Sparky McDibben
Adventurer
Well, folks, it's your old pal, Sparky! I had to take a while off from reviews, mostly due to three clowns and a municipal judge. But never fear! I have RETURNED!!!*
So on my last review for Weird Wastelands, distinguished colleague and poster on these fine forums Libertad mentioned that they wanted to see Grim Hollow get tackled by somebody. So I mustered forth all my powers of analytical might and gazed into the whirling chaos of Ghostfire Gaming's flagship project and what I saw there left me...
Well, look, it's complicated. There are some genuinely good and interesting things in here, and they play with some really compelling ideas that I think are lifted from some of my favorite fiction ever. But there are some definite downsides, too. I'm reviewing the Grim Hollow Campaign Guide; other interested parties may want to take a look at the Monster Grimoire, or Player's Guide from the same publisher.
So we're gonna do a chapter-by-chapter walkthrough of this work. I want to look primarily at:
But first, let's talk themes, and let's talk about some general (smaller) issues with the work.
The idea of Grim Hollow (and I don't know where the phrase "Grim Hollow" comes from; this world is explicitly called Etharis) is that it lets you play a "dark fantasy" game. The primary touchstones here seem to be Warhammer and the Witcher line of books and games (we're not talking about the TV show, mostly because I don't want to engage with how toxic that discussion got). The world is dark both literally and figuratively - the second page literally says, "For most people, there is no safety outside the radius of a torch's glow." Adventures are dark, and frequently have a morally ambivalent feel to them; devil's bargains abound. It's grimdark.
I want to call out that this setting is very much not in my wheelhouse. I love dark settings - I'm running a Cyberpunk RED game now and loving it. But grimdark storytelling prizes struggle over meaning. It doesn't necessarily matter what you're struggling against, just that you're struggling. In punk stories, it matters why the world is the way that it is. You might not be able to change the world (neither grimdark nor punk stories really let anyone "save the world"), but punk stories will let you save yourself, and sometimes the people you love. To me, grimdark is just punk that missed the point.
I say that to highlight my own biases; I'm going to work around these as much as possible, but I wanted y'all to be aware of them before I launch into the full review.
Secondly, there are some issues with spelling and layout in the book. Ordinarily, I don't like to play a grammar teacher. But holy crap, when I see multiple words misspelled in the same sentence, it pulls me out of the setting a bit. Yes, this is a pedantic note. Thank you for noticing. But unfortunately, if you're going to charge me money for a book, someone had better have taken a run at spelling, layout, and font choices! Inconsistent use of capitalization for some words, inconsistent bolding within some chapters, section break bars at the top of the page in a way that just looks wrong, and really way too many spelling errors. ght
Ultimately, none of these are make-or-break for me, but they might be for you, and I felt like they needed a callout.
And now, without any more gilding the lily, and with no more ado, let's get cracking! The Grim Hollow Campaign Guide is a chonky 300 pages (PDF version, purchased for $24.99 on drivethrurpg.com), with a total value of 8.3 cents per page. It kicks off with an introduction thanking their backers on Kickstarter (always thoughtful and appreciated!), and launches right into the central tenets of gaming in Etharis:
Next time, we'll get into the races and the multi-century history of Etharis with Chapter 2: Races of Etharis! See you then!
*from federal witness protection
So on my last review for Weird Wastelands, distinguished colleague and poster on these fine forums Libertad mentioned that they wanted to see Grim Hollow get tackled by somebody. So I mustered forth all my powers of analytical might and gazed into the whirling chaos of Ghostfire Gaming's flagship project and what I saw there left me...
Well, look, it's complicated. There are some genuinely good and interesting things in here, and they play with some really compelling ideas that I think are lifted from some of my favorite fiction ever. But there are some definite downsides, too. I'm reviewing the Grim Hollow Campaign Guide; other interested parties may want to take a look at the Monster Grimoire, or Player's Guide from the same publisher.
So we're gonna do a chapter-by-chapter walkthrough of this work. I want to look primarily at:
- New mechanics - Are they interesting, flavorful, and evocative? Do the mechanics clearly unbalance play? Do they give the DM or player options to create interesting choices?
- Lore - It's a setting book, so how's the lore? Does it offer a lot of conflicts? Are they well-written, with interesting and nuanced characters? Is there clear guidance for the DM trying to craft a game out of these conflicts?
- GM advice / adventures - There's some advice in the back of the book for running dark fantasy and a few small adventures to get you going.
But first, let's talk themes, and let's talk about some general (smaller) issues with the work.
The idea of Grim Hollow (and I don't know where the phrase "Grim Hollow" comes from; this world is explicitly called Etharis) is that it lets you play a "dark fantasy" game. The primary touchstones here seem to be Warhammer and the Witcher line of books and games (we're not talking about the TV show, mostly because I don't want to engage with how toxic that discussion got). The world is dark both literally and figuratively - the second page literally says, "For most people, there is no safety outside the radius of a torch's glow." Adventures are dark, and frequently have a morally ambivalent feel to them; devil's bargains abound. It's grimdark.
I want to call out that this setting is very much not in my wheelhouse. I love dark settings - I'm running a Cyberpunk RED game now and loving it. But grimdark storytelling prizes struggle over meaning. It doesn't necessarily matter what you're struggling against, just that you're struggling. In punk stories, it matters why the world is the way that it is. You might not be able to change the world (neither grimdark nor punk stories really let anyone "save the world"), but punk stories will let you save yourself, and sometimes the people you love. To me, grimdark is just punk that missed the point.
I say that to highlight my own biases; I'm going to work around these as much as possible, but I wanted y'all to be aware of them before I launch into the full review.
Secondly, there are some issues with spelling and layout in the book. Ordinarily, I don't like to play a grammar teacher. But holy crap, when I see multiple words misspelled in the same sentence, it pulls me out of the setting a bit. Yes, this is a pedantic note. Thank you for noticing. But unfortunately, if you're going to charge me money for a book, someone had better have taken a run at spelling, layout, and font choices! Inconsistent use of capitalization for some words, inconsistent bolding within some chapters, section break bars at the top of the page in a way that just looks wrong, and really way too many spelling errors. ght
Ultimately, none of these are make-or-break for me, but they might be for you, and I felt like they needed a callout.
And now, without any more gilding the lily, and with no more ado, let's get cracking! The Grim Hollow Campaign Guide is a chonky 300 pages (PDF version, purchased for $24.99 on drivethrurpg.com), with a total value of 8.3 cents per page. It kicks off with an introduction thanking their backers on Kickstarter (always thoughtful and appreciated!), and launches right into the central tenets of gaming in Etharis:
- Darkness and Obscurity - The world is darkened both naturally and supernaturally (remember this tenet when we get to races!)
- The Land is Dangerous - Civilizations dot the land as "islands of light" in a sea of darkness, so travel is hard and people are suspicious of outsiders
- A Lost Pantheon - The gods are dead, and their remaining lieutenants (archdemons and arch Seraphs) twist the divine power they are imbued with to their own purposes
- A Sickening Plague - Sickness is rampant, but there's a particularly nasty one called the Weeping Pox that takes significant power / effort to cure
- Fear of the Arcane - Everybody hates spellcasters, and there's a full-on inquisition to hunt them down
- Glimmers of Hope - Small deeds can have outsized impacts, and goodness of any scale is worth celebrating
Next time, we'll get into the races and the multi-century history of Etharis with Chapter 2: Races of Etharis! See you then!
*from federal witness protection