The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Hacklopedia of Beasts - Volume I: Aarakians to Cats, Great

My Biases:

First off, let me get a few things out of the way that may be taken as biases for the purpose of this review. First, this WAS a complementary review copy given to me by RPG.NET... the fact that it has taken me nearly the full allowed 90 days to actually turn IN a review isn't a reflection on the product, but rather a reflection on my own inherent laziness. Second, even before receiving this review copy, I had posted several times to various review forums voicing my displeasure at the pricing structure K&C were using for these Hacklopedias as well as HackMaster in general. Lastly, believe it or not, I actually won the "grand prize" at the K&C booth at GenCon 2001-- a complete set of all the KINGDOMS OF KALAMAR product to date at that time. No additional "prizes" have been awarded to further sway my current review, however.

Intro:

In case you've been living under a rock for the last few years, HackMaster is supposed to be a real-live version of the RPG played by our gaming friends in K&C's Knights of the Dinnertable comic book. What it is in reality is a licensed and souped up version of 1st edition AD&D which seems to have inspired either dis-hard fanatacism or outraged disgust among the RPG.NET community.

I fall somewhere in the middle-- I enjoy KODT, was looking forward to HackMaster but was shocked and dismayed at the cash outlay for the entire set of "core" rules. Short story shorter, I never bought them, haven't played them. I do, however, have all of the 1st edition rules and therefore will be reviewing this supplement from the standpoint of how useful it would be to someone who might want to use it in an old school 1st/2nd edition campaign.

So What's Different?

As I said, K&C have licensed 1st edition AD&D from WOTC, so they have access to all of the old monster collections, including the Monster Manual, Monster Manual II, the Fiend Folio, etc. What this means is that a good handful of the entries in this volume (and most others, i assume) are taken verbatim from the original sources and transplanted into the Hacklopedia with some minor tweaking. So what, exactly, has K&C done differently? The major change is in the addition of several NEW lines of info in each monster entry. New stuff includes:

- AKA (other names the monster may be known by) - HackFactor (something like CR ratings in D&D3E??) - EP Value - Organization (do they live in tribes, packs, go solo, etc.) - Activity Cycle (Day/Night/etc.) - Diet - Morale (how likely are they to stay and fight when things look bad?)

in addition, there is also the twink-tastic inclusion of the "Yield" box. Yes my friends, now we can have adventuring parties carrying around dead monster bits because they can fetch 100 gp an ounce when used as an athlete's foot cure! The mind sort of boggles at how this might affect game play, although it does seem right at home in a KODT styled HackMaster campaign.

Another odd thing is what they've done with the traditional hit dice concept. Yeah, its still "roll an 8 sider" for each HD, but now you're automatically adding 20 hp to whatever else you roll for HD! So a 1HD monster has a whopping 21-28 hp range. Easilly fixed, i guess, since the HD entries in the Hacklopedia itself can just be used the old fashioned way without adding those extra hp's.

Another difference about these books versus the old manuals is the sheerly ridiculous number of monsters covered and the way that K&C have chosen to organize and sell them to the public. Ok, so we've been told that there will be 1600 or so monsters total in all of the Hacklopedias... 8 volumes at $19.99. You do the math. In addition, since the books are strictly alphabetical and NOT by region or some other method, you're basically stuck with monsters from only certain letters of the alphabet unless you invest in all 8 volumes. Maybe it's just my, but my party might wonder why we never fight anything except Aadvarks and Bats... K&C defend this by saying that if you're really only interested in Dragons, say, you can "buy only the ones you want."

Hmm.

This line definitely loses points with me on this issue alone. It would be nice to have a choice of getting some kind of mini A-Z manual for a basic campaign, with the option of more. Granted, I guess the GMG has a barebones list of all the monsters listed in the Hacklopedias, so you can still technically play without them...

So What's the Same?

