For a seemingly endless time you burned in the fiery pits. Scourged of the memories of your previous life by immortal fire, you have been left with little but the memories of the crimes that brought you to this place. After a seeming eternity, you have been plucked from the fires by a servant of the Demon Lord Malphitheor to be used as cannon fodder in the latest war with his demonic neighbors. If you play your cards right (and backstab the right souls) you might be able to work your way up the demonic hierarchy. One day you might even be a Demon Lord yourself! WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY 2 to 5 people, one is the Overseer the others the players 10+ d6s, d8s, d10s, and d12s Paper and writing implements Tokens of some kind (non-edible recommened) MAKING YOUR CHARACTER What sins weigh your soul? Name the terrible sins that condemned your soul to Hell. If they be violent, vicious or bloody: +1 Bloody Hands If they be false, treacherous, or boastful: +1 Deceitful Tongue If they be scheming, poisonous, or covetous: +1 Wicked Heart Stats Each player character has three stats: Bloody Hands, Deceitful Tongue, and Wicked Heart. Each stat begins with a value of 3 + any additions gained from your sins. No stat may begin higher than 4. Bloody Hands are used to hurt others. Deceitful Tongue is used to lie, boast, or trick others. Wicked Heart is used to understand and see through the lies and deceptions of others. UNOPPOSED ACTIONS When you attempt an action, roll a number of six-sided dice equal to the governing stat. If the action is unopposed, the Overseer will tell you how many successes you’ll need: simple = no roll necessary easy = 1 success needed hard = 2 successes needed longshot = 3 successes needed When rolling, any die that shows a 5 or 6 is a success. Any successful governed action results in the player receiving a Strength token. OPPOSED ACTIONS If an action is opposed, you and the Overseer (or opposing player) will both roll dice based on your respective governing stat. The player with the most successes, wins and gains a Strength token. If there is a tie on successes, both characters get what they want, if possible. If not possible, it is a push. Neither get what they want. If neither player gets a success, it is a push. Neither get what they want. Both gain a Weakness token. UNGOVERNED ACTIONS If your character takes an action that isn’t violent, deceitful, or wicked, the action is ungoverned. Players roll 3d6 for all ungoverned actions. Ungoverned actions never give a character a Strength token. SHOWING STRENGTH When a character succeeds at a governed action, that character gains a Strength token. When that character has accumulated 7 Strength tokens, they immediately cash them in for one of the following benefits: +1 to a Stat (max. 5) Upgrade die size of one stat (d6 to d8, d8 to d10, d10 to d12) Gain one of the following traits: powerful horns, deadly claws, glorious wings, vicious teeth, crimson flesh, thunderous hooves, fearsome gaze TRAITS Traits make a character more demonic and less identifiable as a weak soul and easy pickings. When they would, narratively, make a difference during the game, take +1d to an action. HARM AND HEALING Souls and demons can take an infinite amount of damage. They are already dead. They cannot die again. They can, however, feel pain and suffering. When a character gets into a bloody conflict, describe the consequences of the fight as if they were still alive. Limbs are broken, wounds inflicted, etc. This damage will heal over time (and relatively quickly) but, narratively, it will still be messy, inconvenient, and single the injured character out as a target for abuse. RUNNING THE GAME The player characters are grunts. They are the souls of disposable sinners and the only reason that they have escaped the fiery pits is to serve the Demon Lord. There is no escape from Hell. Failure means being thrown back into the pits to continue an eternity of torment. Your job, as the Overseer, is to challenge the player characters and to portray the environment and other denizens of Hell. As they progress and (hopefully) become more powerful and demonic, they should be tasked with more: more dangerous assignments, more important missions, and possibly even minions of their own to use and abuse. At all times during this process, one or more PCs will start to look like a threat because in Hell, if you’re not in the fire you can make trouble. Maybe at first the PCs are just snivelling souls sent off on mission because they’re expendable but success breeds fear and anger. The lowly punk demon that