Levi puts Kult on the butchers block.

 

Over on BlueSky Levi Kornelsen puts one of my favorite classic games and puts it on the butchers block to take it apart a little and to say what he thinks of the mechanics. I have to say I agree with him a lot on the breakdown. You can go see the post by Clicking Here or by clicking on the image above. 

A Brief History of Kult, and the controvercy debate.

A nice little video about the history of Kult from over on the other side of the pond from me. I'm in the USA, this guy is talking about Europe and such. So a few differences for what he saw versus what we saw over here when concerning releases. 

Review: Labyrinths and Secret Chambers for Kult

 

Kult: Labyrinths and Secret Chambers

This is a sourcebook and map pack for Kult: Divinity Lost from Modiphius Games.

As I don’t run or play the latest edition of Kult I was hesitant to pick this one up. However the pictures I had seen of the product really spiked my interest. There are 100 different maps in this thing. Each printed on it’s own sheet with a basic black and white line version on one side and a shaded and more detailed version (furniture and stuff like that added in) on the other side. Then a booklet on how to use the maps and ideas for what they could be used for.

First lets talk about the 100 maps. They are not bound in a book, but loose and shrink wrapped with the book. The cartography is great but they aren’t done with squares for movement or anything since Kult doesn’t use mapped out tactical combat. Done in standard paper quality and very clean each one is numbered for reference. Now I've tossed mine into page sleeves and put them in a three ring binder for easier access and use. But I found out something I wasn’t aware of.

I had bought 100 page sleeves for 100 maps. Three of the maps aren’t one page. So they have the map number followed by a letter to keep them in order. You will need an additional 5 sleeves or, as I did, simply packed the ones with multiple pages into one sleeve. Honestly I don’t see this as a negative at all since I got even more than I thought I was getting.

Variety is the word of the day here. Maps for all kinds of stuff. Apartments, buildings, subway stations, railways, streets, a submarine, all sorts of larger locations and places that really feel like something out of Metropolis (from Kult not Superman). You have got a LOT to work with and you won’t be burning through all of these anytime soon. Plus many could be used multiple times for multiple things, but more about that when I talk about the book.

Second thing is the booklet. Plenty packed into this 64 pages. Starting with a list of the maps. We get a little mini picture, four to a page, of each map and three different things that particular map could be used for. Ranging from normal and everyday to more horror themed. Plenty of inspiration just by reading these.

After that we get a few pages on how the various Death Angels and Archons can have affects on locations. While very Kult lore themed there are still an abundance of ideas here. With several pages after that just covering inspiration names, locations, objects found, etc. So they just try to hand you as much material to get your imagination going as they possibly can.

So two thumbs up, very much worth it for me. Will be using a lot of these maps in my upcoming horror games. But just the resource of maps alone is well worth the price.

You can pick this up at your FLGS and, if they are part of the Bits-and-Mortar program, you can get the pdf for free. If not you can grab a hardcopy over on Amazon easily and the pdf on DrivethruRPG.

If you like this review and want to see more like it check out my Ko-Fi page and maybe show me some support! Thanks for reading.

RPG Review - Demon Generator

 

Just a quick fast little review today. The Demon Generator from Piecewise Games over on DrivethruRPG. 

I'll be quite honest here, it's mostly just what it says on the tin. You pick the type of demon you want and then you roll on the charts for some various creative cues and pull them all together. It doesn't all magically lock into place and you have to do some creative thinking to pull it together. But what it comes up with really helps lock you into that flow. 

So like they said, no art, no filler, no bullshit. It's straight forward a list of table used for generating some details.

For only a single solitary dollar (US currency) I'd say it was worth the investment. I'll be using it to pull some odd entities for some of my modern and near modern day horror games I run on occasion. Should be fun. 

If you go through the link above and purchase this (or anything else from Drivethru on that visit) I'll get a little kick back. Which helps support me and this blog allowing me to pick up more stuff to review in the future. You can also show your support through my KoFi page as well. 

