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By MICHAEL ERB
Staff Writer
The Parkersburg News
www.newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG - It's the beginning of the 20th Century, and the new frontier is not above, but below, in the center of a hollow world.
"Hollow Earth Expedition," by Exile Game Studios, is a roleplaying game of pulp adventure and exploration. Set in the late 1800s to early 1900s, "Hollow Earth" puts players in the roles of adventurers who through design, luck or misfortune end up in the center of the Earth, a tropical paradise which conceals ancient civilizations, modern treasure hunters, savage tribes and countless prehistoric dangers.
The 252-page hardbound book is a complete game and setting which draws upon classic pulp and exploration stories like "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "The Land That Time Forgot," "King Solomon's Mines" and the modern Indiana Jones movies.
"Hollow Earth Expedition," or HEX for short, uses a game system called Ubiquity, which the author says is designed for "fast, cinematic play." In Ubiquity, characters use dice pools, a number of dice equal to an attribute, skill rating or the difficulty of an action. All even numbers rolled are considered successes, while all odd numbers are failures. Characters roll against a difficulty rating, which is the minimum number of successes you need in order to do what you want. The more successes you roll above the difficulty rating, the better your success, and the more failures you miss your attempt by, the worse things go for you.
The game rules do allow you to try again if you miss an attempt, but your character loses two successes from their final score, which could mean the difference between victory and defeat, especially on a difficult task.
Since almost all conflicts are handled with this same system, it doesn't take long to get a game going and for players to quickly adapt to the rules. This kind of fast and loose style of play works really well with the pulp setting, too, which often requires a lot of action checks in quick succession, such as when your raft is going over the waterfall or the T-Rex is trying to have you for a snack.
Characters are built on a point system, purchasing attributes such as Strength, Intelligence, Willpower and Charisma, as well as Skills and Talents, special abilities which can give extra successes when used in specific situations. Players also have Resources, ratings of either wealth or reputation they can draw upon in social situations, and Flaws, elements that hold them back in some way.
Characters are usually built around a concept, like Big Game Hunter, Survivor, Intrepid Reporter or Mad Scientist. There are no set character classes, though, which is something I very much liked about the game. HEX does give several interesting character archetypes, which are pre-rolled characters for starting players or to give players ideas for creating their own, but ultimately you have a lot of flexibility in the kind of person you want to build and play.
You also can adjust the number of starting character points, so if you want to play someone with a little more power and experience behind them or someone already familiar with the Hollow Earth, you can.
There also are Style Points, which are given out to players by the game master to reward them for good roleplaying and which can be cashed in for in-game effects, such as getting to roll more dice in a situation or walking away from a hit that otherwise would have killed a character. Style Points allow your character to go beyond their normal limitations, just like in books and movies when the heroes do seemingly impossible things to get out of otherwise impossible situations.
Characters also earn experience points, which allow them to purchase new skills, talents and to improve existing talents and attributes. The longer your character stays (survives) in Hollow Earth, the stronger theyáll become. Since most characters start out being good at just one or two things, this kind of in-game growth allows them to diversify as the story progresses.
Speaking of Hollow Earth, the setting itself is incredibly fun and varied. From the Cargo Cultists who worship lost and discarded bits of technology from the surface world, to the various dinosaurs, prehistoric beasts and man-eating plants that fill the lush jungles, to the lost-in-time pirates that plunder the coastal regions, to the Nazi-inspired Thule Society that seeks the Hollow Earth's arcane secrets, every bit of pulp possibility is represented in this game.
"Hollow Earth Expedition" ultimately is a wonderful and fun representation of a very specific kind of pulp story: The lost-world exploration. The setting is quite possibly the strongest element of HEX, but the Ubiquity system and character-creation process do a lot to support the fun of the story. All in all this is a great roleplaying game, and a must-have for pulp fans.
To find out more about "Hollow Earth Expedition" or to purchase a set of Ubiquity Dice (which require fewer dice rolls by showing only your number of successes), visit Exile Game Studio's Web site at www.exilegames.com. For more game review and discussion, visit my blog at http://merb101.livejournal.com. Contact Michael Erb at merb101@gmail.com
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