[Escape from Hell!] Ronnies feedback

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

OK, this is the no-suicide Dante game. I kind of like the concept of the "little damned" characters, because they seem very easy to identify with. 

The game includes very traditional attributes, Pain Points as a resource, and twelve Talents, which seems like a lot. At first I wasn't too thrilled at making up that much, but then I realized you have a very intriguing system for using attributes/talents for resolution. Hey, I said, this is looking like a good game. Accepting/Using Pain is also good as a pure mechanic, assuming that you must accept first.

I did wonder whether accepting/using Pain must be within a scene. Can you accept Pain in one scene and use it in another?

Now for the wall I hit, however. Pain doesn't seem painful in any way; it might as well be called Hope or XPs or Faith. In fact, it probably ought to be.

Also, combat sure is central to play. You snuck "Fight" in here, basically, which is not good for the Ronnies. But then again, I like your combat mechanics, and as I thought about it, the answer hit me.

This system might do much better as a light-fantasy game, away from the Hell context entirely. Looking over the game, the only Dante part that really sticks as wonderful are the NPCs, whom I really like - so my suggestion is to take them out, wrap a new game around them, and then take the current system and open it up for another, more straightforward adventure game.

Best,
Ron

[Clint]

Very nice.  You "caught" me.  "Escape from Hell!" was indeed a system concept first with a Ronnies appropriate setting applied second.

In fact orginally, "Pain" was conceived as "Willpower," based on a concept for the system where Willpower was not a separate function of a character, but indeed the driving force behind all actions.  From there, it was a simple step of what Ronnies term can fill the role of a motivator.

And Pain Points are not lost until used.  So Pain can be retained from scene to scene or even session to session.

Thanks for your comments, Ron.  Very insightful!