#gone to hell

At this point it's less that it's fundamentally flawed and more that it's just not terribly interesting by current standards.

When I started working on Gone to Hell, right around the same time that Doom Eternal dropped, emulating the actual gameplay of old-school first person shooters (i.e., as opposed to merely adapting their settings) was largely unexplored territory in indie tabletop RPGs. There were a tiny handful of published games which gestured in the idea's general direction, like Gregor Hutton's 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars, but for the most part it was unexplored territory.

Over six years later, however, there's been a flowering of interest in the genre in the interim, and there are now any number of tabletop RPGs with explicitly classic-FPS-inspired gameplay, many of them written by people with a much deeper understanding of the source material than my own.* I'd love to take credit for being there at the start of the trend, but let's be real – the vast majority of those authors have never heard of Gone to Hell. If you want to try out a tabletop RPG that plays like a classic FPS, I'd suggest you go play one of their games instead!

(As for Eat God, I'll never say no to more playtesting for current projects, but it's not really a substitute for what you're asking after.)

So the idea is I wanna make a tabletop campaign that feels like a 90s-00s action game franchise, with each game system being a different game in the franchise:

-I'm sorry did you say street magic: Create a city rooted in Fight World martial arts aesthetics. The premise of that one is we're the "game devs" sort of but prolly not directly saying so. Street Magic's another mapmaking game like Quiet Year or Deep Forest but more focused on the location and with a less constrained tone compared to Quiet Year

-Gone To Hell: "The single player game" to tell the story of its first great hero in the form of an arcade beat em up. Inspired by Streets of Rage. Gone To Hell is a diceless, many-GM, one rotating player, game homaging stupid macho action.

-Panic at the Dojo: Arcade brawler sequel where you fight the PC from Gone to Hell as the final boss, playing as a group avenging the villains he beat up. Something about how it was "controversial for the canon ending being the villain team's win." Panic at the Dojo is the wargamiest TRPG to ever exist, with a very cool combat system and very very fast skill check system (or a lack thereof).

The creator is a scumbag who doesn't pay their workers properly, the first episode was disappointing, and that beatboxing clown who just couldn't hold back his horny.

I've never watched the show or even interacted with the community that much but holy shit.

Friends, brace yourself for fandom hell...

Selected illustrations from Gone to Hell, Penguin King Games’ forthcoming diceless storygame of gratuitous violence.

In keeping with its source material’s lone-hero-against-the-universe conceit, Gone to Hell’s central gimmick is that rather than one GM and many players, there’s one player and many GMs. These illustrations depict the game’s five core GM playbooks: THE HORDE, THE SYSTEM, THE CIPHER, THE RIVAL and THE WORLD.

You can find Gone to Hell’s current public playtest draft here:

https://penguinking.com/gone-to-hell/

Gone To Hell Fan Playsheet

The Survivor

You’re in way over your head, but the only way out is through.

Absolutely! 

We started off as a five player game with The Horde, The World, Two unrelated Cyphers, and The Rival (who unfortunately dropped after the first round). 

Respectively they were: The Vector Solipsistic, a rogue AI converting the world into Blame!-style flesh-metal horrors; The Ingress Empirical, a Parasitic Dream luring people into blissful slumber; The Chosen of The Eternal Engine of Divinity, trying to plant fishhooks into the timeline itself; The Queen in Juniper, black metal fae serving an ancient god; and Sable Grimalkin, a former admirer of the slayer.

Our Slayer was Prog Narcissus, AKA The Thresher. He was a Thrillseeker with: exposed skin and leather & studs; theatrical pomp and gruesome glee; body horror transformations, a kickass laser sword (the Flux Naginata, whose blade had pierced an elder god). 

Play started out a bit wobbly- our first round was kind of a grab bag as we got comfortable with the action economy and the pacing (it’s okay for a Force to be more of a background element in a given scene). 

In subsequent rounds Prog slashed through an Ingress skyscraper being scaled by a six-armed Vector goliath; ran up a Chosen skyhook that was attempting to haul away his favorite bar; and derailed a Vector Death-Train and riding it into the Eternal Engine’s solar eclipse portal. 

@prokopetz has been playing in the space of Gone to Hell, a tabletop RPG all about playing the powerful protagonists of modern videogaming. While most of his (and other’s) Slayers have been more in your face, I thought that I might try my hand at a stealthier, more discerning protagonist. 

@gentlypettheunknown and I decided to collaborate on this one, and we’d like to share The Ghost with you. 

The Ghost

They never saw you coming.

Your Name: ___________________

Your Epithet: __________________

 Media Inspirations: Corvo Attano/Emily Kaldwin (Dishonored), Joker (Persona 5), Batman (Batman: Arkham City) John Wick (John Wick Trilogy)

Your Look (choose one or more): Multiple utility belts; supernatural mark; stylish infiltration wear; masked vigilante

Your Attitude (choose one or more):  unaddressed trauma; weary acceptance; flat affect; blatant disregard for personal safety; prepared for anything

Your Weapons (choose one or more): Borrowed otherworldly powers; rapid stealthy movement; ambush tactics; compact tactical gear; grappling hook; hyper specific gadgets

Your Idiom (choose one or more): Always having another plan; Prep time; Seeing how it all fits together; Consuming hidden supernatural artifacts; Buying the right gear for the job; knowing where the bodies are buried (figuratively or literally)

 Your Legend 

Answer these questions:

·Why can’t you just go in guns blazing?

· Why won’t you let yourself count on anyone else?

·Who’s pulling your strings?

 Your Agendas

As you play, let these principles guide you:

·Get in, Get out.

·No one else gets hurt but you.

·Leave no trace.

·Keep them guessing

·Strike from the shadows

Taking Action 

Any time the Opposing Forces ask “what do you do?”, describe what you do. Your actions are divided into three types: Heavy Actions, which require you to spend a token and return it to the pile; Light Actions, which let you pick up a token from the pile and add it to your supply; and Routine Actions, which do neither of those things. After each action, the Opposing Forces get to react.

Also, you may always ask questions or offer suggestions to help another player out when they’re stuck. This does not count as your action.

Heavy Actions - Spend a token to:

·Remove a greater threat while in stealth to swing the odds in your favor.

·Appear before your target by an unseen path.

·Bypass a complex problem entirely, through sheer ability, supernatural or otherwise.

·Power up according to your idiom; write a new Heavy Action and add it to the Slayer playsheet for the rest of the session, or recover a previously crossed off one

·Ask the Opposing Forces “What nasty surprise are you preparing for me?” They’ll let you know what’s coming.

  Routine Actions - You may always:

·Neutralize a single lesser threat without breaking cover.

·Find safety in stealth without making meaningful progress.

·Leave the area to approach from an entirely different angle.

·Catch a reprieve according to your idiom; write a new Routine Action and add it to the Slayer playsheet for the rest of the session, or recover a previously crossed off one

·Ask the Opposing Forces “What is the next best vantage point?” They’ll show you another safe place.

Light Actions - Gain a token when you: 

·Get caught without a place to hide.

·Attract additional security to your location.

·Your hubris is your downfall.

·You’ve got too many irons in the fire, and you get burnt. cross off one Routine or Heavy Action from the Slayer playsheet.

·Ask the opposing forces “What key element did I miss?” They’ll throw it in your face.

Doing Other Stuff