HackMaster Player's Handbook (2001)

This is the Player's Handbook for HackMaster, which is a partial parody, partial tribute to the first edition D&D game. While it follows many of the conventions of the source material, in some ways the game improves upon the source material it was based on. In others it takes the extremes of the original (a penchant for tables, for example) to extremes. The HackMaster Player's Handbook provides character creation rules for Abilities, Build Points (Quirks and Flaws), Classes, Races, Equipment, Magic, Experience and more, providing the player of the game all the rules they need to get ready for a game.

From the back cover:

Congratulations! In a world where there is no shortage of mediocre games, you’ve managed to find one of the true gems. Furthermore, if you’ve ever played a fantasy role-playing game before based on a d20 combat roll and armor class, you already know how to play this game! And while this is the 4th edition of the HackMaster game, in another time, another edition or an alternate universe, this could easily have been called “3e.” It’s the 1st/2nd edition with new crunchy-bits and a whole lot of fresh attitude. Playing this game makes you feel like you did when you first started role-playing. Excited. Filled with wonder. And just a bit nervous…

What you hold in your hands is the skeleton key that unlocks the chains that have confined you to the humdrum world of the mundane for your entire life. The HackMaster RPG is the game of choice for those that know the difference between ordinary and epic. This is the game for YOU. You’re not ordinary; you’re extraordinary. For those of us that live in a world that forces us to conform, to abide by the rules day in and day out; for those of us that suffocate in our daily routine of breakfast cereal and ham sandwiches; for those of us that slave each day in our cubicle working for the MAN; those who would be heroes if it weren’t for the constraints of reality, we present…

HackMaster!

First printing: June 2001
Second printing: Nov 2001 (includes “Unearthed Errata” on pg 400)