News Archives for November, 2001

November 29, 2001

Here is a quick D10,000 roller that you can use in your browser. Apparently it is needed for the critical hit table in the GMG. (I wouldn't know, because mine hasn't shown up yet.)

1d10000

The above link is all the code you need. All you have to do is right click on it and choose "Add to Favorites". Now look in your favorites and you will see it. Click it and then you will get your dice roll. All you need is your browser open and you don't even have to be online for it to work.

November 27, 2001

Here are the results for the latest poll question: Do you use miniatures when you play?

Yes, and some of them are painted. 40%
No, we do it all in our heads. 18%
Yes, and they are all painted. 15%
No, we just use dice. 15%
Yes, none are painted though. 4%
No, we use cardboard counters. 2%
No, we use paper standups. 1%
No, we use toy figures. 1%


So, a little over half (59%) of you use miniatures in your games. Another 19% use some other token to represent miniatures. The amazing thing that I found from this poll is that only 1% use paper standups like Cardboard Heroes from Steve Jackson Games. Wow, and I just ordered some today. I just don't have the time (or talent) to paint minis anymore. And I always found them a hassle to lug around to games.

The new poll question is another play related question- How many people play in your group?

Will sent in a kewl new spell- Hess's Fireball. Check it out!

I sure hope I get in my copy of the GM's Guide today. This waiting is driving me nuts!

November 21, 2001

Hoody Hoo!!! My wife gave birth to a wonderful little girl on Monday! She weighed in at 5 lbs and 13 oz. She is going to be taking up most of my free time for quite a while so I might not be updating the site as often as before.

In game related news, Noah Kolman posted on the message boards a few days ago that Kenzer is working on BattleHack, a HackMaster tactical miniatures game. There is no projected date for this yet, but it sounds like something new to look forward to.

November 17, 2001

The HackMaster GM's Guide has shipped!!!

Jolly posted this news bulletin up on the message boards a couple of days ago-

Just unloaded it from the truck! Pre-orders will go out in the morning and then we will be getting these in the hands of distributors as soon as possible! It's Huge! Better reserve your copy now, I don't think these will be on the shelf too long.

If you want your copy anytime soon, I would suggest ordering direct from Kenzer. Otherwise it will probably be a couple of weeks before you see it in your local gamestore. Also, its sure to sell out quickly at the stores.

In related news, I just noticed that Kenzer has finally updated the order form on their site with new HackMaster stuff on it available thru next month. The GM's shield comes out next month with the rather high price of $14.99! Good lord, how can a piece of cardboard with some tables on it be worth this price? The screen for D&D only costs $9.95. They are going to have to explain this one...

November 12, 2001

Here are the results for the latest poll question: What campaign setting are you going to use for HackMaster?

Homebrewed 47%
Garweeze Wurld 31%
Other 5%
Forgotten Realms 4%
Greyhawk 4%
Kalamar 3%
Mystara 2%
Birthright 1%


A lot of people are definitely interested in playing in Garweeze Wurld. Too bad that we will have to wait another year to see it. The surprise of this poll was the lack of interest in the Kalamar setting. I can't say that I find it that interesting either.

The new poll question is: Do you use miniatures when you play?

Doug Curtis has sent in some more kewl stuff for us to play with. First off is a mean plant, the Inite! He also submitted a new cleric spell called Firehail that was created by his friend John DesMarais.

November 6, 2001

Alright, we have an answer to the question of what was going on with the HackMaster Release Schedule. Noah Kolman had this to say on the subject-

The GameMaster's Guide will be out around Thanksgiving. Hacklopedia of Beasts 5 will be out a short time after that, around the end of November or the beginning of December. The first two modules, Little Keep on the Boderlands and Quest for the Unknown have been pushed back to next year. The GM Shield should be out by the end of the year.

I've had some people asking (ok, only one person asked!) about how much traffic this site is getting for me to be having bandwidth problems. The site has been averaging around 2500 visitors a month since I started it back in July. That's not really a lot of traffic. The problem is that Geocities is just being stingy. Don't worry though, this site will remain operational no matter what.

November 3, 2001

Due to the increasing popularity of the site, I am starting to incur some bandwidth problems. When I tried accessing the site this morning, I was greeted by an error message stating that the site had exceeded its allocated data transfer.

In an attempt to delay having to move the site elsewhere, I am going to try a few things to lessen the load. The first thing I am doing is the removal of large images from the home page. You can still see Doug Curtis's kewl pictures by looking at the monster pages, but they are just too much of a bandwidth hawg to place on the most traveled page.

If bandwidth problems continue after this, I will move the site to somewhere that's not so stingy.

November 1, 2001

I went through the Release Schedule page for HackMaster products today and had to move a lot of the dates back. Hopefully Kenzer & Co. will get better at releasing things on time after the GM's guide is released at the end of this month.