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In Short

HEX uses a d2 system where evens count as successes. This means a person could roll a handful of assorted dice for their actions, which is pretty nifty. Dice pools can range up to the low to mid teens with ease, and it’s not unbelievable to imagine a person rolling 20+ dice on some sort of truly incredible stunt. The system here is straight forward and simple. While there are no amazing innovations, it’s a system you’ll have an easy time sharing with a group. From character creation to combat, HEX is built around speed and ease of use.

If you’re looking for a fast paced game of pulp adventure HEX is an excellent choice.

The Physical Thing

The Ideas

While the Hollow Earth is clearly the focus of HEX, the entire world is open to adventure. If you want to completely ignore the Hollow Earth, that is a fine option and the product goes to some length discussing the 1936 world. One of the great things about the 1936 setting is the number of adventures that can center around the build up to World War II. Many pulp products focus on the early 1920s in order to avoid the great depression at the end of that decade. The focus on 1936 gives HEX a different feel than other pulp games – different technology, politics, and concerns are present here.

Note that HEX does not contain rules for psychic powers, magic, or weird science creation. While there are magical artifacts and weird science devices that characters may own, they are assumed to have no such abilities. This also serves to give HEX a different feel than some other pulp games, and it makes the mystical that much more unusual.

Under the Cover

Chapter 1 Setting 21 pages.

This chapter is devoted to 1936 Earth, not to the Hollow World specifically (see Chapter 7). It’s very well done, kicking off with several pages on major events over the past 25 years to get the reader in the right frame of mind. Information on the United States and global economy, popular fashion, entertainment, average costs of items, movies, sports, and other similar information is presented to really show the reader what was important at this point in history. Extensive information on travel is provided, which is a very wise choice given the amount of travel that occurs in many pulp games. By 1936 the zeppelin is on its way out, but the jet plane is really starting to take off.

The chapter really shines by providing a one to three paragraph summary of most of the major countries of the world at this point in time. From Mexico to Chile to the Irish Free State, a large number of countries are presented. These entries are extremely helpful, both in conveying the world to the reader and providing a lot of excellent adventure locations and homelands for interesting NPCs.

Chapter 2 Characters 68 pages.

Character creation for HEX is a simple process, beginning with a player choosing an Archetype. The Archetype is nothing more than a brief description of the type of character – Criminal, Engineer, Scientiest, etc. – and is meant to assist with character creation. It has no game effect.

Example: I’m going to build a Russian Occultist named Gavrilovich. Looking over the Archetypes I notice Occultist, so I pick that one. This wont affect any of my character creation choices, it’s just a classic pulp role that I’m going to loosely follow. It signals my GM as to what my character is about.

Next, players choose a Motivation for their character. This is their purpose in life, and why they’re doing what they do. When acting in accordance with her Motivation you will gain extra Style points to spend to influence rolls. Some examples are Revenge, Greed, and Survival.

Example: Gavrilovich isn’t just an Occultist – he really believes in the Old Gods and the various legends he has read. I pick Faith as his Motivation. Whenever his mad ramblings about the Old Ones turns out to be true, or when he converts someone to his way of thinking, I get one or more Style points to spend.

Primary Attributes are involved in most of the rolls in HEX, and they’re important for any character. Body, Dexterity, Strength, Charisma, Intelligence, and Willpower are the six Primary Attributes and players have 15 points to spend on them. One point must be put into every Attribute, and no more than 5 can go into the same Attribute. A 1 is Poor, a 2 is Average, and a 5 is Excellent.

Example: I know 1 point is going into every Attribute, so I deduct six points from the start and decide where I want my other nine to go. I tend to prefer well rounded characters, and while I imagine Gavrilovich as being very good at certain things I’d like for him to be at least average at most tasks. I raise all my Attributes to 2, leaving me 3 points to spend. I put one each into Charisma, Willpower, and Intelligence. This gives me Body 2, Dexterity 2, Strength 2, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, and Willpower 3.

Secondary Attributes are derived, in part, from those six and include Size, Move, Perception, Initiative, Defense, Stun (damage threshold – take more than this many points of damage at once and you’re stunned), and Health. These are all intuitive values and determining them is no more involved than adding two numbers together.

Example: Gavrilovich has a Move (Str + Dex) of 4, a Perception (Int + Wil) of 6, an Initiative (Dex + Int) of 5, a Defense (Body + Dex) of 4, a Stun (Body) of 2, and a Health (Body + Wil) of 5.

