Character Creation: Hell Night

Wooo! Crank up the Whitesnake!

The Game: Hell Night
The Publisher: Exalted Funeral
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one, and some good reading glasses

Hell Night is a pretty simple concept on its face. The Dark Master of Hell has fucked off for some reason (there's a random table to determine why), and various Archons of Hell have taken the opportunity to flee to Earth. Heaven has given an ultimatum: Get your shit together or we invade at dawn. So you and your fellow demons are mounting up doom-cycles to go and chase down the Archons. Throw me a squeedly guitar!

But figuring all that out took basically reading the whole book, because the book is formatted in an art style that's referred to "eye melting." Honestly, though, it's less about the visual style and more that the book jumps straight into rules (there's a couple of paragraphs of flavor text, but they don't tell you much) and the actual premise of the game doesn't happen until closer to the end.

For all that, though, the game looks playable, the premise looks cool (particularly for those of us that grok the 80s aesthetic), and there are lots of fun random tables for determining things. Let's make a demon!

Starting with name, I suppose? Let's call him Seir (it's one of the demons listed in the Lesser Key of Solomon, and his description makes me think it'd be interesting to adapt him for this game):

So next we set Guts, Style, and Brains. They each start at 5, then we get 6 to distribute. Seir seems like someone with brains, so let's put Brains at 8. Let's put Style at 7, and that leaves Guts at 6. 

Now we select a Duty, which is basically like character class. Seir is pretty clearly Fallen. So I get to roll for a Flaw - he's an insufferable, pedantic, nihilist. I could play that, I've got people I could channel. 

I get one Power for every point of Brains above 5, which means I get 3. I want Speed, Light, and Splendor. 

Background. Presumably this is the "life" I fell into on Earth, though it's not well-explained. The roll gives me "feral ranger," so I get a longbow, a hunting knife, and a map. Probably not what I would have chosen, but maybe that's good for a Fallen. 

Next I get an Edge and a Ritual, if I deserve them. Let's assume I do. I'll take Dark Master's Pet, which would mean that when I do something nice for the GM I get a point of Grit. Since I wind up cooking and making drinks, that'd be pretty easy in play, plus I think it's in keeping with my concept for Seir. Likewise, let's say he knows Summon the Hungry Spirits as his Ritual. 

Now I must sum up Seir's attitude with a motto, and explain his style. Hmm. 

Well, the "feral ranger" thing threw me for a bit of a loop. I wasn't thinking of him being quite so outdoorsy, but if we take the nihilism and run with it, I think it works. So let's say Seir was the beautiful guy riding the winged horse, but since Falling he's really kinda let himself go - he's dirty, hairy, and well, feral. Let's call that style "Feral Woodsman." Motto should probably tie back into that whole "pedantic nihilism" thing, so let's say it's "Things fall apart." (Can't beat the classics.)

Now, building one's Hell Ride isn't specifically called out as part of chargen, but there's a section for it on the character sheet and it's clearly important, so let's do that! Hell Rides are living hell-creatures in the form of motorcycles, so let's say that Seir's is his winged horse that has been reconstituted into a chopper. (He's not thrilled by that.) 

The Hell Ride gets a power, which is (roll)...explodes on command. Sure, that's pretty damn nihilistic. It likes to wheelie by itself. Rolling on the name table, I get "Howling Bull," but I'm gonna call it "Howling Mare" instead. 

And that's really it. I think when Seir uses his Splendor power all the dirt falls away and he reveals himself in his angelic form...and then when it ends he's right down in the dirt again. Most of the time, he looks grubby and pathetic, but then you get close and see the eyes with the fires of Hell behind him. 

That'll do it!