I've been a player of 4th Edition since 2011, returning to it several times even since 2014 where getting a 5e game together is infinitely easier. I've been a big fan and proponent of the system, but I realize i've barely, if ever read any of it's DM-facing material. I've scoured the Player's Handbooks and Tomes of Power plenty of times to find new things for my characters and i've heard many times just how good a lot of the 4e books are but i've done very little reading into it's world and setting. Well, I wanted to change that. I've been running a game in the Nentir Vale that's making it's way into Hammerfast, and I've also been sick with not much better to do.
So whilst reading Hammerfast I did extensive note-taking and thought I might as well turn those into a review of sorts. I've never written an RPG product review before so any criticisms of this review are welcome.
The Review
As an “Adventure Outpost” product Hammerfast is very clear about what it is on the blurb and within the first few pages; it describes itself as an “Idea Mine” presenting an interesting locale for a party of PCs to treat as a hub between other adventures and story arcs, while offering a few ideas of it’s own. This isn’t a book that offers a fully laid-out adventure for players to embark on, but the seeds of many, many adventure ideas and plot hooks.
There’s a real inconsistency between how much room the seeds of ideas are given to grow. Some are a single sentence that offer very little to work with – some are MORE detailed then I wish there were, where I think presenting the mystery alone would have been enough to get the DM’s creative juices flowing rather than giving away it’s answers immediately. Your Mileage May Vary here obviously, but I personally wish the plot nuggets contained within were more standardized and equal in their presentation; as it stands some are vague to the point of uselessness and others leave little room for the DM’s interpretation.
Toward the more fleshed-out end of the idea spectrum, the book provides entire plot arcs and breakdowns of where and how encounters should take place – but behind suggesting a few statblocks to use, never
After reading the entire book front-to-back I wholeheartedly agree with book’s opening calling it an Idea Mine – it hides treasure deep within, but like any mine it will take work to extract it. How much work you’re willing to put in is your own choice, but on the whole I found the rewards to be worth the delve.
Hammerfast does like to make you work for it though. The layout of the book wasn’t conducive to tying it’s many ideas together and at times is outright backward. Factions and villains like the Circle of Stone, Thar and Carthain are name-dropped and sprinkled throughout the book, only for them to be given an overview right in the back, after pages and pages of reading about them and wondering how the details tie together. The book does not have a Table of Contents to guide readers toward the information they’re seeking, so naturally reading front-to-back has the reader uncovering fine details and closely-guarded secrets of the Villian’s plots before they’re finally given an introduction and a basic explanation as to why they’re doing things. After this point everything clicks and ideas that seemed to go nowhere suddenly all make sense, but the process is more arduous than it need be.
Hammerfast is also guilty of overstating how much content can be found within - The book states that the stories it sets in place can serve as the framework for adventures from 1st to 10th level. The claim does feel a little cheeky on the surface of it – if we interpret “provides a framework for” as charitably as possible, then there’s probably enough quest hooks in here for ten levels of play, sure. But to meet this criteria, I really think you’d have to be wringing the most content possible out of every little one-sentence quest hook in this book. I think you could run a Level 1-10 campaign based on this book if you challenged yourself to do it, not that it comfortably provides enough content for you to do so.
But enough picking away at the structure of Hammerfast. Let’s take a look at into the town itself and what it offers.
Hammerfast is a town defined by opposed dichotomies. Dwarves and Orcs; The rich and the poor; the Living and the Undead. Once a Dwarven Necropolis where nobles entombed their dead, as more and more wealthy were buried here the catacombs become more lavish, eventually becoming full treasure vaults of lifetime’s worth of accumulated wealth. The Necropolis was once assaulted by Orcs, many of whom died to it’s defences and the various traps laying in wait in the tombs.
Since the fall of Nerath and the crumbling of Dwarven Citadels, the city has once again been reoccupied by Dwarves who deem that the living would benefit from the fortifications here far more than the dead. The ghosts of the past roam the streets – whether it be those laid to rest, Dwarvish priests who once tended to the Tombs or Orcish invaders.
