Christopher Elliott

The first, and likely only, supplement for the HOL roleplaying game. The authors carry on their elaborate metagaming joke, this time including profoundly ridiculous character creation tables and expanded equipment lists. The highlight of the book is certainly the "Freebase" insert-- a brilliant parody that does double duty, taking on live action roleplaying games in the style of the venerable 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

The artwork is just as good (and manic) in this supplement as in the original game, and the writing less self-conscious. The authors definitely hit their comedic stride with this one-- if only there were more to come.… (plus d'informations)

HOL is the sort of metagaming humor that buddies create while slouching around an IHOP table at 3 AM-- and in fact, one page of this book appears to have been photocopied right off the placemat. The nominally space opera/post-apocalyptic mash-up sci-fi setting for the game is merely a pretext for elaborate in-jokes about character creation, weapon damage tables, and fast food.

But they're good in-jokes.

The slap-dash, hand-lettered text gives the impression of being written at the speed it was imagined, and occasionally competes with the (generous) artwork. In fact, this "rulebook" looks and feels more like an underground comic about games, than a game itself. The author's rules are demonstrated on hapless, pop-eyed victims and waddling beasties called "wastems," and spelling mistakes are not blotted out, but hastily explained away.

Underneath the humor, the game rules themselves are fairly simple (2d6 plus modifier vs. various target numbers for success), but as self-consciously arbitrary as one would expect in a game with stat blocks for both Librarymobile tanks and Mohatma Gandhi.

In all honesty, HOL is probably not a game you and your friends will actually play. It is, however, the gaming book you and your friends will pass around your table at the IHOP, prefacing every passage read aloud with, "Oh, man, listen to this one..."… (plus d'informations)