Many extremist groups out there believe that all roleplaying games encourage players to think about demons, murder, senseless violence, and other such nastiness. This is, of course, completely unfounded lunacy on par with suggesting that playing Monopoly will cause children to swear every other word. THIS particular RPG however actually DOES focus on demons, murder, senseless violence, and other such nastiness. So if you're just itching to boycott something, have at it!
Now, for those of you whose religious beliefs aren't so extremist that you ran off to say a prayer against me upon reading that last paragraph, rest assured that this whole shebang is just a piece of lighthearted fun inspired not by any evil forces, but by elements from various non-threatening cartoons, movies, and old folk tales. I don't condone or encourage much of anything, least of all violence and demon-worship. I don't have three sixes tattooed on my neck, and while I did once have red marks appear on my forehead in the shape of an evil-looking second pair of eyebrows, I'm pretty sure that was just an allergic reaction to shampoo. My cat on the other hand is evil incarnate and will probably kill everyone in this town if I ever stop fulfilling his every whim. He had nothing at all to do with the creation of this game though, so rest assured that it's all in good fun, and enjoy.
While this game is not based on anything in particular, a few interesting works of fiction were clearly floating about my head at the moment my muse hit me with the giant mallet that forced me to jot down all of the core rules in one sitting. Those works are...
This game also shares some themes with the videogame Saiyuki: Journey West, but every aspect of this game was worked out completely before I'd ever heard of it, so that one's just an interesting coincidence.
I am absolutely terrible at naming things. Up until the last possible minute, every demon in this game had names like "_____ the Wolf". In fact, at the time I'm writing this, the game itself doesn't even have an official name yet. The names each demon currently bears were all quite frankly generated in a semi-random fashion that I'm not entirely proud of. So, if you don't like them, feel free to rename them more creatively for your campaigns.
In addition to the creators of those works which helped inspire this game, allow me to use this space to also give thanks to everyone who helped test this game, gave it the praise needed for me to keep fleshing things out, and the financial support needed to justify taking the time to add some sourcebooks. I'd also like to thank the late Roger Zelazny, just because.
Next Section: Introduction