There once was a demon who wished to escape hell. He had always been fascinated by the mortal realm and had always dreamed of going there to cause as much havoc as he could. And one day, he did just that.
The exact details of how and when he escaped have been lost to time, but suffice it to say that he achieved his dream. And boy did he wreck chaos up on Earth. At least, he did for a few centuries, until he was caught and imprisoned by a strange toy maker who sought the demon’s power.
The toy maker changed the demon’s physical form into that of a card game. He named it ‘Ignis Mons’, which translates to Fire Mountain. The overall goal of the game is to get older and reach 75 years of age before the other players.
As soon as a new group opens the small box containing the game, everyone in the group is regressed down to 18 years of age. Because the game is strictly 18+, if a player was younger than 18 before the game began, they would age up to 18. There is also a strict men only rule, so any woman who plays will transform into a man for the entire duration of play.
Play progresses from youngest to oldest based on the player’s ages at the start of a round. For example, at the start of a game, since all players are 18, they could go in any order. If in the next round they were all different ages, then the youngest of them would go first.
The game contains two sets of cards and a pair of dice. One set of cards is the curse deck and the other is the bonus deck.
During a player’s turn, they must roll either one or both of the dice, and they will age up by however many years they rolled. After a player has rolled 2 dice, they must draw a curse card. (Not rolled twice, but two separate die. So if a player rolls one dice one round, and another dice the next round, then they would pick up a card).
The curse cards add either a physical or a mental curse to the player, like gaining fat, or becoming obsessed with another player. A player can choose to remove a curse card, but they must roll one die that regresses them by however many years they rolled.
There are three rarities of curse cards: common (which are colored blue), rare (colored red), and extreme (purple). Common curse cards change minor parts of a person, like making them a lightweight or making them taller. The rare curse cards are a bit stranger, like making someone grow a tail. The extreme cards actively hinder the player from winning, whereas most of the other curse cards are merely aesthetic.
There are benefits and disadvantages to the lower level curse cards, those being tied to the bonus rounds. After two full rounds, players must draw from the bonus card deck and perform a challenge. For example, it might say, ‘Players 1 and 3 must engage in a drinking contest.’ Someone with a heavyweight curse may have an easier time winning than someone with a lightweight curse. At the conclusion of a bonus round, the winner(s) receive a boon while the loser(s) receive either nothing or a disadvantage.
As stated before, the goal of the game is to get to 75 years first. The rules state that once the game is over, players return to their original forms. There is a secret rule, however, that is only revealed to the winner at the very end of the game that can influence the overall outcome significantly.
With time, the toy maker passed away, but his creation remained. It stands now inconspicuously in a bookstore, waiting for someone to open it so that chaos may erupt yet again. Who will be its next victims?