Editing Hackmaster (section)

==The Game==
Hackmaster is, at its core, a [[retroclone]] - or at least a parody thereof. See, whereas your standard retroclone is all about celebrating the [[grognard]] vision, Hackmaster throws [[Old School Roleplaying]] a cheerful pair of double-middle-fingers, lampooning the fact that despite what rosy memories claim, [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] was an absolute ''mess'' of systems, sub-systems and sub-sub-systems that [[Dungeon Master]]s chopped, swapped, and rearranged into Frankenstein's Monster affairs that were ultimately held together with string, bubblegum and hopeful wishes, making for a fundamentally absurd and byzantine base-system.

In contrast to mainstream gaming moving on from the number-crunching minutia of the 70s and 80s to a more streamlined, speedier to play and easier to grasp gaming style, a move that even other retroclones tend to adhere to for all their high lethality and low magic, Hackmaster embraces shameless complexity and overly exaggerated rules.

Basically, take first edition AD&D, with its weird class balance, gender issues (e.g. the [[meme|infamous]] [[-4 Str|"strength cap" for female characters]]), huge number of charts, and idiosyncratic rules, and add a "building points" system, merits/flaws, a huge critical hit table with thousands of potential results, and a ridiculous variety of monsters. It deliberately eschews streamlining and handwaving; you roll for everything, you keep track of everything, and cutting corners is not allowed. It's a bit more coherent than first edition AD&D ever was, but it jumps on any chance it has to add more charts and tables.

The result is a fully playable if murderously complex fantasy tabletop RPG with a healthy dose of in-jokes and meta-humor from the "Knights" comic strip. It reads exactly like the game from the strip, complete with bizarre rules, typographical errors, and lengthy digression-filled rants from Gary Jackson that read like something between a highly defensive, neurotic man speaking out on behalf of his work and the Unabomber's manifesto.