Hi Guys,
I'm starting an epic spanning campaign in hell.
My players take on the forms of recently deceased mortals who have sinned in one way or another during life and hence suffer their own personal torment for all eternity.
The campaign begins with each player (I'll only have 4 max) being GMed through their unique escape from their personal hell into a much larger underworld. Once together it's up to them whether they want to try and repent, escape, conquor, submit. I'll offer them various plot hooks if it seems they aren't biting on the open endedness of the thing.
I'm drawing on various sources for my hell setting, but one thing I'm having a hard time finding are sources on the HISTORY OF HELL. I want a fictitous history of hell, the setting is important, just something that I can mine good ideas from.
Does anyone have some suggestions?
Cheers mates,
Sammy
I'm drawing on various sources for my hell setting, but one thing I'm having a hard time finding are sources on the HISTORY OF HELL. I want a fictitous history of hell, the setting is important, just something that I can mine good ideas from.
I have not read it, buut Mongoose's Infernum - Book of the Damned is still free on DriveThru RPG. The game is set in hell it seems and so might have a history you could at least get ideas from.
Cheers!
__________________ R Grant Erswell
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Dante's Divina Comedia is an obvious resource. Milton's Paradise Lost is another one.
For RPG related materials... if you stretch the definition of hell a bit, Wraith: the Oblivion gives an extremely personal, surreal and IMO frightening vision of damnation in the underworld. And the concept of escaping your own personal hell is a part of the setting (and game mechanics) in the form of Harrowings.
It is a bi-polar setting however, as it trying to contact the living and a vast underworld to explore in the same setting. Just focus on the underworld part and you basically have the setting you've just described. Hell... there's even various different underworlds, inspired by various cultures, that PCs can visit.
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"When, I said, many of them sit together in the assemblies, the law-courts, the theaters, army camps, or some other common meeting place shared by the many, and they find fault with some things that are said or done, with a great uproar, while they praise others, excessively in each case, shouting out and making loud noises, the rocks and the surroundings echo in response and provide a doubly loud din of blame and praise." Plato, Republic
IIRC no-one described hell before Dante, at least not more than it's not a very nice place. I don't think I've ever encountered anything resembling a history of hell, the closest I can think of would be the DC comics related stuff (from Sandman, Hellblazer, Swam Thing, etc).
Hell is usually described as almost timeless so perhaps a history would be more or less irrelevant.
In Nomine may give some sort of history to hell but I suspect that it'll be more a history of what things from hell have done on earth.
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Andy..
"Schools are where tomorrow-people or chil-der-en are harvested" - Tom Baker, Little Britain
IIRC no-one described hell before Dante, at least not more than it's not a very nice place.
Actually, Dante's work is the last and greatest work (and the only one that's well known today) in an entire genre of "trips to hell" stories. Couldn't name the title of other works in the genre, but there are earlier examples than the Divina Comedia out there.
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"When, I said, many of them sit together in the assemblies, the law-courts, the theaters, army camps, or some other common meeting place shared by the many, and they find fault with some things that are said or done, with a great uproar, while they praise others, excessively in each case, shouting out and making loud noises, the rocks and the surroundings echo in response and provide a doubly loud din of blame and praise." Plato, Republic
I've read both Paradise Lost and the Divine Comedy.
I'll be using them.
I've also got a bunch of Dore's Illustrations from both (as well as his bible illustrations). Those will make excellent handouts.
I hadn't considered Wraith: The Oblivion stuff. What books do you recommend specifically?
My hell won't be timeless, just very very old. Hence I'm looking for a real history.
Cheers guys.
already got it mate.
well at least book 1 and 3. no history there.
Cheers though.
sam
That's 'cos book II is the setting guide, and has an awful lot of detail on the history of the Infernum...
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I hadn't considered Wraith: The Oblivion stuff. What books do you recommend specifically?
The core book of the 2nd edition will provide you with just about everything you need. To get info on various versions of the underworld you might want to check out the Player's Guide or Dark Kingdom of Jade (for a China inspired underworld).
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"When, I said, many of them sit together in the assemblies, the law-courts, the theaters, army camps, or some other common meeting place shared by the many, and they find fault with some things that are said or done, with a great uproar, while they praise others, excessively in each case, shouting out and making loud noises, the rocks and the surroundings echo in response and provide a doubly loud din of blame and praise." Plato, Republic
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