D&D General Ideas for an "Escape from Hell" Game

[dave2008]

Third idea, related to #2. Create a central overpowering threat - something that can't be beat (at least not now). May their jailer is a Huge demon/devil that pursues them through hell. Perhaps the "game" starts with this giant fiend reaching into the cell and picking out a random person (could even be one of the PCs) and consuming them in front of the whole group. It is, or almost is, a cut scene. The adventure starts, you describe the surroundings and, boom, a clawed hand reaches down, grabs a inmate, raising up the monstrous head of the beast and is bitten in half. The beast gulps down the blood flowing from the torso, throws the remains back in the cage, and then moves on to the next cage. Then have this fiend chase them through hell when they escape their cage. Can the get out of hell before the beast picks them all off?

 

[Richards]

Larry Niven wrote a book "updating" the Inferno. Alas I do not remember the title.

Ironically, it's called simply Inferno. And it was written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Escape from Hell by the same two authors is the sequel to it.

Johnathan

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

There are also the comic "Jane goes to the hell", the EA videogame "Dante's Inferno" and others, "Agony" and "Cive Baker's Jericho", and the franchise of the cenobites "Hellraiser".

 

[Coroc]

@Coroc, sorry, but you don't get to convert me to the FR strandard Hells that easily!

Yes, but think about players who know some of the lore, if you use the standard (Every published campaign but Eberron and Darksun) hell structure, they might contribute better, than if you came with your own design.
Both options have their appeal though.
If you instead limit it to one plane somehow you do not have to struggle with planeshifts/gates so much. Just come up with reasons why on this particualar plane "ye old standard spells like plane shift" will not work (atm./constantly/due to interference of xyz).

No matter how you do it, you have to put up a constant pressure on the party, so be careful with relaxation zones aka temple of heal all woes/ shoppe of buy a nice magic weapon etc.