Hackmaster: Official Player's Handbook [Paperback]

The Hackmaster Development Team (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

2001 Origins Awards Game of the Year!

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Kenzer and Company (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889182362
• ISBN-13: 978-1889182360
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #580,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Old and new gamers will enjoy this book., August 9, 2005

By 

L. Knox (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hackmaster: Official Player's Handbook (Paperback)

I have the 1st, 2nd and 3e editions of D&D/AD&D and have been playing for many years. I enjoy all of the incarnations of this game as well as other RPGs. Certainly, I have to say I am very impressed with this book.

It's not the exact same game as any of the other editions mentioned above. Although based on 1st and 2nd edition materials there is a lot of new content. You'll love the new approach to building characters and using Building Points. The skills/proficiencies/talents have received a total overhaul and really shine. Spells have been significantly altered, and while this took me by surprise, the game dynamics do seem really well balanced. There are many new PC races and more new classes than you can shake a stick at.

HackMaster is really fun, and it is certainly better crafted than many games out there today. You'll really enjoy the ideas and writing in this book regardless of which side of the D&D or RPG fence you are on.

This is a very well organized, indexed and thought out RPG. There is so much more new material and subtle changes in the game than most people are aware of. HackMaster is truly a unique game but with all the old style attention to detail and style. The support site and forums at KenzerCo (the publisher) are extremely active and have a large following.

One last thing, I have heard/read several reviews who complain about a parody aspect to these books. People who make this claim have probably only briefly paged through the PHB before putting it back on the shelf. After you make it through the first few pages, you really don't notice any obvious parody. Rather, the book is well written with a healthy dose of humor. And if you can't laugh at yourself, what are you doing playing an RPG anyway?

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Effort, December 10, 2002

By 

Tarakas (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hackmaster: Official Player's Handbook (Paperback)

This game is essentially an update of 1st and 2nd edition dungeons and dragons for those who prefer the original system to the new D20 system. As such, it does a nice job of collecting and representing those rules.

On the other hand, the game is also a parody of those games. The writing is intentionally stylistically poor, the layout and organization can be daunting, and the book is incredibly obsessed with tables and charts and dice rolling. For example there are tables on whether your birth is legitimate, tables on how many siblings you have, and tables on whether your parents were competent as parents, and whether their parenting hurt or harmed you.

While you can play the game straight as written, it still really is a parody. I know people who view the book as serious and run games using it, and I know people who bought it, laughed the whole time reading it, and have no intention of ever playing it.

If you've never used the old Dungeons and Dragons systems before, be warned that the old systems were kludged together, inconsistent, and often counterintuitive. This game happily embraces all of these flaws, making it somewhat daunting for a newcomer to understand.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Fantasy RPG with that 'Old-School' Feel, November 20, 2002

By 

Anthony Wales Roberson (Gray, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hackmaster: Official Player's Handbook (Paperback)

HackMaster is the fantasy roleplaying game played by BA and friends in the Knights of the Dinner Table comic book and it has been brought wonderfully to life by the designers at Kenzer and Company.

HackMaster takes the core of the 1st Edition AD&D game engine (with a dash of 2nd edition) and spices it up with additional rules that you probably always wanted. You get a comprehensive character creation system using build points that includes skills, talents, and quirks/flaws, rules for honor that reward good play and punish poor play, rules for armor damage/penetration and a lot more. It's all wrapped up with a healthy dose of humor and fun.

If you long for the days when demi-humans had level limits and a good armor class had a negative sign in front of it then HackMaster is the game for you. And after you have digested the 400 page Player's Handbook, you can pick up the GameMaster's Guide, the multi-volume Hacklopedia of Beasts and an ever-growing number of adventures. So what are you waiting for? Strap on your HackMaster +5 and get hacking - hoody-hoo!