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HACK! B.A. Deck:

SKU: EDN3000
ISBN: 1-891153-70-6

HACK! Knuckles Deck:

SKU: EDN3001
ISBN: 1-891153-71-4

HACK! El Ravager Deck:

SKU: EDN3002
ISBN: 1-891153-72-2

HACK! Thorina Deck:

SKU: EDN3003
ISBN: 1-891153-73-0

HACK! Teflon Billy Deck:

SKU: EDN3004
ISBN: 1-891153-74-9

INTRODUCTION

HACK! is a non-collectible card game based on the comic Knights of the Dinner Table. Players take the rolls of the KoDT characters as they get together for a "friendly" game of Hackmaster. The object for the players of Knuckles, El Ravager, Thorina, and Teflon Billy is to be the first to escape B.A.'s fiendish dungeon, or else to be the first to find and use the Legendary Hand of Vectra (preferably without dying). The goal of B.A.'s player is to make sure no one here gets out alive…

CONTENT

(Note: For simplicity's sake, I'm going to use the terms "participant" when referring to a person playing the game, "player" when referring to the individuals playing Knuckles, El Ravager, Thorina, and Teflon Billy, and "GM" when referring to the person playing B.A.)

Each individual HACK! 55-card deck includes everything you need to play that character, aside from a six-sided die: a rulebook, a Character Card, a card with cut-out figures for each of the four players (or, in B.A.'s deck, with four cut-out tombstones to mark his "kills"), and all the cards that character can use in play. The latter are:

Room Cards. Game play starts in the Entrance room, and players add new Room Cards to expand the dungeon. Certain cards have special effects, with those in B.A.'s deck being particularly nasty. The two most important rooms are the Exit and the Inner Chamber of Vectra, because they're the keys to victory (see below).

Rule Cards. These cards contain rules that change the game in the favor of either the GM or one of the players and were one of the most amusing parts of the game. (And when I say "change the game," I'm not talking about minor tweaks. I'm talking the kind of changes that induce cries of "You have got to be sh*tting me!")

Event Cards. A bit like one-shot Rules Cards, the players and the GM can use these to screw each other over in reaction to an individual participant's action.

Encounter Cards. These are the Monsters, NPCs, and Traps that the players must overcome using their various abilities.

Item Cards. Magic items and the like -- some ridiculously overpowered, including the legendary 12 Hackmaster -- that help players overcome the aforementioned obstacles.

Each character card except for the GM's includes four stats:

Combat, for dealing with Monsters. El Ravager's specialty.

Theiving, for dealing with Traps. Knuckles's specialty.

Negotiation, for dealing with NPCs. Thorina's specialty.

Rules Lawyering, for removing Rules Cards that are in play. Teflon Billy's specialty, and B.A.'s only stat.

To use a stat, the participant rolls 1d6 and adds the result to the stat score, while the participant who played the card being challenged rolls 1d6 and adds it to the difficulty number listed on the card. Ties are re-rolled until there's a winner.

Play begins with each participant dealing themselves a hand of five cards from their respective decks and rolling to see who goes first, with play proceeding clockwise.

On their turns, participants can:

Play a Rule card.
Remove a Rule card.
Discard and draw X number of cards.
Pass.
Play a Room card adjacent to the room occupied by the character (or to any Room that has a character in it, in the case of the GM).
Move into a room (characters only).
Play an Encounter face down in an empty Room (GM only -- this is how he "stocks the dungeon").

When a character enters a room, he can search it for Items by rolling a 1D6 and trying to get under a number equal to 1 plus the number of rooms that the character is away from the entrance. If he succeeds, he can equip himself with an Item card from his hand. (Obviously, if he doesn't have any Item cards in his hand, there's no point in searching.)

After he's had the opportunity to search, however, all of the other players will be given a chance to play an Encounter on him, starting with the player on his left. (Only one Encounter can be played per movement action, however.) Playing an Encounter is a double-edged sword, since the player can equip himself with an Item from his hand if he's victorious. If the player loses, however, he loses one item and must return to the entrance.

A player wins by either ending his turn on the Exit or by entering the Inner Chamber of Vectra and using the Legendary Hand of Vectra without dying. (Each player deck has an Exit Card and a Hand Card.) The GM wins by racking up a number of kills equal to the total number of players (including the GM) plus one.

The Playtest

I was fortunate enough to have almost a full group to try out the game -- one player short of a full set of decks, so to speak. Everyone was familiar with Knights of the Dinner Table.

I'd estimate that teaching everyone the rules took no more than 15 minutes. (The fact that each deck comes with the instructions helped, of course.) The main problem we had was in interpreting three rules: Whether participants can play an Encounter on a player only after he's searched a room or only after he's had the opportunity to search a room (the latter is correct, and we got it right), whether players get loot from defeating Encounters as well as by searching (we decided that they did and got it right), and whether all of the players get a chance to throw Encounters at a player who's in the Exit (we said they could and got that wrong).

I could tell immediately that the game was going to go over big when the guys started laughing at their card hands before the game had even begun. The laughter went on pretty much non-stop the whole time we played.

