HackMaster Player's Handbook Leather Bound – August 1, 2012

First off, before I write more about my personal experience, let me just start off with the summary, this system is awesome. Our games are more fast-paced, exciting, and the players at my table are having more fun as a result of this rule-set. I highly recommend at least giving the free HackMaster Basic (available from the Kenzerco website) a try.Our gaming group has been playing Hackmaster for a little over 6 months now, and we're pretty much hooked. We had been playing Pathfinder for several years prior, and were pretty heavily invested in all things 3.5. I really like Pathfinder, so I certainly don't want to sound overly negative on that system, however, as a GM, I had a few issues that caused me to search out a new system.1. Players were disengaging as a result of the slow paced combat, especially with higher level characters.2. I didn't like how once you chose a class, you had essentially defined the path for your character for the rest of the campaign.3. There seemed to be a relatively short "fun zone" between 3rd and 8th level, where the character classes are fairly balanced, and the GM can still throw interesting challenges at the party.As a result, I began researching different systems, and ultimately decided to give HackMaster a try. I had heard that it was a "spoof" system previously, however, 5E HackMaster is the real deal. We played HM Basic for a single session, and I immediately jumped in with both feet and purchased both the Player's Handbook, as well as the Hacklopedia of Beasts. HackMaster addressed all of the concerns I outlined above, and surprised me at the strategic depth and real sense of danger the system affords.Character Creation Process - Character creation leverages a build point process, which takes more time and thought than Character Creation ever did in PF, however, it also provides a great deal of flexibility in shaping exactly how you want this character to play. Everything is a difficult choice, if you spend BP to up an attribute score, you're potentially sacrificing the ability to purchase a talent or skill down the road. The system also advocates for pulling the average attribute scores back down to around 11, which makes the game more about building an exceptional character through adventuring and leveling up. I like this.Leveling up is similar, you follow a class progression, up your HP and attributes, and receive BP to purchase addition weapon specializations, attribute scores, talents, skills, etc. Again, it takes a little more time than other systems I've played, but affords greater tailoring by the player. One restriction that I appreciate, is that players may not increase a skill they have not used in the previous level, smart.Combat - Combat is really where this system shines. I can't imagine returning to a turn-based system now that our group has gotten used to the "count-up" system. Essentially, combat takes place in seconds, with every action taking a defined number of seconds to accomplish. So, the GM calls out the second, and players move, act, cast, etc. accordingly, with every player, NPC, and monster moving at the same time. There is no downtime, the system is fast-paced, sometimes a little frantic feeling, and above all, deadly. Players are always involved, and with the active defense die roll, each attack requires both the attacker and defender to roll, very smart. There is also a lot of "crunch" behind the rules, allowing players to take different stances depending on their situation, creating some very interesting strategic decisions during combat.Every hit matters, if you get hit hard enough, your character may just fail a threshold of pain save, and fall over helpless in the middle of a scuffle. If you receive a critical hit, there is a chance that your character may experience permanent damage, (I didn't used to have this limp, until I took an arrow to the knee. . .) Which not only makes for more realistic and hazardous fighting, but also provides a lot of good fodder for GM narrative.Magic is also much improved in my opinion. I've never been a fan of the "you can cast 2 - 3rd level spells per day". It just doesn't make sense to me. HackMaster provides the magic user a specific number of spell points that can be spent on any memorized spell. In addition, you can "pump-up" most spells by spending additional spell points to increase effects, range, etc.While there is a lot more I could say about combat, I'll simply add that it's enough fun that I enjoy setting up skirmishes with players even when we don't have everyone together to complete the campaign, simply because it's a fun strategic game in it's own right.For the GM, there is quite a bit to keep track of, however, the KenzerCo site and forums have several tools available that make managing the entire encounter much easier.Skills - This is an area of the game that is a little hit/miss in my opinion. I really appreciate that they have more skills than Pathfinder, which prevents any single skill from becoming the "most important skill" (i.e. Perception). However, as a GM, it can be difficult to remember exactly what skill would make the most sense in any given situation, since there are so many. Also, for skill rolls, you want to roll low, while for combat rolls, you want to roll high. It's not a big deal, but it's just annoying enough to have caused some pauses in action the first several games we played.All in all, highly recommended.

