Messageboard Golem
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er...I mean Bait sorry sleepy 
HackMaster Player Handbook
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Messageboard Golem
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I think that _Hackmaster_ is perfectly viable as a game even though it is a parody.
First of all, it offers a complete set of rules (in contrast to, say, White Wolf's _Human Occupied Landfill_).
Secondly, it *can* be played seriously. Sure, everyone at the table will be aware that it is a spoof of AD&D, but that does not mean that one has to play like the Knights of the Dinner Table. Suspend your disbelief and embrace nostalgia!
First of all, it offers a complete set of rules (in contrast to, say, White Wolf's _Human Occupied Landfill_).
Secondly, it *can* be played seriously. Sure, everyone at the table will be aware that it is a spoof of AD&D, but that does not mean that one has to play like the Knights of the Dinner Table. Suspend your disbelief and embrace nostalgia!
@plaetster: I start reading KotDT with issue ~20, bought all the back issues and had the opportunity to meet the Kenzer Guys in Essen (german gaming convention) back in 2001 (afair).
I KNOW that there's a lot of parody inside the covers of Hackmaster but it's still a damn good system! It's much more than a fun system! Have you ever taken a look at the class books? Little Keep of the Borderlands?
IMO Hackmaster is a great & playable, no, a great playable system.
I played AD&D 1st and it sucked (german translations, *yick*). I played second and learned english to unerstand all the books (because of german translations *yick* hm... did I say this before?
) and switched to 3rd again.
After playing it for 5 years I can't get most of my players to take Prestige Classes (to plan ahead for 5 or 6 levels of charakter development sucks) and a lot of other things that makes me yick (even though the german translations are now much better... I heard ).
So I tried HM and IT ROCKS!
@Halzebier: greetings to you, soul mate!
I KNOW that there's a lot of parody inside the covers of Hackmaster but it's still a damn good system! It's much more than a fun system! Have you ever taken a look at the class books? Little Keep of the Borderlands?
IMO Hackmaster is a great & playable, no, a great playable system.
I played AD&D 1st and it sucked (german translations, *yick*). I played second and learned english to unerstand all the books (because of german translations *yick* hm... did I say this before?
) and switched to 3rd again. After playing it for 5 years I can't get most of my players to take Prestige Classes (to plan ahead for 5 or 6 levels of charakter development sucks) and a lot of other things that makes me yick (even though the german translations are now much better... I heard
).So I tried HM and IT ROCKS!
@Halzebier: greetings to you, soul mate!
Messageboard Golem
First Post
I didn't mean to come so Harsh its just to me HM is about as serious as paranoia I love the 3rd ed of that game played it for years but its not a system I play when I want to sink into some "deep emersion story telling" as they put it in the 3.5 DMG and I agree I bought all the hm stuff becuase it highlighted the stupid hack and slash mentallity that has huanted our hobby from the days when only minature wargammeing thickos invented it. when I read HM I fondly think to my self " I acctually met a guy at a con that played AD&D like that...what a thicko that guy was trying to justify a dwarf longbowman by giving him a stool to stand on" HM is the very playable and enjoyable MST3K Of RPG's ....buy it cause its a riot.
I have played Paranoia, Toon, and many other parody/humor games and HackMaster is a serious game. How much humor a person puts or chooses not to put into an RPG depends on the GM and the players.
Hackmaster was the 2001 Origins Game of the Year.
It has been supported continuously since then.
There is an organization that sponsors tournaments and such.
There is no disclaimer about "humor", "spoof", or "dark humor" on the cover not in any disclaimer inside the book.
Yes, to many people the books are a riot, but being funny is not the same thing as being a spoof. Since the AD&D DMG had humorous cartoons in the book it must have been a spoof, right?
Hackmaster was the 2001 Origins Game of the Year.
It has been supported continuously since then.
There is an organization that sponsors tournaments and such.
There is no disclaimer about "humor", "spoof", or "dark humor" on the cover not in any disclaimer inside the book.
Yes, to many people the books are a riot, but being funny is not the same thing as being a spoof. Since the AD&D DMG had humorous cartoons in the book it must have been a spoof, right?
Messageboard Golem
First Post
Hmm...
Plaetster? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you haven't actually played the game, only read some of the books. Is that assumption correct? I apologize if it is incorrect as it is unclear from your previous posts.
Regardless, I don't agree with your opinion. And we all know what opinions are like, so I'll add another one.
Hackmaster, like any game system, is _exactly_ what the players make of it. No more, no less. You can play any style in any game. (Well almost any style, I don't think a hack-n-slach CoC game would last very long... ;-) Sure the Hackmaster *books* are loaded with humor. But it's just the books themselves. The humor doesn't have to carry over into the actual playing of the game itself in any way.
Personally, I think you can have "deep emersion story telling" in (almost) any game. Again, it's all about what the players make of it.
I would boldly suggest that you give Hackmaster another chance. Since I've met very few gamers who use the rules "by the book", how about changing or ignoring those things you don't like? But give it another go?
Take care,
Harry
Plaetster? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you haven't actually played the game, only read some of the books. Is that assumption correct? I apologize if it is incorrect as it is unclear from your previous posts.
Regardless, I don't agree with your opinion. And we all know what opinions are like, so I'll add another one.
Hackmaster, like any game system, is _exactly_ what the players make of it. No more, no less. You can play any style in any game. (Well almost any style, I don't think a hack-n-slach CoC game would last very long... ;-) Sure the Hackmaster *books* are loaded with humor. But it's just the books themselves. The humor doesn't have to carry over into the actual playing of the game itself in any way.
Personally, I think you can have "deep emersion story telling" in (almost) any game. Again, it's all about what the players make of it.
I would boldly suggest that you give Hackmaster another chance. Since I've met very few gamers who use the rules "by the book", how about changing or ignoring those things you don't like? But give it another go?
Take care,
Harry
Messageboard Golem
First Post
Harry,I'm greatful that you said these are opinions,to which I'm entitled (just like every one here).I totaly agree that HM is as playable and viable as D20(incert game name here) on anything else for that matter. I just thought the material was making fun of anyone who would seriously play HM as one would play gurps horror, D&D or stormbringer for example. To Me (and apperently only to me one plays HM (like i did @ a con) becuse of the overly complicated rules and the raw stupidity of the knight errant and the lunacy of the player/Gm cards in the back of the book. I made a mindless module like aganst the giants fun to play because the hack and slash is not serious because if it was I'd have left that table in a hurry. but hell If people find different things in hack master thats great I just offered a differing opinon and a different outlook fron cyric thats all I agree with cyric on one point though THE BOOK IS A 5/5 BOOK and a must have for any serious gamer so they can see the crazyness that was once our beloved hobby.
one plays HM (like i did @ a con) becuse of the overly complicated rules and the raw stupidity of the knight errant and the lunacy of the player/Gm cards in the back of the book. I made a mindless module like aganst the giants fun to play because the hack and slash is not serious because if it was I'd have left that table in a hurry. but hell If people find different things in hack master thats great I just offered a differing opinon and a different outlook fron cyric thats all I agree with cyric on one point though THE BOOK IS A 5/5 BOOK and a must have for any serious gamer so they can see the crazyness that was once our beloved hobby.
