Cthulthu Tech...

[Treebore]

My son wants me to co Gm this with him since he is 15 and still pretty new to GMing. Any advice on this system?

 

[Crothian]

I think the game tries to do too much. It has elements of investigation, giant robot combat, and alien invasion. The one shots I've played seemed to all try to focus on one aspect of the game and that seemed to work well.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

Umm.

Well, I’d start by letting him read some Lovercraft, and maybe some Wlater Gibson. (Never too early to introduce them to the classics, and theu’re good jumping-off points to the game!!)

Reagarding the system…

Well, (as written) Cthulhutech offers a pretty graphically violent/depraved universe.
It’s not at all “Civilized” like standard Cthulhu, and some of the scenario seeds in the later books (IIRC), are pretty “torture-porny”.

Also, it’s definitely a “Kitchen Sink” type of setting; you can’t POSSIBLY include everything they refernce in the books into a campaign. There’s war on MULTIPLE fronts, mixed with intense Xenophobia (from without and within) and corruption, intriguie and backdoor dealings EVERYWHERE.

Overall, I also don’t think the rules necessarily work as cohesively as they should, but I guess that’s to be expected when you fuse 2 genres that are somewhat antithetical to each other.

So, I would start by discussing with the GM the themes he wants to focus on and go from there. What does he (and the players) like? And let that guide your campaign setup descriptions. Is he into the “Mecha” side of things? Then I would make that the central plot. Have it be combat-heavy and have the PC’s all be Engel-pilots (or possibly Tagers).

If he’s into the more Cthulhu-esque side of things, they could generate a group of “Occult-Investigator” type of characters.

Be sure to give us updates/session reports. I’m curious to see how “Actual Play” turns out. (I’ve been involved in some one-shots, but not a campaign.)

 

[Asmor]

Don't get caught up in the title. It's got Lovecraftian window dressing, but it's really an anime-inspired action RPG. In fact, it's basically a Guyver/Neon Genesis Avengelion/Macross RPG, and any Lovecraft found in it is because of the Lovecraftian influences of those anime series.

 

[Treebore]

Yeah, we have been discussing what group/faction to play, and even what "issues" we want to fight against primarily (against slavery, ultimate destruction, etc...) even though they all interlink to some degree.

We are both new to the dice system, and only my son has any play experience with it, he played a one shot scenario at Neon Con with one of the writers.

So are any of the rules problems, if any, known? Any fixes offered up? Their official forum looked pretty dead when I checked. So not sure if I want to join so I can search their discussions.

It seems like its core should work pretty good, so I am not anticipating rules problems until hopefully outside of combat.

We are curious about how powerful everything seems to be right from the start, but I think that is also to be expected in a setting with these premises upon which it is built.

I was also wanting to find out if anyone thought their crit fumble rule was OK or possibly too severe? I know losing two complete actions in other RPG's would be pretty painful.

I was also looking for thoughts on how their damage system works, in particular how fast you can get damaged and how fast the penalties look to build up. With how armor works I think that will hopefully be significantly less severe.

 

[Treebore]

Don't get caught up in the title. It's got Lovecraftian window dressing, but it's really an anime-inspired action RPG. In fact, it's basically a Guyver/Neon Genesis Avengelion/Macross RPG, and any Lovecraft found in it is because of the Lovecraftian influences of those anime series.

I'll have to look into that. I have been focusing more on the rules I will need to help my son with rather than all the setting background, but my son has been talking to me about a lot of Lovecraft gods and such that made it appear to me that the Lovecraftian mythos is very much a part of this RPG. I definitely see the Anime influences as well, and am particularly pleased with the Neon Genesis Evangelion influences, but I am pretty sure at this point that Lovecraft himself is heavily interwoven into this.

 

[Treebore]

Their forums weren't as dead as I feared. I even found out there were additional content in issues of Signs and Portents! Scenarios in issues 55 and 57, spells in 56, and weapons material in issue 58. Plus I already have them all DLed due to Traveller content. Or Babylon 5/Traveller content.

 

[Treebore]

Don't get caught up in the title. It's got Lovecraftian window dressing, but it's really an anime-inspired action RPG. In fact, it's basically a Guyver/Neon Genesis Avengelion/Macross RPG, and any Lovecraft found in it is because of the Lovecraftian influences of those anime series.

Having read more, a lot more, I have to disagree with your assessment. The Lovecraft Cthulthu mythos is completely tied into this. IT definitely also has anime inspirations, but it has strong and true Cthulthu Mytho's interwoven very strongly into what is going on in this RPG.

Most importantly to me, I have become convinced we will have a lot of fun, and the word "cool" will be used a lot.

 

[Treebore]

We decided to start off with Engel versus Dagon forces in some under sea combat action, so last night we created everyones Engel Pilots. Hopefully some time today we will get everyone's Engels worked out.

One thing that stood out to me is that 35 points doesn't build Pilots that live up to their rep. I think 42 points would do that better. Then again, there is a skill system, so maybe that matters more than raw attributes.

 

[Treebore]

We ran our first test encounter. It went slow because we like to make sure we get things as correct as possible the first time, but I think it is safe to say we are fans. It seems like its a very cool game.