The makers of most of the games played in the Muncie community, most notably Hackmaster. Hard 8 is loosely based on TSR, and when Hackmaster was first published in real life, all but the first foreword was written as though the Hard 8 characters were the ones writing it. Though regularly featured, the interactions between this set of characters and the Knights are infrequent and almost always indirect.
- Artistic License – Economics: They own the equivalent of World of Warcraft called World of Hackcraft but this is apparently not enough to keep them from being a primarily tabletop RPG company.
- Author Appeal: Not so much in the early days, when the comic strip was appearing in the backs of other publishers' magazines, but in the years since Knights of the Dinner Table and KenzerCo became associated, strips about the pitfalls of making games have replaced Hard 8's earlier function of introducing inexplicably bad products and gouging gamers for paid-by-the-minute phone support.
- Characterization Marches On: Originally they were a bunch of crooked designers who exploited unpaid labor and churned out bad product to milk every last dollar out of their gamer fans. Subsequent appearances make them every bit as passionate about gaming as their fans as well as struggling against the financial realities of their business.
- Expy: Hard 8 itself is an expy of TSR, but the games they produce are also typically expies of real life products Hackmaster (Dungeons & Dragons), World of Hackcraft (World of Warcraft), and Spelljacked (The similarly ill-fated Spellfire CCG) being some of the most common.
- Honest John's Dealership: As noted above, many of the early Hard 8 storylines showed them cranking out questionable products and using every trick in the book to squeeze money out of gamers and game store owners.
Gary Jackson
The analog for Gary Gygax (with the surname of Steve Jackson). Show to be a gambler with a fly by the seat of his pants approach to running his company and publishing new game products. After his apparent death in a plane crash, he became a sort of larger than life legend, made still larger recently when it was revealed he's not dead. Currently he's using another company to buy out products being held and (he feels) ruined by his wife who has been running the company in trust for his son.
- The Ace: Filled this role during the time he spent apparently dead as the Hard 8 staff would often fondly recall Gary's fly by the seat of his pants style of management.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite the fact that he's a used car salesman in personality combined with a celebrity who used the company as his own till, he is the world's greatest gamemaster.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Often fosters work onto his other associates like making Cyberhack characters that ended up being incredibly dangerous psychokillers due to Skip passing off his old PCs as them.
- Death Faked for You: The solution to his Killed Off for Real plot.
- Honest John's Dealership: Much of his attempts to market games are based on squeezing every last dime from the public despite his honest love of gaming.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Thinks of himself as a brilliant businessman; extremely self-confident; prone to giving his employees "bonuses" by unloading items he can't sell on them and calling them "bonuses".
- Killed Off for Real: Jolly Blackburn became wary of people assuming Gary was meant to be a parody of RL individuals and did this. He eventually came to regret it.
- The Mafia: Got himself indebted into this with the Antigano Brothers there to look after the mafia's investment. Heidi eventually bought the mafia's stake in the company.
- Meaningful Name: Named after two well-known game designers: Gary Gygax and Steve Jackson.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: What many people assumed he was. Jolly actually says he was based on the weird idea he had as a teenager that game designers were rich rockstar executives.
- Pet the Dog: While undeniably a Jerkass, he does have moments where he'll display a decent streak. Sure, he's probably working some kind of angle, and quite often he's scheming to catch people off-guard so he can screw them over, but he does have his moments.
- White-Collar Crime: Gary used a lot of company funds for gambling, his own private jet, and other absurd expenses.
JoJo Zeke
Second in command who became the man to run the show on site after Jackson's death. Zeke, like Jackson cares passionately about Hackmaster and the work he puts into it. After Gary's death, he was shown being worn to the core by the demands of Heidi Jackson until he finally quit.
- Benevolent Boss: Is one of the first executives to give Shelly a serious chance as a developer.
- The Dragon: Oddly, whether Gary or Heidi is in charge of the company, JoJo gravitates to the position of second-in-command.
- Hero of Another Story: JoJo is the only Hard 8 character who shows up regularly in Muncie to interact with the regular cast. This is because one of his many duties is putting an end to crises... and the gamers in Muncie tend to create crises. They're his biggest headache.
- Except possibly the rogue gamer chapters out in Idaho.
- Only Sane Man: One of the most grounded businessmen and workers at Hard Eight.
"Waco" Bob Forsey
The old man of the group. During Gary's tenure as head of the company, Bob got along largely by agreeing with everything Gary said. This may have been the reason he was the first to get fired when Heidi took over. Tuley quietly organized a campaign where the other employees took a pay cut to get him re-hired.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Waco seems to be not all there and often makes bizarre nonsequitors and showing enthusiasm for everything he's doing. Oh and he also comes to work in his underwear.
- The Heart: Despite being completely useless at game design, he is beloved by all of them and a source of morale.
- The Load: The eldest of the Hard Eight executives and also the battiest, often seemingly with no real ideas of his own.
