I have word that HackJammer is now at Kenzer & Co's office, so it should be out in the next week or so. AND...just a little more info on HackJammer!
http://www.kenzerco.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=744699&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#Post744969
Specifically:
The back of the hackJammer book advertises:
8 new character races
45 new monsters
18 new spells
New quirks, flaws, and skills
Many new & unique magic items.
I have word that HackJammer is now at Kenzer & Co's office, so it should be out in the next week or so. AND...just a little more info on HackJammer!
That's great to hear Nightdruid ;).
Do you have any possible details on when it'll be released outside the US?
That's great to hear Nightdruid ;).
Do you have any possible details on when it'll be released outside the US?
No idea. I'm not sure on how the "outside US sales" work, but I guess its something like 1-3 months after the US release.
No idea. I'm not sure on how the "outside US sales" work, but I guess its something like 1-3 months after the US release.
That sounds about right.
I appreciate the details bud! ;)
One of my local gaming stores is getting Hackjammer in on Tuesday, so I'm going to try to pick it up then.
Oooh! Be sure to stop back and tell us what you thought Dragonhelm.
Oooh! Be sure to stop back and tell us what you thought Dragonhelm.
Will do! My FLGS just got it in today and a copy is on hold for me.
Actually, I almost had two copies. My FLGS owner had it waiting for me still in the shrink wrap. I got out to the car, opened it up, and there's two books inside. At first, I thought maybe there was a player's guide and a DM guide, or maybe the two books covered differing topics.
Nope, just turned out to be two copies in the same shrink wrap. :P
My first reaction was "Score!". Then that nasty conscience thing kicked in, so I took the extra copy back and told the FLGS owner that he nearly screwed himself out of $25. He was grateful to me, and said that now he had to tell his distributor that he was a liar since he got onto the distributor for sending one copy and not two. :D
Anyway, at a glance, the book looks great. Lots of SJ goodness in there, including a lot of the mainstay races and monsters.
I'll give a more thorough review later one once I've digested this some.
Adam, congrats on a wonderful product!
Cover Art - Overall, pretty good. It's got a good SJ feel, and it almost looks like the one ship is hitting the Hackmaster logo. lol Upon closer inspection, it looks like another ship fired upon it. The fighter guy on the front seems a little plain, but the gith and the pixie make up for it. Pixie seems like a natural addition to the SJ universe.
Interior Art - I have mixed emotions on this. Some art is great, some a bit silly (hey, it's Hackmaster), and some is so-so. Seems to be some good space scenes in here. I wish the ships were in color, but that's okay.
Authors/Adaptation - Adam Miller (aka Night Druid), Paul Westermeyer, and Rian McMurtry (aka Whalejudge). These guys are on the SJ Council, and there is nobody out there better qualified to bring Spelljammer to life as a Hackmaster product.
Length: 128 pages. Jam packed with materials for that short of a book, though.
Intro - This gives the basics of Hackjamming and HackSpace.
Chapter 1 - Player Characters in Hackspace
Races - Looks like the Gromman (and Hadozee?) are replaced with the Apes of Gronnanar. There's four subraces to these, so that's good.
The dracon, giff, and lizard men are all here. Looks like the scro are now orcs (orcs spelled backwards is scro!), and the xixchil are in the monster section.
New Skills - Standard SJ style skills here, taken from prior products. What I like here is that they can be adapted to any edition of D&D easily.
Quirks - These are great flavor pieces! Phobias are all neat. Love the Smell of Smoke in the Morning just says Giff all over it (read the description!). My absolute favorite, though, is Red Shirt. Think the original Star Trek series on that one!
Traits - Bonuses to combat.
Chapter 2 - Ships of Hackspace
This is the chapter everyone is going to want to see. Looks like some mainstays in there. Dwarven Citadel is now the Dwarven Bastion. The Elven Motharaa Monarchship...am I reading this right? Mothra? lol
Oh, you have to read the Gnomish Rodentship (Rodenster). It's a hamster cage in space, complete with spinning wheels. lol
Great Jammer appears to be the Spelljammer itself. Spudnik I? lol Gotta love it.
All the rules here appear to be very similar to the 2e SJ ship rules. What's nice is that many, if not all, of these ships have notes on other configurations.
The bad part is that there isn't art for each ship.
Chapter 3 - The Dry Dock
Equipment, crews, ship modifications, etc. A good section on ship perks and quirks.
Chapter 4 - Combat in HacksSpace
Navigation, taking off and landing, combat, repair, and spells in space.
Chapter 5 - The Rock of Brawl
Gotta love the name! All too short of a chapter, though for the size of the product, I can see why.
Chapter 6 - The Worlds of HackSpace
Shouldn't that be "wurlds"? ;)
Nice chapter on the sample sphere of HackSpace. Very abbreviated, as was the prior chapter. HackSpace, aka the Caz-Adar System, has an inner and an outer system, which is a cool idea for Spelljammer.
Chapter 7 - Politics of HackSpace
These are the Powers that Be in Hackspace.
A funny one is the Joint Chiefdoms of the Giff General Staff (chiefs of staff - lol).
There's a nice section on the guilds and churches of HackSpace. I like this section because it includes some of the major religions of SJ, providing a bit of a religious structure for the SJ universe. Celestian is here, so I'm happy.
Chapter 8 - Adventures in HackSpace
There's a couple of scenarios in here, plus notes on converting existing Hackmaster mods to HackSpace, future modules, and general notes on converting adventures. Kudos on this section.