Skills are next, and many tasks in the game are resolved through rolling Attribute + Skill in dice. Characters have 15 points to spend on Skills, which may range from 0 to 5 at character creation. My big complaint here is that the chart states that a rating of 5 in a Skill is just average – this seems odd. Maxing out a skill at character creation shouldn’t result in “average” capability for a pulp adventurer. Additionally, 5 ranks in a skill means you’re probably rolling 7 – 10 dice on checks before equipment bonuses – that’s going to result in a much higher than “average” result.

Example: I put a single point in Academics: History, Literature, and Philosophy. I reason that Academics: Religion will cover more of the ancient gods and Occult the character is focused on, so I devote 5 points to that. I’ve spent 8 now, giving me 7 left. Investigation, Linguistics, and Intimidation each get 2 points. I spend my last two on some simple combat skills – Firearms and Brawl at 1 each, so he can at least minimally participate in combat.

Skills can also be Specialized (one skill point becomes two specializations, which grant +1 die when the specialization comes into play). High ranks in Skills will grant Synergy bonuses. If you have a Skill at Rank 4 or higher, any other skill Skill that touches on the high skill gets a +2 bonus.

Example: Gavrilovich is wanting to intimidate a devout Christian by implying that Gavrilovich is being aided by a demon. He gains a +2 bonus due to his high Academics: Religion skill.

A player then selects a Talent or a Resource for their character. These are narrow abilities that go above and beyond what a standard character might have. Contacts, Resources (extra money), Combat Sense, Instant Reload, Strong, etc. They could give a +1 to an Attribute, a moderate game bonus, or provide backing from some sort of larger organization.

Example: I buy Psychic Sensitivity – a Talent – for Gavrilovich. It’s based on Empathy, a Skill Gavrilovich does not have, but I’m going to play it as something he’s just learning to tap into. Once he gains some Empathy he’ll be able to generally detect whether psychic emanations exist in the area.

Flaws are another option in the game. Every player may choose one Flaw for their character. Whenever it comes into play that player will gain one or more additional Style points.

Example: I choose Paranoia for Gavrilovich. Whenever he’s getting really into one of his theories about the Old Gods and starts seeing enemies all around, he’ll at least get some Style points for it.

Finally, players are given 15 Experience Points to spend. This is just enough to buy another Talent or Resource, to increase some Skills, or to increase a lower Ability.

Example: I decide to buy another Talent – Iron Will – which gives Gavrilovich another point of Willpower. Given that he’s always after Things Man Was Not Meant to Know this should come in handy.

The chapter wraps up with a lengthy list of example characters. These are well done, they all fit a classic pulp archetype and could be photocopied and handed out to a one shot group. They’re also just fine for a player who wants to take an existing character and tweak a few Skills or Attributes and start playing.

Here’s my final character:

Gavrilovich, Russian Occultist. Motivation: Faith. Flaw: Paranoia.

Primary Attributes: Body 2, Dexterity 2, Strength 2, Charisma 3, Intelligence 3, Willpower 4

Secondary Attributes: Move 4, Perception 7, Initiative 5, Defense 4, Stun 2, Health 6.

Skills: Academics: History 1, Literature 1, Philosophy 1, Religion 5. Investigation 2, Linguistics 2, Intimidation 2, Firearms 1, Brawl 1.

Traits: Iron Will, Psychic Sensitivity.

My biggest complaint with character creation generally is how Talents and Resources are handled. If you want to have a character who is famous throughout a country, that just isn’t an option here. +1 to an Attribute is far, far more potent than Fame 1 – Famous in one city. The Resources are generally weaker than the Talents, and it’s going to be difficult to play certain sorts of characters – such as the Millionaire Adventurer – with only two Resource picks at most.

Chapter 3 Rules 12 pages.

HEX uses d2s – you can roll any dice you like, and evens count as successes. Most dice pools are going to be Attribute + Skill + Equipment modifier, and the difficulty is going to be around 1 to 5 successes on average – set by the GM. Most of the time, before dice are rolled, a player takes the average of their skill – they count up the dice pool and divide by 2 – after if that equals or beats the Difficulty the character succeeds without rolling. If it does not, then the dice must be rolled.

Example: Gavrilovich is trying to interpret an ancient Atlantean Tome. He has the notes from the previous researcher to use as an aid, granting him a +2 equipment bonus. The GM sets the difficulty at 4 – Hard. First, I take the average to see if Gavrilovich succeeds automatically. 3 (Int) + 2 (Linguistics) + 2 (equipment) = 7 dice. The average is going to be 3.5, or in HEX “3+” where the plus says it’s a bit more than just 3. That’s not enough to succeed automatically, so I roll the 7 dice. I roll whatever is in front of me – in this case, 3d8, 1d20, 2d6, and a d4. I get 2, 3, 8, 16, 1, 5, and 2. Counting the even numbers, that’s 4 successes – Gavrilovich just manages to translate the key piece of the tome!

