A Toast to Those Who Hack!

We have a lot of love for Hackmaster here at the Labyrinth.  Hackmaster Basic, a simplified version of the new system is a great game and can be had for under $20.  Despite being both a great game and an affordable one Hackmaster hasn't spread like it should.  When I talk with Gamers I am discouraged to find that many don't even know what the game is.  That's why I love to see people spreading the word about the game and especially running a game for others to show them what Hackmaster is all about. 

So Cheers to Troll and Flame who's proprietor recently ran what looks to be an awesome game of Hackmaster for a large group of people.  A number of pictures are provided and show the DM using Heroscape terrain to great effect.  Despite his concerns it looks like the game was a lot of fun.  I know I wish I could have played! 

Want to See What a Quality Product Looks Like?

Just in case you wanted to see what a quality print product looks like here are some pictures of the Advanced Hackmaster monster book, The Hacklopedia of Beasts.

Those who are familiar with the Aces & Eights core rulebook will be familiar with the type of quality pictured above, a level which I have never seen replicated in an RPG book.  

Well at least until now. 

Some are saying that this book outstrips even the Aces & Eights book for production value, but I'll need to have the book in my hands to attest to that.  Regardless, this shows that Kenzer & Co are committed to providing the gamer audience the very highest quality product.  Doing so has come with its share of adversity, from delays in publication to complaints about the high cost of the product, but in the end those who love RPGs, love Kenzerco's work, and are willing to pay a premium for a premium product are going to be more than satisfied. 

Hackmaster has come a long way from being a joke system in a comic strip, to a parody of D&D, to a system that stands on its own two feet and puts forth a host of innovations.  Despite the greatness of the new edition there are still those who think of Hackmaster as only a joke name and for that reason the good folks over at Kenzerco made this little poster...

The Hacklopedia is slated for release July 6th, carries a price tag of of $59.99 and can be ordered through Kenzerco's website. 

Gen Con 2011 Event List Is Out

Last night Gen Con released the Event list for 2011.  You can download it in the obnoxious .csv file and open in Excel, scrolling through 8171 rows trying to find what you are looking for, but my suggestion is just to use this much better website for browsing events. 

I've got to say I'm a little disappointed with the event list.  There are a couple of games I really wanted to play at the convention that just aren't available.  Aces & Eights is probably the biggest of these.  Last year there was only one game and this year none... Very disappointing.  I really wanted to play Pendragon as well, but that is also totally unavailable.  Hackmaster Basic is finally getting some love this year, so that is good, but there are no Song of Ice and Fire RPG games.  It's good to see more 1st and 2nd editon D&D games being played this year.  The two 1st edition games we played last year were a blast.  We will definitely be signing up for more of those.

Alternate Ability Score Generation 2

I talked previously about coming across an ability score generation table based on percentages rather than a 3d6 or 4d6 roll.  One of the principal things about this method that intrigues me is the great degree of flexibility it offers.  I made an initial attempt at what at graphing the altered probabilities of the various stats which looked like this:

 

What I really wanted to do from there was create graphs for each individual ethnic group Caliburn game to see what that might look like.  I used a bar graph this time since the line graph was getting a little hard to read.  Here is a look at that attempt...

A lot more tweaking is going to be required before finalizing these, but I think they are a step in the right direction.  I think I want to go even further in making each group's stat probabilities unique, reflecting the different circumstances in climate, technology, and genetics that each group sees. I also need to complete a graph for the fifth ethnic group, the Prydainians who I left out.  Oops!

Alternate Ability Score Generation

There are a lot of ways to figure out a characters ability scores.  If you are old school then you probably use the first method, rolling 3d6 (Probably in order, though some generous DMs allow for arranging to taste).  If you are more new school you probably roll 4d6 and arrange them however you want.  A third method that has become popular in the last few years is point-buy, where you get a pool and invest the points from your pool into your various stats. 

Personally I've used the first two methods and always found them to work well.  I don't, and I don't think I ever will, play with point-buy.  It just lends itself too much to cookie cutter characters.  Characters with the same class have more or less the same array of stats to accommodate a certain "build" instead of being unique. 

Another options that I recently read about on Grognardia that I was unaware of is a percentage based chart like the one used in FGU's Space Opera.  Rather than rolling the traditional d6s, player break out their percentile dice and roll on a chart that favors higher numbers.  Additionally players have a number of points they can allocate toward certain stats based on their class.  It's a very interesting approach. 

A percentage based chart really gives you an exceptional amount of flexibility.  I think that is what intrigues me most about it.   Using multiple small dice you are going to see a traditional bell curve but with this the probability curve can be whatever you want it to do.  What's more each individual statistic can have its own unique curve. 

