Go to Hell. Go Directly to Hell. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect 200 Larvae.

[WayneLigon]

I've only developed an idea of Hell for a couple of campaign worlds, because only in those did it matter. In most worlds I run, the main religions know that reincarnation occurs, so most don't worry about any heaven or hell; the vastmajority of people just are reborn after an indeterminate period.

The main version I use, when I use any, is a place that only the worst people go to. With the idea that only the very best people, cleansed of the sins they've committed, go on to an afterlife of peace, hell is for the people that have accumulated so much sin that they literally sink to the lower realms. Mostly, these are priests of evil gods, creatures that were born into their service (such as most orcs, goblins, etc), or people that have somehow attracted the attention of the Lower Powers. There is little punishment, because most of the people want to be there; they wouldn't be there otherwise. It's not a nice place by any stretch of the imagination, though. In much the sense that no truly evil party can trust each other or truly become friends, so to is Hell. Most of the formerly terrestrial life collects around the various citidals of the Dark Powers because the vast majority of the 'plane' belongs to the demons and devils.

Demons and devils are evil. Even the wimpiest demon is far more evil than any even vaguely human lifeform can be. They are eternal and immortal, evil unedning. They are the children of the dark gods and even the most evil man that has ever, ever lived fears and hates them. They always seek to tempt the living into evil, because those people become it's food/playthings after death if they become evil enough or can be snatched away and enslaved.

People can come to Hell in other ways. Walking there through the planes or through thinned veils. They can bargain themselves there in foolish pacts with demons (these almost always turn out badly, but true to human nature there is always someone who thinks that he will be the one to beat the odds). (He's wrong). People that come there unwillingly are the saddest of the lot and they frequently are tormented.

Physically, Hell is the formed will of the Dark Powers. It is a place where there is no happiness, no truth, no laughter, no friendship, no love, Those things cannot exist in the truly evil and so have no place here. Fear, selfishness, hatred, and pain are the order of the day.

 

[Shemeska]

1) Hell is not a physical place, but a state of being, and one that we consciously apply to ourselves. We make it, and one of the more amusing and applicable descriptions of if comes from a Steven King book, "“She choked to death calling your name. Isn’t that sweet? But that’s alright Robby, she’s waiting for you in hell. And she’s turned cannibal. When you get there, she’s going to eat you alive, over and over and over again. Because that’s what hell is all about Robby: repetition. I think in our hearts, most of us know that.” Andre Linoge, “Storm of the Century” by Steven King.

That's just a bit of my own personal opinion regarding it all. It takes the form of whatever you make of it.

Or if you wanted a bit more of a redemptive version of it, there's always the view espoused in 'Jacobs Ladder' that demons are really angels in disguise. That if you're too attached to the world you're leaving behind, tethered by regrets and all, that angels will seem to be devils there to rip your life away. But if you're truly at peace, and ready to move on, they're just angels helping you to move along and fully let go of it all.


If you want a fully DnD version of my opinion of the lower planes, etc, here's a little essay I wrote from the perspective of a fiend: http://www.planewalker.com/fiction/entry.php?intEntryID=9681

 

[shilsen]

Hell is a messageboard with only alignment threads.

 

[Baron Opal]

For my campaign, Hell is the doorstep of Creation. The legions of infernals wage endless war against the Horrors from Beyond. Their constant strife and hatred has warped their forms to the classic depictions of devil-kind. Thus, while the infernals may hate or loathe mortals, celestials and primals (dragons, titans, fairies, etc.) failure means their own dissolution as well as those they hate. And when you have been living for an eon or two, you get used to it, despite how horrific your existance might be.

Baron Opal

 

[Voadam]

In my campaign the outer planes are elemental planes but for alignments. So Hell is elementally lawful evil and devils can be considered elementals of law and evil. Alignments are aspects of sentient beings so outsider types of elementals are more sentient than inner plane force of nature elementals who are living embodiments of physical aspects of reality.

 

[Voadam]

One campaign concept is that fiends are designed to punish the wicked, they are part of the celestial order and ultimately on the same side as the forces of good who reward the just. Adventuring to hell to slay demons is not a just action in this cosmology. Fiends are evil but serve justice.

Another concept is that fiends are the adversaries of Good, they tempt and corrupt and assault because they are Evil or because it will serve their cause. Here it is a just action to seek out demons to destroy. This can lead to two separate types of cosmologies, one where demons are just elementally evil, and one where evil is their source of power and so they promote evil as a means to an end instead of as an end itself.

 

[Turjan]

IMC, the world is a big experiment, and its beings are busy to find the answer to the question for the meaning of existence. Upon death, the primals go to the World of Shadows and can diverge on a threefold path:

1. Those that never had any goal in life and just lived on without making any efforts will just vanish, and their essence will melt back into the world.

2. Those that were helpful to others and tried to achieve something to make the world better will be offered to pass the gate to a new existence as part of the world consciousness (you may call it 'God' if you want), an existence that still has a remembrance of their individual life but lets them take part in all thoughts ever thought by all the others who are part of this being. As everybody clings to his individuality for some time, this is a gradual process.

3. Hell is the place where all those go who had a strong will but only used it for selfish deeds. They will continue to fight for their own advancement at the expense of others in a world of neighbours who do exactly the same, and this in all eternity. They will 'live' forever in a futile fight, until they may eventually wear down and end up on path 1 after some time, although this may take eons.

 

[tarchon]

I always liked the Neil Gaiman - Sandman - version of Hell:

Hell is where you go if you think you deserve to be there.

To be fair to all the other people who thought of that before Gaiman, he didn't invent it.

 

[Plane Sailing]

If anyone thinks their post might be skirting too close to the "no religion" rule, please don't post it.

This thread is fine while it sticks to literary visions of hell and campaign visions of hell, but if it veers towards real-world beliefs it is likely to be closed in short order so please don't go there.

Cheers

 

[Ravellion]

Something that might be interesting that I just came up with.

People go to hell because there is no other place. There simply is no heaven.

I think what would fit nicley with this idea is a place where you are still cognitive, but all your senses are taken away. No touch. No sight. No hearing. No taste. No smell. Perhaps once every year or so, you would momentarily regain one sense (though never sight or touch, which would create a certain awareness of your own motor control), for a few seconds, only to lose it again.

Rav