Hackmaster Quick Start Rules.pdf

So, tonight’s the night you’re going to start playing

HackMaster Basic. You’re all eager to play and don’t have the

time or inclination to read all the rules yet. There’s nothing

wrong with that and, heck, we appreciate your enthusiasm!

Determine Honor

Your character’s starting Honor score is calculated a bit dif-

ferently from other ability scores. To determine starting

Honor, add your other seven ability scores together.

If you want to jump into a HackMaster game as quickly as

possible, just follow the steps here and you’ll have a basic char-

acter ready for adventuring. We’ve optimized these steps for

speed, so your choices have been artificially limited and certain

rules have been ignored. Don’t fret though - your character will

be good enough to play. (Once you become more familiar with

the game, you’ll probably want to utilize the unabridged char-

acter creation rules that give you the opportunity to tweak out

a character to your own exacting specifications.) Now grab some

dice and let’s begin.

Treat the fractional ability scores as decimals to facilitate cal-

culator use. This way a Strength of 12/68 becomes 12.68 and

so on. Once you’ve added all seven ability scores, divide the

total by seven and round any decimal down to the nearest

whole number. This is your starting Honor score.

Select Character Class

You may pick one of the following character classes to play:

fighter, thief, mage or cleric. Your character’s class defines what

starting abilities and powers he possesses. There are no prereq-

uisites for any class so you can choose any one you want.

It’s recommended that you download the HackMaster Basic

character record sheet PDF from www.kenzerco.com before

proceeding (or, if you have a prepared GameMaster, have him

give you a copy). While playing off a scratch pad is definitely

kewl and old school, we provide the character sheets free of

charge to assist you, so why not take advantage of this tool?

Fighters are good at combat. This is an excellent choice for a

novice player as fighters are usually in the thick of the action -

providing you with fairly unambiguous options to keep you

engaged in the game. You should consider a fighter if you have

average or above average scores in Strength and/or Constitution.

Roll Ability Scores

Thieves excel at sneaking around and exploring. They are

not as good at fighters in combat except when they can attack

opponents from behind. Consider playing a thief if you have a

high Dexterity score.

For each ability you roll three 6-

sided dice (3d6); the total shown on

the dice is your character’s ability

score. Then roll percentile dice (d%, or

two 10-sided dice yielding a number

from 01-100). Record each fractional

ability on your record sheet [ in pencil ,

since you’ll get to add a point or two

later!] next to the appropriate ability

like this: xx/yy where “xx” is the result

of the 3d6 and “yy” is the final result of

the d%.

Clerics are members of the clergy and set out into the world

to spread the teachings of their god. They are adequate combat-

ants and have the ability to use magic to heal their allies. If you

decide to play a cleric, it’s beneficial if you have a good Wisdom

score. You also need to pick your character’s alignment now and

choose a patron deity. Choices include The True, lawful good

god of justice and truth; Caregiver, neutral good god of healing,

hope and mercy; The Guardian, chaotic good god of freedom,

liberty and happiness; The Overlord, lawful evil god of oppres-

sion and slavery; and The Creator of Strife, chaotic evil god of

discord, misfortune and foul weather.

Repeat this step for all of your char-

acter’s abilities in order (Strength,

Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity,

Constitution, Looks and Charisma).

Mages are weak at combat and use their magic spells to hurt

or impede enemies. A mage character should have Intelligence

as one of his strongest scores.

After choosing your class, make the following adjustments to

your ability scores:

Fighter: add 1 to both Strength and Constitution

Thief: add 2 to Dexterity

Cleric: add 2 to Wisdom

Proficiencies and Skills

These represent knowledge that your character picked up

through life experience, study and training. Proficiencies can-

not be improved upon while skills can. Each class begins with

a different set of proficiencies and skills.

Don’t worry about the bracketed information following each

skill. We’ll explain its significance in a few moments.

Mage: add 2 to Intelligence

Choose Character Race

Now it’s time to choose your character’s race. You can decide

to play a human, a dwarf, an elf or a halfling.

Most dwarves are rugged, brave and boisterous, with a love

of strong drink. Dwarves make good fighters. The typical elf

is fascinated with magic and they typically make good mages.

An average halfling is amiable with a preference for creature

comforts. Their small size makes them excellent thieves.

Humans are versatile and pretty good at everything.

The f ighter records his prof iciencies here.

Fighter: Heavy Armor proficiency, Shield proficiency,

Weapon proficiencies (longsword, dagger, javelin and warham-

mer), Weapon Specialization (add +1 to Attack, Defense and

Damage plus -1 to Speed when using your longsword),

Appraisal (Armor & Weaponry) [Int]

In these abridged character creation rules, your race does not

affect any of your ability scores nor does it provide any special

bonus.

Determine Hit Points

Fighters roll twice (using 1d4) for additional skills

Your Hit Points (HP) are a representation of how much dam-

age you can sustain before dying. To determine your character’s

starting Hit Points, add your character’s racial adjustment

(shown on table on subsequent page), Constitution score (ignore

fractionals) and Hit Points for class (shown on the chart below).