Standard actions (one roll and you’re done), Extended actions (several rolls over a time period until X successes are totaled), Opposed actions (two characters roll and compare the results), and Reflexive actions (the “opposed” part of an Opposed roll quite often, a resistance check) are all just the way you would expect in HEX. The only difference here is that Taking the Average results in more consistent results.

Difficulty is rated from 1 to 6 on average, and there is also a Degree of Success beyond that. A GM might set a Difficulty at 3 (Tough), for example, and a roll of exactly 3 would be a Minor Success. A roll of 6 would be a Major Success and a roll of 8 (5 more than needed) would be an Amazing success. Unfortunately, it’s completely unclear what these words mean. What’s the real difference between a Major success and an Exceptional success? It’s up to the GM’s judgment – perhaps there is no difference – but the lack of guidelines for a clearly important part of the mechanics is unfortunate. Failure is judged by a similar list of words, from Simple Failure to Abysmal Failure. Generally, this indicates how horrible the attempt was and quickly enters the realm of what you might call a critical failure.

There are just three other small things going on with this very simple system. First, a player may request Chance Dice for an action. For every two Chance Dice received the difficulty of the action increases by one. This means the character has greater potential both for incredibly good and bad results. Second, the GM can and should apply situational modifiers to the dice pools. Shooting a target in the middle of a hurricane? Take a -6. Have some trained assistants? Enjoy a +4. Finally, Style points can be spent to add dice to a roll, to reduce damage from a hit, or to increase the potency of a Talent for a whole Scene. Style points come and go with ease in the game, and are meant to be a constant reward for good roleplaying, fun ideas, and all the things that come together to make a wonderful session.

Chapter 4 Combat 26 pages.

Throughout HEX you’ll find side bars with optional rules. These are all well thought out and offer a different sort of play. The combat chapter is no exception, and optional rules for continuous combat that incorporates weapon speed, among others, are presented here.

Combat rounds work like this: Declare Actions > Roll Initiative > Perform Combat Actions. Combat Actions include Attack, Defend, and Move. Defense Actions are always Reflexive, however, and do not need to be declared. Every round each character has one Attack and one Move action. An Attack action is, well, an Attack – shooting a gun, throwing a punch, etc. A Move action is just that – walking, running, jumping, etc. Just check your character’s Move against a chart to see how far they can go. Some other special actions, such as getting up from the Prone position, can consume an Attack or Move action as well.

Most combat actions are easy to resolve. The Attacker is going to take Attribute + Skill + Equipment in dice, subject to any relevant modifiers (shooting in a storm, darkness, etc.) and roll that dice pool. The Defender will roll their Defense + Equipment (such as Armor). If the Attacker scores more successes than the Defender, those successes become Lethal or Non-lethal damage. If the damage is greater than the Stun rating the character is Stunned and loses their next action. If the damage is greater than twice the Stun rating, the character is knocked out. Once a character is reduce to 0 Health they are either Unconscious (non-lethal) or Dying (lethal).

Example: Gavrilovich is firing a shotgun (Damage 4) at an evil duplicate of himself, created from some sort of strange Atlantean mirror. This is a Firearms roll, and Firearms is based off Dexterity. With a Dex of 2 and Firearms of 2, I have 4 dice to roll. The shotgun gives me 4 more dice for a total of 8. The gun is being fired during the day, at standard range, and so there are no bonuses or penalties to the roll. I roll 8 dice and get a total of 6 successes. Wow, that was a good shot!

Of course, Gavrilovich doesn’t normally wear armor so his Defense has no Equipment bonus. The GM rolls the evil duplicate’s Defense of 4 and gets 2 successes. Since his Stun rating is 2 the 4 points of damage are more than his Stun but not more than twice his Stun (4 is not greater than 4). The evil duplicate takes 4 level of Lethal damage, reducing his Health from 5 to 1, and is Stunned for the next round. Things are looking good for our hero!

A large variety of flavorful but simple combat maneuvers are included to add more spice to the game. Aiming, Charging, Called Shots, Grappling, Parrying, and a variety of other maneuvers are included. All the standard information you would expect – how to handle area effect attacks, healing rates, environmental effects (fire, drowing, etc.), and other similar rules – are included to create a comprehensive and easy to use Combat chapter.

The combat chapter wraps up with a four page example of play that clearly illustrates how the combat system works.

Chapter 5 Equipment 18 pages.