That was what I set out to do when I made a preliminary version that I might consider using in a future campaign.  I wanted certain statistics, Constitution especially, to have a higher basement.  The idea is that with rampant disease, starvation, and other hardships anyone with less than an 8 con died off.  Other statistics, like Intelligence also see an increased minimum because those who would only be a burden to their families are often cast out and allowed to perish.  Infantcide is an accepted practice and if a father finds the baby deformed, inferior, weak, or if he suspects that he may not be the father, it is a generally accepted practice that the child would be abandon in the wood and left to die of exposure.  All of this horror and death adds up to higher minimum statistics for starting characters. 

Here is my first attempt:

It obviously needs work, and I'm not sure that I'd like to keep all of them as near normal bell shaped curves.  Again, it's the flexibility that I find intriguing about this method.  One could have a separate chart like this for each race, eliminating the need for bonuses and penalties for each race since it would be built right in.  Though I wouldn't play with the first attempt I think it warrants further attempts.  With a tweak here and a tweak there I think this method could work out really well. 

Reimagining the Goblin

Let's face it, other than the Kobold the Goblin is the low man on the totem pole.  You need a humanoid for your low level party to kick around?  Goblins fit your need perfectly.  They aren't all that dangerous, none of their abilities will frighten even a first level party.  So unless you've plan on throwing a small army of Goblins at the party, don't expect them to put up much of a fight. 

To my mind this is really kind of sad.  Goblins are a central monster in a lot of folklore, and though interpretations vary widely in those tales Goblins are usually portrayed as both scary and possessing supernatural powers.  The Goblin in D&D and other fantasy RPGs get's neither of those characteristics.  In fact they are more akin to cattle being brought to slaughter than their supernatural predecessors.  As I said, this is a damn shame.  I think it is time we got back to basics and made the Goblin a monster again and not some weakling to be kicked around with ease.

Scared?  I thought not.

Things didn't start off well for the Goblin.  In White Box D&D they warranted little more description than that they were little monsters.   Monsters evokes feelings of fear, but by describing them as little it takes away a portion of that fear and makes them seem less formidable (though obviously the fact that something is small doesn't mean it isn't dangerous).  

Later works including the Orcs of Thar and the AD&D Complete Book of Humanoids gave the option to have the Goblin as a playable race.  This kind of familiarity makes it even less likely that an adventuring party would view a small group of Goblins as a real threat, and increases the likelihood that Goblins would be looked at as just another race of people, much the way they are presented in World of Warcraft.   This isn't what we are trying to accomplish here.  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  We want to make the Goblins monstrous, to dehumanize them to a point where one wouldn't stop to chat with a Goblin, they would either run like hell or try to kill it before it killed them.

We get no help in our quest from second edition.  Hell they also present an option to play a Goblin as a PC in the Player's Option: Skills & Powers book.  Third edition humanizes Goblins even more and makes them an even less formidable threat to a party, and 4e goes even further.

So it seems we will get no help from D&D on this.  It looks like we are on our own.  In my mind that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  I think monsters are one of the things that GMs are least likely to put some of themselves into.  They buy the Monster Manual and pick monster out of the book and plop them right into their games as is.  Despite coming up with their own campaign setting, their own adventures, and their own NPCs, GMs will just use generic monsters time after time.  I think this is a habit we as Gamemasters need to break.  We put too much of ourselves games to shortchange them by using the same old creatures time after time.

Silly tinkerer Goblins?  No thanks.

Just to give an example of the same old monsters getting stale let me tell you a story about my own gaming group.  For years and years we played only 3rd edition D&D, whoever ran the game used only monsters from the Monster Manual (Usually just the first one and not the four ridiculous ones that came after) and eventually everyone became very familiar with all of the "usual suspects" like Goblins.  One of our members, Bear, seemed to know the MM backward and forward and would point certainly facts about the monsters that would drive other members of the group (especially The Professor) out of their minds.  He wasn't doing it on purpose; for him it was just a reflex action.  He had been fighting the same monsters so long that he knew them inside out.

When we switched the new edition of Hackmaster it was like hitting the reset button.  Goblin stats were different and no one was all that familiar with them, but they still seemed to be Goblins in most of the same respects.  They were still the same cowardly miniature creatures that we had seen in D&D, though the insane damage dice in conjunction with the exploding dice (called penetration dice) that Hackmaster uses meant that they were far more dangerous.  That's half way there, but the Goblins still acted much as regular humans do, not in a kind of monstrous way divorced from human understanding.  So even Hackmaster isn't going to get us where we need to be, it's time to branch out on our own and create a whole new breed of Goblin.