1. Gambling [Wis & Cha]

2. Recruiting [Cha - universal]

3. Riding, Horses [Wis & Dex]

4. Swimming [Str & Con]

Character

For HP, add CON score plus:

Thief: Light Armor proficiency, Weapon proficiencies (short

sword and dagger), Climbing/Rappelling [Str & Dex - univer-

sal ], Disarm Trap [Int & Dex], Hiding [Int & Dex - universal ],

Identify Trap [Wis], Listening [Wis - universal ], Lock Picking

[Int & Dex], Pick Pocket [Dex - universal ], Sneaking [Dex -

universal ]

Dwarf

10 HP

Elf

5 HP

Halfling

5 HP

Human

10 HP

Cleric

+1d8 HP

Thieves roll twice (using 1d4) for additional skills

Fighter

+1d10 HP

1. Appraisal (artwork) [Int]

Mage

+1d4 HP

2. Appraisal (gems & jewelry) [Int]

3. Fast Talking [Cha]

4. Gambling [Wis & Cha]

Thief

+1d6 HP

Once you’ve determined your Hit Points, record the value in

the appropriate box.

Mage: Arcane Lore [Int], Magical Transcription proficiency,

Weapon proficiency (staff )

Mages roll twice (using 1d4) for additional skills

1. Botany [Int]

2. History (ancient) [Int]

3. Literacy [Int]

4. Mathematics [Int]

As an example of determining skill mastery, let’s fill in the skills section for a player who has chosen to be a cleric of The Guardian.

His ability scores are Strength 8/50, Intelligence 9/50, Wisdom 14/50, Dexterity 10/50, Constitution 11/50, Looks 12/50 and Charisma 13/50.

He receives the universal skills Cartography and Survival as bonus. His mastery is Cartography is 9 (his Intelligence ability) plus the roll of

a twelve-sided die. If he rolls “8” on this die, his total mastery is therefore 17. For Survival, his mastery is 11 (the lowest of his two relevant

abilities – Wisdom and Constitution) plus the roll of a twelve-sided die. If he rolls “7”, his total mastery is 18.

He also receives the non-universal skills Divine Lore, Religion (his chosen faith – i.e., The True), Animal Training (dogs), Literacy and Lock

Picking. Determining mastery for these skills is handled just as we did for the skills above. We’ll just determine the relevant ability and add the

roll of a twelve-sided die then annotate the score.

You don’t need to fill in values for the remaining universal skills. If your character needs to employ them at some point, you know that his

mastery is equivalent to the relevant ability score listed parenthetically after the skill.

Cleric: Heavy Armor proficiency, Shield proficiency,

Weapon proficiencies (see below), Divine Lore [Wis], Religion

(in his chosen faith) [Wis]

Skill Mastery

Next, you need to determine your character’s mastery of each

skill. For universal skills, your mastery is equal to your ability

score in the relevant ability ( i.e., the ability listed parenthetically

after the skill) or the lowest relevant ability, if multiple abilities

are listed).

A cleric’s weapon proficiencies and additional skills depend on the deity

he or she chose.

The True: weapon proficiencies: longsword, mace;

bonus skills: History (ancient) [Int], Literacy [Int], Riding (equine) [Wis

& Dex], Tracking [Wis - universal]

Caregiver: weapon proficiencies: sling, staff;

bonus skills: Cooking/Baking [Int & Wis], First Aid [Wis]

For skills that aren’t universal (or if you received a universal

skill as a bonus), roll one 12-sided die and add your relevant

ability score [listed in the brackets after the skill] to the result.

If two ability scores are listed, use the ability score in which

your character is the weakest. The result is your current mas-

tery level of that skill.

The Guardian: weapon proficiencies: longsword, mace; bonus skills:

Animal Training (dogs) [Int & Wis], Cartography [Int - universal],

Literacy [Int], Lock Picking [Int & Dex], Survival [Wis & Con - universal]

Roll One Quirk and One Flaw

The Overlord: weapon proficiencies: mace, scourge;

bonus skills: Literacy [Int], Rope Use [Dex - universal]

Quirks and flaws represent those aspects of your character

that make him a true individual – with those little traits and

imperfections that we all have. Roll once on the Quirk chart

and once on the Flaw chart (presented on the following page)

and annotate these on your record sheet. You can read more

about these quirks and flaws in Chapter Three when you get a

chance.

The Creator of Strife: weapon proficiencies: dagger, flail

bonus skills: Cartography [Int - universal], Survival [Wis & Con - universal]

Universal Skills: There are a large number of skills that peo-

ple have had some exposure to during their life and can employ

at a novice level without any kind of formal training. These are

all listed on the HackMaster player character record sheet. If

you received universal skills as a bonus, they are annotated as

such in the brackets after the skill name.

This character has annotated his quirk and flaw. He’s also made some

quick notes about how to use them at the gaming table.