Horror Six Pack - 6 nasty things to find in a storage shed

 

Sometimes people can do the most terrible things inside of a storage shed and you wouldn't ever know about it until somebody cracked that door open. Well it's time for that to happen, what will you have your players find?

Six horrible things to find in a storage shed.

1 – Filled full of sealed 55 gallon metal drums, about a dozen or so. Each one has a ziplock baggy taped to the top of it containing a persons ID and small personal affects they may carry around with them. If the barrels are opened they will find them full of a thick black liquid and the body of the person submerged inside of them. A sign on the wall says “Shed 4 of 6”.

2 – A large wooden table in the middle with various chains and restraints attached. A small rolling tray with several knives, corkscrews, needles, and other torture devices on it. Everything is coated in a layer of old dried blood. All the restraints are sized for somebody child sized.

3 – Several shelves crammed in close together, going from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. All of them complete filled with glass jars of various sized. Each filled with some sort of preservation fluid with a human organ inside. Each one is labeled with the organ name, age and sex of the person it came from.

4 – The shed is filled with rotting, stinking, mashed fur and meat. In the middle of the room, covered in gore is a large anvil attached to an even larger wooden block. Nearby is a sledge hammer. Probably the one that, whoever owns this place, used to beat many small animals into a paste with.

5 – Filled top to bottom with freshly dug up, and busted open, caskets. From the smell many of them most likely contained the bodies of those recently deceased. However none of the bodies are to be found inside the shed.

6 – A rough built lab that was apparently used to mix various amounts of poisons, acids and many other toxic components together and mix it into chocolate. From what you can find this was apparently made into bars and packaged into children's fund raising wrappers. But there are awful lot of empty boxes the wrappers were in but it appears that many were made and already shipped out someplace.

Roll A D10 - What they want in payment

 

Sometimes the supernatural entities want strange forms of payment for their services. It's not all human sacrifice after all. So what are ten things they could want in return?

What do they take in payment?

1 – Human teeth that have been removed from a living person.

2 – A lock of hair from a virgin.

3 – Human fingers, fresh human fingers.

4 – A small vial of YOUR blood.

5 – Currency from a country that no longer exists.

6 – Dust from the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11.

7 – The spent shell casing from a bullet that took someone’s life.

8 – Personal belonging of someone who was executed by the government.

9 – A vial of blood from somebody who has a net worth over 25 million dollars.

10 – A jar of liquefied human brain.

Roll a D10 - What does the monster feed on

 

Sometimes it's good to change up things. Like what a monster feeds on. Well here's a list of ten ideas for you to roll on. 

What does it feed on?

1 – Human Spinal Fluid, the younger the better.

2 – Dissolving flesh and absorbing that through its touch.

3 – Psychic feeding off of human emotions, pain being what nourishes it the most.

4 – Devouring the flesh of humans.

5 – Good old fashioned, and very cliché, blood.

6 – Brains of mammals, the smarter the more nourishing.

7 – Bone marrow.

8 – Rotting and decayed meat.

9 – Heat, the hotter it gets the faster and tougher it gets.

10 – Electricity, and lots of it.

Horror Six Pack - Gore Soaked Spells

Time to pop open a Horror Gaming six pack!

Every now and then you just want to make your players cringe. Especially when it's something bad happening their characters or to the people their characters care about. Here are some really nasty spells to give the bad guys to help this happen.

Gore soaked spells

1 – Pop. Creates a small sphere of super heated liquid to generate inside of a targets skull. Immediately liquefying the brain and causing their skull to blow apart from the pressure. Those nearby are usually struck by chunks of the scalding brain and bone matter.

2 – Back Pain. Seizes the vertebrae in a targets back and spins each one in place the opposite direction of the one next to it. Immediate agony and pain as the spinal cord is shredded and their back is turned into what looks like a meat grinder running at high speed spraying blood several feet out.

3 – Skin Tight. Causes the targets skin to tighten up and shrink up. Causing severe pressure to build up and excruciating pain. Within a minute the skin begins to tear itself apart splattering anyone nearby with blood as it does so.