The 1st Ed. Goblin

Let's recap our goals for this little project:

1. Unfamiliar - Familiarity doesn't only breed contempt, it breeds comfort and that leads to a lack of fear which is something we would like the party to feel.  Goblins are monsters and monsters should be scary.
2. Dehumanized - Goblins that act like humans basically are human and their differences are more or less cosmetic.  I have no interest in rehashing the moral dilemmas that come with basically seeking genocide against a race because their skin is different.  Those kinds of ideas have been done to death, see  Paladin and the Orc babies for details.  These Goblins should be treated as less than human because they are less than human, no moral dilemmas about it. 
3. Dangerous - I'm aiming to make a Goblin the equal of a Dragon, but I want them to pose a danger to the party.  As these Goblins are being made with Hackmaster in mind, this shouldn't be too difficult.  The penetration dice make you wince when you get hit with even the lowly dagger (2d4p damage).
4. Supernatural - These are monsters after all, so I want their origins to be supernatural.  Again, I'm looking for them to be outside of the natural world and apart from humanity.  
5. Powers - In Folklore Goblins have powers.  In D&D the Goblin's most effective power and running  away screaming (sometimes called the French power).  Ironically, even at this Goblins are hopeless as their short legs usually mean they get caught and butchered anyway.   So the aim here is to give them some powers beyond the mortal man that make them more dangerous, versatile, and unpredictable than the run of the mill RPG Goblin.  
6. Balanced -While balance isn't our primary objective (See Game Balance & the Conformist Utopia) it is something to be considered.  We want our party to be challenged by Goblins not wiped off the face of the earth.  They should be dangerous, but not too dangerous.

A little more mean looking, but still not quite it

With our objectives clear we are ready to proceed with our Re-imagining of the Goblin.  First we should considered the Goblins origins.  The major religion of the campaign I want to use this Goblin in his a strong religious element to it that is a fusion of several real world religions including Judeo-Christian elements such as demonology.  I think setting the Goblins roots somewhere in that Demonology could be the beginnings of a great Goblin.

How about this?  ...The very first Goblins were unbaptized children of early man who were led into temptation by Demons.  They were lured away from their families to caverns which led deep under the earth.  Once there the Demons tore out their unprotected souls and gave their bodies over to lesser demonic entities for possession.  The Goblins then were left on their own to multiply by abducting other children in the dead of night and carrying them off to lairs beneath the earth where they practice their dark ritual and create more of their kin. 

I like it.  It really fits the campaign setting, piggybacks off of real world folklore, and fulfills goal #2 to dehumanize the Goblins.  Now they aren't human or any other race of being they are the bodies of children that have been taken over by Demons.

Though their bodies were originally human they are now warped and deformed past recognition.  Their skin has become a sickly gray/green color, their eyes a solid dark gray near black.  They have razor shape teeth much like the way Demons are depicted in Renaissance art and they have elongated claw like hands with razor sharp talons on the end.  These natural weapons help to make the Goblins dangerous and thus fulfill #3.  The fact that they don't use forged weapons also helps with #2 as people would wonder where they got weapons if all Goblins were seen to carry them around.  Bite and Claw attacks will work well and I think damage somewhere between a dagger (2d4p) and a short sword (2d6p) will work perfectly.

We have already made the Goblins Supernatural (#4) by making their origins tied with Demons.  We can go further, and fulfill #5 (Powers) by giving the Goblins some supernatural abilities.  First to make them creepier I think I'll give them the ability to sound like the innocent children they were made from.  So an unsuspecting party might hear children crying or calling our for help only to find they they have been set up by Goblins.  Secondly, since I don't think that leaving dead Goblin bodies lying around is conducive to goal #1 (Unfamiliar) we will have their bodies melt into a viscus liquid after they die.  The liquid will seep back into the ground returning from whence the Goblin came.  Traces of the liquid might be left on the weapons used to slay the Goblins and I think the liquid should be slightly corrosive which could lead to weapon damage.  Goblin Ichor will be a potentially powerful component for spells and potions, making saving some before it seeps into the ground a valuable, if perhaps hazardous, venture. Finally, as these Goblins are creatures of darkness they would never willingly enter light of any kind.  A party holding a light source is sure to hold Goblins at bay (#6  - Balance) but Goblins have the ability to dampen and even completely suppress smaller lights.  For example, a party carrying a torch encounters three Goblins.  Kept at bay, the Goblins remain on the outer fringes of the torch light but slowly the torch light dims until it is the light of a candle.  After a few moments four more Goblins join the original three and the torch goes out completely.  Now the party is in trouble.  Alternately if a Mage is in the group and is using his magic to create light he may find the power of his spell fading as the group encounters Goblins.  The more join the fray the more difficult it is for him to keep his spell shedding light (In game terms he needs to keep pumping spell points into the light spell to keep it active).  Clerics might have to win constant turn checks to their any magical light they are producing shedding light.  The party might just find itself in a precarious position, fighting in the darkness against creatures born of darkness, all because of a simple supernatural ability. 

Scared now?  You better be!