Clothing: one pair of leather boots, wool trousers and tunic,

linen undershirt, wool cloak and a leather belt

Roll (d%)

Quirk

01-04

Absent-Minded

05-10

Close Talker

Thief

11-15

Compulsive Liar

16-28

Fear of Heights

Armor & Weaponry: leather armor, short sword and dagger

29-36

Foul-Mouthed

Supplies: a wineskin (2 qt. capacity), a week’s worth of trail

rations, a whetstone, two large leather belt pouches, a large can-

vas sack, a 50-foot coil of rope, a set of thieves’ tools and 25

copper pieces as pocket money.

37-42

Glutton

43-53

Greedy

54-63

Miserly

Clothing: one pair of leather boots, wool trousers and tunic,

linen undershirt, wool cloak and a leather belt

64-70

Needy

71-77

Nosy

78-81

Paranoid

82-86

Quick-Tempered

Cleric

87-93

Racist

Armor & Weaponry: leather armor, a small shield and both

weapons they have received proficiency in.

94-00

Superstitious

Supplies: a leather backpack, a wineskin (2 qt. capacity), a

week’s worth of trail rations, two small leather belt pouches, a

canon or prayer book, one silver divine icon, a woolen blanket,

a wineskin, a tinderbox, flint and steel, a whetstone, three iron

spikes, an axe-hammer, six torches and 10 copper pieces as

pocket money

Roll (d%)

Flaw

01-17

Allergies

18-22

Anosmia

23-29

Colorblind

30-34

Facial Scar

Clothing: one pair of leather boots, wool trousers and tunic,

linen undershirt and vestments of appropriate color and style

for their faith

35-41

Flatulence

42-48

Hairy

49-54

Hard of Hearing

55-58

Lisp

Mage

59-65

Myopia

66-75

Pocking

Armor & Weaponry: staff

76-81

Prematurely Gray

Supplies: a leather backpack, two large leather belt pouches, a

wineskin (2 qt. capacity), a week’s worth of trail rations, a tin-

derbox, flint and steel, eight torches, a spell book, four sticks of

chalk, a vial of ink, two quill pens, five sheets of vellum, spell

components (if necessary) and 15 copper pieces as pocket

money

82-84

Sleepwalker

85-89

Sterile

90-94

Stutterer

95-00

Tone Deaf

Clothing: one pair of leather boots, thick robes that offer -1

damage reduction against all attacks, pointy hat, linen under-

shirt and a leather belt

Receive Supplies

All characters receive a weapon or two, possibly armor and a

shield, a set of clothes, load bearing gear and sundry equip-

ment. The exact package depends of your character class.

Determine Spells - Mages Only

If you’re playing a mage, you’ll need to figure out what spells

you have in your spell book. Each mage starts with three spells

given to him by his mentor. Roll once on each of the follow-

ing tables (Apprentice, Journeyman and Level 1 Spells) to

determine your starting spells. You may memorize each of

these for a total of three magic spells.

Fighter

Armor & Weaponry: leather armor, a small shield, a

longsword, dagger, javelin and warhammer

Supplies: a leather backpack, a woolen blanket, a wineskin (2

qt. capacity), a week’s worth of trail rations, two small leather

belt pouches, a tinderbox, flint and steel, a whetstone, three

iron spikes, six torches and 10 copper pieces as pocket money.

Apprentice Level Mage Spells

Roll (d6)

Spell

Amplify Illumination

Feat of Strength

Fire Finger

Illusionary Mural

Repair

Springing

Journeyman Level Mage Spells

Roll (d6)

Spell

Once we have these filled in, we can compute the combat

bonuses he receives from his abilities and then add in any other

bonuses to determine his combat profile with his preferred

weapon.

Aura of Protection

Bar Portal

Candlelight

Enrage

Perimeter Alarm

Yudder’s Whistle of Hells Gate

First Level Mage Spells

Roll (d6)

Spell

Bash Door

Deep Sleep

Planar Servant

Scorch

Sense Magic Aura

Translate

This is the fighter’s “combat profile” ( i.e. , a summary of his

melee bonuses) when using his longsword. Let’s go into a little

detail about each column.

Cleric Spells

Clerics may chose one spell (or two if they have 13 or higher

Wisdom) from the list of 1st level clerical spells below.

Level: A fighter has no bonuses or penalties at first level. A

thief receives -1 to Initiative (meaning he’s quicker to react)

while a cleric and mage receive a +1 and +2 penalty here

respectively.

FIrst Level Cleric Spells

Alleviate Trauma

Ceremony: Consecrate Divine Icon

Abilities: This column summarizes bonus or penalties from

Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom and Dexterity. You determined

these when filling out the abilities data.

Cure Trifling Injury

Extend Fuel

Moderate Emotion: Cause Fear

Talents, Racial Bonus & Magic: None of these apply to the

“quick gen” characters.

Purify Water

Armor: Leather armor (which the fighter, cleric and thief

receive) imposes a -2 penalty to defense. This is more than

made up for by the fact that leather armor also reduces all

damage you receive by two points per hit.

Determine Combat Stats

At this point, you need to reference the ability charts in

Chapter One: HackMaster Character Creation to fill in the

combat bonuses your abilities provide. As an example, we’ll fill

these out for the fighter we initially rolled up.

Shield: Both the fighter and cleric receive a small shield.

This provides a +4 bonus to defense.

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