Hollow Hike, a Souls-like TTRPG - Session 0 and Review

Character creation and Prologue

Hollow Hike is available at https://rollforthings.itch.io/hollow-hike

Index

Session 0: Prologue + review

Realm 1: Sanctified District

Realm 2: Defiled Church

Realm 3: Crypt of Undeath

Finale: The King in Cinders

Character creation

Character Sheet
Roll d6 for class: 5
Cleric (Gift: +1 HP | Power: Heal 1 HP)

Roll d6 for item: 6
Furtive Ash (return to bonfire)

Aliana Lv:1
HP:4 FP:1 Strength:2(d6)

Powers (cost 1 FP):
- Heal 1 HP

Items (use and discard):
- Sunlight Drink (Heal 1 HP | refills at bonfire | RN [Realm Number] uses)
- Furtive Ash (return to bonfire)

Prologue

The blurred flames in front of her slowly came into focus and became a bonfire, crackling and spitting sparks. Its warmth nourished her soul and filled her mind with resolve.

A name came to her. Aliana. Her own.

Her foggy thoughts settled into scrambled memories. Churches, priests, chanting, blessings, fire, death.

Aliana looked down to where she sat sideways. She made fists tentatively, her hands rubbing against the crude leather gloves. She smoothed her long white tunic and found a flask of Sunlight Drink tied to her belt, the sacred brew that mended hollows. A carved wooden club hung on her right hip.

Aliana’s Club

A blunt weapon fashioned from seasoned oak. Simple, yet powerful and resilient. Clerics wield clubs as ceremonial equipments, but also as instruments of war.

A faint whisper lingers inside the weapon that hints at unwavering devotion.

She was a cleric of… what?

“A little lost, are we?” The voice came from her right. A tall, black-clad figure stood over her like a bird of prey, small eyes glinting orange against the bonfire. She struggled to recognize the face under the hat, but he wasn’t strange.

He flashed a smile. “Rise, Aliana. You were a cleric of The Ember Covenant. Now you are a hollow, trapped between life and death, wasting away in this aimless, cursed existence. But you still have purpose. You will become a vehicle for vengeance and righteousness.”

The Covenant… The order supposed to tend to the Fire. Her order. The Fire’s will blesses us with reason through faith, sacrifice, and obedience.

“The Covenant crumbled as the unbelievers and failed sacrifices piled under the guidance of the self-appointed Ashen Lords. They must fall, the Fire shall be rekindled, and the world restored.”

Aliana rose to her feet. When Solomon decided to let the Fire fade, his disciples declared his refusal a heresy and turned on him. The order sworn to serve the King in Cinders slew him, and the betrayers crowned themselves Ashen Lords.

As the bonfire sputtered, Aliana looked questioningly at the man, still failing to recognize him.

He bowed, one hand on his chest. “I am Cain.” Yes, Fire Keeper Cain. “You shall avenge the fallen king and make the Ember whole again, Aliana the Hollow.”

Aliana the Hollow nodded as the Fire Keeper’s words and the bonfire’s warmth nourished her.

“Take this.” Cain gave her a small bag. “This will bring you back to a bonfire to recover yourself.”

Furtive Ash

Preserved remnants from an ancient flame, now forgotten.

Teleports the user back to the last bonfire visited.

The warmth of a bonfire can give even a hollow some semblance of comfort. Yet, like ashes, it is a fleeting solace in a dying world.

Aliana tied the bag to her belt.

Cain continued. “Seek the Ashen Lords and remove them from their false thrones. Recover the stolen fragments. We shall see the Ember restored to a single, worthy vessel.”

The Divine Ember must become one to tend to the Fire, as it was under the King in Cinders. Aliana probed Cain for more.

“Seek the Ashen Lords and remove them from their false thrones. Recover the stolen fragments. We shall see the Flame restored to a single, worthy vessel,” he repeated.

She tried again.

“Seek the Ashen Lords and remove them from their false thrones. Recover the stolen fragments. We shall see the Flame restored to a single, worthy vessel.”

That was it, then. Her role was defined. A cleric still heeding her call, a soldier still reporting for duty.

Hollow, but no betrayer.

The Covenant’s oath did not expire in death. Faith, sacrifice, and obedience.

Aliana moved with purpose toward the first Ashen Lord.

---

Review

Hollow Hike is a free one-page, souls-like solo TTRPG created by RollForThings. You play as a Hollow traversing a blighted land fighting bosses called Ashen Lords. It’s heavily inspired by Dark Souls.

The game packs a punch for such a small size. There’s enough discovery to make an entire gaming session feel fresh and challenging, with an excellent Souls atmosphere.

Mechanics

You create your Hollow by choosing or rolling on a class and on an item table. Each class has a “gift” (+1 FP or HP) and a Power to use in battle. You probably saw my Cleric sheet, but let’s check the Thief for another example:

Thief | +1 HP | Combine two dice into one value, or split a die in two

On leveling up, you can choose between +1 HP, +1 FP, +1 Strength, or another Class power, which makes for interesting combat options.

After that, you will generate the first Realm, with a Realm Number (RN) of 1. The RN is an integral part of the mechanic. It will dictate the number of encounters (or “rooms”) in a Realm, the enemies’ and bosses’ strength, and how many times you can use your Sunlight Drink, a healing item that refills when resting at a Bonfire.

A Realm has 1d6 + RN encounters. Each encounter is generated with a 2d6 roll, and they don’t change. If you die or go back to a bonfire on, say, encounter 5 of 6, you will have to face each one again to advance.

The final encounter is always a boss. They have 2 unique Qualities from a table. Here’s one:

Brutal - if a Hollow has no successes in a round, this foe deals 10 extra damage

Qualities make bosses challenging, a classic Souls-like feeling, requiring some deal of luck with the rolls.

At the start of a Realm you will also generate a quality for the Bonfire (except the initial one). They range from an NPC summon to extra souls:

 Lost Soul - gain 1 Soul (resets with Bonfire up to [RN] times)

I don’t like this reset with Bonfire feature. You can rest or go back to a Bonfire indefinitely, so it makes more sense to make this quality give you RN souls instead.

The Bonfire is where you respawn on death. It heals you completely and is also where you level up, using souls dropped by enemies. It costs Current Level x 3. To reach level 2, then, you need 3 souls. Then 6, 9, and so on.

Combat

RollForThings updated the game with a clever new mechanic to streamline solo combat: the Furtive Grasp rules. Only the player rolls dice, and every 4+ is considered a success both in attack and defense. Example:

Hollow has 2 strength. That means you roll 2d6 every round.
The enemy has 3 strength. That means they cause 3 damage every round, minus your successful rolls.

You roll 2d6. Results were 4+6:
Both rolls were a success. You cause 2 damage to the enemy.
The enemy has 3 strength, so you successfully avoided 2 damage. You take 1 damage. In this case, every turn the enemy will deal at least 1 damage.

Now, if the rolls were 3+3:
You failed to cause any damage and didn’t defend any hit. You take 3 damage.

It’s a nice and easy way to keep things moving. That’s the version I used and I absolutely recommend it.

Check Hollow Hike whenever you want a simple Souls-like solo experience. I mean, for the price of free you have little to lose except a few souls on unlucky rolls.

The game also has an expansion, Embers of Morndrin, with rules for greater exploration, deeper combat, dozens of new items, NPCs, a pre-written adventure, and more. I still haven’t tried it, unfortunately.

Hollow Hike and Ember of Morndrin are available at itch.io. Support the creator.