I have a friend who is wanting to get back into RPGs after some time out of the game. He really wants to play HackMaster. He does not like the newest edition and apparently owns most of everything that came out for 4th edition. I told him I was willing to read through the books, which he intends to loan me in the next day or two.

I understand it's somewhat like a blend of 1E and 2E D&D, but with a bit of parody thrown in. That's about as far as my knowledge goes (that and the older copies are not cheap at ye olde used book shoppe).

Anyone here play it much? What's been your experience with it? Any pitfalls I should look out for if I cave and decide to run a campaign with it?

Quote from: Kaz;722777I have a friend who is wanting to get back into RPGs after some time out of the game. He really wants to play HackMaster. He does not like the newest edition and apparently owns most of everything that came out for 4th edition. I told him I was willing to read through the books, which he intends to loan me in the next day or two.

I understand it's somewhat like a blend of 1E and 2E D&D, but with a bit of parody thrown in. That's about as far as my knowledge goes (that and the older copies are not cheap at ye olde used book shoppe).

Anyone here play it much? What's been your experience with it? Any pitfalls I should look out for if I cave and decide to run a campaign with it?

It is an experience. It hard to describe as anything other than AD&D on steroids. The writing is light hearted with some parody but the mechanics are pretty much straight and there are a lot of mechanics.

It's D&D as sung by GWAR.

I played it a few times, and if your crew loves AD&D and KotDT or loves to play AD&D in a humorous gonzo manner, then it can be a fun game.

But for me the joke got old quick and the rules uber-crunch didn't amuse me. But fuck, I buy RIFTS books so I can't point fingers.

In the future, I would absolutely play HackMaster 4e with the right crew, but I wouldn't run it.

I cant believe any gamer could see the 5th ed Hacklopedia of Beasts and not immediately fall in love with it.

AD&D + 2nd edition AD&D + a buttload of house rules and MAD Magazine treatment of 1e and 2e and you're pretty much there.

Worth it for the character options of "Wuss Slap" "Manu Weasel Dance" and "Dig Hasty Grave."

JG

Quote from: James Gillen;722849Worth it for the character options of "Wuss Slap" "Manu Weasel Dance" and "Dig Hasty Grave."

JG

You forgot the racial attack ability of the Gnome Titans, "Groin Stomp"

Quote from: TristramEvans;722826I cant believe any gamer could see the 5th ed Hacklopedia of Beasts and not immediately fall in love with it.

5th edition is quite different from Hackmaster 4e and very good in its own way. It definitely a top quality labor of love.

Quote from: TristramEvans;722826I cant believe any gamer could see the 5th ed Hacklopedia of Beasts and not immediately fall in love with it.

But 5e isn't 4e Hackmaster two completely different games to me.

Quote from: Marleycat;722908But 5e isn't 4e Hackmaster two completely different games to me.

Yes, one is a joke version of AD&D, the other is a serious attempt at making a playable RPG.

I mean if an extremely crunchy beer &pretzels comedy game of minmaxing is pne's idea of a good time, so be it, but to me the joke wore thin pretty fast and Id just as soon break out H.O.L. if I wanted to play a game as a goof. 4e has the advantage that it succeeds in providing a game wherein one can accurately recreate the KotDT comics it was based on, but aside from that I couldnt imagine choosing 4e over the myriad of other much better designed OSR games. Not that Im interested particularly in 5e but they seriously produced the greatest Monster Manual in the hobby, and I recommend it even to those who arent planning to play Hackmaster.

One actual problem with the "serious" part of HM 4 is that their critical hit rules were exponentially more complicated than Rolemaster, and not nearly as funny.

JG

He dropped off the literature yesterday. I get that some of the complexity is part of the joke, but it sure is out there in terms of rules and how much there is to read. He rolled up a character to show me how it goes. While there were a lot of rolls and book-keeping (bonus points, honor) it didn't seem any more complex than pure point-buy systems I've played/run.

And from talking to him, I got the sense they went the HM route while everyone else was going 3E. And it seemed to me, they played it pretty straight. He wasn't really trying to min/max his character, and was often trying to make sure the character was consistent to a concept. He mostly spent his bonus points to reroll based on preferences than creating a perfect killing machine.

Has anyone run HM sans gonzo?