A few years back, a member of my gaming klatch bought Hollow Earth Expedition.  I was impressed with the high production values:  good paper, solid hard-back binding, and art that did not — in any way — suck.  The system seemed simple and solid, but it took me another year before I finally had him pick up the main book and Secrets of the Surface World at GenCon.  My copy of MOHE is also a GenCon release, signed and number 124.

Since then, I’ve become an enthusiastic “expedition member.”  The system has it’s share of quirks, but is still one of the better sets of mechanics for pulp-style gaming:  simple, fast, and designed to not get in the way of the fun.  It’s good enough I’m running a post-WWII espionage campaign using it, instead of my favored James Bond: 007 rules form the ’80s.  I’ll be using it for an upcoming Victorian steampunk campaign.

Mysteries of the Hollow Earth finally gets around to giving the GM and players a guide to the interior world that was so hazily glossed over in the core book.  (Secrets of the Surface World is oriented toward pulp adventure in…you got it! the surface world of the 1930s.)  Like the other products from Exile Games, this one was worth the wait.  The binding is a strong, hardback with top notch artwork.  The interior is on heavy stock, gloss paper, with a very readable font, clear layout, and fantastic B&W artwork (save for the character archetypes pages, which are in color.)  This is the same as it was for all the other HEX products.  Unlike many other game companies, you’re hard pressed to find a typo or a major typesetting error.  (I’m looking at you, Mongoose!)

For style, it’s hard to beat Exile Games.  5 out of 5.  Enthusiastically.

Substance:  also chock full!  The book is 204 pages of material and a few pages of full-color adverts at the back.  (Including one for Revelations of Mars, their next sourcebook for HEX.)  It starts with the obligatory scene-setting short fiction and a one page introduction.

Chapter 1: New archetypes and motivations for characters.  I will admit our group tends to gloss over this aspect of character creation, but it will be useful for most players and GMs.  There are new talents for the characters — these are “shtick” for the characters to play to — from things like “beast rider” or “escape artist” to more Beastman-based (more on this) traits like “echolocation” or “sharp claws.”  There are also new flaws.  Many of the traits and flaws are specific to the races of the Hollow Earth.

There are rules for character templates, allowing the GM to design new races/species by building a package of attribute bonuses and negatives, natural advantages and flaws (as with claws and primitive, for panthermen.)  Among the new character templates for characters are Apemen, Gillmen (fish men), Greenmen (nymphs, is about the closest I can quickly describe), Hawkmen (ready made if you were thinking about a Flash Gordon-esque campaign…and I was.), Lizardmen, Molemen, and Panthermen.

The sample character archetypes include Amazons, Hawkmen, Panthermen, a blunderbuss-weilding Apeman scientist, a Titan berserker, and a beastman (a la Tarzan.)

Chapter 2:  supernatural powers are de rigeur in pulp.  Secrets of the Surface World gave us necromancy and other sorcerous powers, Mysteries of the Hollow Earth gives us new sorcery rituals that are appropriate to the setting:  shamanism for controlling nature and animals, and alchemy — including rules for gathering the elements for spells, and rules for creating living creatures through alchemy.    Beware the Jaguar Gargoyle of El Dorado!

Chapter 3:  Natives!  This chapter gives an overview of the native races and groups of the Hollow Earth and tips for playing them.  There are Amazons, based out of their city of Themiscyra.  I will admit a soft spot for the ol’ warrior women of Greek myth, so I was happy to see them here.  There are cannibals (of course!)  Cargo Cultists who worship the vessels and goods that get transported to the Hollow Earth.  Neanderthals.  Noble Savages, Pirates…  Then there are the Titans and the Vril-ya:  the former are giants based on the Greek proto-gods; the Vril-ya are the technologically advanced descendants (or servants?) of the Atlanteans.  I have my own ideas for how to link and use these two groups, but that’s not important…

Chapter 4: This deals with the beastmen of the Hollow Earth.  You could rip this chunk out, scrub it up properly, and you would have the beginnings of a good Flash Gordon campaign.  It deals with the various half-man/half-beast races and their cultures.

Chapter 5:  This is an overview of the environment of the Hollow Earth, from getting into the HE, to getting out alive.  The interior world suffers from strange time distortion, allowing the GM to have the characters adventure for years in the HE and still have only a few days pass on the surface…or decades.  There are interesting locales from the Aerie of the Hawkmen, to Atlantis, to El Dorado and Shangri-la, to the lair of the Molemen and the piratical Blood Bay.

It short, if you want it to be there, the Hollow Earth can be home to anything you want.

Chapter 6:  This is the bestiary.  There are dinosaurs and prehistorical critters, as well as giant [insert bug/spider/critter] that would of course exist in the Hollow Earth.  There is also a much-needed section with real world animals.

Lastly, there is a sample adventure:  The Fate of Atlantis.  I rarely do more than glance at these modules, since I tend to to use them, but it is well plotted out and designed for a fast introduction into the world of the Hollow Earth.

Substance:  5 out of 5.

If you’ve gotten the idea that I am enthusiastically recommending Hollow Earth Expedition and its supplements, you would be correct.  The system is very flexible, allows for fast, fun gaming without getting bogged down in rolling dice and mathematics.  The setting is fun and allows just about any kind of story types.

Buy it.