Does anyone play Kult?

[tylermalan]

Well, I guess my first question is this: I know you said you were toying with different rulesets to use, but do parts of the story (or the story as a whole) ever require that you use the default ruleset? Also, how many books for the game (or setting) are out there?

 

[klofft]

One part of the setting is tied heavily to the ruleset: the rules for Mental Balance. This determines your psychological stability, your saintliness and/or madness, and really, your divinity. I think that's probably it, though.

There were only 2 supplements that I am aware of for 2nd edition, and they are essential if you plan to have a lot of magic in your game (I don't).

There were a number of excellent 1st edition supplements that work just fine for 2nd edition. I personally recommend Legions of Darkness highly as a sort of idea/monster book.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Without getting into too many details, my cosmology re-write offends the hardcore Kult players (many of whom dwell on rpg.net and on the kult boards). Basically, God (who in my game is fundamentally a benevolent God, not a selfish detached being) has disappeared, but for good reason: the modern world's crisis of faith and belief has driven him to exile (in other words, God essentially says, "If you don't need me, then I'll go"). As a result, the world gets increasingly horrific as humankind tries to live without God (oh, I did mention I was correcting Bible tests earlier, right? My gaming group is entirely made up of religious people, so I can get away with storylines like this). This re-write provides hope for the world, as a good God is out there. He's just WAY out there!

I like your rewrite. It's at least as good as the original version.

 

[klofft]

Thank you! Considering the grief I received from the "true believers" (!) on the Kult forums when I first proposed it, a little affirmation is nice!

 

[Nightchilde-2]

I loves me some Kult. The cover with the angel being sacrificed is the best, though rules-wise, the latest American release is better even without the awesome cover.

One Kult game I ran made one of the players have nightmares.

In another Kult game, one of my players made himself as a PC, though I tried to warn him against it. I think he still has mental scars to this day.

It's a wicked, evil kind of game. Like Call of Cthulu cranked up to 11 with the lights turned off and GM'd by Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein. I wish I could get a copy of it now, but I can't apparently (not through my distributor anyway).

It's definitely not for everyone. If you have problems with any of the following, consider Kult a no-go for you: dismemberment, gore, incredible darkness, ah..coupling with animals, cannibalism, mental illness or "satanic" magic.

 

[The_Old_one]

I'm a big fan of Kult, own both 1st and 2nd edition (I never saw a need to fork out for 3rd).

I got into it during my White Wolf WoD phase in college, when I decided that the overly "gothy" angst ridden World of Darkness just wasn't what I wanted out of a horror game. Kult however, gave me exactly what I was after...Clive Barker the RPG as my flatmate calls it.

It's grim, bloody and chock full of things that are not for the sqeaumish at all. In fact, it's the only game I ever ran that managed to truly horrify our group's resident gore monkey-horror fan. Eric's grandma wouldn't like the details, but suffice to say it involved drugs, dark cults and the R word. Not nice at all, and not something I'd run now that I'm a happier, fluffier Old One, but it was 'entertaining' for all concerned back then.

My advice? Buy it if you want something that's truly horrific, but be prepared for a long slog both in reading the game and finding players who'll get into the mood.

 

[tylermalan]

Dang, this game sounds crazy.

So how much are the books? What company produces them?

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Dang, this game sounds crazy.

So how much are the books? What company produces them?

I wish I could answer that ('cause I want a copy too..both for myself and my store), but it's completely off of my radar, at least as far as my distributor goes.

So..I'll second the question of "What company produces them?"

(I know for a while it was Target Games or something like that)

 

[kigmatzomat]

IIRC, there is the Kult main book and a player's guide with some supernatural races & extra stuff for all three editions. A lot of the 1st/2nd ed stuff should work fine with 3rd ed though there may be some redundancy: two Conjurer's Guides ("Heart Mind and Soul" and "Beyond the Boundaries" that cover advanced spells), and Purgatory (covers several personal hells and the creatures that control them).

I've been tempted to set up the game as a Modern d20 game and then phase it into Kult. I think they'd believe it to be a Cthulu game, which means Metropolis should really freak them out.

The magic system is not really something that gets used in combat a lot. Most of it is ritualistic, with many spells taking hours or days to complete. I think there are a handful of "magic missle" type spells but don't expect to see Fireball or Summon Monster I. The summonings are the most powerful and dangerous stuff you can do, since failure means the angry being drags you off to a purgatory to be mindwiped.

Kult, as a concept, could easily be mixed into the WoD (newer easier than older, especially where Mages are concerned) if you want more of the "personal horror" aspect.

 

[Aeson]

It might be interesting to play a game where it's PC's have mental illnesses like drug addiction, pedophilia and schizophrenia. Their not evil per say but have a skewed view of the world due to chemical imbalances and the such.