Hell, Inc. The RPG - Employee Handbook
A downloadable game
Abandon all Hope, Ye Who Enter Here
Today is an exciting day for you—finally, after millennia of unspeakable torments (or maybe just a few minutes, time is kind of just a vibe in the afterlife) you have earned yourself a promotion to demonhood! Starting now, you work at Hell, Inc., the labyrinthine corporate bureaucracy that keeps the worst parts of the underworld running. It's a great job, if you don't mind having your will to exist ground into dust on a daily basis (or you don't know what the word “great” means). But a job's a job, and you need one to keep from being just another eternally tortured soul, so here you are.
Will you meet your new office crush? Will you accidentally infect the computer with browser ghosts from shady websites? Will you get to take Cerberus for walkies? Will your boss literally devour your immortal soul after you get his lunchtime Taco Hell order wrong? A world of business casual possibilities awaits you and your new coworkers in Hell...Inc.!
The Game
Hell, Inc. - The RPG is, at it's core, a comedy game. If you want a dramatic tale of epic heroism... well, I'm not sure how you got here, but mistakes were definitely made. Based on the webcomic of the same name, in Hell, Inc. players assume the role of demons working in the labyrinthine bureaucracy that runs Hell. Your job is mostly to work together (or not!) with your new coworkers to fix your boss' problems for them.
Using a custom rules-lite system evolved from a Powered by the Apocalypse hack originally written for our previous RPG mini-zine (Fail Marines), Hell, Inc. is a 2d6-based role-playing game with a twist— striving for mediocrity as both high and low rolls have the potential to create problems for the player characters. Roll too low, and your incompetence will draw the ire of the boss. Roll too high, and you unfortunately just singled yourself out for coworkers' jealousy and the boss dumping more work on you. If your favourite tabletop gaming moments have been the times when failed rolls with hilarious consequences turn into role-playing gold, then this is the game for you!
The Employee Handbook
- 40 pages
- Full colour interior jam-packed with art
- Full gameplay rules with examples and ideas for how to apply them
- GM inspiration tools for generating NPCs and stories
- Example character profiles
- A pre-written adventure, "Boss Appreciation Day"
Also check out the FREE digital assets pack, including 6 pre-generated, illustrated character sheets, and visual assets to use in your games (an illustrated office map and 10 NPC ID badges).
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $4.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Comments
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I played this solo using the One Page Solo Engine and had an enormously fun time (I have the Kickstarter print edition)! The tone and style of this really appeals to me as someone who loves workplace sitcoms, and the illustrations, flavor text, and NPC generators are perfect for helping you generate silly and funny interactions: I imagine this would be just as fun with a group! As someone comparatively new to TTRPGs, I also felt this was a really accessible entry-point. I typically play games designed to be played solo, but this setting/theme/style are so easy and enjoyable to pick up that I had no problem leading myself through a really fun one-shot. Thanks!
Thanks so much! We're really glad you enjoyed the game, and also intrigued by how you adapted it to play solo. We had been considering some solo play ideas as a future expansion, so we'd love to hear about how you went about it and how it worked out.
Oh, that's awesome! I think a specific design for this game to be played solo would be fantastic: the way I adapted it is pretty basic, but it worked for me! I created a character using the booklet, and then used this one page GM emulator/oracle to help me generate a plot hook and set-up, as well as to push the plot along when I needed it, although I did also refer to the illustrations in the booklet to help me figure out a "typical work day" structure that fit with the world. Just like in a usual game, whenever my character attempted anything that would require the use of her skills, I followed the rules set out by the game. I also used the included tables to generate some NPCs to interact with as I went along. I found the "Boss Appreciation Day" example really helpful for getting a feel of the world and striking the right tone! That said, if you all did decide to release a solo, or even co-op/GM-less version of this game, I'd definitely grab myself a copy! I love when solo variants offer me some built-in narrative structure and world-specific oracles/consequences/complications to introduce into my game, or even a "ticking clock" mechanism that limits how many actions/scenes I can plan on having in a given run, which I could see being really perfect for this game (next time I play I definitely want to lean into the sitcom structure a bit more). Either way I'd love to see what a solo variant would look like!