4 – Blood Transfusion. Transfers the blood inside one target into the body of another. Extremely painful for both but the one receiving the extra plasma begins to swell and starts to spray blood out of any wounds and body cavities as their body over fills.

5 – Words Can Kill. Whenever the target speaks their words are carved into their skin across their body. The bleed excessively and will not clot normally unless the wounds are bandaged tightly. The more they speak, or even scream, the more words that are carved into them.

6 – Joint Aches. Every joint on the target instantly bend completely in the wrong direction. Usually causing many to split open, snap and tear cartilage and tendons completely.

Roll a D10 - How are they getting rid of the bodies?

 

Sometimes the psycho's causing trouble in your horror games need a way to get rid of the bodies. Especially if they are starting to stack up some numbers. Here are ten non-supernatural ways that a killer or group of killers can get rid of their victims bodies. 

How are they getting rid of the bodies?

1 – Into an old ventilation shaft that leads down to long abandoned mines.

2 – Strapping them to cinder blocks and dropping them into an old water filled quarry.

3 – Sealing them in old concrete septic tanks in a section of the city where nobody lives anymore.

4 – Putting them through a wood chipper and spraying them into a local river.

5 – Crushing them inside of old cars in an a junkyard.

6 – Putting them in large suitcases and tossing them into garbage dumpster to be hauled to a landfill.

7 – Sealing them in 55 gallon metal barrels and storing them in a storage unit that’s been paid ahead for years.

8 – Dismembering the bodies and tossing them into the pens at a pig farm.

9 – Placing them in the grave that has been dug and prepared for a funeral. So the casket is dropped down over them.

10 – Tossing the dismembered pieces into a funeral home crematorium with the body of someone being cremated.

Roll a D10 - The Creatures Weakness

 

Something specific can hurt and possibly kill the creature. What is it?

 Weaknesses of the creature.

1 – Bleach, antiseptic and most harsh cleaning chemicals cause severe burns.

2 – High pitched whistling causes severe pain and is deafening to the creature.

3 – UV light sets the creatures skin on fire instantly and can reduce it to ashes withing a minute or two of intense agony.

4 – High pressure air, causes the creatures skin to blow off in large painful chunks.

5 – Radiation from a microwave, pushes the creature into fits of raging pain just being near one while it’s running.

6 – Good old fashioned fire, the biblical cleanser.

7 – Sunlight, how cliché.

8 – A book made of human flesh that it’s bound to. Destroy the book, destroy the creature.

9 – Knowing the creatures name, one you have that you can control it.

10 – Seeing it’s reflection in a highly polished large mirror will destroy it. Smaller mirrors will cause it pain.

what were they thinking when they created HELLRAISER?? * FIRST TIME WATC...

Shadow Service Volume One - Review

 

Shadow Service Volume One. 

Available on DrivethruComics. 

Available on Amazon.

Or check your local comic shop. 

When you need a private investigator who is better than what they should be then apparently you should be calling Gina Meyers. A young witch who has a natural born ability to do her magic and is used to the dirtier side of the job. But she thought she was mostly alone in the world, now she finds out just how wrong that is.

This trade collects the first five issues of the series and is a great way to dive into the story. Meeting one of Gina's shadier employers known as Gideon Quill and one of her few friends the talking rat known as Edwin. Things are going normal until she runs into the supernatural organization known as Section 26 officially but as MI666 on the street.

Meeting others with high end dark powers that reveal to her a much larger darker secret demonic underground residing in London. She has to chose sides and alliances as more information comes to light about Gideon and the MI666 itself. One thing is for sure, she's in way more over her head than she's ever been before.

The art style of Corin Howell matches up perfectly for the task at hand. Sleek and clean without to much attention to detail to things that aren't important. But just the right amount for what you need to see. There are no wasted lines or overworked panels. With Triona Farrell doing the colors behind him it all clicks together very nicely. Very easy on the eyes and adding that perfect amount of depth to the art.