Already we have worked on the six goals stated above and have a cool, unique Goblin who poses a significant threat to the party and who has a cool origin story steeped in campaign lore.  The Goblin is a classic and iconic creature, but it can be versatile as well.  There is nothing wrong with the standard Goblin if that is what you like and fits in your game, but if it doesn't it only takes a little work and consideration of the six above points for you to have a custom Goblin with an air of mystery and danger to challenge your players and shatter their expectations when they come across one.  

Advanced Hackmaster Player's Hanbook Video

Fans of Hackmaster have been (im)patiently awaiting the release of Kenzerco's Advanced Hackmaster.  Yes, we had Hackmaster Basic to wet our appetites, but I think we've long been ready for the main course!   The Hacklopedia of Beasts, the Hackmaster Bestiary, is already avilable in PDF with a print copy to follow in March, but how long will we have to wait for the all important Player's Handbook?  I don't know.  What I do know is that the book looks amazing, just like the Hacklopedia.  I know because Revil recently sent me a video that Jolly Blackburn posted of him working on the PHB.

Watch live video from KODT LIVE on Justin.tv

Gorgeous.   I don't know what else to say, I just love the look.  I'm very glad they are going with the same look as the Hacklopedia, both because it looks amazing and because I prefer a certain amount of continuity as far as look and layout go. 

Understanding Fantasy Classes: The Cleric

On my group's recent camping trip, after we had stopped gaming for the night the Professor and I were up just talking about gaming.    I recently read some really eye opening articles on the Ranger posted on other sites that really challenged my notions of what the class really is.  We discussed the issue for a minute and then he posed a very interesting thought, "If the Ranger is bugging you then stop and consider the cleric.  That will really blow your mind."  

I found that a confusing thing to say, the Cleric had always seemed one of the most straightforward classes to me, so I asked him what he meant.  He replied, "Well, he isn't a priest, that's for sure."  I opened my mouth to reply, but then got what he was saying.  A normal priest, even in medieval times, was not a soldier trained extensively in warfare including the use of any number of weapons and all different types of armor and shields.  Why would a run of the mill priest train in the use of plate armor when chances are he could never afford it, and would have little or no use for it?  

So if I accepted that the Cleric wasn't a priest, then what was he?  Well clearly he was more.  He has the piety and devotedness of a priest with much of the same martial training that the Fighter receives.  Knowing that Gygax and Arneson must have drawn their inspiration from somewhere, we discussed possible sources both from history and from the various works of fiction that inspired Dungeons and Dragons.  We had a strong belief that Crusade era catholic priests were the strongest influence on the class, but we had no way of confirming our suspcions. 

As it turns out all we needed was our trusty 2nd edition AD&D Player's Handbooks.  There it specifically states, "The Cleric is similar to certain religious orders of knighthood in the middle ages: the Teutonic Knights, the Knights Templar, and the Hospitalers."  So this confirmed our suspicion that the Crusade era was the the period of time that really defined the Cleric.  Further confirmation of this can be found in the following paragraph where it says, "...Clerics, being reluctant to shed blood...are allowed to use only blunt, bludgeoning weapons."  This is in line with the Catholic church's policy at the time that discouraged the shedding of blood (something of an irony given the time period).

The confirmation that the main inspiration for the Cleric were knightly orders of the middle ages creates another problem the Professor and I had discussed, The Cleric vs. The Paladin.  Because the Cleric is clearly so martial, he is essentially a divine warrior, but then so is the Paladin.  I've always been a proponent of each class having their own Shtick, their own thing that makes them special from all the other classes.  When classes start getting too close together they start stepping on each other toes.  That is what seems to be the case here as both the Cleric and the Paladin are based on Christian Knights.

Obviously I'm not saying that the Cleric and the Paladin are the same.  Even though they are based on Christian Knights, they are not based on the same Knightly order.  Paladins are based on a religious Knight archetype like Galahad and Percival while Clerics are based on the three above mentioned Crusading Orders whose primary job it was to protect and care for pilgrims making their way to the holy land.     Yet still these are Knightly Orders that held similar values and similar motivations.

To compound the problem Clerics and Paladins are given very similar powers.  Now obviously each edition of the game is different but Paladins typically get two of the Clerics principal abilities, albeit in diminished form, Turn Undead, and Divine Spells.  Healing wounds, something of a specialty of the Cleric, is another ability that overlaps into the Paladin's list of skills.  To give a recent example, Pathfinder gives Clerics the ability to use turn undead attempts to burst heal in a radius around him.  The Paladin can use his lay on hands attempts to do the same thing and because his Charisma is far more valuable to him than to a cleric he will likely have a higher score often allowing the Paladin to have more of these "burst heals" than a cleric.

