Second of this week’s “What Campaigns Can I Run Blindfolded?” series is Hollow Earth Expedition, currently one of the most amusing Pulp RPGs that have come out in recent years, with production values that blow me away. Running on the Ubiquity System, Hollow Earth Expedition falls squarely in the “Rules Medium” portion of the RPG rules complexity spectrum, making it an excellent game for new GMs to pick up and run.
The Pitch
Multi-millionaire Adventurer and Philanthropist Roger Carlyle has passed away due to complications from a strange fever he contracted in his last expedition to the dark heart of Africa. Currently with family or heirs, the executors of the Carlyle fortune have enacted the terms of his will, sending out telegrams to the world’s most famous and remarkable individuals inviting them to participate in a grand race for various artifacts hidden around the globe.
The first five adventurers to successfully recover the artifacts assigned to them stand to inherit the entire Carlyle fortune, his penthouse suite headquarters on top of the Empire State Building and the Indomitable, Carlyle’s own personal Airship to be used at their disposal. They also inherit the Carlyle Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the discovery and preservation of the world’s greatest mysteries and phenomena from those who would use them to their own selfish ends.
And so our intrepid heroes must travel the world in search of unknown treasures fighting off Occultists, Madmen and Things That Should Not Be.
Inspirations:
- Planetary by Warren Ellis
- Masks of Nyarlathotep from Chaosium Games