All the cover designs for the individual issues are at the end of the book. Every one of them an amazing work in themselves. Mixing some great horror design elements and lots of creepy vibes.

As for the writing Cavan Scott takes us on the journey at a brisk pace. Mixing in the current present day story line with flashbacks to backgrounds of the various characters involved. They keep it moving and there are no pages where you're just hoping for something to happen as information is just poured forth in a dull formula.

I can't wait to read the second volume to see where the story goes. So I'm giving this one five stars. A very pleasant surprise and enjoyable read.

For the gamer types (like me) this story also oozes with plenty of ideas to steal for games like UnknownArmies, Kult, Call of Cthulhu and pretty much any modern day horror game. Also being a comic it does give you the necessary visuals to show your players what they are up against.

Jaded Gamer - Rest in Peace Terry Amthor

 

It was announced by Iron Crown Enterprises that Terry Amthor had passed away. Now first off we are not related to each other. But our names are very much connected. First let's go with the kind words that were put up on the ICE website about Terry. After that I get to tell a story about my contact with him many years ago. 

--------

"The cause and circumstances of his death are still under investigation, so we cannot provide any details on this and will defer to his family on what they choose to disclose in due course.

Terry was a founding member of the original ICE and a co-creator of Rolemaster and Spacemaster, writing and contributing to many of its most iconic products, and to some of the most exceptional 1st edition Middle-earth modules. Most of all, he has shaped our imaginations with his masterful Shadow World epic fantasy setting. He continued to develop Kulthea through his own Eidolon Studio company, before joining forces with Guild Companion Publications to create new sourcebooks and adventures bringing ever more of Shadow World to life, and working as our layout guru for most of our other products.

Author, designer, world builder, and friend, Terry’s genius has enriched our lives for decades. His creations will continue to inspire us all for years to come."

 --------

I would also like to add that he was responsible for the founding of Metropolis Ltd which brought the controversial game Kult to English speaking audiences. Which he told me in our brief email exchanges (I'll get to that in a bit) that he was really wanting to do but ICE didn't want to touch the property. Kult ended up being my gaming obsession for many, many years. More than any other game out there if I were to count actual hours I've put into it. I became heavily involved in the fan forums and listservs online, really falling into the community.

This is when Terry emailed me. You see he was wondering about my the name I used. Peter Amthor. Thinking Amthor isn't a common name and we may be related somehow. Which I got to tell him the story I am about to repeat here. I got my name from him, just in a different way than most do. 

Back in the early ninties I was also a Rolemaster and Spacemaster fan. The critical hit charts being one of my favorite things at the time. So I had bought up a lot of books and supplements for both games. Usually carrying around whichever books I was reading when I would go gaming. So one night we sat down and made characters for a friend homebrew horror game and I couldn't think of a name at all. Reaching into my backpack I pulled out the Spacemaster 2nd edition core rulebook and flipped it open to the credits for inspiration. And there it was. 

Right at the end of each line. So I threw that name down as my characters name and off we went. That character is still alive and ready to be pulled out and dusted off. He's completely off his rocker, very dangerous and holds Chicago from falling into hell using his soul... but that's another story. Anyways from game one I was having a blast with this character. 

Also about that same time I was getting online more and more beyond local BBS set ups. Trying to have an identity online of some sort other than my real name because it's boring as hell and because I was an early adopter of "Give the data scrapers nothing to work with" idea of thought. But I also didn't want any sort of cheap handle like 'ChromeDude007'. So I looked at my gaming bag and thought of the character I have enjoyed playing the most lately... and that was Peter Amthor. So I started using that. 

Fast forward a few years. More people know me by that name than my actual name. Which is fine, not a fan of my actual name. I'm hip deep in the Kult community, making up all sorts of my own stuff for it and sharing it with others. That's when I get the email. 

Terry Amthor emails me asking about my name as I said above. That's when I told him the story of where it came from. I was worried he was going to ask me not to use it or get angry thinking I was simply trying to raise myself up on his name. Because if he said stop, I would have done so in an instant, I respected the man that much.

