Best horror RPG, bar none!

[Gothmog]

Yup! I bought a knock-off for $6.

And I'm going to have to try Kult. It sounds really good. What makes it so powerful?

I ordered Dread recently too based on your comments and the other thread you had- I'm looking forward to it.

Kult is powerful, because unlike CoC or other horror, its not easy to slot into a specific genre. Instead, it has a heavy element of psychological horror, as well as theological horror, some splatterpunk (Hellraiser flavor), and plenty of room for plain old human cruelty. I'm not going to give away the secrets of the setting, but the main premise is that reality isn't what the masses of humanity think it is. Alongside our reality is another, called Metropolis- which is basically a huge city that combines all eras and cultures of human history. Metropolis used to be ruled by the Demiurge (essentially God), but the Demiurge is not a benevolent god- rather he is a selfish, self-aggrandizing entity that sought to keep humanity from realizing their potential. However, the Demiurge mysteriously vanished several hundred years ago, and his Lectors (angels) now run things in his stead, the jailors of humanity warring with each other and emphasizing their respective aspects over humanity. On the other hand, you have Astoroth/the Beast that rules the Inferno- and if you think the Demiurge is bad, you've not seen anything yet. Of course, players don't know any of this to begin with, and part of the horror comes from discovering the truth about reality, that everything we know is a lie, and that other entities seek to keep us ignorant and from realizing our true potential, while at the same time emphasizing our own destructive natures, empowering them. Kult is a very different experience from any other RPG I've ever read or played- there is room for great heroism, love and compassion; or the characters can quickly spiral into madness, sadism, and selfishness. Kult isn't about fighting inhuman beasts and killing them as much as it is about fighting your own baser instincts and urges that are empowered and encouraged by inhuman beasts, and these same beasts feed off humanity's degeneration. Its a very different experience, and very uncomfortable for some players since it is so much darker than other games, but if your group is willing to play along and give it a shot, its a very rewarding gaming experience.

 

[Silver Moon]

I always liked C of C the best although I haven't had the opportunity yet to play Dread, which looks interesting. My wife really enjoys horror-based games. The single scariest moment in C of C game was back in the mid-90's when we were at a gaming convention and she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. Mid-way through the game she began to go into Brackston-Hicks false labor contractions which the GM and other players all mistook for real labor. Her comment of "Oh, it's nothing, keep playing" failed to calm their fears.

 

[Aus_Snow]

CoC for old-school. . . or possibly Kult for the hell of it.

Maybe I'd try True20 with a horror setting of my own devising (or say, Cthulhu). I think it'd be up to the task. I'm liking the system, so excuse the current bias, please.


However. . . as some others have said, the system probably doesn't have too much to do with it, in the end.

 

[s.j. bagley]

'paranoia,' of course.

 

[Piratecat]

'paranoia,' of course.

Ha!

I'll be fascinated to see Ken Hites' forthcoming Trail of Cthulhu, which is Call of Cthulhu using the GUMSHOE system (also used in Robin Laws' The Esoterrorists.) The system is a no-brainer for Call of Cthulhu games; just as good a sanity system, and (IMO) a better skill/knowledge system. Plus, Ken Hite can bear my man-babies. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[jdrakeh]

There is more than one RPG by the 'Dread' name. The one I was familiar with is much along the lines of Kult.

The other one is actually "Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium" -- I wouldn't compare it to Kult, though. The overuse use of profanity in an attempt to shock the reader combined with the revelation that Jesus was an alien from another world in an attempt to do the same pretty much prevented me from taking the game seriously (the system itself is okay).

This amateur writing style and the complete failure to follow-up on an otherwise intriguing premise (PCs are the dregs of soceity offered a chance at social redemption by agreeing to hunt demons) made Dread:The First Book of Pandemonium my most disappointing RPG purchase of the last six years. I was expecting a lot more, based on the hype.

Kult is the Hellraiser of horror RPGs, where Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium is much more the Phantasm III of horror RPGs. Kult succeeded because of its highly developed cosmology while Dread will likely be forever relegated to obscurity because it mistook shock value for substance.