The Rules Cards were probably the biggest hit of the game, which is saying something. Unfortunately, the Rules Cards seemed to be prime targets for destruction -- especially the GM's Rules Cards. Many of those never got a chance to be used before Teflon Billy's player took them out.

And speaking of Teflon Billy taking things out, I grew to really hate his "Irrelevant Chatter and Small Talk" Rule Card -- mainly because it lets his player cause the player of his choice to lose his turn on a roll of 5-6 on 1D6, because Billy's player in our game was really lucky, because I was the target of choice for said rule, and because since I was the GM, no one wanted to help me by Rules Lawyering the damn thing away.

Overall, though, balance is one of the game's strong points. While certain cards pushed individual stats through the roof, there were always chinks in the armor. When a character got too good at Combat, we'd just let'im have it with NPCs and Traps, for example.

The game bills itself as being fast-paced, and it was. One big help was the speed with which card hands refreshed. Instead of getting new cards at the beginning of the next turn, as in Eden's Abduction card game, cards are replaced as soon as they take effect. This, along with the ability of participants to discard and replace as many cards as they like as an action, really kept things moving.

The closest thing to a flaw I saw in the rules was the relative lack of drama associated with a win. Due to our misinterpretation of the rules, we had every participant playing Encounter cards on any player reaching the exit. If we'd played correctly, however, the exit would have been just another room with just a single encounter between the player and victory.

That's a minor issue, however. The fact is that everyone had a tremendous time and unanimously decided to play back-to-back games. We'd have played a third as well, if there hadn't been a time issue and another game to try.

STYLE

Like I said, we were laughing before the game even got underway. The rules text, the card text, the KoDT quotes, and the art -- KoDT-hilarious and gamer-kewl -- all add up to a seriously funny game.

Style-wise, the only real flaw is the rules clarity issue I've already mentioned.

CONCLUSION

I can't come up with too many reasons not to buy this game. I suppose if you simply hate KoDT or just don't get it, you might not like this game. I'd say that you might not like it if you don't like card games, but I don't like card games, and I loved it. Cost is probably the biggest issue, but only if one person buys all five decks.

To sum up, this is a great way for roleplaying gamers to have a good time laughing at themselves on non-gaming nights. If you are even remotely amused by KoDT, you will love this game. And if you love KoDT, why are you still here? Get out there and start HACKing!

Hoody-hoo!