sends them out on missions is going to start wondering when he gets sent out and one of the PCs does the sending. Above the cannon-fodder level, Hell’s hierarchy is crowded and when someone moves up, by design, someone moves down. The corollary to this is that the no-one, and especially the PCs, is going to get anywhere by tormenting others at the same level. You cannot move up in the hierarchy unless you challenge something with more power or authority. If the PCs see the obvious course of action, which is to do nothing else but torment other souls around them to “level up” and gain Strength tokens, you may want to see how far they want to take it. At some point, though, their superior in the demonic hordes is going to notice that they aren’t accomplishing what they were fished out to do and pitch them back into the fiery pits. CHALLENGE THE CHARACTERS Give the player characters something to do: Especially in the beginning, the PCs are nobodies. They have been plucked from the fiery pits to do a job. Malphitheor’s hellish demesne is surrounded by the demesnes of other competing and antagonistic Demon Lords. Malphitheor will have plenty of work for them. See the sample missions at the end for ideas. Beyond that, you should figure out how far you can push the players. How do they feel about playing damned sinners? Are they here on a divine technicality? Or do they enjoy the idea of playing depraved souls who become more powerful by tormenting and abusing others? PORTRAY THE ENVIRONMENT Before you begin play, think about what Hell looks like to you and be ready to describe it in gory detail the the players. Are there levels of Hell? Is it just fire and brimstone or are there areas of ice and terrible cold? The way I imagine it is as a varied cavernous hellscape of burning fiery pits and lakes, interspersed with inhumanly biting arctic cold and ice and plains of razor sharp pumice and obsidian. Dotting these always painful terrains are the tormented souls of sinners. They may be embedded in sheets of ice, twisted into mournful plantlike shapes or forced to stand as tormented sculptures. Nothing in Hell should be innocent. Nothing in Hell should be comforting. It is a place of pain and torture for the damned. PORTRAY THE OTHER DENIZENS OF HELL The majority of souls in Hell are tortured sinners. They may burn in the fiery pits, bathe in the lake of fire, or be subjected to other countless tortures. How do they react to the PCs? How do you want the PCs to react to them? How can you convey that to the players? Demons come in all shapes, sizes and level of power but they all have something in common: They are bullies and cowards. They torment and bully those weaker than themselves but fear those more powerful. The hierarchy of Hell ensures this as much as anything else. EXAMPLE NPCS Murderer’s Soul Bloody Hands: 4d6 Deceitful Tongue: 3d6 Wicked Heart: 3d6 Deceiver’s Soul Bloody Hands: 3d6 Deceitful Tongue: 4d6 Wicked Heart: 3d6 Schemer’s Soul Bloody Hands: 4d6 Deceitful Tongue: 3d6 Wicked Heart: 3d6 Minor Demon Bloody Hands: 5d8 Deceitful Tongue: 4d6 Wicked Heart: 4d6 Middling Demon Bloody Hands: 5d10 Deceitful Tongue: 4d8 Wicked Heart: 4d6 Major Demon Bloody Hands: 5d10 Deceitful Tongue: 5d10 Wicked Heart: 4d8 Demon Lord Bloody Hands: 5d12 Deceitful Tongue: 5d10 Wicked Heart: 4d10 Demon Prince Bloody Hands: 5d12 Deceitful Tongue: 5d10 Wicked Heart: 5d10 SAMPLE MISSIONS 1. The players are sent to steal a powerful artifact from the demesne of Baltizaar, Demon Lord and rival of Malphitheor. Along the way, they will encounter many challenges which they will either overcome or not. [If they get the artifact, they may have to choose whether to return it to Malphitheor to claim the reward they were promised or sell it to another Demon Lord in hopes of gaining a better reward. In either case, the reward is probably not being thrown back in the fiery pits. They just aren’t powerful enough to warrant anything else.] 2. Demon Lord Pompositor has been giving Malphitheor more trouble than usual lately. The PCs are sent out to gather information about how and why. [Pompositor has a new demonic lieutenant with some new and annoying ideas.] 3. The PCs are sent out to mess one of Demon Lord Landrigon’s patrols. The patrol can’t be killed (obviously) but they can be temporarily dis-incorporated to create a convenient opening for another group of grunts to wander in on another task. [Malphitheor likes to make trouble.] 4. Malphitheor decides that he doesn’t like Pompositor’s new lieutenant and sends the PCs out to dis-incorporate them and bring the pieces back for quiet disposal.