So what do you all think of Hackmaster? I have seen it around and I was wondering what it is like? ~grins~
So what do you all think of Hackmaster? I have seen it around and I was wondering what it is like? ~grins~
I dunno about the new edition of the game, but the "1e/2e hybrid" HackMaster was all kinds of fun. I ran a (short) campaign of it with 8 or 9 players. I also apologize in advance for the 'gamer story' that follows. :)
The first go 'round, he pooches his Perception check and grabs a woman in the dead of night from her home. Upon removing the sack from her head, he finds out its an old woman. Rather than get frustrated by it, he shrugged and had the Giant Fly barf digestive acid on the bound old woman, then eat her alive. "What, the fly's gotta eat."
Needless to say, this didn't sit well with a few other player characters.
On the night of the Big Ritual, said cleric has finally gotten himself a proper virgin to sacrifice and surrounded himself in a secret place in the boonies with his boon companions.
Or so he thought.
As it turns out, one player took it upon himself to recruit three of the other characters into rubbing out the cleric at the climactic moment of the sacrificial ritual. I saw one player pass a note to another player asking "So these are the guys we have to kill?", a beautiful moment.
A surprise round ensues and the weapons and spells start flying. In HackMaster everything relating to hit point damage can 'explode', including cure spells (roll maximum # on the die, re-roll and add - rinse, lather, repeat. In the case of the Cleric, a volley of seven or eight magic missiles perforated the Cleric into a strong resemblance of a blood-based water sprinkler, killing him on the spot. The ensuing blood bath saw 2 or 3 player characters survive out of 8, with appropriate mounds of loot carted from the corpses of their former comrades - who were quickly buried by way of the "Dig Shallow Grave" skill.
It was a beautiful day for them to have died. ^_^
The new incarnation looks reasonably familiar, but the free funds have yet to manifest in order to permit me to peruse the book in detail.
~laughter~ Thanks Turin!
~laughter~ Thanks Turin!
Glad to oblige. Matter of fact, I think I've acquired most of the HM material along that 1e/2e vein.
Hacklopedia of Beasts, Player Coupons, GM Coupons, several modules (White Doom Mountain, Annihilate the Giants, Slaughterhouse Indigo among the collection) and I believe two copies of the two main rule books and I *think* the full set of "class books".
Good stuff - my tied-for-favorite (with several others) magic item are the Gauntlets of Wuss-Slapping. Good times ... good times ...
~grins~ Well, I just "aquired" 30 Hackmaster books. ~hangs my head in shame~ e-bay hates me. ~GRINS~ I am glad to know that it is a fun system.
~grins~ Well, I just "aquired" 30 Hackmaster books. ~hangs my head in shame~ e-bay hates me. ~GRINS~ I am glad to know that it is a fun system.
I still think that the Honor System could be "exported" almost as-written to d20. Gives a heck of a motivation to role-play your character's alignment! ^_^
~grins~ Well, I just "aquired" 30 Hackmaster books. ~hangs my head in shame~ e-bay hates me. ~GRINS~ I am glad to know that it is a fun system.I still think that the Honor System could be "exported" almost as-written to d20. Gives a heck of a motivation to role-play your character's alignment! ^_^
~chuckles~ Well, once my books get here, I will see if I agree with you.
I haven't played a lot of Hackmaster, but i have tried the new system and the old one. The new one uses the stacking initiative system from the Aces and Eights game. This is one of the biggest differences that I noticed. Instead of combat rounds you start at count zero. Then you declare what you want to do and the action you choose determines at what count you will act at. For example the guy that wants to swing an axe will act later than the guy who wants to do a quick thrust with a dagger. To me it's strange that they opted to use this system because, as I mentioned, it's taken from Aces and Eights, which is intended to be a very realistic simulation of how a Wild West shoot out might play out, and the system is extremely detailed and intricate. I don't understand why they'd want to apply such a system to a game like Hackmaster, which I think of as a humorous light hearted version of D&D. I feel like the game can't decide what it wants to be- a serious rpg or a tongue and cheek parody game.
I haven't played a lot of Hackmaster, but i have tried the new system and the old one. The new one uses the stacking initiative system from the Aces and Eights game. This is one of the biggest differences that I noticed. Instead of combat rounds you start at count zero. Then you declare what you want to do and the action you choose determines at what count you will act at. For example the guy that wants to swing an axe will act later than the guy who wants to do a quick thrust with a dagger. To me it's strange that they opted to use this system because, as I mentioned, it's taken from Aces and Eights, which is intended to be a very realistic simulation of how a Wild West shoot out might play out, and the system is extremely detailed and intricate. I don't understand why they'd want to apply such a system to a game like Hackmaster, which I think of as a humorous light hearted version of D&D. I feel like the game can't decide what it wants to be- a serious rpg or a tongue and cheek parody game.
It's actually very similar to the 1e "speed factor" initiative system, which seems to be what both incarnations of HackMaster are using.
With that in mind I don't see a problem.
The funny thing about the 1e-style initiative system is that it rather discourages tossing off one's higher-level spells. As a general rule of thumb most higher level spells have a casting time (in speed factor) equivalent to their spell level. Certain ones *I believe* are much faster than others, and clerics/druids tend to have very slow casting times in general.
So imagine you're the wizard and the orcs spring an ambush - do you lay waste to them all with a single cone of cold, relying on your quickness of spell casting [modified intiative total] to pull it off before they close in and stab you to death, or do you riffle off a magic missile, color spray, sleep or anything else with a much lower casting time?
~wistles in amazement after browsing through my "new" HackMaster books~ For a "joke" game system, they put a lot of thought and effort into HackMaster.
~wistles in amazement after browsing through my "new" HackMaster books~ For a "joke" game system, they put a lot of thought and effort into HackMaster.
Yes, yes they did. That's why - in my opinion - that it holds up very well as a game system in its own right. There are a number of subsystems in there that would "export" nicely: Honor/Alignment and Protege specifically come to mind.
~wistles in amazement after browsing through my "new" HackMaster books~ For a "joke" game system, they put a lot of thought and effort into HackMaster.Yes, yes they did. That's why - in my opinion - that it holds up very well as a game system in its own right. There are a number of subsystems in there that would "export" nicely: Honor/Alignment and Protege specifically come to mind.
I would not mind seeing them do a HackMaster, Pathfinder version. ~grins~
I would not mind seeing them do a HackMaster, Pathfinder version. ~grins~~wistles in amazement after browsing through my "new" HackMaster books~ For a "joke" game system, they put a lot of thought and effort into HackMaster.Yes, yes they did. That's why - in my opinion - that it holds up very well as a game system in its own right. There are a number of subsystems in there that would "export" nicely: Honor/Alignment and Protege specifically come to mind.
:) That would be pretty fun to see - I'd *love* to see what Gauntlets of Wuss-Slapping would be in PRPG.
Among other things...
I would not mind seeing them do a HackMaster, Pathfinder version. ~grins~~wistles in amazement after browsing through my "new" HackMaster books~ For a "joke" game system, they put a lot of thought and effort into HackMaster.Yes, yes they did. That's why - in my opinion - that it holds up very well as a game system in its own right. There are a number of subsystems in there that would "export" nicely: Honor/Alignment and Protege specifically come to mind.:) That would be pretty fun to see - I'd *love* to see what Gauntlets of Wuss-Slapping would be in PRPG.
Among other things...
~laughter~ Well, I am reading throught the players guide. After that, then the GM's Guide. Then the other books.