A lengthy equipment list including guns, melee weapons, survival gear, types of ammunition, vehicles, tools, and other similar equipment is included here. Game stats, costs, and other useful information is presented along with many excellent illustrations to add flavor to the chapter. Six weird science devices, such as a Robot and a Jet Pack, are also included for characters investing in the Artifact Resource.

One thing to keep in mind is that, since most HEX games will involve the Hollow Earth, equipment is very important. Running out of ammunition in the Hollow Earth means the character can likely forget about using their gun anymore – if they’re very lucky they’ll trade for more ammunition, left over from some ill fated expedition, but even that is uncommon.

Chapter 6 Gamemastering 18 pages.

The moral clarity of the pulps (good guys vs. bad guys), how to create a tense cliffhanger, and special considerations for HEX (it’s hard to get out of the Hollow Earth, being separated is a common theme) are all discussed here. The GMing advice is generally good, though some of it isn’t to my personal taste. The Cliffhanger, for example, is given a bit too much emphasis at times. However, the advice is very true to the genre and is clearly well thought out. These tips are sure to result in a game of fun and exciting pulp adventure.

While there is standard GM advice here – how to pace a story, how to reward players, and other such stuff – there are also a variety of adventure ideas and suggestions on running the Hollow Earth that will make it easier to get a game of HEX rolling with little preparation.

Chapter 7 The Hollow Earth 16 pages.

This chapter details the Hollow Earth setting and does an excellent job of making it a fascinating and mysterious land. First of all, time flows slower here. While there are no Roman Centurions that came here yesterday, the different progress of time has resulted in a large variety of entities living here. From cave men that never evolved the same way to pirates that have continued their lifestyle in the oceans of the Hollow Earth since they first came here.

Second, the Earth’s magnetic field is strange here. Compasses don’t work right, and explorers relying on a compass, the sun, and the stars are going to have an extremely difficult time navigating – by default there is just one great sun here that always shines in the sky. This is one of the major reasons, apart from visibility problems due to the intense foliage, that explorers have an easy time gaining access to the Hollow Earth but a very difficult time escaping it.

Third, everything about the Hollow Earth is extreme. Cliffs are higher, animals are larger, and the people are hardier. Healing rates are increased in the Hollow Earth, and some sort of strange radiation – perhaps due to the center sun – has strengthened everything. Finally, the geography of the Hollow Earth is strange. With the ground sloping upward, forests of giant ferns, lakes of lava, and other bizarre features the land is a truly alien environment.

In addition to information like this, the Hollow Earth chapter does a fantastic job of offering ideas for GMs to personalize their Hollow Earth. Perhaps the central sun is dark on one side, or has an orbiting satellite, creating night. Perhaps the Hollow Earth has no oceans, has far less surface area than the over world, or is a reflection of the over world. There are no maps here, and since every entrance to the Hollow Earth could take the characters to a new and exciting land the GM has a lot of leeway to change the Hollow Earth as they desire.

Chapter 8 Friends and Enemies 20 pages.

This chapter presents a large variety of organizations, major NPCs, and supporting NPCs to provide instant aliens and enemies for any campaign. Each entry typically receives about a page of description of the society in question, followed by a biography of and stats for a major officer within that group – one of the big moves and shakers. United States Army Intelligence, secret Nazi cabals, several different tribal organizations, and other groups are all presented here. Every group and NPC is flavorful, well written, and has a full character sheet provided to easily incorporate them into the game. I consider this chapter to be a powerful resource to aid any GM in running HEX.

Chapter 9 Bestiary 18 pages.

Dinosaurs of all types, giant apes, lizard people, kraken, woolly mammoths, mantrap plants, and more are all present here. Every creature gets a detailed stat block along with one to three paragraphs of descriptive text. Most of the entries are illustrated as well, giving GMs and players an idea of what the critter looks like. These are mostly extinct animals and giant animals, though there are a few stranger creatures mixed in.

Sample Adventure The Hollow Earth Expedition 12 pages.

This is one of the best example adventures I’ve read. It’s short, concise, flavorful, and shows off a lot of the setting. From a plot hook that takes the characters to the Hollow Earth to encounters with dinosaurs and Nazis, the adventure can be read either to provide an idea of how to structure a HEX adventure or used straight out of the book for a fun gaming session.

Appendix, Glossary, and Index 14 pages.

A lengthy list of source material for pulp inspiration, a clearly written glossary, and a detailed Index wrap up an expertly produced product.

My Take

If you’re looking for a good pulp game, especially once set in a slightly later time period that includes a fantastically exciting and well done setting, give Hollow Earth Expedition a try!

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