party of adventurers exploring the Caverns of Quasqueton, secret base of the legendary duo Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown. If those two names sound like they belong in the movie the Princess Bride, then you already understand the humor apparent throughout this product.
In fact, the whimsical tone of the adventure is what I adore about the product. I dare say I do not think I would find any other product that has Kangaroo Fleas, Role-playing tips for the DM to play a sassy magic mouth, a Doctor Seuss password (Who knew that was under the Open Gaming License?), a library that featured the title, “Passion among the Elven Women of the Shadok” (Sadly without any illustrations), and a diary of a mistress that reads like something from Dynasty or the Jerry Springer show.
While some may find such things too simplistic, I took great delight as an experienced DM reading something that was irreverent. However, other experienced DMs might feel differently and I would not recommend the product to anyone who wishes in-depth role-playing or complex plots. Yet, I cannot see anyone with half a brain expecting to find any such characteristics in an item with the word, “Hackmaster” on the front cover.
Thus, I would highly recommend this adventure for those just starting out, as there are numerous helpful tips for beginning players and DMs within the item. These helpful additions include a battle sheets, notes for players and the DM and a classic legend table. In fact, having recently read several postings on a message board talking about starting out with younger players, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a product more suited for young (teenagers) players who have not gamed before. I wish I had something like this product when I was role-playing with my stepsons. Indeed, the trash ogre within the adventure even reminded me of my oldest stepson, but that’s another tale of its own.
The adventure comes at a price of 11.99 and has 44 pages of material.

 

[trancejeremy]

I wish they had picked another setting to trash, rather than the Known World/Mystara. I might find it funny then. But since they pick on it, I find their company deplorable

 

[Marion Poliquin]

I wish they had picked another setting to trash, rather than the Known World/Mystara. I might find it funny then. But since they pick on it, I find their company deplorable

If they parody a setting someone else likes, it's funny. If they parody a setting you like, it's deplorable.

I find your way to view the world fascinating, to say the least.

 

[Dahak]

I wish they had picked another setting to trash, rather than the Known World/Mystara. I might find it funny then. But since they pick on it, I find their company deplorable

Umm for the last time...

Hackmaster's Garweeze Wurld is NOT the Mystara setting.


I guess another history lesson is in order.

Modules B1 & B2 (the Dungeons & Dragons versions) predate the Mystara Setting by nearly three years. "Mystara" (which wasn't even called that then) was introduced in the 1981 D&D Expert Set and Module X1, Isle of Dread.

B1 and B2 were written at a time when Basic Dungeons & Dragons (the 78 version) was a lead in to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. Therefore any implied setting would have been the same world as modules G1, G2, etc. (i.e. Greyhawk/Oerth).

When the Expert Set was revised in 1983, modules B1 and B2 were assigned a place in the D&D Known World. When the supermodule B1-9 was released, those adventures were rewritten for the Known World setting.

Of course much later, the setting for B2 was used in AD&D 2nd Edition in a Greyhawk "Return to" module, and now has been redone as a Hackmaster module as well.

So, modules B1 and B2 exist in three settings: Greyhawk, Mystara, and Garweeze Wurld, which is a testimony to the generic slant of the original batch of TSR modules.

 

[Lizard]

I wish they had picked another setting to trash, rather than the Known World/Mystara. I might find it funny then. But since they pick on it, I find their company deplorable

Mystara? Whuzzat?

The original "B1", the module being parodied, was included in the first D&D boxed set, the one with the dragon fighting the wizard and the fighter on the front cover, and a single blue book inside, and dice made out of soft plastic (NOT the chits -- that came LATER). There was no "Mystara" -- the module didn't exist in any gameworld. Hell, at that time, THERE WERE NO GAMEWORLDS FOR D&D -- no published ones, in any event. Even the original Greyhawk folio came later.

Kids. Feh. Get offa my lawn!

 

[Dahak]

The original "B1", the module being parodied, was included in the first D&D boxed set, the one with the dragon fighting the wizard and the fighter on the front cover, and a single blue book inside, and dice made out of soft plastic (NOT the chits -- that came LATER). There was no "Mystara" -- the module didn't exist in any gameworld. Hell, at that time, THERE WERE NO GAMEWORLDS FOR D&D -- no published ones, in any event. Even the original Greyhawk folio came later.

Kids. Feh. Get offa my lawn!

Now now, young'in. That was the second D&D boxed set (third if you actually distinguish between brown and white).

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I wish they had picked another setting to trash, rather than the Known World/Mystara. I might find it funny then. But since they pick on it, I find their company deplorable

Explain how they're "trashing" it. I don't want to be disrespectful, but there is no way anyone who actually has read any of the HackMaster stuff could ever construe it as insulting to D&D or any of its settings. If anything, HM is a huge love letter to the early days of D&D. Actually reading the books would make that obvious.

 

[Sirius_Black]

If anything, HM is a huge love letter to the early days of D&D. Actually reading the books would make that obvious.

That's exactly how I felt as I read the adventure. The item brought back fond memories of the early days I gamed.

 

[2WS-Steve]

If they parody a setting someone else likes, it's funny. If they parody a setting you like, it's deplorable.

I find your way to view the world fascinating, to say the least.

Actually I think that's the definition...

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an
open sewer and die."
--MEL BROOKS

 

[Marion Poliquin]

Actually I think that's the definition...

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an
open sewer and die."
--MEL BROOKS

An oversimplification of what he really meant, if you ask me. If someone were to actually fall into an open sewer and die before his very eyes, I doubt that Mr Brooks would find it very comic. He might find it good comedic material to use later in proper context, however.