Wicht
Hero
What follows is my review of the Hackmaster Hacklopedia Volume IV which I received free from Kenzer and Co. I believe that Kenzer and Co. also wanted a copy sent to Morrus and I will try to do that tomorrow
A Review of
Hackmaster
Hacklopedia of Beasts - Volume IV (Hoar Fox to Medusa)
First off it was very nice of the guys at Kenzer and Company to send me a free copy of this book and I think it shows confidence in their product. They also included a comic in with the free book and if I had enough money to buy comics I would likely follow the series further (D&D: In the Shadow of Dragons). It must be understood that I have neither played nor read the rules of Hackmaster and though I have skimmed through one of the books at a store (and read the reviews posted on the ENWorld Forums), this was my first real long-term exposure to the game. I therefore can not comment on the balance of the book nor the soundness of the rules as there is little in the way of hard and fast rules in the Hacklopedia.
The Hacklopedia, all 8 volumes, for those not in the know, is the Hackmaster’s answer to the Monster Manual. Each volume covers a set of monsters according to alphabetization. There are, according to the whimsical Forward in the front of volume IV, 1600 Monsters spread throughout the 8 volumes. Quite a collection.
The first thing I noticed about the book is the cover which in addition to being very glossy, shows a party of three kobolds skewering an adventurer while four other adventurers rush to help him. Well, one adventurer seems to be rushing to help the poor slob, the other three appear to be holding back in fear. The back cover features a “Jungle Terror” and shows the entry for the monster demonstrating the format used inside the book.
The next thing I did was to flip through the book and take stock of the art (and the leeches, but I will get to the leeches momentarily). The art seems to be trying to emulate the line art of the original AD&D Monster Manual but a lot of the art is hit and miss in my opinion. There are some really terrific little drawings and some horrendous ones as well. There is no rhyme or reason as to what is drawn well and what is not. There is a terrible picture of a Werebear right across the page from a nice little illustration of a wereboar. The Llama is well drawn, while the ring-tailed lemur is not. However, taken as a whole, most of the artwork is average and except for a few really bad ones give you a fairly decent idea of what the beasts and monsters are supposed to look like.
Reading the Forward (which is worth reading) and the Disclaimer (a must read) sets the tone for the rest of the book. It is lighthearted and yet at the same time serious about putting forth the game. It is a parody and says so, but at the same time there is a grim undercurrent of real fun to it. This is the sort of game that could challenge the party with Flumphs one minute (not that I know whether there are any Flumph’s which would, if they existed, be, I would guess, in volume III) and then turn around and challenge them with something actually rather gruesome the next. The slightly odd-ball humor is maintained throughout much of the text of the book (Want to know how to use a karkadann to pick up women?) while the artwork balances this by illustrating the great amount of gore in the game. Most of the monsters, even the slightly silly ones, are presented in a logical and rational manner. They include old D&D favorites (kobolds anyone?) while adding several new ones. Most of the monsters make for a fun read but there were, in my opinion, too many leeches (shiver). I really did not need to see the picture of the groin leech (yes it attaches where you think it does) nor can I imagine myself ever using a cistern leech (it hides in chamber pots) in a game. There are a total of 7 different leeches in the book, not including the leech man and I do believe they are all illustrated. I personally would have preferred 7 different types of liches instead (there are 2 types of liches). The assortment of Jurassic dinosaurs was very nice and the description of the intellect devourer’s acting ability (or lack there-of) made me want to use them in a game. Overall the balance of monsters was good and seemed to provide a nice range in lethality.
One very nice feature of the book is to be found at the end of each creature entry. The authors, in what is called the Yield section, describe what is to be gained from all the killing and looting the players are supposed to engage in. We are given medicinal uses, likely spell components gained, treasure varieties and even some times the flavor of the creatures’ meat. There is, I will caution, a rather disturbing habit of noting the possible benefits to be gained from eating some rather intelligent creatures (shades of cannibalism at times) but other than that the entries are quite enlightening and make one want to go hack and slash for profit and pleasure.
The only real detraction for me in the book (other than the leeches) was the rather low humor used in some places. There is a monster that attacks with its feces (the great lucid impeder), a feces lemur, a groin leech, a cistern leech, and a latrine ambusher. I doubt I would ever use any of these. On the other hand it does have jackalopes and the picture of the little fuzzballs attacking a warrior almost make up for the bathroom humor.
While I can see myself purchasing Hackmaster in the future, the design of the Hacklopedia raises some concerns in my mind as to the game value. Each book has about 200 monsters for $20, which is and of itself a good buy. However the fact that you have to buy all 8 volumes of the Hacklopedia in order to get a variety of monsters from A to Z (a total of $160) makes the game a bit pricey at the outset. It would seem that to really play the game one must spend over $200. This compared to the initial $60 needed to startup with D&D raises my eyebrows a tad. (True I have spent over that much on D&D but not all at once). I would personally have preferred each volume having a selection from A to Z according to some theme making it more palatable an option for my budget.
