Games - Hol

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	Games - Hol

HoL (sometimes written as "HōL") is a Role Playing Game created by the Dirt Merchant Games and produced by Black Dog Game Factory (a subsidiary of White Wolf for the production of adult oriented RPGs). The HoL Core Rulebook was published in 1994, and was followed up by one other supplement Buttery Wholesomeness in 1995. Although Hol is playable, the concept behind it is pretty much a joke. The pages of the books are written by hand, and the authors freely take stabs at other popular role-playing games, (particularly Vampire: The Masquerade
and Dungeons and Dragons), and those who play them.

Background

Hol is a science fiction game set in the very distant future where mankind has colonized the entire galaxy. Characters in the game have been either trapped or imprisoned on the planet HoL (The Human Occupied Landfill), which is located outside the galaxy as far away as possible from everyone else. HoL is a penal colony for the scum of the galaxy as seen in the eyes of the C.O.W. (Confederation of Worlds), which is the ruling government body of the human territories.

Over the centuries, humanity has colonized space through the use of the Quazi-Dimensional stardrive, which is powered by energy produced through the mating rituals of Jumpslugs, (giant slugs that feed on human corpses and are tended by social rejects in full-body containment suits). The enemy of C.O.W. are the aliens known as the S.N.E.E. who constantly plot to take over the universe. Mahatma Gandhi is also there.

The C.O.W. also uses HoL as a dumping ground for trash, so the entire landscape is covered with mountains of rotting debris; from candy bar wrappers and starship hulls, to toxic nuclear waste and used medical syringes. HoL is a breeding ground for cute little blobous creatures called Wastems, which characters can capture as pets, eat as a tasty pudding snacks, or use for target practice. Beware of the ones with an evil gleam in their eye, however, for it could be a Wastit; the carnivorous man-eating version of the timid creatures. Not every critter on HoL is cute and furry, especially the subterranean horrors called Fleshtenders. Victims of Fleshtenders (who happen to survive) only remember seeing is two evil eyes and very big teeth. HoL is also a cesspool of gangs and criminal psychopaths.

Given this world of "kill or be killed", the main goals of characters in HoL is survival and finding a way out. They can be attacked at anytime by just about anything from axe wielding maniacs to mutant creatures. It is a place of all kinds of unimaginable horror, and entertainment. The latter is enjoyed by the citizens of C.O.W. who like to spend their free time watching holographic channels dedicated to the viewing of the non stop slaughter via explosive, robotic cameras called Crickets.

Although it is never verified in any of the Hol game books, some fans of the game have speculated, that Hol was once Earth.

Overview of Game Mechanics

This is just a few samples of the Hol core rules. The actual books are required to fully enjoy and play the game. Hol uses only two six-sided dice (2d6) for all task and combat resolutions. The Game Master in HoL, is known as the Holmeister.

Making Characters

The HoL core rulebook doesn't provide a system of character generation, instead offering a set of pregeneated characters including a pedophile priest, a geek gamer, Elvis and two parodies of Marvel Superheroes.

The Buttery Wholesomeness supplement provides the rules for creating new characters of the player's design. With that book, players pick a Totem that list the basic personality of their character. Picking the "Bush Baby" Totem for example, creates fast, nimble characters. Those of the "Sloth" Totem, are generally smart but slow and lazy in action. The character creation system is as much of a disturbing joke as the system, full of charts that tell you to roll on other charts, and like the character generation system of Traveller (of which it is a parody), your character can die during creation.

Stats

A character in Hol has five Stats. Stats are rated from -2 (terrible) to +10 (ungodly). Higher and lower ratings are possible. The five Stats are as follows:

Greymatta: The character's intellectual mental capacity (if they have any)
Meat: The character's physical strength
Feets: The character's dexterity
Mouth: The character's charisma
Nuts: The character's spiritual resolve

SkillS

Each stat has a number of skills associated with it. Existing in a world of senseless violence, most skills in Hol are simply there to better bash someone's head in, or blast them to oblivion with weapons. Some useful skills are as follows:

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