band of crazed New England hillbillies is hell-bent on finding an ancient tome and using it to summon their dark god--and the only thing standing between them and their infernal goal is another band of crazed New England hillbillies. Pagan Publishing's The Hills Rise Wild! is a miniatures-based game that's a tongue-in-cheek homage to the H.P. Lovecraft's classic tales of supernatural doom, as well as countless B horror films.
In it, players control four clans, each comprised of six horribly deformed and supernaturally enhanced mutants. These inbred horrors rise up from the Massachusetts hills to claim a terrible treasure: Old Wizard Whatley's Necronomicon. They must search the grounds of the mad summoner's estate for the magical seal needed to breach his Dunwich mansion's
defenses. Once inside, they must find the book, retreat to their summoning circle and bring forth their evil master.
The hillbillies--represented by cardboard miniatures--battle their way across a random board comprised of 16 sturdy full-color tiles. Combat between the mutants (who wield pistols, shotguns, magical energy, sticky goo and--of course--tentacles) is resolved using a single 20-sided die. Scattered around this playing field are abandoned shacks, each of which holds special items like the aforementioned barrier-piercing seal.
The game is exception-based, which means the creators lay down a framework of rules, which every character and item in the game then proceeds to break. The game's playable by 2-4 people, and takes about an hour per person to play.
Mutations at a hillbilly hoedown
The Hills Rise Wild! is a beer-and-pretzels game that never takes itself, or its subject matter, too seriously. And although it's put out by a small publisher, it's a high-quality game. The photo-realistic backgrounds on the battlefield tiles are extremely well done, as are the various accessories included with the game. The rules require both a d20 and a tape measure, and amazingly enough, both are included in the box. The quality shouldn't be that great of a surprise to those familiar with Pagan; their Delta Green product for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu RPG is equally excellent.
The game's creators designed the rules to be easy to learn and fast-playing, and they largely succeeded. The only fault in the otherwise straight-forward instructions is the lack of an "example round" showing how the rules actually play out, but this isn't a fatal failing. The authors tell players from the word go that the rules are only guidelines, and that they should ignore whatever doesn't work. That sentiment, coupled with an extensive FAQ and other goodies on the company's Web site, easily made up for its minor failings.
Cards like "Hey Maw, ah Secret Passage!" and "I Got Me thuh Necronomicon" as well as brutal damage results like "Have a heapin' helpin o' hurt!" and "Take it, Gimpy!" reflect the game's unique sense of humor. And just as importantly, the randomly selected battlefields and the wildly varying abilities of the mutants make the game very replayable. Mythos fans will enjoy Lovecraftian story references like "Thuh Colour Outta Space," and even newbies will find themselves cracking Deliverance jokes after a round or two of play.
This is a great game to play when you want to break from the ordinary and veer into the downright weird.
-- Ken
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