Jared: First off tell us a little about yourself, John.
John: Hello! My name is John. I am a histotechnologist currently living in Alabama with my wife. I run Hammered Out Homebrew with a lot of my free time. If I’m not doing that I am usually hiking, playing video games, pursuing random art projects or working on my house. Oh, or working on my home games. I currently run two games and play in a third, weekly or monthly depending on everyone’s schedules.
Jared: How did you get started in TTRP? What keeps you interested in the game?
John: When I was around 8ish, my older brothers introduced me to D&D. Before that, we might have played Heroquest a couple of times. I played a campaign with them and some cousins for a couple of years before their lives became busy with becoming adults and mine became busy with middle and high school. I didn’t play a TTRPG again until I was 24. Well, 40k and some related books filled the gaps during that time. Around early 2020, I ran a game with my brother and my nephew that has transformed into almost 4 steady years of TTRPG play. I think what keeps me playing is the investment everyone has in the story and the fun times had by everyone that would not happen if it wasn’t for these games.
Jared: What got you into creating homebrew content for people outside your local game tables?
John: Well when my group changed from D&D 3.5 to 5th Edition (5e) I had to help characters feel the same after the transition. To do so I perused the internet for options. This opened Pandora’s Box. I got the fixes I needed for my players but I was now aware of the sheer breadth of what I could create with a little effort. So I started creating rules for tons of things from NPCs to monsters to items and more. I started posting them for feedback on the internet and just never stopped.
Jared: Where did you get the name “Hammered Out Homebrew”?
John: When my brother introduced me to online gaming or LAN parties, he said I needed a username or gamer tag. My last name is Henry. So I had heard the story of John Henry the steel-driving man all my life. Drawing from that, I chose the name TheHammer, or just Hammer, for those games and any online thing I created. Using that username, the things I created being called “Hammered Out Homebrew” was just natural.
Jared: What can you tell us about your Kickstarter that ended in August Discovery of the Hollowed Isle?
John: Discovery of the Hollowed Isle is the culmination of my work since early 2020. Since the kickstarter reached all its stretch goals, this 5e sourcebook contains 25 pages of lore, 1 background option, 7 heritage options with feats, 22.5ish subclass options (eldritch invocations and a druid variant), 21 spells, 32ish magic items, the crafting and upgrading system I use for my games, an optional martial maneuver rule, complete rules for the planar crystals that make Hollow the island what it is (basically adding environmental rules and bunch of magic items), and finally 61ish monsters.
The Kickstarter was fully funded, and that allowed me to include everything I wanted to and get the artwork I needed. By the end of September, backers had physical books sent their way. The book is available in PDF and physical form through DrivethruRPG.
Jared: Do you have anything else in the works, project-wise?
John: I currently do a lot of work with Dungeons and Dreadnoughts. They are primarily model creators dealing with both fantasy and sci-fi vibes. If you are into the style of 40k, they have a lot of stuff for you to fill out your armies. Outside of that they are expanding into 5e support with a wargame ruleset on the way. There will also be lore for the world in which this all takes place. A planet splintered to have multiple eras of the planet smashed together (hence the fantasy and sci-fi happening at the same time).
Jared: Where can people find more info and stay up to date on any new content coming out? Social medias etc?
John: I am most active on Instagram. You can also find me on Discord on many TTRPG servers, including the Mythmaker Discord. I also have a Twitter and the other growing ones. You can also check out the Kickstarter page for the latest updates there.
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