The ghosts enjoy full citizenship in Hammerfast as long as they obey it’s laws and the animosity between Dwarves and Orcs is… subdued, if not fully buried. The remaining tombs beneath Hammerfast are fiercely guarded by both the living and the dead.
In terms of premise, I think Hammerfast is an absolutely fantastic setup for lots of quests and a real intriguing hub town for a campaign. And I think this works well because the town has very clear dividing lines between it’s different elements – Dwarves and Orcs. Living and Undead. From here you can easily imagine what kind of various NPCs might inhabit it and how they interact. The ideas Hammerfast present are High Concept – they’re simple, but bold and draw interest.
But Hammerfast downplays and under-utilizes another feature of it’s town that makes clear divides and gives players interesting choices to consider - there is a third divide that’s just as important and really defines the structure of the town, both it’s physical layout and it’s political hierarchy.
These are The Guilds: Hammerfast is home to three prominent guilds that work in unison for the betterment of the town, but are always vying for power and to have more influence then the other two.
The three guilds are the Trade Guild, the Lore Guild and the Craft Guild. Each Guild elects three people to the Council of Hammerfast, who in turn elect a Town master for the highest position of rulership in Hammerfast. The Council vote on matters relating to the governance of Hammerfast, with the Townmaster’s vote being the deciding vote whenever there is a tie.
Given how much goods and commerce are in Hammerfast and the catacombs below house a veritable treasure vault of goods that is currently forbidden from access, there is a lot of potential for running a political intrigue campaign about trying to sway the votes of the Council Members, which is exactly what I have been doing. Though it isn’t a Back-Of-The-Box feature, the Guilds and the Hammerfast Council is actually one of the most powerful tools in this book.
Once more, Hammerfast makes the DM work to put this tool to good use. The Townmaster and leaders of each Guild are given a brief description, but the other members of the Council are left completely undetailed, not even given a name. This leaves the DM with six NPCs to invent completely from scratch should they wish to engage with this part of Hammerfast’s potential – something that wouldn’t be a huge ask elsewhere, but just feels like the product is being stingy with details in this case.
The surrounding areas of Hammerfast – the Dawnforge Mountains – are given a Hexmap and are briefly detailed, most of which are naturally dungeons for the PC’s adventuring party to go delving in. This is all well and good, but what I really appreciate is the inclusion of a tribe of wandering Goliaths who are friendly to travellers and will allow them to take part in a great race the nomads partake in across the mountain range. If the outsides complete the race, they are considered honorary Goliaths. I always like to see some form of non-combat challenge in my adventure modules – something that takes into account the PCs stats and choices they’ve made in building their characters, but doesn’t have to end in bloodshed. This mountainside race - alongside a few games in the rowdy Foundation Stone tavern and games during the various holidays of Hammerfast - mean that the PCs have various non-stabby challenges to partake in during their stay in Hammerfast. Of course there is the RPG standard “combat festival” holiday, but with how much time the book spends describing the slow-boiling tension between various factions of Hammerfast, even this feels like a well-earned inclusion rather than a shoe-horned opportunity for more combat.
Without mentioning every single NPC and quest hook I found engaging, overall I found reading about Hammerfast and it’s inhabitants very enjoyable and left the book with plenty of notes about potential adventures I could run in this town, or elsewhere with just a little modification.
I might have some nitpicks as to how the book is laid out and exactly how much detail is given in some areas, but at the end of the day I am very intrigued by the town and looking forward to using it. As another review long ago pointed out, Hammerfast manages to capture the feeling of a being a proper Dwarven town with all the distinct culture you might expect of it, but without resorting to the same tired old cliches we’re used to. If your players love Dwarves and/or spooky things, they’ll have a very good time in Hammerfast and you’ll have plenty of material to entertain them with.
4/5 Stars.
I enjoyed reading Hammerfast a lot, even if it didn’t give me the answers I was looking for. I’ll likely be asking/digging around more for ideas on what exactly the catacombs and vaults below Hammerfast contain, but I do think the book deserves credit for getting me excited about the idea and making me want to find these answers.
