When man faced his own creation and god in the machine, he instead turned to darkness. And darkness answered, in a blink of an eye.
Haxan Studios promise a beyond Grim Dark TTRPG with Astro Inferno and are upfront about the chances of death. Set in the endless Satanic Kingdom, nothing is real in this corruption, but it is. You can join hundreds of others or read a little more from the pitch page.
There’s a free beta version of Astro Inferno to download. The quickplay edit stretches to a dozen pages.
The art looks great, and I’ve seen some of it before. I guess this makes the game a hybrid of royalty and commissioned illustrations, as I presume for a game as heavy in the ambience as this, some custom art will have been created.
Whatever the mix, this dark sci-fi in which gods, angels, and legend have been corrupted into horrors and dreams become a reality certainly nails the layout and style.
The PCs might end in the thrall of Worm Gods, devouring the flesh of the dying thousands, making pacts with the Ancient Gods, driven mad or even trying to dethrone Satan’s Court. They might even become legendary Death Singers and escape the Fracture.
Astro Inferno uses the story, stakes, stats system, which is based on a d20 roll for every action.
There are two print versions on offer; the black hardback with 220+ high-quality pages and colour art or the legendary edition. It’s the latter that has adult and R-rated art inside.
The Players take on roles as Death Singers, chosen Souls and the only hope of salvation in the Satanic Legendary world. They live their verses exploring the infinite enigma of horror and splendor where dark dominions of the Black Goat and Ancient Gods rule. Most are misled by the Fallen Angels and follow the left-hand path of selfishness, deep into corruption and power. Some shimmer of aether and align their goals with Elysians and the Ancients. Some live their afterlives without care of the forces be, exploring the depths of the Abyss and forging their own bloody paths through Fracture.
A pledge of €20, about £17, will get your name cursed forever, all the digital stretch goals and a digital core edition of Astro Inferno.
Backers who offer €35 will get the core edition in hardback and the physical stretch goals, too, with shipping offered worldwide.
The Legendary Edition of Astro Inferno, with adult art, is twice as popular at the time of writing and goes to backers who find €59 or more.
You can secure copies of both hardback versions with a pledge of €85, and there are two limited tiers at €185.
Fulfilment is currently slated for March 2023.
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