HACK!
HACK! Playtest Review by Dan Davenport on 27/08/02 Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) Hoody-hoo! A non-collectible-card-based dungeon romp, Knights of the Dinner Table* style! One of the best times I've had playing a non-roleplaying game.* Product: HACK! Author: George Vasilakos, M. Alexander Jurkat, Bernard C. Trombley Category: Card Game Company/Publisher: Eden Studios, Inc. Line: HACK! Cost: $11.95/deck Page count: n/a Year published: 2001 ISBN: (see below) SKU: (see below) Comp copy?: yes Playtest Review by Dan Davenport on 27/08/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Comedy	HACK! B.A. Deck: SKU: EDN3000 ISBN: 1-891153-70-6 HACK! Knuckles Deck: SKU: EDN3001 ISBN: 1-891153-71-4 HACK! El Ravager Deck: SKU: EDN3002 ISBN: 1-891153-72-2 HACK! Thorina Deck: SKU: EDN3003 ISBN: 1-891153-73-0 HACK! Teflon Billy Deck: SKU: EDN3004 ISBN: 1-891153-74-9 INTRODUCTION HACK! is a non-collectible card game based on the comic Knights of the Dinner Table. Players take the rolls of the KoDT characters as they get together for a "friendly" game of Hackmaster. The object for the players of Knuckles, El Ravager, Thorina, and Teflon Billy is to be the first to escape B.A.'s fiendish dungeon, or else to be the first to find and use the Legendary Hand of Vectra (preferably without dying). The goal of B.A.'s player is to make sure no one here gets out alive… CONTENT (Note: For simplicity's sake, I'm going to use the terms "participant" when referring to a person playing the game, "player" when referring to the individuals playing Knuckles, El Ravager, Thorina, and Teflon Billy, and "GM" when referring to the person playing B.A.) Each individual HACK! 55-card deck includes everything you need to play that character, aside from a six-sided die: a rulebook, a Character Card, a card with cut-out figures for each of the four players (or, in B.A.'s deck, with four cut-out tombstones to mark his "kills"), and all the cards that character can use in play. The latter are: Room Cards. Game play starts in the Entrance room, and players add new Room Cards to expand the dungeon. Certain cards have special effects, with those in B.A.'s deck being particularly nasty. The two most important rooms are the Exit and the Inner Chamber of Vectra, because they're the keys to victory (see below). Rule Cards. These cards contain rules that change the game in the favor of either the GM or one of the players and were one of the most amusing parts of the game. (And when I say "change the game," I'm not talking about minor tweaks. I'm talking the kind of changes that induce cries of "You have got to be shtting me!") Event Cards. A bit like one-shot Rules Cards, the players and the GM can use these to screw each other over in reaction to an individual participant's action. Encounter Cards. These are the Monsters, NPCs, and Traps that the players must overcome using their various abilities. Item Cards. Magic items and the like -- some ridiculously* overpowered, including the legendary 12 Hackmaster -- that help players overcome the aforementioned obstacles. Each character card except for the GM's includes four stats: Combat, for dealing with Monsters. El Ravager's specialty. Theiving, for dealing with Traps. Knuckles's specialty. Negotiation, for dealing with NPCs. Thorina's specialty. Rules Lawyering, for removing Rules Cards that are in play. Teflon Billy's specialty, and B.A.'s only stat. To use a stat, the participant rolls 1d6 and adds the result to the stat score, while the participant who played the card being challenged rolls 1d6 and adds it to the difficulty number listed on the card. Ties are re-rolled until there's a winner. Play begins with each participant dealing themselves a hand of five cards from their respective decks and rolling to see who goes first, with play proceeding clockwise. On their turns, participants can: Play a Rule card. Remove a Rule card. Discard and draw X number of cards. Pass. Play a Room card adjacent to the room occupied by the character (or to any Room that has a character in it, in the case of the GM). Move into a room (characters only). Play an Encounter face down in an empty Room (GM only -- this is how he "stocks the dungeon"). When a character enters a room, he can search it for Items by rolling a 1D6 and trying to get under a number equal to 1 plus the number of rooms that the character is away from the entrance. If he succeeds, he can equip himself with an Item card from his hand. (Obviously, if he doesn't have any Item cards in his hand, there's no point in searching.) After he's had the opportunity to search, however, all of the other players will be given a chance to play an Encounter on him, starting with the player on his left. (Only one Encounter can be played per movement action, however.) Playing an Encounter is a double-edged sword, since the player can equip himself with an Item from his hand if he's victorious. If the player loses, however, he loses one item and must return to the entrance. A player wins by either ending his turn on the Exit or by entering the Inner Chamber of Vectra and using the Legendary Hand of Vectra without dying. (Each player deck has an Exit Card and a Hand Card.) The GM wins by racking up a number of kills equal to the total number of players (including the GM) plus one. The Playtest I was fortunate enough to have almost a full group to try out the game -- one player short of a full set of decks, so to speak. Everyone was familiar with Knights of the Dinner Table. I'd estimate that teaching everyone the rules took no more than 15 minutes. (The fact that each deck comes with the instructions helped, of course.) The main problem we had was in interpreting three rules: Whether participants can play an Encounter on a player only after he's searched a room or only after he's had the opportunity to search a room (the latter is correct, and we got it right), whether players get loot from defeating Encounters as well as by searching (we decided that they did and got it right), and whether all of the players get a chance to throw Encounters at a player who's in the Exit (we said they could and got that wrong). I could tell immediately that the game was going to go over big when the guys started laughing at their card hands before the game had even begun. The laughter went on pretty much non-stop the whole time we played. The Rules Cards were probably the biggest hit of the game, which is saying something. Unfortunately, the Rules Cards seemed to be prime targets for destruction -- especially the GM's Rules Cards. Many of those never got a chance to be used before Teflon Billy's player took them out. And speaking of Teflon Billy taking things out, I grew to really hate his "Irrelevant Chatter and Small Talk" Rule Card -- mainly because it lets his player cause the player of his choice to lose his turn on a roll of 5-6 on 1D6, because Billy's player in our game was really lucky, because I was the target of choice for said rule, and because since I was the GM, no one wanted to help me by Rules Lawyering the damn thing away. Overall, though, balance is one of the game's strong points. While certain cards pushed individual stats through the roof, there were always chinks in the armor. When a character got too good at Combat, we'd just let'im have it with NPCs and Traps, for example. The game bills itself as being fast-paced, and it was. One big help was the speed with which card hands refreshed. Instead of getting new cards at the beginning of the next turn, as in Eden's Abduction card game, cards are replaced as soon as they take effect. This, along with the ability of participants to discard and replace as many cards as they like as an action, really kept things moving. The closest thing to a flaw I saw in the rules was the relative lack of drama associated with a win. Due to our misinterpretation of the rules, we had every participant playing Encounter cards on any player reaching the exit. If we'd played correctly, however, the exit would have been just another room with just a single encounter between the player and victory. That's a minor issue, however. The fact is that everyone had a tremendous time and unanimously decided to play back-to-back games. We'd have played a third as well, if there hadn't been a time issue and another game to try. STYLE Like I said, we were laughing before the game even got underway. The rules text, the card text, the KoDT quotes, and the art -- KoDT-hilarious and gamer-kewl -- all add up to a seriously funny game. Style-wise, the only real flaw is the rules clarity issue I've already mentioned. CONCLUSION I can't come up with too many reasons not to buy this game. I suppose if you simply hate KoDT or just don't get it, you might not like this game. I'd say that you might not like it if you don't like card games, but I don't like card games, and I loved it. Cost is probably the biggest issue, but only if one person buys all five decks. To sum up, this is a great way for roleplaying gamers to have a good time laughing at themselves on non-gaming nights. If you are even remotely amused by KoDT, you will love this game. And if you love KoDT, why are you still here? Get out there and start HACKing! Hoody-hoo!