Colonial Gothic first thoughts

So recently I've started playing in a game of Colonial Gothic at a local game shop.  The GM is running first edition of the game because that's what he has.  So my thoughts on the system and whatnot may be about things that are fixed in later editions.  Also this is the first time the GM has ever ran it using the system the game shipped with, he's ran the setting before using his own homebrew a while back.  This makes it a case of learning the mechanics with the players.

Anyways, my thoughts on it so far.

Setting wise I love it.  Colonial America with a very nice horror bent to the whole thing.  Cultists, old school vampires, demons, so much goodness.  For anyone that likes a little history with their gaming this should scratch that itch rather nicely. 

Character generation was a bit odd.  The book seemed to need an editor something fierce as there were references back to stats that weren't there or likely renamed at some point.  So we had some "I guess they mean this as its most like that." going on.  Skill purchasing was a little clunky and could have been easily streamlines a bit with less work involved.  However I do like that you end up with a small batch of usually broad skills. 

The Fate cards will prove interesting... or not, once we get into play a bit more.  I like the idea behind them and how they can help steer the game story wise.  Same goes for the Faith points and their ability to edit scenes for the players benefit.  Both could really make the game a lot more fun if utilized correctly and not forgotten about.

Now combat proved to be entertaining.  Especially where the amount you succeed by directly influences the amount of damage you do.  So we had some fights with many misses and tiny hits that suddenly jumped out with a few huge swathes of damage that surprised everyone.  It really helped give it that cinematic feel that I think they were going for. 

Now skills work under the same rough system as the combat.  So you end up with many failures especially with new characters it seems.  But I've seen far worse examples of this from other more popular games. 

So this is my opinion and thoughts so far.  I'll be posting up more about it every two weeks as we get more experience with the game. 

Get Colonial Gothic at DrivethruRPG here.
Get Colonial Gothic at RPGNow here.

Also be sure to check out my other posts on my blog.  Some snark, some randomness, some useful stuff from time to time.