Overall I would rate the book a four out of five and my exposure to the game through this lone Hacklopedia raises my curiosity as to the rest of the game.
A Review of
Hackmaster
Hacklopedia of Beasts - Volume IV (Hoar Fox to Medusa)
First off it was very nice of the guys at Kenzer and Company to send me a free copy of this book and I think it shows confidence in their product. They also included a comic in with the free book and if I had enough money to buy comics I would likely follow the series further (D&D: In the Shadow of Dragons). It must be understood that I have neither played nor read the rules of Hackmaster and though I have skimmed through one of the books at a store (and read the reviews posted on the ENWorld Forums), this was my first real long-term exposure to the game. I therefore can not comment on the balance of the book nor the soundness of the rules as there is little in the way of hard and fast rules in the Hacklopedia.
The Hacklopedia, all 8 volumes, for those not in the know, is the Hackmaster’s answer to the Monster Manual. Each volume covers a set of monsters according to alphabetization. There are, according to the whimsical Forward in the front of volume IV, 1600 Monsters spread throughout the 8 volumes. Quite a collection.
The first thing I noticed about the book is the cover which in addition to being very glossy, shows a party of three kobolds skewering an adventurer while four other adventurers rush to help him. Well, one adventurer seems to be rushing to help the poor slob, the other three appear to be holding back in fear. The back cover features a “Jungle Terror” and shows the entry for the monster demonstrating the format used inside the book.
The next thing I did was to flip through the book and take stock of the art (and the leeches, but I will get to the leeches momentarily). The art seems to be trying to emulate the line art of the original AD&D Monster Manual but a lot of the art is hit and miss in my opinion. There are some really terrific little drawings and some horrendous ones as well. There is no rhyme or reason as to what is drawn well and what is not. There is a terrible picture of a Werebear right across the page from a nice little illustration of a wereboar. The Llama is well drawn, while the ring-tailed lemur is not. However, taken as a whole, most of the artwork is average and except for a few really bad ones give you a fairly decent idea of what the beasts and monsters are supposed to look like.
Reading the Forward (which is worth reading) and the Disclaimer (a must read) sets the tone for the rest of the book. It is lighthearted and yet at the same time serious about putting forth the game. It is a parody and says so, but at the same time there is a grim undercurrent of real fun to it. This is the sort of game that could challenge the party with Flumphs one minute (not that I know whether there are any Flumph’s which would, if they existed, be, I would guess, in volume III) and then turn around and challenge them with something actually rather gruesome the next. The slightly odd-ball humor is maintained throughout much of the text of the book (Want to know how to use a karkadann to pick up women?) while the artwork balances this by illustrating the great amount of gore in the game. Most of the monsters, even the slightly silly ones, are presented in a logical and rational manner. They include old D&D favorites (kobolds anyone?) while adding several new ones. Most of the monsters make for a fun read but there were, in my opinion, too many leeches (shiver). I really did not need to see the picture of the groin leech (yes it attaches where you think it does) nor can I imagine myself ever using a cistern leech (it hides in chamber pots) in a game. There are a total of 7 different leeches in the book, not including the leech man and I do believe they are all illustrated. I personally would have preferred 7 different types of liches instead (there are 2 types of liches). The assortment of Jurassic dinosaurs was very nice and the description of the intellect devourer’s acting ability (or lack there-of) made me want to use them in a game. Overall the balance of monsters was good and seemed to provide a nice range in lethality.
One very nice feature of the book is to be found at the end of each creature entry. The authors, in what is called the Yield section, describe what is to be gained from all the killing and looting the players are supposed to engage in. We are given medicinal uses, likely spell components gained, treasure varieties and even some times the flavor of the creatures’ meat. There is, I will caution, a rather disturbing habit of noting the possible benefits to be gained from eating some rather intelligent creatures (shades of cannibalism at times) but other than that the entries are quite enlightening and make one want to go hack and slash for profit and pleasure.
The only real detraction for me in the book (other than the leeches) was the rather low humor used in some places. There is a monster that attacks with its feces (the great lucid impeder), a feces lemur, a groin leech, a cistern leech, and a latrine ambusher. I doubt I would ever use any of these. On the other hand it does have jackalopes and the picture of the little fuzzballs attacking a warrior almost make up for the bathroom humor.
While I can see myself purchasing Hackmaster in the future, the design of the Hacklopedia raises some concerns in my mind as to the game value. Each book has about 200 monsters for $20, which is and of itself a good buy. However the fact that you have to buy all 8 volumes of the Hacklopedia in order to get a variety of monsters from A to Z (a total of $160) makes the game a bit pricey at the outset. It would seem that to really play the game one must spend over $200. This compared to the initial $60 needed to startup with D&D raises my eyebrows a tad. (True I have spent over that much on D&D but not all at once). I would personally have preferred each volume having a selection from A to Z according to some theme making it more palatable an option for my budget.
Overall I would rate the book a four out of five and my exposure to the game through this lone Hacklopedia raises my curiosity as to the rest of the game.