These overlaps in mechanics are as big a problem as the overlap in overall character concepts described above.  So the question is how does one resolve these issues and give each class a its own clear character concept and it's own mechanical advantages.  It seems to me that the key lies in making the Cleric a Priest rather than Warrior Priest.  That isn't to say that the Cleric need to have no warrior skills whatsoever, but certainly they should be scaled back.  Eliminating heavy armor is one step that Pathfinder has already taken to scale back the Cleric's martial power, and though I was somewhat shocked at the same time, I am beginning to think the move was perhaps a good idea.  Clerics in most games have spellpower that rivals arcane spellcasters so even though it may seem unbalancing in many games to scale the Cleric back into a more traditional priestly role, the fact is that in many games the Cleric is an overpowered class.

Certainly we see this is the case in 3rd edition D&D (3.0, 3.5 and even to a lesser extent Pathfinder).  Game developers have said that they went out of their way to make clerics great because few players have traditionally wanted to play them.  Give the fact that their healing magic makes them almost vital, game designers wanted to make sure that players would want to play them.  In other incarnations of D&D, and other games like it such as Hackmaster, the Cleric is always among the best classes that a player has to choose from, and no less vital than in 3rd edition. Hackmaster posses a unique ability among fantasy games that I have played in that it can deliver the changes to the Cleric that I want without a single house rule.  In the new edition of the game Clerics of different gods are almost a different class onto themselves.  Each religious order has its own specific information like armor allowed, weapons allowed, special powers, etc.  Even if one needed house rules to get some separation between the Cleric and the Paladin I think it would be worth it. 

 The pious priest is a classic fantasy paradigm, and one that deserves to stand on its own.  By making small alterations in both the flavor of the class and in its mechanics I believe one could create a Cleric that is far less martial and far more priestly.  This would give the Cleric his own niche separate from the holy warrior Paladin and allow each class to have very different moments in which to shine. 

Mark Plemmons Interview

RPG Blog II recently interviewed Mark Plemmons of Kenzerco.  He had plenty to say about Hackmaster, Aces & Eights, and Kenzerco as a comapny.  I highly recomend you check it out. 

Diary of a Gamer : The End of Pathfinder as we Know it

Last night my group's Pathfinder game came to an end.  The campaign started in October, was relauched in January and has run more or less steady since then.  Perhaps it was the relaunch effect, but it doesn't seem as though we've been playing Pathfinder for about seven months. 

The climactic conclusion of the campaign (or at least this part, there is still hope that we will return to it later) was the party storming the castle of an evil witch to rescue the King... Well, technically he's a general, but he is the game's King Arthur equivilent.  The game got off to a rough start with one of the players (Moox) not being able to make it, and got worse when another (Revil) had to leave.  This left just your faithful narrator and AngryBear to face off against the Big Bad, a CR 15 Green Hag Witch.  Fortunetly we had some NPC backup including a faery who was able to break the Hag's mental hold on the King.  He joined us in the fight and we put a wooping on the Witch, Evard's Black Tenticles be damned! 

I was glad to see the game (or at least this chapter) get a good end to it.  The game started off great and had a lot of really fun moments, but started to get bogged down after the Witch kidnapped the King.  We found outselves battles Derro left and right with no way of knowing we were going the wrong way.  What should have taken a few weeks instead took us months, and that sapped a lot of ethusiasm and energy from the game. 

So after months of playing Pathfinder what do I think of it?  Well first off I find it damn confusing! The rules are so close the 3.5 rules that I often find myself almost shocked when they made a rule change.  For example, they changed DR a bit, making it so that you consider your total weapon bonus in the case of a magic weapon when determining if it passes a certain DR type (this is a great change in my opinion).  For example, my weapon was a total of +4 so that passes the Cold Iron DR (which came up as we were fighting this strange Nyph creatures).  I didn't know that, nor did anyone else realize it until the fight was pretty much over.  These types of mistakes were common during the campaign, and I'm sure happen all the time to people who have a lot of experience playing 3rd edition. 

Overall the Pathfinder rules are good.  They fixed some really big problems that 3.5 had and added some more flavor to some of the classes, like the Sorcerer.  Upgrading the DR system and introducing CMB and CMD for Combat manuevers was also a welcome change.  That having been said not all the changes were for the better.  Pathfinder knocked the Ranger back down to suck-town, did nothing to address the fact that the Monk is a crap class, and left several broken spells in place.  So between 3.5 and Pathfinder you can find things that are better about each. 

But at least for now, Pathfinder is the past.  The future is Hackmaster, Advanced Hackmater (the playtest).  I'll be making what I hope to be a triumphant return to GMing... If not at least I'll have a screen to hide behind.  I'm really excited about this playtest, but nervous as well.  It's been a while since a I ran a game, and a while since I played HM so I'm concerned about getting the kinks out.  I'm plan on taking time this week to review the rules and brush up on the setting we'll be playing in, Frandor's Keep.  With a great setting and a great Rulesystem if this game fails no one will have to look far for who to blame. 