- Naked First Impression: Waco was walking Hard Eight Enterprises in his tidey whities and a wife-beater t-shirt when he met Shelly Brewster.
- Naked People Are Funny: Walks around Hard Eight in his underwear when he thinks its all men.
- Yes-Man: As noted, all he ever did at Hard 8 staff meetings was agree with Gary Jackson's pronouncements. According to the
cast list, his playtest reports described every newly developed game as "the next Hack Master."
Pete "Skip" Skipowski
A college buddy of Gary Jackson's who became a game designer for Hard 8 when the company was formed.
- Brilliant, but Lazy:
- Used to kill all players in the first twenty minutes for four hour gaming events at Gary Con so he could use the remaining three hours to watch porn in his hotel room.
- Used his old player characters for random low level NPCs and thus made the game ridiculously difficult.
- Killer Gamemaster: Did this at conventions in order to make sure he had plenty of free time after events.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Named after Skip Williams, former editor of Dragon Magazine and designer of 3rd Edition.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: At one point when JoJo was unavailable, Skip was sent to deal with the latest "problem in Muncie".
Edmund Finley
A younger game designer for the company, his pet project was a game called "Abe, Babes and Roller Blades," described as a "sexy, zany, time-travelling romp through history and fashion."
- Flat Character: Edmund Finley never developed a distinct personality unlike the other characters.
- Put on a Bus: Was fired by Heidi Jackson when she took over and went to work for Bison Games.
Tuley Priswinkle
For a long time, Tuley was the company's unpaid customer service representative, under the impression that he was playtesting a virtual corporation computer game. He eventually became a regular employee and even sat in the boardroom for a while during Heidi's tenure.
- Ascended Fanboy: Started working at the company's phoneline and eventually became part of the board.
- Becoming the Mask: He eventually figured out the ruse but continued to "play" the "game" because it was fun. Shortly after that, he became an actual employee.
Timmy Jackson
The son and heir of Gary Jackson. Gary used to let Timmy create material for the game in an egregious example of nepotism (the kid was eight, and it showed in his work). After Gary's death, Heidi sent him off to military school, where he discovered football and girls and decided roleplaying games were uncool.
- God-Mode Sue: In-Universe: When GMing the final round of the grudge match arc, he arbitrarily threw monsters and damage at the players. They managed to beat him by using the same tactic right back at him, causing him to break down and leave the table crying, giving the players a default win.
- Nepotism: Gary Jackson let him write Hard 8 supplements. The results were about what you would expect from an eight-year-old who doesn't know what he's doing.
Heidi Jackson
Gary's ex-wife and the runner of a successful paperback publishing company. Gary left Hard 8 to his son Timmy but the company is being held in trust till he turns 18 leaving Heidi to run the company as the trustee. She clearly has an axe to grind with her deceased ex but also is (presumably) trying to protect her son's legacy and make it profitable. Problem is, Hard 8 had always been a labor of love whereas Heidi expects the company to perform like hers does.
This is pretty clearly a nod to Lorraine Williams (though not a direct parody) who was part of a business deal that took DnD from Gary Gygax and played a role in the failure of TSR. She also released a new edition of Hackmaster, the only details for which seemed to match up with 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons from real life.
- Bad Boss: Not incompetent, she was simply mean to the Hard 8 staff, constantly cutting their budget and involving herself overly in aspects of the process she didn't really understand.
- Dragon Lady: Referred to as such, though she's not asian and only metaphorically fits the type.
- Executive Meddling: After finally playing a session of Hackmaster, she decided lots of changes needed to be made, which basically ruined the game. Based on the protests, the game has some superficial resemblance to the initial release of fourth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Word of God has said it wasn't a conscious decision but not a wrong take either.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: A version of Lorraine Williams who took over TSR from Gary Gygax and focused on novels over the game supplements with a reputation for disliking gaming. Heidi is arguably better than Williams was; unlike Williams, Heidi doesn't ban playtesting the products because "I don't want you playing games on company time".
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: How the Hard 8 staff view her despite how badly Gary mismanaged the company. They are proven right since her products are terrible.
- Affirmative Action Girl: Heidi Jackson insists on her joining Gary Jackson's group because it's a favor to a friend.
- Fangirl: Is a huge fan of Gary Jackson and thrilled to be working with him.
- Gamer Chick: Is a dedicated World of Hackcraft gamer as well as tabletop nerd.
- Nice Girl: Manages to take all of the Hard Eight employee's weirdness in stride and does her best to make a good impression.
- Tomboy: Shelly is a Hard 8 fangirl, hardcore gamer, and claims to have been raised by her brothers.
- The Smurfette Principle: Is the only female employee at Hard Eight.
- Ascended Extra: Went from being a guy in the warehouse to one of Hard Eight's board.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Has been an employee at Hard Eight for eight years while trying to figure out what to do after college.
- Nice Guy: Laid back and well-adjusted compared to the rest of Hard Eights' staff.
