Following our previous post, we keep exploring the design philosophy behind Infærnum and its core proposal. Flexibility is key here. The game's primary goal is to create an intriguing narrative structure that, supported by many modules, can be used in any setting or situation.
That means you can simply use Infærnum on top of your current RPG campaign, whatever system that might be, to explore an end-of-world scenario. You would activate some of the basic rules of Infærnum to deal with decision-making and turn of events related to the prophecy while keeping systems from any RPG your group is already familiar with, like combat rules or skill checks. It's essentially your doomsday device and toolbox.
Are you in a years-long power fantasy campaign where your jaded, godlike friends have already killed everything that was thrown at them? Now, they will have to deal with a cataclysmic event they can’t stop and a world they can’t save; their egos might say otherwise, and instead of running to find the last refuge, they might finally find a battle they can't win.
You can also try to add this end-of-the-world game loop to a favorite movie or book. What would your favorite comic book icon, supercop, talking animal, or wizarding prodigy do in an apocalyptic setting? The game’s systems are so flexible that you can easily make quick decision rolls for any preexisting character or script to see how these would behave in an apocalyptic situation. Hey, we are even doing a Cthulhu-themed one to prove it.
But what about a ‘pure’ Infærnum session? It works the same way, but you won’t benefit from working with a pre-existing story, and the game won’t give you one. However, that’s one of the reasons we wanted to have this campaign. We developed many tools to facilitate the generation of ideas, like the Infærnal Visions board, which is a big chart with nouns and verbs. So, for instance, If your dice fall over a word like ‘hide’ or ‘run,’ you must add that element to your next scene. Mix in many of those, and you will have a rapid sequence of events that will keep you very busy. An ideal Infærnum session should be very intense.
Another aid to assist you with your storytelling is called ‘seasons.’We hope to release these digital supplements via stretch goals, which will bring small collections of extras like premade characters, enemies, and relics.
Still, most importantly, they will bring premade Supplications. Supplications are like bounties or mini-missions, where you get a synopsis, conditions for winning, and usually a final boss. These are helpful tools to train your storytelling skills to create longer narratives, and we hope to keep doing these for a long time after the campaign is finished. With the Game Example from our Gameplay Preview Bundle, you will have enough material to unlock all of Infærnum’s potential.