Would You Buy This Game?

[Chauzu]

I might buy it if it was hardcover. Sounds interesting.

 

[lord irial]

Is it fun to play in a campaign where you are both narratively and morally required to be wretched all of the time?

Putting it that way, you might as well play Papers and Paychecks (i.e. it's like being at work).

Is it Friday yet?

 

[talien]

Straight d20 using the standard D&D classes seems like an odd choice for this subject matter. I like the idea of RPGs taking a more literary bent, but I would have to take a real close look at this one before buying it. A simple grafting of Dante onto D&D could be kind of painful. I mean, druids, rangers, psionics, bards, clerics casting raise dead left and right...

It almost seems like an independent OGL game like Slaine or Wheel of Time would be more appropriate.

If you were familiar with the original Abyss game, it was a lot closer to "D&D in Hell." I aim to change that but still intend to retain the combat-oriented nature of the d20 system. It's not a simple grafting, certainly.

The nine circles are like mini-planes. Each PC picks a plane based on his mortal life. Those choices determine the availability of races and classes to choose from. On his "home" circle, the PC is most effective. As he travels up and down the circles, his powers diminish. To take your examples:

* Rangers and druids end up on Limbo. Here, they can cast spells and use their full abilities. But it's a wild, dangerous place. The wild nature of supposed "pagans" rules here. Animals are bigger, the weather is more dangerous, the terrain is more extreme. As druids and rangers stray further from the first circle, they can't cast as many spells. A druid on Cocytos, the ninth circle, can only cast 1st level spells.
* Psionicists get treated like other spellcasters, daming them to the Malebowges. There, magicians are forced to walk with their heads twisted on backwards. In the Malebowges, any arcane spellcaster or psionic manifester can turn his head 360 degrees. The eighth circle is also home to all manner of thieves and liars. Which is why...
* Bards end up there too. Lying, and indeed, every deception is easier in this circle, so bardic powers work best there.
* Clerics end up in Dis, because they wouldn't be there if they had worshipped the right deity. As a result, their powers work but diminsh in effectiveness as they stray from Dis. Fortunately, Dis is the sixth circle, so clerics are never in too much trouble.

And raise dead? Fuggeddaboutit. In Hell, there's disincarnation. Nobody dies, they just get "devolved" into a larva that is also used as a form of currency. Certain really extreme situations can destroy even the soulstuff that constitutes PCs. But on the other hand, if you didn't like a guy who just "died" you could probably sell his squirmy little maggoty self for a profit.

In short, the systems blend quite nicely.

 

[talien]

Hi Alzrius,

You bring up a good point about the races. That was a last minute choice to highlight races that I thought people might be interested in. To clarify, there are plenty of completely new races, including:
* Plutonians, multi-limbed spider-like creatures who "sing" matter into existence. They are the creators of hell's infernal machines.
* Stygians, demonic mariners who ply the Styx's waters.
* Graffiacane, identity stealing demons who absorbs personalities by bathing in their victim's blood.
* Pucks, mischevious imps who can shapeshift into different forms.

Those are largely Abyss inventions. To be fair, many of the races I listed were actually in Dante's Inferno, including centaurs and minotaurs. Which is ironic considering they are D&D staples.

This doesn't mean that they're exactly the same as their D&D versions though. Minotaurs are the personification of lust and thus act accordingly while centaurs are the personification of violence. So although they're familiar, they're definitely different in the Abyss. Heck, there's elves in Limbo and dwarves in Hades and they're quite unique.

It seems part of Abyss' problem in its presentation is making it appealing despite the fact that it relies on some established fantasy icons. Something to ponder as I go forward.

As always, thanks for your support Alzrius!

 

[Razuur]

I would buy it if there was less crunch and more setting.

The crunch you have listed is fine, but I would want a heck of a lot of setting detail.

Just don't focus so much on crunch that you lose the setting.

know what I am sayan?

Razuur

 

[talien]

I would buy it if there was less crunch and more setting.

The crunch you have listed is fine, but I would want a heck of a lot of setting detail.

Just don't focus so much on crunch that you lose the setting.

know what I am sayan?

Sure do. If anything, I'm putting more of the Inferno back into the Abyss. This poll provided a lot of information about what people want to see and in some cases, the material does not lend itself to easy explanation.

If nothing else, it's clear that I need to extrapolate on what it means to live in hell. It is not a predetermined, you just sit there and suffer, kind of existence. It isn't static, it isn't mindless. And yet, it is eternal. It's difficult to reconcile the two concepts, but I submit we encounter static and perpetual (or seemingly perpetual) forces in our regular lives. So it's something that can be explained.

There's going to be plenty of setting information. Ultimately, the best setting information is Dante's Inferno.