Infernal Bargains
Our Summer in Play
This year, I attended my first Double Exposure gaming event, a con called “DexLite.” A group of our game designer friends/family all rented a fun AirBnB together, and then we just played all day for three days straight.
Just kidding. True, I played more games in a concentrated amount of time than I’ve ever done. But, yeah. I also took a lot of naps. Favorites included an RPG called “Sign: A Game About Being Understood” by Thorny Games, and “Cave Painting”—a hilarious and fast family game.
I’ve been to two gaming cons before—Origins Game Fair (twice), and GenCon (once). Both times, Carlos and I were guests of the writing track. The game stuff we did was by-the-by.
But this year, we’re “upping our game” (tee hee), because our own TTRPG (“table-top roleplaying game,” if you, like me a few years ago, are among the uninitiated) is coming out soon from Outland Entertainment. At both DexLite and GenCon, we signed up to run to run our game, Negocios Infernales! And all of our events sold out before the cons even started!
DexLite was at the end of June. GenCon’s at the beginning of August. I hope the gamers at GenCon are as receptive, brilliant, and hilarious as the gamers at DexLite, because I have to say, our two play-throughs there went INCREDIBLY WELL!!!
A bit about Negocios Infernales:
DM-less. Diceless. Cooperative Roleplay. Come, meet your doom.
Negocios Infernales, or Infernal Negotiations, is a cooperative roleplaying game that centers around the “Deck of Destiny” (“La Baraja del Destino”), a custom deck of 70 cards featuring gorgeous artwork by Rebecca Huston.
To stave off an inquisition in a nation much like medieval Spain, aliens appeared, intending to save humanity from themselves. The humans assumed these aliens were devils, and offered to sell their souls in exchange for powers beyond mortal comprehension. Who were the aliens to say no? These players, wizards in the court of Reina Resoluta of Espada, solve problems using their newfound magic—and create almost as many along the way—all while the aliens judge whether they're ready to join the "cosmic consciousness" and begin humanity's next evolution.
Much like a fortune teller reads cards to portend futures dire and blissful, the players interpret the cards they draw to determine the successes, failures, and fates of the wizards they play. Together, they quest on behalf of Reina Resoluta to save Espada—or, depending on the luck of the deck, just to save their own skins.
We recently turned in the final copy edits of our rulebook. We talked through all the minutia of the finalized deck and book art with our graphic designer, the incredible Shannon Potratz. You should see the MAP he made for us! (Well, you can kind of see the grayscale version in the picture above, but it doesn’t do the real thing justice!) We can’t wait to show it to you!
Oh! And my favorite—Carlos Hernandez, mi amor, bought himself a SILVER lamé shirt and pants to wear for his ALIEN COSTUME, complete with silver shoes THAT LIGHT UP, and a pair of SILVER DEELIE-BOPPERS! (We bought a pack, to hand out.) Me, I already have a bunch of ball gowns and crowns, so my costume’s easy.
So he’ll be the alien, and I’ll be the queen. (Until we flip!)
If you’re interested in learning more about Negocios Infernales—or better yet, playing it!—the Kickstarter will go live shortly. Sign up to be notified when we do! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/687027744/negocios-infernales
And, of course, you can always sign up for Outland Entertainment’s newsletter at our Negocios Infernales page: https://outlandentertainment.com/products/negocios-infernales?variant=40814333526152
Congratulations on Negocios Infernales! So excited for you both. And those light-up shoes are so much fun!