Because I wanted the players to have some time to consider their options I let them roll their stats ahead of time to mull over their options.  One player (ManOnFunTrip) is rejoining the game and wasn't there so he'll be doing all of his character creation next week.  Those who have already rolled had some mixed results.  Both Revil and the Professor did well, but AngryBear barely qualified as a PC. 

I promise to try to do better with this damn diary.  I may have epicly failed for Pathfinder, but its a new campaign and a fresh start.  Plus, ever GM wants an audience to complain to, right?   Obviously I'll be limited what I can discuss rules-wise, but the general narative will be fair game.

Return to Hackmaster

My group and I are now officially playtesting Advanced Hackmaster!  I'm not sure I can put into words how excited I am.  Obviously none of us can speak about the rules, but we can still give tales of the group's adventure, which I plan to do weekly. 

I'll be running the game, Revil and the Profressor will be players along with AngryBear and Moonxine.  We are starting out with Frandor's Keep, which only adds to the excitement. 

Unfortunately we won't be starting until May 11th (AngryBear has finals coming up), at which time we will commence a 2 game a week schedule.  Tuesday will be Hackmaster, and Pathfinder will continue on Thursdays. 

Overall this is an amazing opportunity and I can't wait to dive in.

More Frandor's Keep Support

Support continues on Kenzerco's recently released Frandor's Keep.  Check out these overhead maps supplied by Jolly.

This first shot is of the view from Reylfor's tower.  It gives some great detail that you just don't get from the overhead maps.

This map here is of the middle bailey.  It's a great aid to give your players as they are exploring this section of the keep. 














The guys over at Kenzerco were also nice enough to supply high res versions of these that can be downloaded.  Here is the tower view and here is the middle bailey map.  More great aids for what is already an amazing product.  As I said in my review of Frandor's Keep, I highly recommend this product and it will only get better as more and more supporting content is released.  I'll keep you informed as more updates become available.

Mysterious Shrine

Kenzerco has continued to offer more free suppliments to Frandor's Keep.  The most recent addition is Mysterious Shrine, an adventure opportunity in the area of the Keep.  As it is 100% free you have nothing to lose, so head on over and check it out!

Frandor's Keep Review

I've finished reading Kenzerco's most recent Hackmaster release Frandor's Keep, and as promised here is the review.  I'll try to walk the fine line of keeping things spoiler free while giving in depth information to those of you on the fence about buying this product.

Chapter One: Introduction

Not much to say about this.  It includes a quick little narrative, has an introduction, explains how the book is to be used, etc.  They also mention the downloadable content and introduce the little icon that denotes when DLC is available on a topic or graphic.   

Chapter Two: The History of Frandor's Keep

As the tittle indicates this chapter deals principally with the history of the Keep.  It includes information on why the keep was built and the various events that have surrounded its bloody history.  The history is interesting and well thought out, but is closely tied to Hackmaster's Official setting of Kalamar.  That having been said, it wouldn't be too difficult to move the Keep and the surrounding area to your own setting while keeping most if not all of the history intact.     

Chapter Three: The Earldom of Reyifor

This chapter deals with the Earldom that the keep is found in.  Details on local towers, geographical information, rivers, and roads are all available here.  Areas later featured in adventures are given a brief overview here.  A quality map of the Earldom is included in this chapter. 

Chapter Four: In The Vicinity

Chapter four presents the area immediately around the Keep.  Another great map in this chapter provides a more detailed view of the few miles around the keep.  This chapter introduces both major geographic features, such as The Shelf, as well as important man made sites, like the nearby Quarrytown. 

Chapter Five: Quarrytown

Quarrytown is a rock quarry turned seedy town.  Those unable or unwilling to reside in Frandor's Keep live here.   The map of Quarrytown is a bit different from the others presented in the book, but no less useful.  A vast number of rumors and NPC knowledge information is presented in this chapter.  Each important building and person is gone into with a good deal of depth.  One of FK's more interesting antagonists is intorduced here.  His group, the Ravens, make excellent and cunning adversaries for the PCs.  Quarrytown is an excellent addition that provides an alternative to the orderly environment of the Keep. I love the detail in this chapter, though unwary PCs will most certainly not.  

Chapter Six: The Palisade

Chapter six is short and deals with the Palisade just outside the Keep where the Smithy and Stables are found.  There is a map of the interior of the Palisade, but there isn't much to it.  Info on guards stationed in the Palisade can be found in this chapter as well as information on the Stable Master, Markin Binsaro.

Chapter Seven: Frandor's Keep

By far the largest chapter in the book, Chapter Seven deals with Frador's Keep itself.  The detail here is exquisite.    It breaks down each section of the keep and offers in depth information of people, buildings, and even the history of the section.  The map gives you an idea how much larger and detailed FK is than the old Keep on the Borderlands.  A number of smaller maps of each section offer a three dimensional view of the Keep's various sections.  One of my favorite maps is called "Elevations at the Keep" which is on page 45.  It really gives you a three dimension picture of the keep and shows you just how high those towers are compared to things in the middle bailey.  Like this map the whole chapter just flat out rocks.  This is the reason I bought the book, and believe me I was not disappointed. 

