Hackmaster Hacklopedia III (Review)

[Lazarus Long]

Kenzer sent me the Hacklopedia III for review about 3 weeks ago. I've read it off an on for those three weeks and once all the way through cover-to-cover.

Initial Impressions:
The book itself is a nice soft-cover, and seemingly durable. The binding is holding up perfectly, with only a very little space developed between the cover and the pages when the book lies down.
The Cover art is intense, the front showing a half-orc being smashed face-first into a dungeon wall while the other adventurers look on with a "oh no… we have to fight THAT?" look on their faces. The back has a description of a monster whose picture is in full color (all the other illustrations are black and white): the Gummy Fiend… yep a monster made out of "gummy" bear stuff.
Flipping through the book, I first noticed that all the monsters have an illustration. Second, these monsters want to eat you… and most want to play with their food first. Some of the concepts are a tad silly, others more than a tad gross. But I enjoyed looking through the book.

The Rules:
I first started playing D&D with a friend’s older brother’s First Edition books. And reading through the monsters’ descriptions and the rules explanations made me think back to those days. The triggered memories were sweet, but I didn’t get a feeling for nostalgia. I’m glad that D&D evolved into its present incarnation. The few rules descriptions here made me appreciate 3e more.
I can’t really back up these feelings, I realize. I read a monster manual, not the actual rules.

The Monsters:
Overall, the monsters here seem a tad silly, in my opinion. The frog that flies through someone’s chest is too over the top for me, I guess. Of course, the book comes out and says that Hackmaster is a Parody of D&D, so I shouldn’t only look for "serious" monsters.
My favorite are the carnivorous faeries, I might consider the concept for my own campaigns. Their freaky, and seeing them feeding off of another faeriy’s arm chilled me.
The one I dislike the most is the Gummy Fiend. Its just plain stupid, in my opinion.

Final Impressions:
Hackmaster is not for me. I’ve heard that it’s a fun game on its own, and that the silliness enhances the play, which is totally fine- for other people. This book’s price is $20. There’s going to be eight volumes for the hacklopedia- that’s $160. Add the two rule books (I’m assuming they’re ~$30 each, but I could be wrong), and this is one expensive joke.

 

[Lazarus Long]

apologies to the Moderators. I realize now that this is posted in the D&D/D20 forum... probably not the best place (though I do mention 3e!).

Please move it to the most appropriate forum.

thanks!

-LL

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Good, thoughtful, and fair review.

HackMaster really is a very playable RPG. The GMG, as I've said many times, is one of the best RPG books ever published, and the PHB isn't far behind.

The trouble is, Kenzer had to tread a fine line - sure, HM is a parody, obviously. It tried to incorporate many of the concepts, and certainly the feel, of what is portrayed in Knights of the Dinner Table.

Conversely, though, Kenzer took AD&D, 1st and 2nd edition, and worked to improve and update the game for today's gamer. I believe they did a good job. You really can play HM as a straight-ahead, as-serious-as-you-wanna-make-it RPG. The bulk of the monsters in the Hacklopedias, for example, are simply the original critters from the 1e and 2e monster books. Sure, some of the pictures are goofy, but they're the same critters. The character creation system can be as goofy or serious as you want, and uses building points, quirks, flaws, and skills to help create characters who are either very interesting, or very weird - it's really up to you, depending on how you go about it.

There are plenty of things about HM I don't care for - basically, all the 1e and 2e stuff that I didn't like when I was playing AD&D. But there is much more that I do like, and which can be ported over to a 3e campaign.

If HM isn't your cup of tea, that's cool. I just wanted to try to help clear up the misconception that HM is just an overblown joke. It's not. I can see, however, how one could get that impression from just looking at one Hacklopedia.

 

[Replica]

I'm gonna tack on my review of the same product.

Before I begin, I'd like to thank Kenzer for the free product. This shows that you guys have confidence in your work.

I have no background with Hackmaster, and after reading the Hacklopedia III, I'm not sure if I would be interested in the rest of the line. The quality of the book is high. The artwork is hit and miss, but there are some really cool pictures (my favorite is the high elf on page 12.) There are some very weird creatures such as the club-trunked elephant and the giant desert beaver. Needless to say, many are bizarre. The thing that I like the most about the entries is the fact that there is a little box which lets you know if any of the monster's parts are valuable for medicinal and/or magical purposes.

This is a nice book, but I'm not sure if the flavor of Hackmaster is for me. From the introduction, it is apparent that the game is full of humor and has a 1E feel. So, if you miss that old school feel, and like humor (and the bizarre) in your games, I'd recommend Hackmaster.

 

[Lazarus Long]

I really do have a lot of respect for Kenzer and HM, I just don't think I'd enjoy playing it.

After writing this review, I went to my local gaming store and paged through some of the other HM stuff. I'm very impressed with the quality and the obvious love that the designers have for the game. In no way do I think HM is a bad game, I just think I wouldn't have that much fun playing it.

I also was sent a copy of Kenzer's D&D comic. I liked it for the most part. the art was great and the writing was so good that I was drawn into the story immediately, even though the issue that I got was from the middle of a story arc. If I had more money (got laid off ;() I would probably pick this mag up whenevre I saw it. The only thing I didn't like was something that I dislike in a lot of fantasy fiction- the dialects just seemed too forced. Language shouldn't draw attention to itself, it should flow smoothly.

All in all, I really like what I'm seeing from Kenzer... some of it isn't just for me.