Ran a few sessions of
Hackmaster Basic. Made great use of all the Heroscape terrain I spent previous year buying off of ebay. And the
Alea colored magnetic bases I spent too much money on. Each character / creature got 3 of the same color. One for under the mini, one on HP track to track hit points, and one on the initiative track. Which is great way to keep track of HMB's "continuous" initiative system.
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| Ambush while on patrol in the woods. Also note the "continuous initiative" track at bottom and hit point track on left. |
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| Kill, kill, kill the PC's. |
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| Can our intrepid militiamen defend the river ford. Turns out sadly, yes they can. |
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| Basic Training! |
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| Always worth including shot of guy picking his nose. |
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| So booooored, can we get on with the killing and mayhem! |
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| Haha, orc got pushed back into water (cool HMB rule, btw) and is now being washed downstream. |
Btw I like HMB and some of it's ideas. But, as a whole there's too much tracking of stuff I don't have any time to "
be awesome DM".
Which things do you feel require too much tracking? Based solely on the pictures it looks to me like you were an awesome DM. That's a really cool setup you have going!
ReplyDeleteAwesome set up. I tried HMB, but found it didn't work for me.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things to do in HMb that makes the GM's job easier is to make the Players track their own HP and initiative. Other than that, I've found that combat generally flows pretty smooth after a combat or two getting used to the system. The key is that the system is actually easier than it seems. Players(and GMs) keep trying to think of combat in terms of other games that they've played, such as not being able to move until the next "Round" or until it is your "Turn." Once you get used to that, it's easy.
ReplyDeleteBut, yea, Awesome pics, I like your setup.
Really good writeup and nice pics of the use of heroscape stuff for an RPG setup. Good idea that I've actually considered (as I have a ton of the shit just gathering dust, bought it for eventual play with my kids ... have yet to even open the boxes).
ReplyDeleteAs for HMB having played the original for a few years (something that I will likely never have a group with enough time and energy to pull off again) I don't think I could bring myself to even try HMB. There are so many other systems out there that are lite and easy ... if you want campy goofy fun RPGing in a fantasy setting there is just soooo much to choose from on the OSRPG front. I would like to look at the mechanics though, always on the lookout for stealing a good mechanic or idea for a houserule.
uhm... HMb is NOT HM4. It's not "Campy Goofy." Being out from underneath the parody requirement of the WOTC license they don't have to play that element up.
ReplyDeleteThe hex terrain is cool, but you got to set it up before game. Unless you can handle 10-15 min pauses in the action (I can't).
ReplyDeleteI can see tracking being easier once players are experienced enough. And if I ran a dozen games I might start to remember all the weapon stats, mods, ranged junk, etc. Even still having to track of the monsters init, shield use, status is a lot. D&D (basic) so much less. Running 20-40 monsters is np.