the Background

[Melvin]

What Im most curious to currently, is the fluff (background story.) of the game/world of hell dorado.
anyone here speaks both french and english "fluently" ?

a bit of a who is who and when and where thing actually.

[Chrysalis]

Ok, I'll try to deliver some info.

In 1634, mankind fights for power, for money or glory. There are terrible wars, there are bloody conquests and there are dramatic religious issues too. Because of all those things, a portal leading to hells opens...

Instead of being upset by such an event, some men see a great oportunity in this "New World". Settlers, soldiers, people of the church or heroes take the road to this newfound place, looking for hope, for fame, for violence sometimes or simply for a piece of land.

However, this land is not a desert...Here are demons who will not abandon their land without fighting. There are also other humans, coming from the mysterious eastern part of the world, who seek the end of their philosophical quest in Hell. There are also the Egarés, who broke free from the chains of their demons masters, and fight some kind of guerilla to survive.

I tried to make it short, some parts are kind of translations of the stuff you can find on the front page of the official site. Hope it helps!

[Gaixo]

Is there really only one portal? Any clue as to where it's supposed to be located? Just wondering how central it is to the two human factions.

[Breten]

Is there really only one portal? Any clue as to where it's supposed to be located? Just wondering how central it is to the two human factions.

If I recall correctly there is definately more than 1 portal.  From what I recall about the fluff, instead of the 30 years war (I think) ending, they find a portal to hell.  But what they don't know is the Saracens ( I think them) found a portal 200 years ago.

[Chrysalis]

There are also hints at Odysseus finding/opening a portal in the greek mythology from what I remember. I also think they refer to the same greek hero (Odysseus) as "the Audacious", and it sounds like he would be an active character in the fluff.

It also makes me think that in one short text about the Egarés, a man says that they are very ancient men who are also very wise. In fact, the time seems to freeze once you are in the hells, so there could be people coming from aeons ago (like greek heroes). By the way, it sounds like the Egarés were once men (or women) who spent so much time in the hells that they mutated...

Another important point about those hells is that there are 9 of them. Like in Dante's Inferno.

[Jalikoud]

Welcome  !

There are three portals in eastern Europe  in the dawn of XVIIth century : Magdebourg, Séville ( Spain) and La Rochelle ( France).

Alamut portal ( used by Saracen) has been opened in the middle of XIIIth century by Hassan Ibn Al Sabbah, master of the Nazarit sect ( and historical character ).

A little bird told me that others are still unknown  .

[biohazard]

There are also hints at Odysseus finding/opening a portal in the greek mythology from what I remember. I also think they refer to the same greek hero (Odysseus) as "the Audacious", and it sounds like he would be an active character in the fluff.

It also makes me think that in one short text about the Egarés, a man says that they are very ancient men who are also very wise. In fact, the time seems to freeze once you are in the hells, so there could be people coming from aeons ago (like greek heroes). By the way, it sounds like the Egarés were once men (or women) who spent so much time in the hells that they mutated...

Another important point about those hells is that there are 9 of them. Like in Dante's Inferno.

You are right on all counts. As you may see by their weapons and armor, Egarés came in hell a loooooong time ago.

CROC

[Chrysalis]

In fact, when I think of greek mythology, three names of heroes come to my mind, who went to the hells and came back: Orpheus, Odysseus and Aeneas. The story of Orpheus seems to take place long before the tales of Odysseus and Aeneas, but those last ones have one common point: they were important characters of the trojan war. Here we have another time of great battles, quests for glory and thirst for power: it would be easy to think that doors to hells also opened then. We can imagine that men decided to explore this land, just as the men of the XVII century do it, and got trapped because the doors closed unexpectingly. Hense their name, "Egarés" or "Lost Ones"...But those are only thoughts coming from my troubled mind, nothing official here

And one last thing: I wonder where the name "Bran Carnoth" could come from (I mean, speaking of lost civilisations). Although the character was obviously created by Asmodée, it resounds either like a hebrew name (-oth, like in Behemoth, or demons names like Astaroth) or a lovecraftian creature (Azatoth, Yog-Sototh, etc...).

[aidan st james]

Bran Carnoth was a celt, long years ago...

[Chrysalis]

Bran Carnoth was a celt, long years ago...

There are many Bran among the celts, but I didn't find infos about this Carnoth name...Any source about this?

[aidan st james]

It was not a real historical character, not in this name  Maybe you can seek the Crennach name it's the same....

[Melvin]

thanks for the reactions
Interesting fluff, gives alot of freedom for the future.
I hope this will (if more factions come.) mainly stick to more exotic influences. an indian army ruled by Ganesha (in his general of the celestial armies incarnate.)
fantasy incas/mayas.. and all beautifully sculpted, excellent ofcourse thats getting ahead of things.

on the greek stuff, mythological character ofcourse,but Dionysus also took a journey to hell and got back (I believe taking ariadne with him.), ofcourse the greek hell isnt necessary comparable to a demon-infested hell (apart from tartarus, wich neither of the mentioned characters visited )

so what about the envoriments ? in the previews were some beautiful tabletops, but is it all the typically modern(and pre-church) hell idea, lots of rocks, very chaotic etc.
or are there also more jungle like locations, seas and rivers etc. ?

[Jalikoud]

There are four settings at the moment : Frozen Wastes ( snow and ice), Burning Hell ( Lava, rift, pit and so on), Necropolis ( huge and doleful plains with some monuments here and there...glommy stuff too ( bones field, hungry undead), and Howling Plains ( with stygian winds).

One of the rules' parts is dedicated to " Terraformation" : in a nutshell, you can "create" your table instead of placing terrain features arbitrarly. Each player has some tokens of various amount and must place them in turns, face down in one of the nine sections the table is divided by.

At the end of this phase, we should untap the tokens. The higher win and may place any terrain features allowed by the settings. All terrain features have a cost : for example, if your game use the Frozen Wastes setting. You Put a 4 points coins in one of the nine sector and your opponent put a two points coin. When you will put the face up, the coin of your opponent will be discarded and you will be allowed to place terrain features in this sector for a total of 4 points. For example, un Prism of Power ( 4 points) or an hill ( 1 point) shrouded by a Frost Frog ( 3pts).

There are 0 points tokens in order to bluff your opponent.

All terrain features have various rules : it can be dead simple ( block line of sight, miniature will move slover...) but it may be very surprising ( simple soldiers gain a small boost but Officiers and Indepandants lose a bit, Lemure cannot cross this type of feature as they are afraid of it, etc, etc...).

If both of you place the same token on the same area, things can go awry : you created a "conflict zone". There will be no terrain features at all in this area, but, at the beginning of erach turn, there is a chance that someting really strange ( and generally unpleasant  ) happens somewhere on the battlefield.
For example, in Howling Plains setting, you can have to cope with a rain of giant scavenger maggots or a sudden defeaning chorus of the fallens.

Hells are really unpredictable and these rules attempt to reflect that.

[Selenio]

Ugh...

I've just received my own Helldorado Rulebook this morning but I cannot start reading it right now... damn physiology exams...

I knew some things about the background but I'm reading things here that seem to be even more interesting than I thought. Odysseus, the Égares having been human beings, portals everywhere and "everywhen" in earth... damn exams...

Selenio.

[Magic Dave]

and La Rochelle ( France).

i hoilday out that way. Guess i have to keep my eyes open

no sounds really good, just posted in the general area looking for some more info, but as for background this is great stuff. cant wait for an english rulebook.