Character Creation for New Hackmaster Campaign

Welcome gaming friends, to our new Hackmaster Campaign! We'll be playing Hackmaster 4e in the world of Aldrazar, and hopefully starting in the first week or two of August. I'll be using my blog to pass on information about the game and keep you up to date you on campaign happenings. This first entry contains some general guidelines for character creation. 

If you follow the rules verbatim in the 4e PHB for character creation you should be fine. Remember that you only use 3d6 for each ability score and that they are rolled in order. I'm not going to set any restrictions or class at this time, so anything in the players handbook is playable. Of course you may not be aware that Hack Classes are restricted until later levels. I would offer a general caution against playing evil PCs of any type as this can cause significant issues in Hackmaster if you don't play your alignment. Party conflicts are sometimes unavoidable, but while we get started and are getting to know each other let's avoid obvious issues. Other cautions would include playing races that don't get along too well together, as this too ca lead to unavoidable conflict in the party. If your abilities are somehow high enough to qualify for some of the more rare classes such as Paladin, Cavalier, Monk or the like, be prepared for the roleplaying challenge they represent. 

Hackmaster 4e is an intense and classic rewrite of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. That's one of the reasons it's so great! The spirit of the game is, though at times humorous, true blue died in the wool Gary Gygax AD&D. If you haven't had the chance to play old school D&D you are in for a real treat. A certain ethos pervades the game: let the dice fall where they may; roleplay like you mean it; and may all your hits be crits!

We are likely to have as many as nine players to start, but several are not yet finalized. No one has created characters yet, but coordinating as we go will be a good idea. That way we can make sure to have all our bases covered in terms of magic, healing, firepower, stealth and the like--although with as many as nine of us that should be fairly easy. The plan is to play at my house, as soon as our re-model is done :-) and tentatively on Saturday at 5:00 each week. 

Oh, and by the way, I am very interested in eventually transitioning to Hackmaster 5e. I really like some of some of the changes they have developed and the company that owns Hackmaster is actively supporting the new edition. So maybe we could talk about changing to 5e down the road some. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. 

Next time I'll give some basic background info on our campaign world of Aldrazar that should help you all begin to frame in your PC background. Until then!

I don't often do this...

But you have to read this by Dave Goldfarb on why AD&D first edition is king. Brilliant!

http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/14/5898063/the-dice-can-kill-you-why-first-edition-ad-d-is-king

Individual DM Differences

We all know about DM alignments, right? A fairly common way to envision different DM types is by gauging where they fall on the Good-Evil / Lawful-Chaotic axes. But there is another way of understanding DMs, one which I have only begun to understand based on thinking pretty much everyone DMed the same way I did.

My last post on the quantum ogre, solved the notion in my mind by simply deferring to DM improvisation. However, even as I wrote those thoughts my mind turned to several conversations I have had with other DMs that admit they struggle with improvisation and on the fly DMing. Coming up with connections, relationships, hooks, depth, backstory, for them takes time and thought and careful planning. They do not just "make it up as they go along " but prefer to have things thought out ahead of time so that they have a well designed or planned outline, at least, for their players.

The thought of showing up with nothing prepared to a game scares these DMs to death. Or if it doesn't scare them then they simply scoff off such play as haphazard and poor. They would never dare to lower their game to such a random and ill thought out fate. There is of course nothing wrong with this. Well planned campaigns reflect an attention to detail, a sense of immersion and completeness that on the fly DMing can often lack. These DMs often go the trouble to carefully prep miniatures, landscape scenes, select cool artwork, prep background music, even incense or other sensory immersion details. They have carefully planned the motives of NPCs and how they are connected to other NPCs in the region. Their maps have a level of description and detail that would rival the best commercial modules. Such DMS are in my opinion some of the most artful and skilled DMs out there.

Not all of these types of DMs, but some, will admit that when things start to head outside the lines they feel the need to close down the session, so they can return to their lair and prep the next expansion of the adventure. They are uncomfortable working on the fly, and are often at a loss when players start to wander outside the lines of their carefully constructed plans. This is perhaps with the idea of the quantum ogre begins to seem appealing. Shifting preplanned encounters around to foil players efforts to wander off track can begin to tempt such DMs who are far less comfortable letting players challenge them to improvise.

For these types of DMs it may be that my solution to the quantum ogre is less than satisfying. They don't want to railroad players down a certain path; but what is a plan-oriented DM supposed to do when their long hard hours of planning an encounter go to waste when the session starts with the players deciding to go a totally different direction? In these cases I am much less apt to censure or to cast stones, largely because I have no idea what DMing like this regularly is like.

I plan of course, and often in great detail. But I developed as an improvisational DM in my youth. Every afternoon as we got off the school bus my friends and I would decide whether we wanted to get together and game. I never knew when it was coming. I recall long and winding escapades in and around the Keep on the Borderlands. Exactly because it was a sandboxy adventure it lent itself to improvising and a gaming as you go sort of style. There were other settings, many often created out of whole cloth at the table--but it worked, and it worked incredibly well. There were sessions I planned thoroughly, usually pre-planned overnighters where I knew we when and where we were gaming--so I could plan ahead. But more often than not it was an in the moment impromptu session thrown together in less than 15 minutes. I assume those early gaming experiences made me a lot of what I am now as a DM.

So I am not the best to give advice to those DMs that may not be as comfortable with that approach. The best I can say, is know your players. Know what they are likely to do, work closely with them before, during and after you plan the next session. And don't feel bad when things occasionally go off track. Take some time planning personal wandering monster and encounter charts for your undoubtedly well thought out geographies and environments. That will help you get through the session in a pinch until you can get home and work with the creative randomly generated fodder from the improvised session. And don't fret about quantum ogres or Schrodinger's cats. They will be where they will be, dead or alive when you and your players need them.