Jeff6016's page

Having enjoyed reading (but sadly never able to get a game together) of Hackmaster 4e, I bought the 5e players book sight unseen.

I've never regretted the purchase. Read David's review because he covers most of it quite well. I would note that the the "overconfidence" mentioned is a product of the rulebook being "written" by the designers at "Hard Eight" enterprises, the same fictional company that wrote Hackmaster 4e. The humor of H4e is still there and it pops up from time to time, but it is toned way, way down. Make no mistake, though. The humor does not detract from the game, it is a serious and well-written product.

For anyone interested, download the free basic game at the KenzerCo web site, or pop for the $10 pdf of the Basic Plus (which is enough to get a good, deeper impression of what Hackmaster can do).

As for the 5e hardback, it is on the pricey side, but it is a gorgeous book, extremely well made and in my mind worth every penny.

Happy Hacking!

Are you guys anywhere near the Crystal Lake area? We're starting a local PF game with new DM and players. You can drop me a note at Jeff6016 at Gmail dot com.

I was running my game this weekend and the party happened upon some slavers. The slavers were dispatched with little incident, but one of the slavers was left alive. The player who has a character history of being a slave began his interrogation and questioned the slaver as to where he was taking the slaves.

(I had not planned on this.)

As I struggled for an answer, I blurted out "Bartertown". The player got a smirk on his face as he asked "And who run Bartertown?"

I said.........."Master Blaster runs Bartertown."

So now I am getting ready to design a dungeon and a boss. I was thinking a troll Fighter with a gnome caster strapped to his back. This should be fun.

Did your PC's understand the origin of the reference?

If not, my advice to you is to claim as much credit for an "original idea" as is possible with them. They'll never know until years later when you will get a late night phone text starting with " Why you sunnuva..."

With respect to having trials, one possibility here is if, instead of "just" killing the offender, they could be imprisoned for some time instead. Basically, a death sentence is actually a pretty light sentence in PFO, whereas being locked up for a week or something is a much, much harsher sentence.

Another possibility would be to sentence offenders with a Skill Point deficit that they had to burn off before they could begin to progress again.

Please note, I'm not actually proposing any of this, I'm just brainstorming :)

I could see a sliding scale based on past behavior, ie. getting tossed in jail (no play time) for an hour for the first offense. Then, for a second two hours, then four, then eight.

In this way there are actual *consequences* to the *player* for deciding to become the bane of civilized society. He or she cannot play "Murray the
Merciless" bandit for four days because he got caught, but he or she could play on an alternate character (assuming they allow more than one character slot) under the same rules.

Brainstorming.

You die. Someone loots your corpse, receiving a random selection of its inventory. The rest stays there until you retrieve it.

What is the purpose of destroying it?

This was my exact thought when I read it.

Ah, that's the one I was missing. I was rather impressed to see in on the PX shelves in Afghanistan however.

KOBOLD QUARTERLY: Afghanistan's #1 RPG magazine!

Sebastrd wrote: "We can see the signs of 5E shaping up to be a huge success."

I am firmly in the camp of wanting the next version of D&D to be successful, as I think that it would benefit the entire industry.

But even I think the above statement is silly.

Gorbacz wrote:

It's not D&D Next, it's 5E. No matter what WotC Brand Management says.

Calling it D&D Next is just as right as calling it 5e thank you very much, at the very least D&D Next is a term being used by WotC - sorry if that offends your sensibilities to the point that you feel the need to "correct" me.

I am using D&D Next as a placeholder for whatever it finally gets called, as I get the feeling that WotC won't call it 5th Edition - just like Mongoose RuneQuest was never called RQ4e and Mongoose RuneQuest II was never called RQ5e, maybe the next iteration of D&D is not going to be called 5e.

I've decided to call it D&DJeff.

Why not?

Yup.
Yup.
Yup.

Like the great 20th century philosopher - Bluto of Animal House - said:

"Don' cost nothin'"

Hi Gary,

Just an idea, but consider re-naming the 4th edition forum as "The current and future editions of D&D" forum.

It corrals all 4th, 5th (and 6th?) discussions in one place and leaves the 3rd and prior edition forums intact.

The fallacy in that premise is that a thriving D&D is required for other RPGs to succeed.

Nope. Stop right there. Do not pass go and put that $200 back, bud. ;-)

I never said that "a thriving D&D is required for other RPGs to succeed".

What I DID say is that if D&D stays healthy and beings (sic) new tabletop players into the hobby, that it is good for the hobby in general.

I think you just misread my comment.

Hey, don't sweat it. I do it all the time. ;-)

I think a 5th edition section would help.

We fought long and hard. Finally our enemy is defeated.

However there is a shadow looming on the horizon. Friend or Foe? Only time will tell.

Ah Brix, I dunno.

I think that even if you are right and the "war" is over, there will still be combatants holding out in the hills for years and eventually wandering out of the jungle to blink at the sunshine.

Jeff6016 wrote:

Scott Betts wrote:

The people who are showing up with nothing more to say than, "4e is just the worst, WotC can go fornicate with undesirables, and I hope Hasbro's stock suffers momentary dips!" are only here for today, right? They're just going to post their unpleasant opinions and then leave, yeah?

They won't as long as you keep replying to them and baiting them.

I really wish that were the case.

Just sayin' ;-)

Look folks,

No matter how you felt about AD&D, 3rd edition or 4th edition the fact of the matter is that if the D&D brand stays healthy and beings in new tabletop players, it is good for this industry and good for the hobby in general.

It is even good for Paizo!

Personal boycotts and vented anger aside (and trust me, I am STILL plenty angry about the bashing of prior editions done in the lead up to 4th), I don't wan't D&D to see D&D disappear.

It's the big picture.

The people who are showing up with nothing more to say than, "4e is just the worst, WotC can go fornicate with undesirables, and I hope Hasbro's stock suffers momentary dips!" are only here for today, right? They're just going to post their unpleasant opinions and then leave, yeah?

They won't as long as you keep replying to them and baiting them.

Physician, heal thyself.