What Hackmaster is?

[Keeper of Secrets]

I would love to actually play it. I have read through some of the stuff and it provides lots of entertainment and some of the moduals I bought (Robinloft) is really funny yet mirrors Ravenloft so much that I just couldn't believe it. But at its base it is a parody of D&D but a playable parody.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

From what I understand, Hackmaster is so close to first ed. ADnD, Kenzer and Co. had to get permission from WOTC to publish it. WOTC let them.

Kenzer has a license to publish 1e/2e material. That's what HM is.

 

[Krieg]

Hahaha. The KoDT site recently ran a couple of online strips in which the group discusses upgrading to HackMaster 4.25. It's a pretty obvious parody of the discussions about the release of D&D 3.5. Here's links to the strips.

From what I understand, Hackmaster is so close to first ed. ADnD, Kenzer and Co. had to get permission from WOTC to publish it. WOTC let them.

It goes a bit deeper than that. The word is that it was a settlement given to Kenzer to get them to drop the lawsuit over WoTC's illegal distribution of KoDT comics in the Dragon CDs.

 

[KenM]

It goes a bit deeper than that. The word is that it was a settlement given to Kenzer to get them to drop the lawsuit over WoTC's illegal distribution of KoDT comics in the Dragon CDs.

WOTC published those strips illegally? I had no idea. Anyone have anymore info on this? I'm surpised a major company like WOTC would do somethign like that.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Well I have the hackmaster players book and it is a laberithne book of rules, you roll straight 3d6 for stats an then spend building points to raise them. BP are also spent on quirks, flaws, skills and eventually converted to starting xp or gold if unspent.
I have used it for the background tables (# of siblings, social status etc.) and the equipment lists.

But for the game itself meh. Funny, and the adventures are updated 1st ed stuff with extra plotting and logic. But the big turn off is 6! monster manuals in alphabetical order, I played one adventure in 2ed. using only only monsters starting with B called the B-quest but I cant see making a habit of it.

My "Rain of Horses" spell fits in perfectly summons 1d3 horses +1 horse per 5 levels at a height up to 30' feet - each horse does up to 6d6 falling damage, and the surviring horses and bodies last 1 hour per level.

 

[Krieg]

WOTC published those strips illegally? I had no idea. Anyone have anymore info on this? I'm surpised a major company like WOTC would do somethign like that.

I have no doubt that it was not intentional, just a misunderstanding of copywrite law and how it pertains to electronic vs print media.

There have been some threads on RPGNet regarding the entire mess in the past.

 

[Alzrius]

WOTC published those strips illegally? I had no idea. Anyone have anymore info on this? I'm surpised a major company like WOTC would do somethign like that.

From what I understand, that was a major brouhaha over that. It revolved (I think) around the fact that the authors of various articles had only sold the first publication rights to TSR/WotC. As such, for any subsequent publishings, such as the Dragon CD-ROM Archive, they should have been paid, but never were. Kenzer was just one of the largest groups in this, since they still owned KoDT, and it was now being republished without their permission.

I don't know what, if any, settlements were reached with individual authors, but Kenzer received two things: permission to have their HackMaster game use many of the mechanical and in-game features of AD&D, and to have their Kingdoms of Kalamar line be published under the D&D banner (though WotC still retains their right to check KoK products before they release).

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Most speculations are just that - speculations.

Now, feel free to ask HackMaster questions... or check out the links here:

Products

The Basics

Example of Play

Downloads

Discussion Forums

General

 

[Saeviomagy]

From my readthrough:

Take 1st ed AD&D.

Add a heap of new rules to fill in holes in the original ruleset.

Add a heap of new rules for the sake of adding new rules.

Add a heap of stuff for making the game a good-old-fashioned hack and slay fest.

Add a bunch of stuff (a lot of which is rules) which is all the pisstakes you can think of about D&D, in game form.

Make sure that no two rules use the same mechanic, that everything requires a table, and so that it appears the GM is to have little say in how things run.

In short - make a pisstake of D&D, but put so much work into it that it's a complete roleplaying game.

What're you left with? A system that could have been better if it wasn't a parody, and a parody that could have been better if you didn't make a system out of it. And 9 or 10 monster manuals, all filled with (primarily) useless crap, all in alphabetical order, so that if you want to actually use the good stuff, you've got to buy the whole lot.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I might've looked into it if the monsters weren't $160+S&H for the whole lot...that's just bs, if ya ask me.