Sorry for the slackness in the The Free RPG Day reviews lately. Life has caught up to me, and I’ve been incredibly busy lately. I hope to finish off the Free RPG Day reviews in the next two to three weeks.

Today, I’m reviewing the Hollow Earth submission to the Free RPG Day. It is brought to us by Exile Game Studio.

Free RPG Day 2009 - Hollow Earth Cover

The book started with a three page overview of the basic rules. The overview was done quite well, and would allow even a novice role player to dive into the game system and have some fun. The next five pages are dedicated to the adventure, which is very linear and wonderfully put together. I’m normally not a fan of linear plots in adventures, but this is just a sixteen page taster, so it’s acceptable. It’s hard to build a sandbox game in such a short time frame. The main reason I like the adventure is that there is a great mix of skill checks and combat challenges. There are even times when skills are used during the middle of combat. This allows the GM and the players to get a taste of what the system is really like.

The last eight pages are double-sided character sheets that are provided for the adventure in the book. The characters are well done, well balanced and make a good party to travel together.

Grade: A — This book has enticed me enough to put Hollow Earth on my list of items to investigate about running. I love the basic system, and I’d like to see their more advanced rules. If you’re interested in finding Hollow Earth (which I recommend, based on the free book) then you can find it at RPGNow or DriveThruRPG.