Inferno RPG is the most successful Italian role-playing game on Kickstarter ever created. It’s something that makes me proud of the job done because Inferno is a project of mine (together with rich stuff of other professionals, of course), AND because the previous records on the same contest were of Brancalonia and Lex Arcana, two other projects of the same hands OR in which I took a great part!
So: first Lex Arcana, then Brancalonia, now Inferno: the Italian RPG scene is rich now more than ever, and these increasing successes probably mean that people all around the world are appreciating our job and having fun with our games.
But… what is Inferno RPG?
Inferno RPG Explained
On the occasion of the seven-hundredth anniversary of the passing of Dante Alighieri (1321-2021) and after the international success of Brancalonia, we on Acheron Games launched the crowdfunding campaign for Inferno – Dante’s Guide to Hell, the first Dante-based setting for the 5th edition of the most played RPG in the world, reaching our funding goal (20000 EUR) in 9 minutes.
The game consists of two manuals planned by Two Little Mice, a team well known to the public for titles such as Broken Compass and Household, winner of the Lucca Comics & Games RPG of the Year award in 2019.
Descending into hell, there’s also Epic Party Games (First Kings, Brancalonia), Acheron Book’s partner game-studio, taking care of Inferno RPG game design, rule development, 5e-adaptation and adventure design.
In Inferno RPG, players are all Lost Ones, living beings forced to enter Hell for some reason and complete their journey to the Last Door, the only exit, before losing their Hope.
They could come from any world or plane and, of course, from our Earth, but when they enter Hell they will appear with a unique shape, forged mainly by their virtues and sins in an otherworldly aspect.
They are alive and could remain alive throughout the journey, as Dante was in his, but Hell itself, with its devils, damned souls and dangers, will try to capture and enslave them forever.
Thus, the main challenge of the Lost One is not to face and defeat the damned and the monsters, but to maintain their path and their Hope during the journey.
They cannot die there. They cannot be defeated. They cannot lose their way to the Last Gate.
But they could despair, fail, and be damned forever.
Inferno RPG on Kickstarter
Inferno RPG is composed by 3 volumes:
* Dante’s Guide to Hell, the “Player’s Handbook”, which includes character creation, rules and an in-depth description of Hell itself.
* Virgilio’s Untold Tales is at the same time the “Game Master’s Guide” and the “Monster Manual”, with adventures, dangers, special equipment, an entire complete campaign to play and the bestiary, along with a more detailed description of the Inferno as a sandbox, allowing the players to replay Dante’s circles of Hell indefinitely, just like self-respecting damned.
* Divina Commedia – Inferno is at the same time the complete Artbook of the game and a luxury edition of the Divina Commedia First Canticle. This Inferno Collector’s Edition comes with the original version of the poem, together with the English translation (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).
Inferno RPG features 12 brand new archetypes with a level 1-20 progression, very similar to common 5th Edition classes. Each of them is a philological combination of traits, powers, and suggestions directly inspired by Dante’s words.
There are no regular races in Inferno, but you can customize the basic (and suggested) origin of the Lost, to obtain different traits, backgrounds, and characteristics.
Other main setting rules are Hope, the most important resource, and Infernal Emblems, the legacy equipment of the Lost Ones.
We have been working for three years to complete this project, our Inferno is not just a hell-themed setting, but a unique and unforgettable experience. We have studied the original poem for years and brought every monster, phenomenon, environmental effect, situation and danger of Dante’s masterpiece back into the game to allow players to have a complete and philologically correct experience of each Canto.
The crowdfunding campaign started on March 23 and it is already possible to download a complete Quickstarter Set, which contains a general presentation of the game and the setting, the pre-generated characters, the map and a complete adventure.
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