As I have said before, I have a lot of roleplaying games (RPGs) in my horde. (Not a collection: “collections” are organized, while a horde isn't.) I love reading them, and seeing how they work – and how they don't. I eagerly seek out RPGs that I don't own. However, I don't have an unlimited amount of money, so I concentrate my search for physical RPG books at used book stores, like Half-Price Books and Recycled Books. After the March ship's meeting, we visited the Half-Price in Watauga, where I found a copy of “Hackmaster Basic”, as well as the setting book for “Shadowforce: Archer” (for the first edition of Spycraft, a d20 spy RPG.)
Once upon a time, Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) decided to introduce a new version of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D). The game was, at that time, in its second edition, and was very successful, but as there were an over-abundance of supplemental rule books – some of which were very unbalanced, WoTC was probably very smart to bring out a third edition. The Third Edition (3E) D&D rules were even released as Open Source material, and the proliferation of d20 games began. Meanwhile, there was a very popular (and still ongoing) series of Web comics, entitled “Knights of the Dinner Table” (http://www.kenzerco.com/Operiodicals/kodt/kodt%20webstrips/phpslideshow.php) in which the characters played a very complicated, arcane RPG called “Hackmaster” which was quite obviously a fictional version of AD&D (2nd Ed.) In the run-up to the release of 3E, some old-school gamers over-reacted, and the characters in Knights of the Dinner Table (KoDT) did, too... only, in the strip, they were complaining about the release of Hackmaster Fourth Edition. The owners of KoDT did something amazingly smart. They purchased the rights to AD&D 2nd Edition, added a HUGE amount of craziness (from the KoDT strip), and released it, as “Hackmaster, Fourth Edition.” It was entertaining to read, but I personally found it a hassle to play. At the time, I was playing in a 2nd Ed game, and the Dungeon Master (DM) forbade us players to have a copy of the DM Guide out during play. During one session, at which I had a copy of the Hackmaster DM Guide, I looked up something in it and read it out loud – after which, I was forbidden to have that book open at the game. Too close to 2nd Ed... in many cases, word-for-word. Regardless, I have known people who've played Hackmaster and enjoyed it. Kenzer, the publisher, is a very strong company, and they've released some great products, both within and without the Hackmaster line. (One of which is sitting on my shelf, Aces & Eights, a Western RPG.) Which brings me back to Hackmaster Basic, the game I bought in March. I initially believed it to be a variant of the “Red Box” Dungeons and Dragons I first played in the late 1970s & early 1980s. Upon further review, however, it is in fact its own system. I see elements from D&D, and from AD&D, and from Hackmaster, but it stands alone in its own right. In the forward and introduction to the book, it states that this represents a new version of Hackmaster (either second edition, or “fifth”, depending on your viewpoint). This book only takes characters from first through fifth levels, with the 6th through 20th levels available in “Advanced Hackmaster”, three separate books (Players Handbook, Gamemasters Guide, and a book of monsters). Each of those books costs $59.99 at the Kenzer web site. ** Shudder ** “Tank, there ain't no way I'm payin' a hundred 'n' eighty bucks for a...” Relax, friends. Although I'd purchased the soft-back, physical version of Hackmaster Basic, you can get the same stuff for free at the Kenzer web site. Go here: http://www.kenzerco.com/hackmaster/downloads.php and download stuff. Don't download the adventures, unless you want to run the game. Print off the blank character sheets. Grab some dice, and then follow the directions in the “Hackmaster Basic Free RPG” PDF to roll up a character. Then, let me know. Let us schedule a time and place to get together and play. Sum non Satis? Commodore Tank Clark, SFMD Team Leader, 33rd STARFLEET Rangers (“The Paladins”)
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Commodore Tank ClarkCommodore Clark has been the Team Leader of the 33rd STARFLEET Rangers for several years. His monthly articles about games (usually Role-Playing Games -- RPGs -- but sometimes about other tabletop forms of entertainment) appear regularly in the Regulator Charge!, the ship's newsletter. Archives
September 2017
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