Hackmaster 4e & 5e Comparison Part 1

Character Creation

4E

• Receive BPs as per character class
• Do not have to buy class
• Has racial level limits & restrictions
• 7 stats; includes Comeliness
• 3d6 for stats
• Uses fractional ability scores
• Can trade ability points 2 for 1
• Can sacrifice 1 ability point for 2 building points
• Strength: to hit & damage, weight allowance, max press, open doors, bend bars / lift gates
• Dexterity: defense & reaction adjustments, missile attack adjustment
• Constitution: HP adjustment, system shock, resurrection survival, poison save, immunity to disease / alcohol, regeneration / healing
• Intelligence: # of languages, spell level, learning ability, max # of spells/level, illusion immunity, chance of spell mishap
• Wisdom: magical defense adjustment, bonus spells, chance of spell failure, spell immunity, chance to improve skill
• Charisma: max # of henchmen/cronies/sidekicks, loyalty base, reaction adjustment, comeliness modifier, starting honor modifier
• Comeliness: as per Unearthed Arcana
• Honor: average of all seven abilities plus honor modifier
• Half Ogres and AD&D sub races for other races, no half hobgoblin
• Berserker, Cavalier, Dark Knight, Knight Errant, Monk, Battle Mage, Illusionist, Bard
• Multi-class open to demi-humans only
• Dual Class for humans
• HackFighter, HackMage, HacKleric, HackSassin
• 9 point alignment system
• Priors, particulars, quirks and flaws largely the same, but not limited
• 20/10 HP Kicker
• Proficiencies by class, weapon specialization only available to fighter classes
• Aldrazar oriented to some degree

5E

• Receive 40 BPs right from the start
• Have to buy class based on racial costs--replaces racial class and level limits & restrictions
• 7 stats changes Comeliness to Looks
• 3d6 for stats
• Uses fractional percent ability scores
• Can leave scores as is for 50 BPs
• Can switch two scores for 25 BPs
• Can rearrange scores any way you like for 0 BPs
• Strength: damage modifier, feat of strength, lifts, carry, drag
• Intelligence: attack modifier, BP bonus
• Wisdom: initiative modifier, BP bonus, defense modifier, mental saving throw modifier
• Dexterity: initiative modifier, attack and defense modifier, dodge saving throw modifier, feat of agility
• Constitution: starting HP, physical saving throw modifier
• Looks: charisma modifier, starting honor modifier, starting fame modifier
• Charisma: BP bonus, starting honor modifier, turning modifier, morale modifier, maximum proteges
• Honor: average of seven ability scores
• Half Hobgoblins, less subraces, no half ogre, remove gnomelings
• Knight and paladin a progression from fighter
• Fighter Mage, Fighter Thief, Mage Thief open to all races
• No dual classing
• 9 point alignment system
• Priors, particulars, quirks and flaws largely the same but limited
• Con + Size HP kicker
• Skills bought with BP
• Proficiencies by weapon type and attack purpose, purchased with BP varies by class
• Tellene specific to a great degree

Summary

Character creation between the two is very similar. The tone of 4e is more akin to AD&D, complex and somewhat baroque. Little rules hidden here and there can sometimes make quite a bit of difference, i.e. the hit point kicker. 5e is neater, more organized and I've heard players say is a better designed game. I'm not sure I would go with "better" but the organization of 4e seems designed to mimic the original AD&D and it, at times, haphazard organizational structure. AD&D intellectual property like Drow and High Elves, etc. are taken out of 5e, but this is not critical. In fact much of these additions were campaign specific in AD&D, not system specific. They kept Hackmaster intellectual property in 5e such as the Grel aka Grunge Elves, and gnome titans, but removed gnomelings. They have also worked in a strong flavor of Tellene as background flavor and in some cases structure to the 5e game. 4e flavor was slightly geared towards Aldrazar, but Tellene, its Gawds, its race names and much more are written into 5e very completely. 

As for whether Character Creation changes would deeply affect KODT and its ethos--I think the effect would be minimal. There are some flavor bits, such as the temporary exclusion of restricted HackClasses and the like, that will likely find their way back into 5e via the GMG, subsequent splat books, KODT itself, Hack Journals or GM fiat. I do keep wondering if BA Felton and his knightly crew will switch campaign wurlds in the near future, but if they do or don't the ethos wouldn't make much difference. There is a bit more humor woven into 4e which can come out as humor in KODT, which I hope we keep in the comic for the sake of KODT and its powerful funny bone. In fact it wouldn't hurt in 5e either.

There is a danger of making 5e more "serious" than KODT really is. Tellene is a world class campaign, but humor isn;t it's strong suit necessarily. Aldrazar is also world class, but it has some nice absurdities that make it seem more "suited" to KODT. Not that KODT can't adopt Tellene, we'll just have to be careful to strike the balance between a serious "enough" game in a serious "enough" world to safeguard the magic and power that is KODT.

Next time: Combat--the real difference. 

KODT Fidelity

One of my favorite KODT covers
for obvious reasons.

I've mentioned before why Hackmaster sings to my gaming soul so profoundly. In a word: KODT. Well, okay that's actually an acronym not a word, and it's five words not one: Knights of the Dinner Table. Like those first readers of KODT who clamored for the real Hackmaster game to be created; it didn't take me long of reading KODT before I started searching to see if the Hackmaster game was still being sold, and lo and behold it was. Unfortunately I also discovered that the original game was being phased out for the rewritten second edition of the game (aka 5e). This was disappointing for more than one reason.