Chapters Eight though Eleven

These chapters provide the various adventure opportunities in and around the Keep.  I don't want to say too much here because it would spoil things for players and GMs alike.  The adventures range in length from very short single encounter opportunities to much longer multi-encounter full dungeon adventures.  Some adventures are straight forward requiring the PCs to go and deal with the problem in a typical violent fashion, while others are far more complex giving the players multiple options for success and/or involving moral or political choice.  There is a very good mix to ensure that things don't get monotonous and your players will be able to focus on the types of adventures that they enjoy.  These adventures provide the PCs with more than enough experience to reach level five, as promised. 

Appendix: New Rules 

This section includes rules for a new monster.  I won't say which one for spoiler reasons, but I will say that it comes with a good bit of info on the creature, a picture, and a stat block.  The rest of the information provided in this section is a compilation of the various rules and info presented in Knights of the Dinner Table and the various Hackjournals.  Rules provided cover Mounts, and expanded equipment list that includes trade goods, a new skill (Jewelery Making), Proficiencies, New Quirks and Flaws, and details on both Poison and Disease.  I love the decision to put this info in the book as there is no guarantee that anyone who purchases FK would subscribe to either KoDT or HJ.   Even those that do will likely find it useful to have all of the information compiled in once place for easy reference. 

NPC Quick Reference Chart

I love this chart.  With so many NPCs it can be difficult to keep track of them.  This chart makes it infinitely easier to do so.  It lists the NPC by location in the keep, and it also lists their Sex/Race, Location, Position, Information Known, Places Frequently visited, Associates, and the faction to which they belong.  Did I mention I love this chart?

The Good

Just about everything.  Frandor's Keep offers a lot for a reasonable price.  At $24.99 it provides you and your group with an entire HMB campaign and leaves the GM with very little work to do.  This is the best suppliment I have bought in a very long time.   

The Negative

This book has very little down side to it.  If I had to levy some complaints against it I guess I would start with page 95.  Now, there isn't anything wrong with the content on page 95, my problem is with the lack of it.  The entire right hand column is completely blank for some reason.   Normally if there isn't enough text at the end of a chapter it would be filled up with pictures, but here there is absolutely nothing but empty space.  Page 130 features the same problem, with the right hand column being empty for lack of content. 

Some of you may wonder why I don't list among the negative elements the fact that Frandor's Keep is a softcover book, as I have been critical of many soft cover publications, especially Hackmaster 4th edition's core rulebooks, in the past.  My answer is that this book costs $24.99, if it were hardcover that would have increased the cost around 10 dollars.  Though there is a lot of content in the book, certainly enough to get characters from level 1 to level 5, it will not be used nearly as much as a core rulebook.  Thus, I usually prefer softcover modules and supplements as it keeps the cost down.  I would always prefer core rulebooks be in Hardcover.  Now I may grumble about Hackmaster Basic being softcover because mine is already falling apart, but with a price tag of $20 it's hard to grumble too loudly. 

Overview

Frandor's Keep is an extremely strong product, with a wealth of content and a reasonable price tag.  Kenzerco already has some of the promised online content available.  With more on the way it's safe to say that this product will only increase in quality and support in the coming months.

Kenzer and Company could have just created a nice little homage to the original Keep on the Borderlands, more in the vein of their 4th edition parody, but they chose a higher path.  They chose to stay true to the feel of the original while creating something new and innovative.  This product doesn't rest on its laurels, it get's up and charges forward down the path of progress.  This is the kind of product that sparks the imagination and sends out a siren's song to those who's hearts crave adventure.  In short, it is a product that original Keep on the Borderland's author, Gary Gygax, would have loved.

GaryCon This Weekend

GaryCon 2010 will be taking place this weekend.  Every year I lament that I can't go to various convention and though I hope this is the year I finally break the GenCon barrier I know that GaryCon isn't going to happen for me. 

Though I'll be missing out others will be attending what is by all accounts one of the best weekends of gaming available.  Dave Kenzer has said that his team plans on running three to six Hackmaster Basic and Hackmaster Advanced games. 

Sigh...

Well maybe next year.  But those of you who are going this year I encourage you to pounce on a Golden Opportunity to play Hackmaster Advanced... and then tell me all about it!  Yes that's right, I am serious.  If you come back from GaryCon with a cool story and/or info on Hackmaster Advanced I invite you to email me and fill me in.  Maybe it will make me less disappointed at missing out. 

Safe trip to those heading out!

Frandor's Keep Has Arrived!

No reason to beware the Ides of March this year!  Frandor's Keep was waiting for me on my doorstep when I arrived home today, two days earlier than its scheduled release date.  I already begun to delve into the book and I am quite impressed with what I've found.  The maps and the details of the Keep and its inner workings are fantastic.  I'll post a longer review when I've had a chance to read through the whole book, but my initial reactions are very positive.