He took it as a compliment. Apparently he got a kick out of the idea and gave me his blessing in continuing on with it. Only thing he asked was for me to tell others we weren't related if I was asked about it. Which I have always done. We exchanged a few more emails, mainly me asking details about Kult and his hand in the game. After a bit we just stopped. Sadly those emails were lost when go dot com decided to restructure everything and they dumped their email service. 

So that's my story of Terry Amthor. An awesome creator, writer and just a great person over all. If there is an 'other side' I'm sure he's in good company and living his best afterlife. 

Six Pack: Dirty Magic Items 2

 

Several years ago (2014 to be exact) I put out a 'six pack' of magic items that were of an adult nature. So I've decided to dig through some various scraps and notes from either games I've ran or ideas I jotted down to present another set of six.

So if you liked this and want to see more please share it around and let me know (like in the comments section). If you really liked it you can always buy me a Ko-Fi over on the right side of this blog or look at other options in the 'Support this Blog' tab at the top. 

Please be warned, these are of an adult nature. 

Six Pack: Dirty Magic Items 2

Collars of Devotion

A set of five black leather collars and a silver ring. Whoever wears the ring (the controller) can concentrate and feel wherever anyone who is wearing one of the collars (the thralls) is and what they are doing. If a thrall is having sexual intercourse with another person the controller can pull magic points from their partner and into the collar to collect for themselves at a later date. Whenever the controller touches a thrall they can drain the points into the ring which doubles as a magic soak. If the controller has intercourse with one of the thralls then when that person reaches climax the controller can pull all the magical energy from them into the ring. However doing this will leave the thrall unconscious for the next 8 hours. The thralls also feels the urge to obey anything the controller commands, and fall into a state of euphoric bliss when they are in their presence.

Rear Vision

This is a normal looking large metal buttplug with an end that is jeweled to look like an eye. Despite the appearance it does not trip metal detectors or show up on full body scans. When a person puts the plug into another persons anus they can utter a command phrase. Afterwards anything the plugged person sees or hears will be heard by the person placing it there if they are in a quiet room and concentrate. A person 'wearing' the plug cannot remove it of their own accord. If the plug is removed for any reason the connection is lost.

Boots of Dominus Maximus

This is a pair of thigh high black leather 'stripper' boots fitted for a person of feminine form. Anyone who comes into view of the wearer is dumbstruck in is filled with a sense of awe. The wearer has increases to their intimidation, seduction and interrogation type skills. The longer a person stays around the wearer the more under their influence they come and susceptible to the demands that are given to them.

Anklet of Attentions

A silver anklet with a charm that appears to be a broken heart mended back together with a line of gold. The person intending to wear this will hold it in their hands and whisper their desired traits in a sexual partner. This includes, gender, sexuality, kinks, appearance, anything they are looking for. Then they put the anklet on and go out and about their business. Anyone matching those traits will feel drawn to the person wearing the anklet and have a desire to talk to them.

Mirrorshades of Perverse Reflection

What appears to be a pair of simple round mirror lensed sunglasses. However inspection shows several almost microscopic runes written on the inside of the lenses. Whenever the wearer looks directly at a target and utters the activation phrase “your darkest” the traget then sees the wearer as their most idea sexual partner for their deepest repressed perversions and kinks. This isn't limited to sound either they also hear the wearer in the same way.

The Wolf Suit

A full black leather gimp suit with a dog mask, buttplug tail and paw gloves and boots. Once someone is completely strapped into this the person (the owner) who helped then get into it gives an activation phrase “beast released”. When that happens the person and the suit are transformed into a very large black wolf. The new wolf now has lower than human mental capacity but is completely loyal to the owner and their commands. A phrase “beast dismissed” will turn them and the suit back to normal. Also if they are killed they will return to their original form as well.

RPGaDAY 5 6 and 7

Okay time for day five and six I guess.

Day 5: Tribute.

