A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Hollowfaust: City of Necromancers

Hollowfaust: City of Necromancers is a role playing game supplement published by Onyx Path Publishing for use with Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is a setting book for Ghelspad in the Scarred Lands.

The supplement is available as a 134-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $8.99 and is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed, although it was purchased at a reduced price during a sale. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one the front matter and Open Game License and one the Table of Contents.

The single page Preface explains that Hollowfaust’s necromancers are different to what players might expect; they are erudite, sophisticated and only occasionally evil. They view necromancy with more of a scientific perspective and have no interest in world conquest.

The Introduction starts with two in-character pieces written about Hollowfaust by outsiders (though the font can be tricky to read; it’s done as if it’s handwriting). Following this are some details on the city, again reinforcing the fact that this isn’t a city of necromancers in the typical sense, but something different, and definitely strange.

Chapter One: The History of Hollowfaust starts with details on Sumara, where Hollowfaust now stands. This was one of the cities of the Empire of Zathiske, and it was destroyed, primarily through poisonous gasses, when the volcano it was built next to unexpectedly exploded during the Divine War. Following this, the city was abandoned until seven necromancers, known as the Seven Pilgrims, arrived, having determined this would be a good place to continue their research. Overviews are given of the seven. Refugees from the Divine War followed, looking for somewhere to live, and they were allowed to settle. A siege resulted in Hollowfaust being created as a coherent city, as it showed it needed to be such to survive, but problems with two of the necromancers resulted in one entire faction being exiled, who founded the city named after them, Glivid-Autel, and another having its leader replaced. More sieges and more deaths of the original seven lead up to the present day, and there is a timeline of the major events for the city, including its precursor, Sumara.

Chapter Two: The City starts off with a general description of the city, including its walls, then gives an overview of the surrounding region, including some hostile titanspawn and trade routes. The natural and economic resources of the city are looked at, including food, exports and imports, along with the undead patrols and the curfew tokens used by residents. The people of Hollowfaust, who are primarily human, are looked at, along with a typical funeral, and their customs and mindset. The different types of people, from growers to traders to service industries, are also covered, as well as the fact that the people of the city are on the whole better off, thanks to the rulers deciding to eliminate the poor. Those who enforce the law and who fight for the city, along with interrogation of suspects, and the legal system itself, including laws, are covered. The city isn’t a place without holidays either. The different quarters of the city are covered, with various places of interest, along with sidebars covering NPCs of some importance or interest.

Chapter Three: The Necromancers starts by detailing the Underfaust, the warren of chambers and tunnels dug under the volcano where the necromancers live. It looks at the overall conditions of the Underfaust, the quarters where the necromancers live and notable areas, including a price list for items the necromancers are interested in purchasing.

Next, it looks at the necromancers themselves, including becoming a necromancer, the policy towards outsiders becoming one, how it works for those who grow up as necromancers – the necromancers find suitable children to train as apprentices from the general population – the skills they learn, what it requires to advance as a necromancer and what happens to those who wash out of the apprenticeship programme; these are still offered jobs and are valuable members of the community, as they know about what necromancers want and do even if they lack the ability themselves. Lichdom is not generally popular amongst the necromancers. It also looks at guild politics, grandmastership of the guilds, freelancing for other polities, expeditions funded by Hollowfaust and necromancer retainers.

Finally, it looks at the guilds of Hollowfaust, giving a general overview of them and the duties of their members, which includes those duties serving the city. The different guilds are then covered, along with stats for their grandmasters and an aside that the grandmasters essentially have access to whatever they want in terms of necromantic materials and resources, including spells and magic items short of artefacts. The banished guild, that which founded Glivid-Autel, is mentioned.

Chapter Four: Hollowfaust Adventures explains that Hollowfaust itself can function as an adventure setting, then describes several adventure hooks in detail, including setup and complications, as well as stat blocks for some being who might be encountered, and finally a couple of briefly described hooks.

Chapter Five: Spoils and Denizens has some new magic items, including a major artefact, and some new spells, many of which are actually necromancy but others are useful to necromancers. What it doesn’t have is any denizens.

The Appendix has five new prestige classes which have been referred to in the supplement and some new monsters. The new monsters are primarily undead, but there are some living creatures native to the region.

The final page of content is a map of Hollowfaust.

Hollowfaust: City of Necromancers in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks, probably because of its origin as a scanned document, and given its length and the number of sections, really needed them. The Table of Contents only covers the major sections. Navigation is very poor. The text maintains a two-column format and there is a notable error in the new spells where the descriptions of several are scrambled together. There are a variety of black and white illustrations which are probably custom. Presentation is decent.

This is one of the original D&D 3E supplements for the Scarred Lands and can still be of use today. Much of the supplement consists of setting information rather than game mechanics; it is only Chapter Five and the Appendix that have the latter. Such could be converted, or adapted, in order to use them; the rest of the supplement has no problems. It is also still viable as a setting book for the setting even today, but given that this is a self-contained city book, it could be dropped into other settings comparatively easily.

Hollowfaust is notable for its treatment of necromancers. These are not the stereotypical power-hungry dwellers with the dead, but an organisation of scientifically-minded spellusers and associated classes who approach their studies rationally. They just happen to be studying death and the undead. Though they may not always be good, then necromancers of Hollowfaust probably fall close to the “white” necromancer ideal; they use necromancy to defeat evil free-willed undead, for the creation of undead servants and to help the living. Hollowfaust: City of Necromancers is an interesting and different city and it can be found by clicking here.