There are a number of previews and bonus downloads available through Kenzerco's website so head on over and take a look for yourself.  The Keep map in particular is great and will really bring back memories for those who loved the original B2: Keep on the Borderlands and the map of the Keep found therein.

A Hidden Gem

I played Hackmaster 4th edition, but I never served as GM.  HM4 is something of a bitter sweet memory to me, one that I haven't discussed to date.  I do plan on discussing some of my group's experience with the game, and the horror stories of our time in the trenches, but not today.  Today I want to talk about something I've only recently become unaware of.

How Amazing the Hackmaster 4th Edition GameMaster Guide is.

The reason I didn't know is because, as I mentioned above I never GMed.  Unlike D&D where we all had a copy of all 3 books (much to my chagrin) the GM forbade us to bring or even own a copy of the GMG of any of the HoBs (Hackolepdia of Beasts).  That was one of the few decisions I can say I was really in line with for that campaign.  By ensuring that none of us had access to those books it really helped maintain and air of mystery about the game, something I really enjoyed.  But years removed from the game I happen to stumble on my copy of the GMG that I had purchased when Kenzerco ran their bundle deals and decided to give it a look. I was very glad I did.

The GMG has so much information packed into it that I couldn't help but be blown away.  This is a book I think I'll keep on hand any time I am running a game, regardless of the system.  Aside from mining info from their HM4 specific rules like spells and training, there are numerous charts such as their expansive critical hit and critical miss tables to be taken advantage of.  On top of that already valuable information they have generic information about everything ranging from Horses, to forms of government, to types of punishment used in medieval societies. The treasure chapter goes outside the confines of HM4 and talks generally of currency, taxes, and types of merchants.  I think my favorite might be chapter 10: GameMaster Procedures.  This chapter deals generally with being a GM and all the pitfalls and difficulties one might face from record keeping to arguments and complaints.

Because their deal with WoTC expired Kenzerco can no longer sell the vast majority of their 4th edition material.  However, you can still purchase the GMG and other Hackmaster products through Amazon vendors.  Prices at the moment start at $13.08 used and $34.90 new.  I recommend GMs of all systems pick up a copy, there is great information for everyone in there. 

  

This Week in Gaming News

Here is some random gaming news from around the universe for you folks today.

March has finally arrived.  That is important because this is the month when HBO is scheduled to make its determination on their 'A Game of Thrones' production.  They will either opt to turn it into a full series or nip it in the bud.

Yeah... I'm hoping for the former.

In other ASIF news March 16th is the release date for Warriors.  Warriors is a collection of short stories by a number of talented authors, paramount among them ASIF author George R. R. Martin.  GRRM's contribution, aside from editing the entire book, is the third installment of his Dunk and Egg series, "The Mystery Knight."  These short stories are prequels to the regular series and have some very subtle and interesting links to the main tale.

Finally, not to get people's hopes up, GRRM posted on his website the other day that, "The Meereenese Knot may be fraying, just a little. But don't quote me on that."

Oops.

In Hackmaster news Kenzerco announced that its highly anticipated product, Frandor's Keep would be shipped this week, two weeks earlier than promised.  However, due to shipping issues stemming largely from the terrible weather much of the country has been having as of late, it will ship next week.  This is still a week earlier than expected, so I'm not complaining! 

I preordered FK so once I've had a chance to read through it you will certainly hear my opinion of it.  I can tell you that my expectations are extremely high.  Now this is usually not a good idea, especially when it comes to movies (Damn you Spiderman 3!!) but I have faith that this is one product that will deliver.

Finally, today happens to be my Birthday.  Eh... I'm getting old.  What did I get myself?

Frandor's Keep, of course. 

Advanced Hackmaster News

 

While I was gone having the happiness drained out of my like a Fighter surrounded by Wraiths, there was some interesting news on the Advanced Hackmaster Front.

On the topic of the Bestiary Guide (the Hackmaster Monster Manual) Dave Kenzer, the owner of Kenzerco said, "If I were running a company, I'd make sure the product came out by origins." That's good news. It also means that things will be extremely busy over at Kenzerco as they have Frandor's Keep being released in March and Bestiary being released no later than June. I hope this doesn't prevent them from releasing the PHB at or before GenCon. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Another more immediate update I have for you is the release of Jolly's ranged combat aid card. It's a great tool to keep track of everything from range increments to ammo. Download it here.

Frandor's Keep Encore

I know, I know... I said I was leaving.  But I couldn't take off without showing you this.  It seems Jolly over at Kenzerco took a video of him flipping the soon to be released Frandor's Keep, the Hackmaster version of Keep on the Borderlands.

Just when I thought I couldn't get any more amped for this product...