Well that certainly sparks a memory of gaming. I ran a game of Kult once where the players were all a special FBI unit trying to track down cultists. This particular cult liked to make sacrifices and leave the bodies as tributes to their god. As the game proceeded the tributes got more and more intense and detailed as well as using humans for their sacrifices instead of just animals. Ornate designs written in the blood of the victim. The body sometimes nailed to a wall, other times impaled on a spike and hoisted several feet into the air, once even dissected and laid out like a text book example of the human anatomy. 

Eventually their forgotten god showed up and the cultists were at the toothy end of his giant maw as it had went insane during it's years of isolation. Gunfire ensued when the PC's saw what was happening. Finally somebody lit the warehouse it was in on fire and the thing was pulled back into it's own little hell along with the remaining cultists who were still at the scene. 

Day 6: Forest. 

Not spurning to much thought here. Except for the time we decided to go out in the woods to play. Thinking it would be cool and different. It was miserable, wind would blow through and sheets would fly, dice rolling off into the grass and took forever to find, bugs crawling up your pants leg. Yeah I'll leave the forest for the druids to enjoy.   

Day 7: Couple 

For some reason I flash on the 'Super Diablerie Brothers' who we used to joke about being a couple. They weren't, but they were a pair of friends who would found that the only fun thing to do in a Larp was to make everyone else miserable for no reason at all. Outside of the game nobody gamed with them or really knew them at all. Any attempts to get them into other activities failed. 

Their main Larp to play in was the Vampire games by Minds Eye Theater. In which, no matter what, they would band together and try to daiblerize as many other PC's as they could. Which would cause a bloodhunt to be called and then they were hunted down and extinguished. All the while complaining that they were being treated badly because we didn't play the game like they wanted to. Yeah. 

Nobody wanted anything to do with them in very short order. Their characters would show up and players would kill them immediately because they had been through this so many times they were sick of it. One of them took 'Guardian Angel' as a trait or whatever it's called (it's been so long ago) and the other GM had an NPC drug lord pull a rocket launcher out of their trunk to shot at them. The guy goes "What does my Guardian Angel say?" without a beat the GM goes "Oh shit it's a rocket launcher!". Hilarity followed and another Diablerie Brother character was dead. The last game they played their characters were hunter types, female Swedish vampire hunters to be exact, when they were immediately referred to as Busty the Vampire Slayer they walked off and left. 

Yeah I never missed those guys not being around any more. We tried to talk to them, tried to tell them to get involved in the story instead of just killing everyone, they refused to do anything else. Sometimes players can be the problem and you just have to let them go. 

Kult - The puzzle boxes

Wow this is an oddity. Something I wrote for Kult but never put up on any of my sites or blogs that I can remember. Basically this was a write up for putting the puzzle boxes from Hellraiser, or something very similar, into the game. According to the date last saved stamp I finished writing this in 2005. I even found an old logo for Kult that I used on my old website 'Parchment of Flesh' as well and put it up above.

The Puzzle Box

Appearance:

The box itself is about six inches square and weighs about five pounds. Layered on the outside in a very ornate design are silver runes, symbols and various moving pieces. Underneath the silver there is a base material of red that is so dark it is almost black, this can be seen through various spaces in the details.

All of the design work can be moved around in a fashion somewhat resembling a slide puzzle. Moving one piece allows one or two more to be moved in its place, while some others make be pressed in causing various other reactions. But it always stays in the same shape of a square box.

Sounds:

Each move makes an audible click. Every now and then a small whir can be heard from the inside, usually once a part is depressed. A small whistle, breathing noises and a heartbeat are heard as well. Also it may emit a quite old-fashioned music box melody that lasts only for a few seconds.

What it does:

Through the arrangement of the design work and the sounds that come from within, this box teaches you subconsciously. It slowly puts all that is needed to use the Lore of Death into your head. Also, while you are in possession of the box, your character acts as thought they have the Magical Intuition advantage.