HACKMASTER 5ed tabletop rpg, is just head & shoulders above D&D 5 ed. I own both systems, but it is Hackmaster i am going to play, because it is a mature game, you start as a normal person, not a super hero. You choose a class, and with a point buy system you can make your characters abilities better, or buy some cool talents and get to raise your skills(" there is 70 skills in Hackmaster "). If you like gurps roleplaying game but dont like the generic feel try this, it is 100% pure fantasy, mix d&d, warhammer and gurps and you have a succes. Try combat in Hackmaster and all other games just seem boring and outdated. In Hackmaster you get to move every second, and you get to roll a defence against your enemy 's attack(" if the orc rolls a d20 +6 lets say the orc gets a 12. You have to roll a d20 +your defence bonus lets say you have 9 and get a 2 on the d20 thats only 11, then the orc smashes his mace in your face."). The mace is a d6 and a d8 + 4 the orc's strength if you rolled a 6 or a 8 on the dice, you get to roll again, the dice expload every time you roll Max on the dice. Lets say the orc deals 27 damage to your character. If you dont wear armor or shield your Are going to die quickly. But shield and armor gives you a damage reduction plate armor 7 points and a medium shield 4 points. The damage you get is 16 instead of 27... In Hackmaster you get some hitpoints at every second level, what dice you get depends on your class(" barbarians d12 & rogues d6.mm."). The Hackmaster player's handbook is just a amazing good rulebook, you dont have to flip through 8 different places to find the things you need, like in the New d&d 5 ed rulebook. The book is 400 pages hardcore. The rule system takes some time to get used to, but it is worth the investment, because the system is fast and it will not slow down because you Are level 16. I used to play Pathfinder where the combat just snailed ahead. 160 minnutes +. In Hackmaster the same combat will take Max 20 min... This is a Roleplaying game and if you roleplay good, you Are rewarded with Honor points, like fate points in warhammer, that you can use to get a re roll or get a bonus to your dice roll.... Wizards has spellpoints they can use to pump up the spells to do more damage, reach longer, and so on, the system works much better than vancian magic, from Pathfinder. Cleric's dont get spellpoints but cast spells like in D&D, but they get some cool powers depending on what God you pray to(" some can turn undead or detect Lies. Use sneak attack's if you worship the evil god of murder"). I could go on but I better stop now, but try to take a look at Kenzer and company, you can download the basic rules for free.

Husband was very happy with his book!

Without a doubt, this is among the best fantasy RPGs on the market. HackMaster is a game that is unapologetically complex, with many rules to govern skills, talents, flaws, social interactions, tactical situations, and, of course, combat (the game is called HackMaster, after all). There has been a lot of movement in the RPG industry toward simple, rules-light gaming systems that free up the gamemaster and players for storytelling. And I don't think that is a bad thing. I regularly play D&D 5th edition as well as HackMaster, and 5e is definitely an excellent, high-quality example of how rules light gaming can be done.However, sometimes you just want to strap on the gaming equivalent of full plate armor and go wading into the fray. HackMaster lets you do that. One of the (many) nice things about the way the system is presented, though, is there are standard rules and advanced rules. A group who is new to HackMaster can start with the very digestible standard rules and, if desired, evolve into the full bells-and-whistles, highly complex, and very satisfying advanced rules.In addition to a great game system, you are also getting a very high-quality, drop-dead gorgeous rulebook. Although the MSRP of $60 might seem a bit steep, consider that the D&D 5th edition core books each have an MSRP of $50, and in my opinion they are very much the physical inferiors of this stout, sturdy, thick, beautiful, leather-bound tome.So if you want to stomp around old school style using a book that is as beautiful as it is packed full of great rules, give this game a go.

The book is high quality. The game seems like it's fun I haven't played it yet. It would be cool if it had more pictures and artwork in the book but overall I'm very happy with it.

shipping was great, didn't like the actual product