Outland’s ‘Negocios Infernales’ DM-Less Game Heads To Kickstarter
by Anton Kromoff
Welcome to the table,
As a Storyteller, it takes a lot for a DM-less game to catch my attention. In truth, even though I have seen this around the office at Outland being worked on by the team, I was not super focused on it until I met the creators. The absolutely charming (and award-winning writers) C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez have really drawn together something special with their newest gaming offering, Negocios Infernales.
From all reports, the players at GenCon 2023 walked away from their table wearing fun little antennae called deelie-boppers and huge smiles. Some called the game “Their best memory from GenCon.”
This strange collection of talented people, strange headgear, cards, and mystery all swirls together into the rumor mill and delights many whose fancies lean more towards the esoteric. What is it though!?
Negocios Infernales is a diceless, DM-less, collaborative role-playing game, where you play a secret wizard with a chosen doom if you fail.
The game centers around the “Deck of Destiny” (“La Baraja del Destino”), a custom deck of 70 cards featuring gorgeous artwork by Rebecca Huston. The plot goes along the lines of staving off an inquisition in a nation much like medieval Spain, where 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 as humans are typically want to do.
And, I mean, who were the aliens to say no? The players take on the roles of wizards in the court of Reina Resoluta of Espada and solve problems using their newfound magic while also creating a fair amount of new issues along the way. All the 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 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 themselves from fates far worse than death.
It’s weird, it’s fun, it’s a good game to play while drinking with friends. The whole thing smacks of an elevated version of one of the card games you can grab off the shelf at Target in the black-and-white box but with a role-playing element and depth that you come to expect from a far more advanced game.
The Kickstarter is launching soon and you can check that out at this link.
Until next time, Secret Wizards!