Just about everything else. Aside from the 20 hp bump, all the monsters that were ported from AD&D sources retain the same stats and qualities as they did in the original manuals. The layout is also pretty similar, with more than one monster per page and with spot illustrations for most (if not all) monsters. The art is generally serviceable to good, with most done by the Fraim's and several Jeff Dee inspired pieces by an artist i couldn't identify from the credits. The cover art is about on par with the first edition MM. Take that for what you will.

What do I like?

Well, if you've never owned any of the early MMs and refuse to pay the $5 or so they cost on eBay, I guess you could do worse than picking these Hacklopedias up. Like the rest of the HM line, there are some minor minor humorous parts (most notable in the crazily violent artwork), but all in all they play it pretty straight-faced. The monster stats are formatted with alternating colored stripes which make them easier to read, and the extra detail in the description DOES paint more of a logical picture of where the monster might live and how they might fit into their surroundings. The AKA field also could be interesting... keeping players on their toes when different areas of the country might refer to the same monster by a different name-- might help ease the old "oh, it's a bugbear" syndrome.

What I didn't like

Number one... too expensive. Second, many of the 1600 monsters are really just variations on a base monster... for example, there's 6 different kinds of bats, 4 types of bees and 5 types of beetles. Some of the monsters are pretty ridiculous, including such gems as the "Giant Predacious Artillery Beetle," which is a HM/AD&D conversion of the ass-firing bugs from Starship Troopers. Depending on the type of campaign you run, I suppose this will be seen as either a plus or minus. I know HM is less than totally serious, so take that with a grain of salt.

Sum it all up already

If you're a HM maniac, you already own all 8 volumes. If you're an old school gamer looking for some new challenges in your 1st ed. campaign, you might find some value here. For most others, I'd recommend just buying the various monster manuals from eBay and saving yourself about $130.

