Hollow Earth Expedition
| Hollow Earth Expedition | |
|---|---|
|
|
| publication | |
| Original publisher | Exile Game Studio |
| Original publication | August 2006 |
| original language | English |
| German publisher | Uhrwerk Verlag |
| German publication | 2009 |
| World and system | |
| genre | Pulp |
| Game world | The earth and its fictional interior |
| Basic system | Ubiquity |
| Ascent | Experience point purchase system |
| cube | any; Special cubes available separately |
Hollow Earth Expedition (German for Hohlweltexpedition , often short HEX ) is a pen & paper role-playing game that deals thematically with the hollow world theory. It was published in 2006 by the US publisher Exile Game Studio and was published in German translation by Uhrwerk Verlag in 2009. A French version is also available.
Basics
Hollow Earth Expedition is set in the 1930s and combines real circumstances and people from this time with fictional or mythological elements, some of which merge into one another. Time is portrayed as a period of unlimited trust in science and technology, when innovation and scientific drive were celebrated as triumphs.
Control system
The Ubiquity rule system was also developed by Exile Game Studio and is a "dice pool system" with a fifty percent chance of success. As a result, you can in principle use any cube that has an even number of faces to play. In addition, special dice have been developed that are intended to significantly reduce the number of dice to be thrown. They are available separately. Other special features are style points with which players can “buy” additional dice for their tests, as well as the rule that instead of every dice test, half of the dice to be rolled can be claimed as successes. In addition to the basic rules, some game expansions have been released, most of them from Exile Game Studio.
Secrets of the Upper World
The sourcebook Secrets of the upper world (Original title: Secrets Of The Surface World ) was published in January 2008 and mainly includes information for campaigns that play entirely or in large part on the upper world. It mainly deals with new talents for the characters, more in-depth information on organizations and equipment, an introduction to magic and wacky science that includes details on how to create crazy machines. The German edition was published in 2011.
Mysteries of the hollow world
The second supplementary book Mysteries of the Hollow Earth was published in autumn 2010 and is almost the counterpart to Secrets of the Upper World , as it mainly contains information about the hollow world. It also introduces new forms of magic. According to the announcement by Uhrwerk-Verlag, the German edition should appear as Mysteries of the Hohlwelt in 2011.
Other publications
Exile Game Studio also released a game master's screen and said ubiquity dice as well as style points in the form of poker chips . A third game expansion with the title Revelations of Mars (German Revelations of Mars ) is still in production. In addition, four professional adventures have been published so far, which have also been translated by Uhrwerk Verlag.
The game world
Both the basic rules and the extensions contain extensive information about the game world, which is divided into two parts: the upper world, which essentially corresponds to the real earth in 1936, and the hollow world, a fantastic world that can be found inside the earth . The basic idea of the game is that characters from the upper world get from the upper world into the hollow world for whatever - mostly scientific - reasons. The way into the hollow world is much easier than the way out again.
The upper world
Most inhabitants of the upper world trust the technology, which has made enormous progress, especially during and after the " Great War ". On the other hand, the occult is very active - especially the Thule Society and other aspects of the Third Reich are ascribed strong tendencies towards occultism and even necromancy . Apart from these points, the upper world corresponds to the real world of 1936 and the different world views, some of which arose from the global economic crisis, such as National Socialism, Communism and democracy, lie in wait for one another.
The hollow world
There are a variety of ways to get into the hollow world suggested in the rulebook, including drills and polar openings. The hollow world is a world inside the earth that is presented as an independent and, with a few exceptions, isolated biotope in which prehistoric animals and plants live. It is comparable to Arthur Conan Doyle's forgotten world . In addition to the prehistoric flora and fauna, the hollow world is also a mirror of human history, as people from the outside world have repeatedly moved into the hollow world - including pirates and amazons , who can be encountered on hollow world adventures. Since time passes very slowly in the hollow world, its inhabitants remain practically forever young; however, should they return to the overworld, they will find that centuries have passed in their absence. The hollow world was created thousands of years ago by the now lost civilization of Atlantis , whose ruins and advanced machines have been preserved and represent the primary goal of the Nazis .
Characters
The characters that take up important parts of the story are superior to the average person and usually embody a certain archetype of human being, for example "crazy scientist" or "snooty professor". With the supplementary volume Mysteries of the Hollow World , the player is also able to slip into the roles of a whole series of more exotic hollow world inhabitants such as cannibals or beastmen. As a rule, every character has one or more disadvantages of a physical, mental or social nature, which should humanize him again and offer clues for character play.
Criticism of the German translation
The German edition of the rules in the translation of the Uhrwerk Verlag is criticized for the fact that the translation was apparently not or insufficiently submitted to the editing department , so that many detailed errors have crept in. One of the most obvious mistake that two sample authors on the blurb was misspelled ( "Vules Verne" instead of " Jules Verne " and "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" instead of "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle"). It is also noticeable that the English abbreviation ft. For the unit of length feet was apparently automatically converted to “foot”, so that some words end in “foot” instead of “ft.”.
Web links
- Official product page of the German publisher ( Memento from October 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- Various downloads for the game. In: Uhrwerk Verlag. Retrieved October 14, 2019 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Product page at the original publisher ( Memento from July 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ Product page on Secrets Of The Surface World ( Memento from September 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ Product page on Mysteries of the Hollow Earth ( Memento from September 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ Ulisses forum: Announcement of new HEX utensils ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )
- ^ Announcement page of the original publisher ( Memento of May 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ Hollow Earth Expedition , p. 124.
- ↑ Ulisses forum: Entry in the error collection of the official forum ( page no longer available , search in web archives )