HackMaster, from Kenzer & Co., puts the 'competitive' edge into role-playing. You win if you are alive at the end of the adventure with a pile of gold, the GM wins if you are a mouldering heap of bones! It's an attitude change - none of the deep angst and disadvantages that fuel role-play, but a chance to maximise whatever you possibly can and launch into a career of world domination. First 'seen' as the game being played by the Knights of the Dinner Table in the comic of that name, popular demand (and a sense of fun) saw it developed as a game in its own right, based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons under licence. If you find the best bits of fantasy role-play are dungeon-bashing and hack'n'slash, this is the game for you. And it's all jolly good fun!

Just to confuse (and amuse), the first appearance of the game is the FOURTH EDITION, and 2010 sees the launch of the BASIC EDITION, which is not basic in the least albeit a faster and more streamlined version of the ruleset. It's still compatible with earlier supplements and adventures, and new material is also being developed.

Setting Page last updated: 27 January 2010