Back to the Dungeon

Been quite a few months since I posted, eh? That's one of the things that happens when a) you end up sick for most of the winter, and b) you forget what e-mail address you've had to migrate your blogs to - oh, and the password for said blogs too. Arrrgh!

Early in those intervening months I actually ran several game sessions in my developing Northern Isles campaign - a single LotFP Old-school session with the Grognards of Willowdale and two Pathfinder sessions with the Whitby Grenadiers. I may post more on those sessions later. It was certainly my original intention to post "after-the-battle" reports: I took copious notes; I reviewed said notes; I got sick; I mislaid or stratified the notes; I never got around to writing or posting the reports. I wonder whether there's an anti-Caesarian phrase in Latin for all that? I meandered; I mislaid; I failed?

In any event, given that several months have passed since my last posting I have of course developed a passion for yet another game system: HackMaster 5E. And, of course, a new game system calls for a new campaign ... plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

More than a year ago I picked up a copy of HackMaster Basic. I had always liked the original HackMaster's combination of solid old-school gaming, over-the-top rules chrome, and dark humour but I mostly picked up HM Basic as a matter of product loyalty. I never actually looked at the rules - in fact, I think they're still in the bag from the store. At the time I really didn't need another OSR game, especially one whose rules substantively diverged from those of yore.

Last summer I bought the beautiful yet expensive Hacklopedia of Beasts. It was gorgeous; I was duly impressed; I wasn't sure what to do with it.

I placed the tome reverently on my shelf, and took it down every so often to lovingly leaf through its pages of monstery goodness.

This past June I was feeling a little more energetic and happened to visit Kenzer & Co.'s website - I think I was curious as to whether anything more had come out for the new version of HM (it's been a little harder to keep up with what's going on in the world of gaming since many publishers have apparently stopped soliciting in Previews). I discovered that the 400-page Player's Handbook was scheduled for a Summer 2012 release (to be followed in Summer 2013 by the HackMaster's Guide). Okay ... good to know HM is still alive. I looked at the blurb for the Player's Handbook and was hooked: I pre-ordered the book on the spot and started downloading the immediately available pdf version.

I have been reading through the HM5 Player's Handbook - and really, really, really wishing I knew where the heck I put that copy of HM Basic now that I could use it! I've been sketching out a campaign background, and I've started work on a few maps. Now all I need to do is round up a few vic...uhm...players.