Blending Storytelling And TTRPG In The Best Possible Ways — Jason Ward Talks ‘Surviving Strangehollow’

Welcome to the table,

I’m always absolutely delighted when news of an upcoming TTRPG comes across my desk. This delight is intensified when names like Shawn Merwin, Elisa Teague, and the icon himself Ed Greenwood are attached. So when news of Surviving Strangehollow reached me I was practically falling out of my chair with excitement.

The book will be a 350-page TTRPG supplement based on the artwork of the wildly talented watercolorist Emily Hare. It has been designed with players and Storytellers in mind, and provides a multitude of player options and unique storytelling scenarios for creature encounters that will elevate your table’s gaming experience.

The creatures will be the focal point, and each is designed to be an adventure unto itself, making them all perfect seeds for short-term stories or long-term campaigns.  The team consists of legends and rising stars in the fantasy, science/speculative fiction, and gaming genres, who will bring the content to life with short stories and rich narratives.

I had an opportunity to ask Jason Ward, a member of the creative team, some questions about this absolutely amazing project as it is ramping up. You can find those below.

Anton Kromoff: The collaboration of authors and designers to provide new fiction for the supplement is intriguing. How does the storytelling aspect enhance the gaming experience, and what themes or narratives can readers anticipate exploring within the book?

Jason Ward: We’ve got an unbelievable list of contributors doing both fiction and function. We’ve asked a number of the most storied creators to create short fiction that takes place within Strangehollow. These stories will feature original characters but also highlight encounters with the creatures and dangers of the realm.

The goal is to exemplify the creatures so that gaming groups get a sense of them beyond the stats and descriptions. It’s one thing to know that a Snackle Dragon has a deadly poison, but it is another to see how a great author can turn that simple fact into an intriguing quest! Throughout the fiction, we’ll be exploring themes of survival, exploration, economic expansion/exploitation, the nature of “civilization” as a concept, personal horror, and quite a bit of humor/whimsy.

The format of the book is perhaps the most fun part, for me… the first 3rd of the book will be presented as a compilation of notes, anecdotes, and lore compiled by a central editor (written by Shawn Merwin) who will expound on the narratives and give the whole thing a buttoned-up feel. The rest of the book will be the “behind the curtain” stuff for players and DMs to gamify the stories.

Anton: The project promises 60+ unique creatures. Were they all crafted by the same designer based on the work of Emily Hare or were various game designers enlisted to craft stats and suggestions for encounters based on creature assignments? 

Jason: Our lead artist, and the imagination behind the vast majority of the world, is Emily Hare. She has painted every single creature in the book, as well as numerous landscapes, some people, and interstitial pieces that bring the book to life. Everything is hand-painted in watercolors.

The team creating the game behind The Creatures is led by Shawn Merwin, with contributions from numerous writers and designers. While we’ve got strong drafts of much of the content, we’re going to be leaning on our design/writing team to articulate what some of the creatures do, how they behave, and their ecology through the fiction they are producing. We’ve taken an art/writing-first approach, which we are then converting to rules.

Anton: What kind of challenges or surprises can players and Storytellers expect when encountering these creatures in-game?

I will keep you updated on Surviving Strangehollow as more information becomes available. You can also head over to the project website for pre-registration at this link.

Until next time, this art is brilliant, the team is so talented, and I can’t wait to see what comes next!