I did not want to play this game. Of the three or four roleplaying game options Judd tossed out for us to stream on Twitch/ActualPlay, I assumed the other players wouldn't both pick this game. They for sure both picked Under Hollow Hills, and I'm sooo happy they did. For a cranky gamer like me, I don't need no games about feeling good, doing good, or celebrating (but you might!) I believe I get those things when I set up a game to be played. At first look, this was exactly what I thought Under Hollow Hills was about, so much artificial saccharine. I also thought this might be the Bakers RPG offering for families -which is great; sometimes getting your home tribe all on the same page about what to play for game night is rough! IYKYK. I am also so very guilty of prejudging this game. I wanted fun adventures! Danger, villains. Under Hollow Hills has all the above and more.
There is a traveling circus under the Hollow Hills.
It travels by moonlight, small wagons creaking in the night silence. It travels lost roads, where fireflies and whisps hover to watch it pass, where goblins peer down from their treebranch perches, and owls. It travels the night world and the day world, fairyland and the living earth, and places otherwise, and no border can keep it. It has mysteries to pose, drama to perform, it has music, juggling, acts of death-defying peril, pratfall comedy. It has dangerous secrets to tell.
Step up, step up. Come great, come small, come revelers all!
In Under Hollow Hills, you play traveling circus performers —and planners and barkers and callers. Every venue is an opportunity for change; in fact, the whole game is about changes. I played the Feather-Cloak, a crafty bird, acrobatic and full of advice and gossip. His name is Black-Rasp, and he was all about "Honey Cakes" in the first session. I think I took that bit right up to the line exactly! But over the next 2-3 sessions, the circus travels from the Goblin Market to the River Queen's Palace and wintering at Appleton. As the venues change, seasons change - our circus roles change, and we also change some of the circus audience. Well. I'm a sucker for games and stories where the protagonists are forever changed. There were feel-good moments -the organic kind I like when players surprise you with their suboptimal choices (and sometimes well-timed optimal) choices. There was danger and adventure! There were sad moments. All the things that come expect with changes.
The game is Powered by the Apocalypse, with playbooks of the various fairies and circus folks and a set of common moves and playbook moves. 2d6 + stat is the core mechanic. The playbooks will grab you - it’s what moved me first. I want to play some of these other playbooks like:
The Troll: powerful, undignified, and patient. Performer and spectacle, worker and problem solver, always there to lend a hand.
The Crowned Stag: fairy nobility, regal and generous, ringmaster and host, always there, gorgeous and flirty. (Note that while “stag” is a gendered word, the playbook isn’t gendered, and you can play it however suits you.)
The Interloper: a human being who’s intruding into fairyland in disguise, to steal fairy treasure. You’ve taken up with the circus because you think it will lead you where treasure’s to be had.
Lumpley Games are the designers of UHH and they show you some different ways to engage the PBTA mechanics in Under Hollow Hills based on their essays on how PBTA is designed. My inner designer kid likes this iteration! The character advancement cycle isn't so much leveling up as it is ...wait for it.. about change. And it's beautiful. I have only played this game; I have not read the material to run sessions of Under Hollow Hills. It seems perfectly suited to run a one-shot or a series of sessions about a traveling circus. I would enthusiastically do either!
"Honey-Cakes!!" 🥮