 

[Celebrim]

The other one is actually "Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium" -- I wouldn't compare it to Kult, though. The overuse use of profanity in an attempt to shock the reader combined with the revelation that Jesus was an alien from another world in an attempt to do the same pretty much prevented me from taking the game seriously (the system itself is okay).

Heh. You sound like a level headed kinda guy. I think I like you already. Yeah, the cheap substitution of profanity and blasphemy and other cheap shock for any actual writing talent is one of my pet peeves. See for example, 'The Preacher'. Seems like everybody these days that writes anything thinks you can throw a couple f-bombs around, and heh, that's funny. Reminds me of a couple of school kids giggling over Grand Tetons and pianists.

I was expecting a lot more, based on the hype.

Unfortunately, there are alot of fan boys that try hard to live up to the sterotype. My theory is that they never quite got comfortable in thier nerdiness so they think they can somehow achieve some respect by throwing out a few four letter words and playing a game that is 'mature'. Frankly, it annoys me, but what can you do except not listen much to the hype.

Kult is the Hellraiser of horror RPGs...

I hope you aren't saying that like it is high praise. Or, if you are, I hope you can understand why it doesn't sound like high praise to everyone, and forgive me for thinking you made a good joke.

Kult succeeded because of its highly developed cosmology while Dread will likely be forever relegated to obscurity because it mistook shock value for substance.

The thing about a highly developed cosmology is that they are really easy to rip off from a real world religion - in this case gnosticism. The trouble is, though that's a really easy thing to do, it isn't necessarily the smartest thing to do. When you drag something out of the real world into your fantasy, it tends to have alot of baggage that comes along with it - like as just one example, the actual people who believe this stuff. I suppose its ok if you are one of the actual people that believe this stuff, or if you don't actually know any people that believe this stuff. But for me, well, let's just say I can't talk about religion at EnWorld.

Someone said that it wasn't easy to pin a category on Kult. I don't agree with that.

X-Files was a big hit as a TV show. It wasn't original either. It was drawn from its own well-developed cosmology built over the years by the ufo-ology people, which I can hope I can talk about. The problem I had taking the show seriously is that I actually knew some of the people that believed in little grey guys and that Egypt was founded by giant coneheaded aliens with stargates and for that matter that 'life here began out there'. And at the risk of offending people, I think they are rather silly people. So, I personally had a real problem taking the show seriously because it seemed to think that it was science fiction horror, when really it was science fiction comedy that played in my head for yucks. As you can imagine, I kinda have the same sort of problem with Delta Green. I can take it seriously, as a reflection of sommething in the real world, it which case it is just sad. Or I can take it not seriously, as a spoof of something in the real world I find ridiculous, in which case it is funny. But what I can't do is take it not seriously enough to treat it as a game, but yet seriously enough to treat it as horror.

Kult is kinda like that for me, only more so, because gnosticism is inherently less funny than ufo-ology.

 

[jdrakeh]

I hope you aren't saying that like it is high praise.

I am, though likely not in the way that you're thinking. The first Hellraiser movie had a huge following (enough of one that producers thought investing in multiple sequels was a good idea) and, for the time, was pretty innovative insofar as horror movies went. Kult is much like Hellraiser in that respect. It was far different than any other horror RPG on the market when it was released and it still has a huge fanbase.

Phantasm III is a movie with little to offer but violence that barely registered a blip on the collective radar of horror movie fans (including Phantasm fans). I suppose a better comparison may have been that Kult is like Hellraiser and Dread: TFBoP is like Hellraiser Bloodline and pretty much every Hellraiser sequel thereafter. That is, it's all show with little substance, no fanbase to speak of, and absolutely no longevity in the annals of pop culture.

As for the rest of your post, I believe forum rules prevent me from commenting.

 

[grodog]

Thanks for the review and pointer, PC: I'll be sure to check Dread out at GenCon this year.

 

[ssampier]

I enjoyed Chill. CoC is fun, but for some odd reason it doesn't feel "horror" to me; I can't describe it.