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HOLLOWS - TTRPG Boss Fights Done Right

Created by Rowan, Rook and Decard

Plunge into the nightmare realms of Hollows and slay other people's personal demons. Hollows' unique tactical combat system allows for dynamic positioning and tactical gambits, and makes combat spectacular.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Post-Campaign Update 14: Ruinous Fruition
4 months ago – Fri, Dec 12, 2025 at 10:15:17 AM

In which the fruits of our labours fully ripen, final PDFs are released, and we collaborate violently on paper. Make yourselves comfortable, Hunters; build up the fire. This is a long read.

BACKER PDFS

The Wretched Domains feedback period is now complete. All revisions have been implemented, and files finalised.

This means that your final PDF versions for:
  • The core book
  • Wretched Domains
  • The Sins of Grisham Priory (the Hollows quickstart)
Are coming today. We're not locking and charging orders yet; at this point you've earned your books.


By the time you read this, you may have an email from Backerkit containing direct links to the final downloads. If you haven’t seen one by tomorrow: 
  • Go to backerkit.com
  • Click your profile icon in the top right corner of the homepage
  • Go to Your Pledges and Surveys
  • Find Hollows and click on it
  • Then go to View Order, under Surveys on the right hand side of the page
  • Click on Get Your Digital Downloads, near the top of the order page
  • Download your files

PRINTING

Which is, in fact, a deep dive into paper specifications.


We are particular about papers. I knew this, but I didn’t really know it until we started looking at Hollows materials samples. Every book needs different paper: for Hollows, we need something that:
  • Can tolerate really high ink saturation (we have a lot of art, and it has intense colours)
  • Is fully opaque, even when it’s got dark-coloured art on one side and text on the other
  • Has a high enough brightness that images are sharp and vivid
  • Doesn’t make the book so enormous it’s unwieldy, at its 360 page finished length
  • Feels right for the words that are in the book. 

The last point requires explanation.

Hollows is set in a Victorian-esque era. Every design and production choice we’ve made reflects that: we’ve kept plastic out of the component kit to the greatest extent possible, and we want our boxes and slipcases to evoke the kind of objects Hunters themselves might own (you’ve seen the covers for the Wretched Domains). 

The paper we use for the books is one of the most crucial elements (if not the most) of expressing that choice. If it’s too glossy, for example, it feels too modern. If it’s not bulky enough it’ll feel flimsy, and not in the fun, onion skin paper way (if you’ve got a very old Bible or other religious text printed on really thin paper, you probably know what I mean; same if you had - like I did - tiny versions of Shakespeare plays printed in two inch high mini-books). 

And there are practical choices too: if the paper’s too thick, or not bulky enough, it’s heavy, and that means the book is impractically large and weighty, and becomes harder to use.

I say all this to explain what comes next.

We are still selecting the right paper for Hollows. We’ve received numerous samples, and are waiting for another batch. We’re not going to print until we’ve got one that both Maz and I are happy with, because otherwise we’ll end up disappointed in the final product. We think you will be too, even if you’re not a paper sicko; our job is to work out why it wouldn’t delight you the way we want it to, and keep pushing the specification until it does.

You’ve guessed the conclusion to this story, right?

Hollows is further delayed.

UPDATED TIMELINE

We now expect to start printing in January. This will, unfortunately, lead to a knock-on delay as our printer will fully close for Lunar New Year in February. 

This means, in very condensed form:
  • Printing begins in January
  • Transport begins in April
  • Fulfilment happens in June, or even July

This allows for some additional delays in the process, just in case. Tooling for production will be starting imminently, and the elements that we can go ahead with immediately are going ahead. Pre-press is almost complete, and after several lengthy discussions with our manufacturers, we’re hoping that the new paper winging its way to us this weekend will be The One. Fulfilment is set up and ready to go as soon as everything lands in warehouses, and we’ll be transporting everything from our producers straight to local warehouses for delivery, skipping our normal consolidation step.

If you’ve read any updates on our other projects recently, you’ve probably seen my mini-manifesto about us needing to leave time to do things properly, and getting better about building processes that account for that from the outset.

There’s more to say on that as it concerns Hollows, but this month’s update is already long, so I shall save it for next time.


IN CONCLUSION

This has been a mixed update with some good and bad news, so I will end as I began: the final PDFs are ready, which means you can continue to play Hollows while you wait for the books. Know that we are, and always will be, conscious of the need to balance how much delays add to the finished product against actually needing to send you the books, and that if we didn’t think the paper choice was fundamental to your experience of Hollows, we wouldn’t be doing this. 

