_-_WGA01339.thumbnail.jpg "Inferno")
I have a rather ambitious new game idea which is just a few pages of notes at the moment. I thought it might be a perfect idea to bring to the community, as it offers a ton of ways to take it and interpret the base literature.
The game is called Inferno.
Yes, that Inferno...the one Dante so vividly brought to life. It's been a favorite piece of mine since grade school (Catholic school...yeah) and my latest goal is to design a gaming experience which places the players in Limbo, then has them progress through the 9 circles of hell to meet Ol' Scratch, defeat him and make it out before the infernal gates close forever!
The game should probably be a brutal experience and very difficult to win...like Ghost Stories. When players do win, I want them to feel like they just made it through hell to do so!
Each circle can be it's own sub-experience, woven together through the tapestry of story. I thought that each level could feature a unique mechanic:
1 - Limbo - ??
2 - Lust - Trick-taking
3 - Gluttony - Area control
4 - Greed - Push your luck
5 - Anger - ??
6 - Heresy - ??
7 - Violence - Player elimination
8 - Fraud - Bluffing
9 - Treachery - Take that
This could get really messy if not done with care and attention to the game in its entirety, but as I'm just at the brain-dump stage of design, it feels interesting to explore.
Other ideas I had were:
Role-based play like Pandemic: Dante, Virgil, Beatrice, Nessus, Farinata, Lucifer, etc. (one player plays against the others, controlling the minions of hell).
Shadows Over Camelot role selection and traitor play. Actually, there's a lot in SOC that could be derived for a game like this...
Rondel wheel of sins mechanic; each sin gives players different abilities/powers, and using them within the circle in which the party currently stands give a boost to that power. Players track sins and must "repent" to prevent taking too much "sin," to some negative effect.
Board of concentric circles/levels.
Concentric board with rotating circles; hell is always shifting against the players (HUGE board!)
Sin deck and virtue deck...players can choose which to draw from. Sins strengthen you in the short term, but virtues will speed your travel and help the group at large. Players can't take too much sin or they'll have a tougher time making it out of the Inferno!
Meet characters along the way and damn or absolve them; damning gives the party more power, absolving gives the party more virtue and eases the number of demons they must battle (or some such balancing mechanic).
I've got more thoughts, but I'd like to toss it to you guys to see if anything sparks. This is definitely my next project, as the passion for the source material is there and it's something I'm looking forward to "living" with for a good while as I develop the game.
What do you guys think???
I found a copy of Dante's Inferno online, and the game is truly terrible. How they managed to take such a rich story and reduce it to "battle a demon by rolling a d6 number higher than the monster's value" is beyond me. Leaves much to be desired, as if there were a truly great game based on Dante's Inferno out there, I'd not pursue my own. This game is so terrible it's actually inspiring!
Seeing the Arcadia Quest expansion was kind of cool, as it's the cutest trip through hell I've ever seen. While "Inferno" is widely used, considering the root literature, it could still be fine. But that's getting way ahead of myself, as the game's name is the least of my concerns at this early stage.
I love the look of the "3D" Inferno game, with the towers you build and play on. I haven't been able to find a copy of that though...the towers may be an expansion as I can only find what looks to be the base game.