Hackopedia of beasts

The Hackopaedia of beasts

 

Initial View 

A solid tome with really lovely production values again it contains rather fewer creature listings than you might expect but it covers each in considerable detail allowing a GM to fit each into his campaign in a way where it seems to be a natural fit not something cast in the players paths as something to fight & kill ten move on. The monsters included cover the whole range of challenges as far as I can see especially given the viciousness of the combat system & each feels unique even those like goblins orks etc which we have met before in so many other systems. An appendix covers rules for leaders of monster groups further allowing the GM for whom this book is intended to shape their encounters to properly challenge the players.

 In More Detail

Having now run a HackMaster  game and having as a result used this book quite  extensively as you can see from the blog on which this appears  I would like to add a bit to my first view.

The detailed entries for each creature give you a good feel as to how you should best use each in a game so that it fits and not make it seem as to the player as  if they are just hacking your way thought a random menagerie. The thought put into the monster entries is a great help in characterizing monsters something which is particularly important in HackMaster where balancing encounters is so much easier to do when you know what a monster is for in the greater scheme of things. The games mater can as a result play the monsters plausibly and as a player you can actually learn how a particular monster will likely react to your actions, from the outcomes of the previous encounters.

I will still admit to not having used all of the material presented in the book or to having mined all of its possibilities I find it lives up to its initial promise and I would not be without it.

Good stuff indispensable for a GM interesting if not essential to the player.