Appendix A - New Monsters
What I like is the stat blocks all have an "aka" in them, giving alternate names. These are hilarious. Sunrise dragon, aka sunset dragon (for example). Elmarin are also known as St. Elmo's fire. lol
Speaking of dragons, the radiant dragon is in here, along with the comet and sunrise dragons (the latter two being creations of Night Druid). I still remember talking to him about them initially.
Giant space hamsters are here, and we have an added bonus with giant space hamster humanoids. The Lakshu are here (nice pic!). Mechanical gnomes take the idea of autognomes (one of the types) and expands on it. I like that the bit about babies is in there too. Neogi are here.
Space whales are hilarious. Kindori are here, but now we have the Moby Dori, Kindorca, and Delphinid.
Finally, the Xixchil. This chapter ends with flora and fauna of HackSpace.
Appendix B - New Spells and Magic Items
Helms are here, as are an alternate means of travel - the Splendid Sails of Hackjammin'. New spells. Lots of good stuff.
I would have rather had the section on altered spells by the new spells, but no biggie.
Appendix C - Beyond Hackspace
Phlogiston is here. There's a discussion on universe building, a map of the Known Spheres, and lots of tools here.
Overall, I think Hackjammer is great, and Spelljammer fans are going to love it. The feel isn't exactly the same, but a lot of that is art and layout. There are pages at the end of chapters with a lot of blank white space. Art could have been used there. Seems like there's a lot of good SJ ideas in there, more faithful to SJ than any other 3rd party product out there.
This book is a MUST for any serious SJ fan. Kudos to Adam, Paul, and Rian on a fun book and a job well done.
http://www.kenzerco.com/rpg/hackmaster/downloads/HJammer_preview.pdf
My first thought about Hackjammer and other similar Hackmaster products is what exactly is the point? I already have all the 2E Spelljammer books, so why would I want to buy a new book that presents pretty much the same material with a few words and names changed?
There is far more than simply a few name changes. New ships, monsters, races, spheres, power groups, and a new ship-building system. There is a lot there that's new. How much you can use depends on your own personal preferences. I'd suggest finding it at a gamestore and thumb through it and make your own judgement as to if you think its worth it to you to buy.
My absolute favorite, though, is Red Shirt. Think the original Star Trek series on that one!
So what does it do?
Giant space hamsters are here, and we have an added bonus with giant space hamster humanoids.
How does that work? Are they a sentient, "furry" race, or just giant space hamsters that happen to be bipedal?Space whales are hilarious. Kindori are here, but now we have the Moby Dori, Kindorca, and Delphinid.
Are those subtypes of kindori, or in addition to it? What about scavvers?
And what's the Spudnik I? (I know about *Sputnik* I.)
Wyvern
So what does it do?
When a random encounter is rolled, the character will be the first character attacked (within reason).
According to the description, they're a subspecies of giant space hamster that was given human qualities. By the description, they sound sentient. I think they're bipedal, though I can't say for certain. Reminds me of a big Hamtaro.
Are those subtypes of kindori, or in addition to it? What about scavvers?
Scavvers have their own entry. The kindori, Moby Dori, kindorca, and delphinid are all space whale subspecies.
And what's the Spudnik I? (I know about *Sputnik* I.)
Gnomish fighter vessel, powered by potatoes.
Man, I'm getting so many laughs. Me needs more Hackmaster! :D
According to the description, they're a subspecies of giant space hamster that was given human qualities. By the description, they sound sentient. I think they're bipedal, though I can't say for certain. Reminds me of a big Hamtaro.
Does it happen to mention who they worship? :D
Does it happen to mention who they worship? :D
I don't recall seeing that in the description.
GM: Ok, the enemy captain surrenders his ship and cargo to you as you just killed half his crew. Congrats, you now have in your possession a garbage tug.
Players: Great, ok, what kind of helm does it have?
GM: Just a old minor helm, nothing fancy.
Players: Well strip it from the tug, sell it in Waterdeep for only 2/3rds it base (100,000gp). Woot we're rich! Wait?? How'd the captain get a helm and why didn't he just sell it and live like a king till he died??
The New Hackjammer stuff adds some really practical pricelists. There's also a section on how to easily convert any older Hackmaster Adventure into a Hackjammer one (for when you need an adventure quick).
They refined and really brought light on that Ape-man race (they're not blue though, but really "planet of the apes"-esk).
Also, they really detailed the different types of Helms (how much they can move, how they work, etc...) and added a class system to the minor and major helms (the Type I Minor Helm costs 25000gp and only moves upto 25tons, but the Type VI runs about 35000gp and moves upto 200tons).
Basically, they turned the a-nal retentive (stupid thing wont let me say a-nal) attitude that the Hackmaster system demads of its writers on to Spelljammer, a system that at its best moments had some bad issues with rule clarity and realism (even for a high fantasy game).
This is a race that, in the middle ages, can invent the rain gun, and in the process of fixing the sight turn it into an expresso machine, and still be SURPRISED when it blows up and kills 10 gnomes.
One of my players ran a Tinker gnome once using the rules in the Dragonlance box set. It was a really great character and it caused so many of those great game moments that you talk about for years.
And the Giant Space Hamsters. gotta love em. ^_^
Though humanoid giant space hamsters really have only one option when it comes to religion though. Wooly Rupert, the legendary Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen. Could you really see them worshiping anything else? :D