Meanwhile, and somewhat unexpectedly for us, there’s now a thriving West Marches Hollows Discord full of people running Wretched Domains as well as testing their own creations. Next time, I hope to be able to update you on our plans to make Hollows easy and rewarding to create for, as well as our plans for line support once the core game is in your hands.

I’ll continue to keep you updated in 2026.

- Chant


Intermission: Wretched Domains Preview NOW!
5 months ago – Tue, Nov 18, 2025 at 10:02:07 AM

Beware the rotten depths of your inboxes, Hunters: nine Hollows have blossomed simultaneously within.



THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE PREVIEW

These are all complete, pending your feedback. Now, your feedback on the core book resulted in some substantial revisions to improve clarity and consistency - I am hoping the same happens here, but also hoping that these have benefited so much from the core book feedback that you won't need to say as much.

As previously, I invite you to come to our Discord and discuss these Hollows, but it would also be helpful to collate your feedback in the purpose-built Google form. Because there are nine Hollows, it's quite long (but of course, you can skip any Hollows you don't want to comment on).

https://forms.gle/VGgEGFrJvFa8mcNa7

The feedback form will stay open until 28th November.

A SPECIAL REQUEST

These Hollows all come with fictional titles for their creators - for example, we've credited Minerva McJanda, a writer on The Polychrome Sea, as "Doctor of Esoteric Art." Most authors and artists chose their own titles. Some did not - so it's over to you. If, as you read through these Hollows, you think of an interesting and appropriate title with which to credit their creators, there's space in the form for you to provide that.

I know from experience that you are a clever, thoughtful, and witty bunch, so I'm hopeful that some of you will rise to this challenge.

HOW TO ACCESS YOUR DOWNLOADS

Look out for an email from Backerkit about new digital downloads for Hollows. 

To download your files, either follow the link in the email, or: 
  • Go to backerkit.com
  • Click your profile icon in the top right corner of the homepage
  • Go to Your Pledges and Surveys
  • Find Hollows and click on it
  • Then go to View Order, under Surveys on the right hand side of the page
  • Click on Get Your Digital Downloads, near the top of the order page
  • Download your files

I'm hoping this will go slightly smoother than the core book preview, and you'll all actually get the email. If you don't, and you can't find the download in Backerkit, please contact [email protected] and we'll sort it out for you ASAP. 

ANYTHING ELSE?

We haven't just been working on Wretched Domains. Maz has finished indexing the core book (the last step - final-FINAL-noreallythistime-FINAL-USETHISONE-v2.pdf) and, hopefully as soon as this week, I expect to be sending it to pre-press (where we check colour profiles, image quality, and sundry other technical aspects of the file production), then to printing. 

It is, I would say, a good week. 

Have fun with the Hollows.

- Chant

Post-Campaign Update 13: Full and Rotten Bloom
6 months ago – Fri, Oct 10, 2025 at 03:32:49 AM

In which the seeds we planted thrive and the flowers that grew from them yawn open; we have diverged from the timeline I mentioned last update, but for good reason (see Wretched Domains).

BACKER PDFS

It seems unlikely that anyone missed these, but they were issued in September. We have received a tremendous amount of very pleasing feedback, which is almost fully implemented. The feedback form is now closed, but those who filled it out were very thorough, and I believe have caught everything it is possible to catch. We’ll find minimum five typos after we send the files to print, because we are the stars’ tennis balls.

Incidentally, if you’ve never read any Jacobean revenge plays, they make tremendous inspiration for Hollows. Highly recommend.

You are wonderful. Genuinely. It’s sometimes easy to be flippant about backer feedback (I have used the words “let them rip it to shreds”, and will almost certainly do so again), but it really is so helpful. We’ve all been neck-deep in Hollows for two or more years at this point, and readers with fresh eyes reminding us that we could do things like better signposting for the character creation process are invaluable.

THE CORE BOOK

We are now past the point where I can keep calling it “manuscript”!

Maz is, literally now, finishing their run through of backer feedback, including turning it into actionable changes to the book. Graphic Designer Par Excellence, Mina, will finish layout next week. Then it’s ready for the printer!

COMPONENT KIT

This remains ready to go.

WRETCHED DOMAINS

Editing is complete! We’re in the middle of a robust sensitivity reading process for The Enlightened Alain Cooke, in which the villain is (broadly) Orientalism.

