"Adventures in "Hell" survey?" Topic

How many times have you used "Hell" in an adventure?

A) Never.
B) Once.
C) Several times.
D) Frequent flyer miles in the 100's!
E) Based entire campaign off of/in "Hell".

I am working on an adventure where the PC's try to rescue a Paladin PC's wife, who was thrown into my campaign's version of "Hell", body and soul, alive. The Paladin PC is preparing to go after her, no matter who will/will not accompany him. I am curious on how popular running adventures in the Underworld is, amongst forum members.

So, how often do you run adventures in your nether planes? I've run several short jaunts into Gram Nar (Icelandic, "Angry Corpse", my version of Hell). Now I am preparing a long adventure wherein the PC's will enter the Underworld of the dead, and search its vast lands for the poor woman, to learn if she is still alive, and if so, bring her back to the land of the living. They think they know Gram Nar, fairly well… They ain't seen nothin' yet!

They will arrive on an island, in a cave, greeted by Cerberus (extremely difficult to "kill", as he regenerates; this will likely be a comedic encounter: all three of his heads will argue who gets to eat them, even fighting between themselves). After that, they will have to cross a sea which is full of warring undead souls on ghost ships: they will need to negotiate with the dead sailors safe passage to the land mass across the sea. Once on land, they will need to navigate, and search, the various climactic regions, in search of the wifey, without any real guides to show them the way.

They will need to dodge several dead gods' abodes/palaces, while searching. They will also need to avoid the more powerful demons and devils along the way. I really don't know how it will all play out, but it should be a real hoot for everyone…

Can't wait to bring them to the cave, and Cerberus! Playing the arguing three heads is gonna be a blast, watching the players try to manipulate them into fighting one another. Picked up the Safari Ltd. toy Cerberus for this -- prefect size, pre-painted to a decent standard. Ohhhh, so fun! Cheers!

Well I have an entire "army" of 6mm Chaos, including demons, etc., … so … ?

It doesn't really fit into an American Revolution game.

Never

It doesn't really fit into an American Revolution game.

I thought war was Hell. But maybe you have to wait for the ACW, so I can give you a pass on the AWI.

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C. Several Times

I've done excursions into:

– Dante's Hell (surprised this is not more popular)
– Irkalla Kur
– Classic AD&D Hell (which looks a lot like Dante)
– Hell a la Hellboy
– a couple homegrown alien Hells

I also have a scifi planetiod called "Hel" referring to the invasion/siege of Hel, Poland in WWII (in a WGV scenario called, "A Season in Hel") that basically recreates that battle and has been used for other WWII battles cast in a scifi universe (the soon to be WGV released, "To Reign in Hel").

As an aside, Milton wrote "Paradise Lost" right after he got married and "Paradise Regained" after his divorce. Don't tell SWMBO I said that …

Several as a player, never as a DM

I don't use Hell per se in adventures. The last Traveller game I ran involved some beings coming through a portal in an abandoned underground temple, and I suppose that could be an entrance to Hell.

Interestingly, the last Traveller game I played in involved a fleet coming through a tear in space, possibly from Hell, and possibly thwarted by an angel that the PCs had brought to the site on their battleship.

B) In a Planescape adventure, PC's ended up in one of the upper levels of Baator. Apart from various unpleasant critters they had to deal with, the fact the Lord of this hell could mold this reality to his will, really p***ed them off ;)

You don't come back from hell unchanged. "Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you." F. Nietzsche

I've never ventured into hell as a player character, to my recollection. As a DM, I've never used it as a setting, although I have used demons and devils, usually as a result of some faulty conjuring or magical trap.

Also, Sgt. Slag: I've said it before and I'll say it again…I want to play in your games. Did you ever run that Against the Giants game?

Yes, I did. I ran it at Tundra Con (January) 2017, Appleton, WI. Used the 1e AD&D RPG rules for it. It went well, the players had a really good time with it. Ran a different game at Tundra Con 2017, and several players from the G1 game were present, and gave me good feedback on the 2017 game.

I am working on getting G2 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, ready for Tundra Con (January) 2019. This will be full 3D terrain, and mini's. Gotta start getting serious about painting up my modular cavern pieces into ice cavern pieces. Gotta finish up painting around another 20 Frost Giants (primed, with a little paint), as well as a few other icy critters for the game. Never enough hours in the day… Picked up a metal, 60mm Viking figure for the Jarl. He's about as painted as the 20 of his 'hood.' I've got a number of Frosties painted up, and table-ready, but not enough.

Game should be quite challenging as there are actually three areas to explore: right side of Rift (glacier), left side of the Rift, and the floor of the glacier. I will likely set up the terrain pieces as they go, leaving it in place, unless/until they go to the other side, or the bottom. Need to play-test it a few times, hopefully by September, to get an idea of how well it will work.

I see you are in Massachusetts, and I am in Minnesota. That will be hard to put a game together with you. I am truly sorry about that. Appreciate the comments, though. Cheers!

Oops: "Ran a different game at Tundra Con 2018…"

Never