Wizards of the Coast/Kenzer & Company License Agreements Expiring

[Jolly_Blackburn]

Regardless, this is good news, mostly because it's concrete news. Any hints/ideas of what you guys may be considering doing for HM? Personally I'd like to see a few original modules that draw inspiration from the ones mentioned by characters in KoDT, such as the Temple of Horrendous Doom, or completely new ones - and yes, the ones you've released recently to pdf are a good start. I also wouldn't mind seeing a couple of genre-mixing adventures along the lines of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, or perhaps a crossover between HM and A&8s (oohh, I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth now!)

A bit far out to go into too many details. But I don't think you'll be disappointed.

And yes we've toyed with the idea of doing a one-off A&8-Hackmaster crossover.

Even a Cattlepunk setting (again most likely as a one-off). I think A&8 (like HM) lends itself well to different flavors/settings.

But I don't want to imply anything that could be taken as a promise at this point.

Let's just say the gears and turning and we're excited about tackling new projects.

For all the doom and gloom out there regarding rpgs we happen to think the future is bright.

 

[Treebore]

A bit far out to go into too many details. But I don't think you'll be disappointed.

And yes we've toyed with the idea of doing a one-off A&8-Hackmaster crossover.

Even a Cattlepunk setting (again most likely as a one-off). I think A&8 (like HM) lends itself well to different flavors/settings.

But I don't want to imply anything that could be taken as a promise at this point.

Let's just say the gears and turning and we're excited about tackling new projects.

For all the doom and gloom out there regarding rpgs we happen to think the future is bright.

Good! I like the way Kenzer does their product lines. In terms of depth, detail, flavor, etc... The only thing that has ever bothered me is format of presentation. Even then that was minor stuff.

I am glad Aces and 8's is taking off for you.

 

[scourger]

Let's just say the gears and turning and we're excited about tackling new projects.

For all the doom and gloom out there regarding rpgs we happen to think the future is bright.

I'd love to see a HackMaster Lite--sort of like Savage Worlds: finely granular enough for players but coarsely granular enough for GMs.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

The Kalamar products were something of a mixed bag, but when taken as a whole they probably constitute a positive contribution to D&D. In any event, I think it is time for Kenzer to stand on its own.

 

[mhensley]

no worries. the 1/10 of a section combat action of A&8 was expressly designed with pistols in mind. When a character can empty a pistol in a matter of seconds it doesn't make sense to have combat rounds 10 seconds long or even longer. A&8's rules were written with guns in mind.

Umm... doesn't HM already do this with its 10 segments in a round? That's one of the things I just couldn't handle when trying to run HM.

 

[viscounteric]

Umm... doesn't HM already do this with its 10 segments in a round? That's one of the things I just couldn't handle when trying to run HM.

I would say yes and no. In Hackmaster the rounds are six seconds longs, so each segment is 6/10ths of a second long. However, in many cases once you complete your action either on 1 or on 9, you wait until the next initiative to take the next action. With A&E once intial initiative is rolled, the counts keep going up until the fight is over. You go on a 6 and fire. If you wish to fire at the same target again, you add 5 to your count will go on 11. Want to shoot the guy hiding by the horses behind you to your left instead.? 4 counts to turn, 4 counts to aim, 3 counts to fire (so a 16). That's with a pistol. Rifles and Shotguns are slower (but usually do more damage). In A&E a quick gunslinger can draw, fire twice, and dive over a water trough with time to pull out his harmonica and start playing a tune within a HM combat round.

The only time the contiuous count from A&E makes an appearance in HM is when a PC with a high weapon speed or low Dex rolls poorly on initiative and his 14 places his attack on segment 4 of the next rounnd.

Now the 'counts' charts are split between firing actions and moving actions, so I've already typed up the "counts" charts for firing and movement into a combine sheet for my players. We'll have a shootout next weekend and (after a quick trip to the Historicon Dealer's Room for minis) another one the following weekend. For the time being it will be early warm-up session before we start play Hackmaster and it will be great to play for those sessions we're short too many players.

 

[mhensley]

I would say yes and no. In Hackmaster the rounds are six seconds longs, so each segment is 6/10ths of a second long. However, in many cases once you complete your action either on 1 or on 9, you wait until the next initiative to take the next action. With A&E once intial initiative is rolled, the counts keep going up until the fight is over. You go on a 6 and fire. If you wish to fire at the same target again, you add 5 to your count will go on 11. Want to shoot the guy hiding by the horses behind you to your left instead.? 4 counts to turn, 4 counts to aim, 3 counts to fire (so a 16). That's with a pistol. Rifles and Shotguns are slower (but usually do more damage). In A&E a quick gunslinger can draw, fire twice, and dive over a water trough with time to pull out his harmonica and start playing a tune within a HM combat round.

The only time the contiuous count from A&E makes an appearance in HM is when a PC with a high weapon speed or low Dex rolls poorly on initiative and his 14 places his attack on segment 4 of the next rounnd.

Now the 'counts' charts are split between firing actions and moving actions, so I've already typed up the "counts" charts for firing and movement into a combine sheet for my players. We'll have a shootout next weekend and (after a quick trip to the Historicon Dealer's Room for minis) another one the following weekend. For the time being it will be early warm-up session before we start play Hackmaster and it will be great to play for those sessions we're short too many players.

Ugh, it sounds like HM adapting the A&8 rules will become more complicated than it already is. :\

 

[viscounteric]

Ugh, it sounds like HM adapting the A&8 rules will become more complicated than it already is. :\

And from what Jolly and Dave have said, they won't be taking A&8 Combat directly into HM-5. Small portions, sure, but I can't imagine poker cards and chips in Hackmaster.

 

[Hard8Staff]

And from what Jolly and Dave have said, they won't be taking A&8 Combat directly into HM-5. Small portions, sure, but I can't imagine poker cards and chips in Hackmaster.

we have no current plans to use chips or cards in HM.

the obvious ports are the skills, Qs & Fs, some character creation streamlining, the modular rules design (i.e., advanced and basic rules that fit together) and so on.

 

[Hard8Staff]

Regardless, this is good news, mostly because it's concrete news. Any hints/ideas of what you guys may be considering doing for HM? Personally I'd like to see a few original modules that draw inspiration from the ones mentioned by characters in KoDT, such as the Temple of Horrendous Doom, or completely new ones - and yes, the ones you've released recently to pdf are a good start. I also wouldn't mind seeing a couple of genre-mixing adventures along the lines of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, or perhaps a crossover between HM and A&8s (oohh, I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth now!)

Probably the first adventure released will be titled "Frandor's Keep". Been working on that for some time already.