Once Mina’s completed the changes to the core book, she’ll lay out all nine of these in rapid succession. We will then share previews of these for your perusal and feedback. We’ll do a shorter feedback period here - two weeks, or a little under - but given how useful your feedback on the core has been, we think it’s worth delaying print by a couple of weeks to make sure we get your thoughts here.

Speaking of Alain, here’s what artist Kolokomiks has done with Samuel Mui Shen Ern’s text. This is one of our most beautiful Hollows, and one I would be proud to display art from on the walls of my home.


IN SUMMARY

With the addition of a feedback period for Wretched Domains, it looks like we’ll go to print in November - but as a silver lining, you’ll have PDFs sooner. Any further delays should be measurable in days, rather than weeks. For any project other than Hollows I’d say I was feeling optimistic, but hope has no place within these putrescent walls so I’ll close with: I have no reason to be concerned. 

- Chant


Intermission: File Updates & Circulation, Wretched Domains
7 months ago – Thu, Sep 11, 2025 at 04:45:48 AM

Hello Hunters.

BACKER PREVIEWS AND FEEDBACK


Most of you, I believe, got your preview PDF on Friday. Others received a link on Monday morning, and over the last 72 hours we've been quietly ironing out some bugs to make sure everyone who pre-ordered or purchased as an add-on all got theirs too. Retailers received their preview yesterday. So now you should definitely have the preview PDF. 

If you don't, this is most certainly unintentional and please do let us know.

It hasn't been the cleanest and tidiest preview release, but this does mean we've established all possible problems before we release the real, final files, so there's that.

If you'd like to leave us feedback, in the form linked in the last update, we'll be collecting responses until 28th September.

We're also collecting questions in the public Discord (also linked in the last update!), and we'll be compiling a full list of errata after the feedback period's complete.

WRETCHED DOMAINS: FINAL SCENARIO NAMES

You may also notice, if you look at your pledge, that the names of some rewards have changed. The Hollows scenarios written by our exemplary team of freelancers have now been updated from their working titles to their confirmed publication titles. For example, Jay Dragon's Rotgut Academy has become Bleake Hill Academy; Kieron Gillen's The War To Start All Wars has become The Laboratory of Erasmus Ward. The authors' names are still clearly identified so you can track which is which, and the content is as described when you bought them, except for one:

Cassandra Khaw's Hollow is replaced by Jinn Hermiston's frankly disturbing work of eco-horror. We've publicised this in previous updates, but since we're now getting close to release, I want to make absolutely sure everyone knows! 

That is, I believe, all for the moment.

TWO DOCTORS


Yesterday, our designer Mina pointed out one of our recurring motifs in Wretched Domains: scientists on power trips. The Good Doctor, from Jay Dragon's scenario, experiments on helpless juvenile subjects; Erasmus Ward, from Kieron Gillen's, is tormented by the forces he's unleashed in his bid to make a weapon so terrible it averts the possibility of war. Two men whose arrogance and grand ideas have made them monstrous, presented in two different ways. God, our writers and artists are good.

We proceed.

- Chant

Intermission: Backer Preview PDF Ready NOW!
7 months ago – Fri, Sep 05, 2025 at 03:34:36 PM

Good evening, Hunters.

A simple missive tonight:

The backer preview PDF of the core book is ready.



THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE PREVIEW

Text is 100% complete. This is it. Final version, pending your feedback - and we would really like feedback. A lot of it will happen as conversations in our Discord (link at the bottom of the email), but we also really appreciate feedback in an easy-to-collate feedback form, especially if you've got a nice, straightforward typo to report. You can find it here:
 
https://forms.gle/NEDpqEM44a5fcBns9

We are, as we are wont to do, still fiddling with bits of the layout. For the most part, what you see is what you get, but don't be surprised if some pieces of spot art appear or move between this and the final release, or some colours change slightly. We've got a sidebar to add.


HOW TO GET YOUR PREVIEW 

Depending on the precise order of events on our end, it may already be in your inbox - look out for an email from Backerkit about new digital downloads for Hollows. 

To download your files, either follow the link in the email, or: 
  • Go to backerkit.com
  • Click your profile icon in the top right corner of the homepage
  • Go to Your Pledges and Surveys
  • Find Hollows and click on it
  • Then go to View Order, under Surveys on the right hand side of the page
  • Click on Get Your Digital Downloads, near the top of the order page
  • Download your files

WHAT TO DO AFTERWARDS

This is really up to you. Get excited? Run some Hollows? Come and join us in the RRD Discord and ask us, and the rest of the player community, questions?

https://discord.gg/HQfnyMms

The world is, or in this case The Isles are, your oyster.