First, I felt so enamored and connected to the ethos that Jolly Blackburn had created via the Knights that for the first time in a long, long time I felt like I had found my gaming home once again. I had gamed since the old days, and indeed was gaming a lot when I started reading the magazine for the first time. But BA, Bob, Sara, Dave and Brian just somehow represented what gaming had always meant to me. I know it might seem silly, or trite or even overly dramatic to say so. Were my old school days really so confrontational, GM vs Player, rules lawyered, deadly, power gamed, silly, immersed in and centered around gaming, etc. etc.? Abso-positively yes. They were also filled with loyalty, friendship, commitment, honor, fun, humor, intense gaming creativity and days and nights centered around gaming--also the core of the KODT ethos. The characters in KODT represented the best and the worst, the strengths and the weaknesses of myself and my best gaming friends. Yes, I realized they were just characters, fictions only loosely based on reality, gaming humor at its best--but they touched me; connected with me deeply.

Perhaps it was a form of folly, but I wanted what they had. I had lost it at some point. Moved far in place and time from the days of my gaming youth. Stepped away from gaming for a few years, and when I had returned the gaming landscape had changed, and I had lost something I would search for over the next several years. Lots of water has passed under that bridge, but the salient point here is that KODT means a lot to me. So as I checked out Hackmaster and discovered a new edition was being written I wondered if that same ethos of the game would be preserved in the new edition. I worried in part because KenzerCo had chosen not to renew their license with WoTC and instead to go their own way. That choice, I certainly didn't begrudge them; but it meant losing certain intellectual properties of the AD&D landscape that might mean having to distance the new game too far from it's roots. When HM 4e was created the KCO design team stuck close to AD&D because it was clear the concept of Hackmaster in the magazine, the game the Knights were playing, was assumed to be a form of AD&D. So, as they explain in their introduction it was natural that the Hackmaster game be built on the AD&D foundation. Would 5e preserve enough of this design to stay true to the KODT cultural universe? That was the $24,000 question.

Now, to be practical, Jolly can shift some of the dialogue in the comic to portray the differences in rules structure to cause KODT dialogue and gaming to reflect the new design. The question of course is whether we lose something in so doing. See AD&D (and the mind of Jolly Blackburn) gave birth to KODT, which gave birth Hackamster. I am not sure exactly what gave birth to 5e. Is it the development and growth of KODT? The HM design team have said that in order to do what they wanted to with HM 5e they needed to depart from the confines of the AD&D ruleset. This confused and troubled me as well. Would 5e be a significant departure from the magic that was HM 4E and the Knights of the Dinner Table? Well, in an effort to ascertain how different things are and whether 5e will remain faithful to the KODT ethos I want to begin a comparison between 4e and 5e in the near future.

Fifth Edition Fantasy: Glitterdoom Review

The second of my reviews of Goodman Games recently produced 5th edition adventures is of the 3rd level adventure Glitterdoom.

The Lower Mine by "Aaron Palsmier"
copyright Goodman Games

Who is it For?

4 to 6 third level characters, no class or race recommendations, but a dwarf or two would be fun.

The Story **1/2 

The story itself is unremarkable. A lost Dwarven mine and an outcast Dwarf of sorts in search of its treasures and its redemption. Where the story rises above the norm is in what befell the ancient lost Dwarves who once mined its veins and the evil that now haunts its chambers. Just enough of a weird twist on the curse motif to be interestingly Lovecraftian. But I must say, the finale lacks a bit of punch for me. Almost too contrived, but could be easily tweaked by a creative DM. After-hooks are not plentiful, but are present if the party either chooses to investigate the actual mines--something that will require a bit of tweaking--or to seek the lost homeland halls of the clan which once built and mined the Knuckle's confines. 

Art & Layout ***

The layout is not bad. fairly straightforward, but not as fifth edition as Fey Sisters. I do not consider this to be a bad thing. New monster stat blocks are contained inline with the text, so there is no flipping back and forth. Same thing with magic items.There are 16 pages, not including the front and back covers, which are not used. There are four black and white pictures, about 3" by 5" relatively old school in tone. I have made my opinion known on the cover art style of these adventures. Not my style, but well done. The map is on the last page, slightly inconvenient--why can't more module designers take a clue from AD&D and place maps on an unattached cardstock cover. So much more convenient. 

Playability ***

There are fifteen basic areas to be explored in the adventure if you count the outside of the mine entrance. Of course a DM with some time on her hands could design a nearby village, or detail the wilderness journey by which the characters arrive at the mine's entrance. The game could easily be played in a night, maybe four hours of gaming. There are some interesting expansion possibilities that could make the adventure longer, but they aren't required. And though it isn't detailed in the adventure, a DM could easily spread the curse that befell the the mine's older inhabitants to the characters--something I would likely introduce into play if I were to DM. As a dungeon crawl it's straight forward in terms of complexity. The last encounter has a sort of deus ex machina that has to be pulled off if the players are to survive the last onrush of cursed, deep dwelling foes. Again, I'm not sure I like this, especially if their NPC ally has to yell at them to trigger the event. It seems too contrived. I would like to contemplate a way in which this could be avoided, and the players have to be creative in actually cleansing the mine.  

Neat Newness **

Not much here to speak of. If it wasn't for the cool nature of the curse and it's possibilities I might give this a one star. There are a couple of lackluster magic items, and a new background with feature and characteristics. They also include what they call a new sub-race, but I don;t see it. It's almost more like a background--but whatever. There are two nice new creatures, but they are related to effects of the curse--which is the real gem of neat newness in this adventure.

Total Review

I actually like dungeon crawls. I prefer them in fact. So maybe I'm a bit hard on them. They are relatively easy to design as opposed to political or wilderness adventures. But they are hard to design well. This isn't a bad one. It's just not too remarkable. But I can see several ways in which a DM could twist and mold this foundation into something quite memorable. If you choose to do so, have fun with it!