tremorworks

In reading through the Demongate High setting, there are two things people commonly say:

1: “It's like Buffy.”

2: “It's high school… what could possibly make an interesting game?”

My responses:

1: To be honest, I've never seen Buffy. It was a surprise to me to find out, after releasing the game, that Buffy's high school sits on top of some kind of gate to hell. The similarity is really coincidental. Plus, in Buffy, does everyone in the school have powers? The whole concept was actually more inspired by an anime OVA called “Combustible Campus Guardress” where there was a school situated on top of a “rift” to a hellish world, and the students of the school had unique abilities. However, Demongate High takes this concept to a different level; student powers are more pronounced, and the school itself is top-secret.

2: I've been running a Demongate High campaign for four years now, and never once has anyone mentioned that it seems too much like school. I do try to keep people “studying” and have them take exams, but they don't spend all their time dealing with bullies, finding prom dates, and worrying about who is most popular.

Think about Harry Potter. The books take place in a school, but there are much bigger events going on. Harry has to study, and deal with school issues, but he also has to solve problems no one else is willing to see, and ultimately save the world.

My campaign started off simple enough. I introduced the first two PCs (an ESPer named Rosalee, and a Summoner named Ewan) to the world, NPCs, and general setting, and ran them through the Stonehenge field trip in the book. Soon after that, through dreams Rosalee was having, they learned that someone in the school was trying to uncover the ritual for summoning Fenrir, in an attempt to bring about the end of the world. Not knowing who the insider was, the students banded together with other PCs (and NPCs) they could trust, rescued another ESPer girl who was meant to be a sacrifice, revealed who the insider was, and ultimately succeeded in summoning Fenrir themselves in order to prevent him from being used to destroy the world.

This all was planned out to take place over the course of the first school year. During the summer, they had to figure out what to do with Tyrfing, the super-powerful sword Ewan so generously liberated from Fenrir's jaws, as its power was drawing demons to it from all over. After a trip to the Demon World to drop it off in a cave possessed by the soul of the Demon Lord of Dragons, they were off to their second year of school, where they had to deal with such issues as a Half-Demon Holy Chosen whose family had helped Hitler in WWII, followers of Mammon seeking the Ark of the Covenant, Ewan's love interest (hooray for game cards!!) in a kumiho, and much, much more.

Now, into their fourth year, the PCs need to find some way to undo Ragnarok, as Fenrir was in fact summoned again, and ran amok, bringing about the end of the world…

Other games I've run have involved graduates hunting a rogue summoner, and even a scenario where Rosalee's immense ESPer powers got the better of her and drove her mad, so now she is the bad guy.

So, don't judge Demongate High by its cover. The game becomes whatever you make of it.

On that note, a Demongate High expansion is in the works, including over 50 new demons, a slew of angelic beings, 11 new student types, a handful of non-student character types, and tons of info about the Demon World and Heavenly Realms.

I'd be very interested in hearing other campaign ideas and issues people have had!