HELLGREEN is almost HERE
Hell is green, and is almost upon us, I guess.
Greetings fellow wizards! Hellgreen is almost here; only two days left until launch! Have you followed the pre-launch page? Have you tried the demo?
Have you survived the Hellgreen? Whatever was your answer, let’s dive into the game before the Kickstarter launches!
“Better run through the jungle!” said a Creedence Clearwater Revival. And yeah, you definitely should in the Hellgreen.
In case you missed the previous newsletters, Hellgreen is my next solo-first RPG, where you play as an Operative sent to explore an Exclusion Zone set in a cursed jungle, where anomalies and abominations are a daily occurrence.
If you enjoy videogames like S.T.A.L.K.ER., you will probably enjoy this one!
You can find its pre-launch page right here, and the game goes live on Kickstarter on Jan 22nd.
That’s right, there’s only two days left until it the crowdfunding drops!
Now that we have done the proper introductions, it’s time to get knee deep into the game itself. Get your “Vietnam War Era Music” playlists going, time to get into the HELLGREEN!
HOW HELLGREEN PLAYS
Hellgreen is based on Songs and Sagas, a wonderful game system by Fari-RPGs. The author, René-Pier Deshaies, created a simple, easy to grasp system based on exploration and narrative, that made a perfect canvas for what I wanted to paint with Hellgreen.
The game needed a couple of tweaks here and there (turns out there are no M16 rifles in the fantasy setting of Songs and Sagas, who would have thought?), and what came out is a rules-light solo game, where you can make a character in no time, and where each weapons offers a different playstyle.
There will be more than 10 weapons in Hellgreen, some inspired by real-world weapons, some completely original for the setting. Each one has a different ability, so you only have to find the one that suits the most the idea of your Operative.
This was part of my main objective when designing Hellgreen; make a game that was simple to play, but highly customizable.
In Hellgreen, rules never put themselves in the way of your fun and narrative.
They exist solely to help you forge your story and explore.
Speaking of forging a story, you have at your disposal many random tables to generate the Exclusion Zone region you’ll be visiting, such as these Random Anomalies.
Anomalies play a big part in Hellgreen’s story, as many private companies and state-backed NANCo (which stands for Naval and Airborne Nations Confederacy) hire Operatives to retrieve these marvels of physics.
Want to know more about it? Well, I can’t tell you. You will have to find “Documents” in the Hellgreen to grasp what’s going on this cursed jungle.
I suggest that when you play solo, you avoid reading them before finding them through gameplay.
If you are a GM however, I think you should read them before you master your first session, and maybe even print them for your players.
Wait, Game Master? Your players.
NON-SOLO PLAY (MAYBE)
Hellgreen is a solo-first game, meaning it’s fully designed to be played solo. However, if during the crowdfunding we reach the first (and only) stretch goal, I intend to expand Hellgreen with a game mode for “traditional TTRPG”, to play alongside friends.
This will involve a small Game Master’s chapter on how to adapt Hellgreen for…multiplayer? We probably need to find a better term for this…
The same advice could also be used when playing co-op with friends!
ALL DIGITAL
Hellgreen will be released as a PDF and on Itch.io, meaning this time around the game will release digital only!
Alongside the PDF for the game I plan on releasing avatars you can use in VTTs or actual plays. At least 10 can be found as an add-on on Kickstarter.
It’s my first time creating a digital-only RPG, I hope it goes well!
SEE YOU IN THE HELLGREEN
While I can already tell you that we will delve further into Hellgreen and its details, that’s it for today. See you in two days!