Hacklopedia of Beasts - volume 1
Hacklopedia of Beasts - volume 1 Capsule Review by Matt Sommer on 21/04/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average) A whole heaping amount of monsters for the HackMaster GM available at a steep cost... of less value for AD&D players who already own 1st Ed. Product: Hacklopedia of Beasts - volume 1 Author: Jo Jo Zeke (err... Various) Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Kenzer & Co Line: HackMaster 4th Edition Cost: $19.95 Page count: 112 Year published: 2001 ISBN: 1-889182-38-9 SKU: Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Matt Sommer on 21/04/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Comedy	Hacklopedia of Beasts - Volume I: Aarakians to Cats, Great My Biases: First off, let me get a few things out of the way that may be taken as biases for the purpose of this review. First, this WAS a complementary review copy given to me by RPG.NET... the fact that it has taken me nearly the full allowed 90 days to actually turn IN a review isn't a reflection on the product, but rather a reflection on my own inherent laziness. Second, even before receiving this review copy, I had posted several times to various review forums voicing my displeasure at the pricing structure K&C were using for these Hacklopedias as well as HackMaster in general. Lastly, believe it or not, I actually won the "grand prize" at the K&C booth at GenCon 2001-- a complete set of all the KINGDOMS OF KALAMAR product to date at that time. No additional "prizes" have been awarded to further sway my current review, however. Intro: In case you've been living under a rock for the last few years, HackMaster is supposed to be a real-live version of the RPG played by our gaming friends in K&C's *Knights of the Dinnertable* comic book. What it is in reality is a licensed and souped up version of 1st edition AD&D which seems to have inspired either dis-hard fanatacism or outraged disgust among the RPG.NET community. I fall somewhere in the middle-- I enjoy KODT, was looking forward to HackMaster but was shocked and dismayed at the cash outlay for the entire set of "core" rules. Short story shorter, I never bought them, haven't played them. I do, however, have all of the 1st edition rules and therefore will be reviewing this supplement from the standpoint of how useful it would be to someone who might want to use it in an old school 1st/2nd edition campaign. So What's Different? As I said, K&C have licensed 1st edition AD&D from WOTC, so they have access to all of the old monster collections, including the Monster Manual, Monster Manual II, the Fiend Folio, etc. What this means is that a good handful of the entries in this volume (and most others, i assume) are taken verbatim from the original sources and transplanted into the Hacklopedia with some minor tweaking. So what, exactly, has K&C done differently? The major change is in the addition of several NEW lines of info in each monster entry. New stuff includes: - AKA (other names the monster may be known by) - HackFactor (something like CR ratings in D&D3E??) - EP Value - Organization (do they live in tribes, packs, go solo, etc.) - Activity Cycle (Day/Night/etc.) - Diet - Morale (how likely are they to stay and fight when things look bad?) in addition, there is also the twink-tastic inclusion of the "Yield" box. Yes my friends, now we can have adventuring parties carrying around dead monster bits because they can fetch 100 gp an ounce when used as an athlete's foot cure! The mind sort of boggles at how this might affect game play, although it does seem right at home in a KODT styled HackMaster campaign. Another odd thing is what they've done with the traditional hit dice concept. Yeah, its still "roll an 8 sider" for each HD, but now you're automatically adding 20 hp to whatever else you roll for HD! So a 1HD monster has a whopping 21-28 hp range. Easilly fixed, i guess, since the HD entries in the Hacklopedia itself can just be used the old fashioned way without adding those extra hp's. Another difference about these books versus the old manuals is the sheerly ridiculous number of monsters covered and the way that K&C have chosen to organize and sell them to the public. Ok, so we've been told that there will be 1600 or so monsters total in all of the Hacklopedias... 8 volumes at $19.99. You do the math. In addition, since the books are strictly alphabetical and NOT by region or some other method, you're basically stuck with monsters from only certain letters of the alphabet unless you invest in all 8 volumes. Maybe it's just my, but my party might wonder why we never fight anything except Aadvarks and Bats... K&C defend this by saying that if you're really only interested in Dragons, say, you can "buy only the ones you want." Hmm. This line definitely loses points with me on this issue alone. It would be nice to have a choice of getting some kind of mini A-Z manual for a basic campaign, with the option of more. Granted, I guess the GMG has a barebones list of all the monsters listed in the Hacklopedias, so you can still technically play without them... So What's the Same? Just about everything else. Aside from the 20 hp bump, all the monsters that were ported from AD&D sources retain the same stats and qualities as they did in the original manuals. The layout is also pretty similar, with more than one monster per page and with spot illustrations for most (if not all) monsters. The art is generally serviceable to good, with most done by the Fraim's and several Jeff Dee inspired pieces by an artist i couldn't identify from the credits. The cover art is about on par with the first edition MM. Take that for what you will. What do I like? Well, if you've never owned any of the early MMs and refuse to pay the $5 or so they cost on eBay, I guess you could do worse than picking these Hacklopedias up. Like the rest of the HM line, there are some minor minor humorous parts (most notable in the crazily violent artwork), but all in all they play it pretty straight-faced. The monster stats are formatted with alternating colored stripes which make them easier to read, and the extra detail in the description DOES paint more of a logical picture of where the monster might live and how they might fit into their surroundings. The AKA field also could be interesting... keeping players on their toes when different areas of the country might refer to the same monster by a different name-- might help ease the old "oh, it's a bugbear" syndrome. What I didn't like Number one... too expensive. Second, many of the 1600 monsters are really just variations on a base monster... for example, there's 6 different kinds of bats, 4 types of bees and 5 types of beetles. Some of the monsters are pretty ridiculous, including such gems as the "Giant Predacious Artillery Beetle," which is a HM/AD&D conversion of the ass-firing bugs from Starship Troopers. Depending on the type of campaign you run, I suppose this will be seen as either a plus or minus. I know HM is less than totally serious, so take that with a grain of salt. Sum it all up already If you're a HM maniac, you already own all 8 volumes. If you're an old school gamer looking for some new challenges in your 1st ed. campaign, you might find some value here. For most others, I'd recommend just buying the various monster manuals from eBay and saving yourself about $130.

Hacklopedia of Beasts - volume 1