But in the end there is a price to pay. Once the box teaches you everything it can and you still continue to try and solve more sections of the puzzle it will reveal a final prize. The user is pulled into Inferno and placed into their personal Purgatory, the box will be left in our reality for someone else to find.

Game Stats:

There are twelve steps in the box before you are gated to Inferno. Each time you solve one you add a point to your Lore Rating in the Lore of Death. Solving each step takes time; roughly you must spend a number of hours straight in working on the box equal to the step you are trying to solve. Once you have worked that time an EGO check is made, if successful add a point.

Notes:

There are more than one of these puzzle boxes in existence. Many cults know of them and are actively searching. From time to time they turn up mysteriously in small antiquity shops, museum warehouses or the occasional crime scene. How they got there is never determined, as they seem to ‘find’ their owners.

Kult: Rectal Dumpings has arrived in pdf

Well the pdf of Kult: Rectal Dumpings finally made it's way to DrivethruRPG.  With one of the most overhyped and utterly unfun systems inside of it now (that would be the Apocalypse World system). It took long enough after a Kickstarter whose goal was to rake the fans for as much money as possible.

But it's here in all it's overprice pdf glory.  Seems like they should have made their production money on the overpriced Kickstarter to cover all costs.  But evidently charging 30+ bucks for the pdf is a good idea and there are suckers born every minute for it.

If you have no problems paying that just click on the link below to purchase it and I'll get a few pennies of it to throw at my ever growing electric bill.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/259252/Kult-Divinity-Lost--4th-Edition-of-Kult-Core-Rules?affiliate_id=35459

Also don't forget the other equally over priced accessories to go along with it.

Horror Gaming - It's an aid not a crutch.

It has become a challenge among game designers to create the feeling of horror, stress, fear, etc in their games with actual mechanics. Which I do see a really good thing that leads to some wonderful creative systems. The Madness Meter from Unknown Armies is one of the first things that pops into my mind right next to the Mental Balance from Kult and lets not forget Sanity from Call of Cthulhu. They help players and the GM visualize just where they are along that downward slide from whatever horrible things are happening around them (or to them in some cases). However they do have one drawback from what I've experienced.

To often they can be used as the only indicator that it is a horror game.

Running a horror game the same way as you would any other dungeon crawl except that every now and then the player may loose a D6 of Sanity doesn't work out all to well. Your players just end up playing whack a mole with two forms of Hit Points instead of one. Even if there is a high mortality rate among the PC's that doesn't create a sense of horror except for having to take the time to roll up another character.

The mechanics are in there mainly to help the GM set the mood, they are essentially a GM aid of sorts. Use them as such right beside the rest of the bag of tricks that help make a game an actual horror game. You know like getting exquisitely descriptive about things that should send a chill down a persons spine. Covering all five of the senses, hell go and look up what something smells like so you can describe it better in the game. Go for that six sense even, that feeling of dread or tell them of a nagging thought in the back of the characters head. There are tons of tricks for horror games. Just don't get lazy and let a built in mechanic be the only one.

Kult There Will Be Blood session two

This weeks session recap.

Only one player couldn't make it due to illness which is something I can handle.  Although it took a bit of the potential fighting ability from the group should danger arise (which it did) his character not being there wasn't a game killer.  Plus it was easy to explain him away, simply said the character had fallen ill as well.

It picked up a couple days after the last game and they were still trying to piece together what had happened.  Lucy, who had tried the new drug last session, had found herself desperately wanting more and no other drug would give her that fix she now needed.  They all began investigations using what sources they had and using a hacker their boss had tipped them off to.

Discoveries:

The body of Jones had turned up.  After their hacker friend got some information from the police computers they find out his body was in the large hookah they saw the last session.

The hookah itself was a strange mess of tubes, liquids and a small cooker in the bottom.  With some strange arcane symbols etched around the inside of it.  Andrew thought the symbols looked familiar but isn't sure.

Former users in the area are buying up more drugs now trying to get the fix they were once getting.  They are also buying from other sources than Hume since it was his people that got the place raided by the police.  Thus the source of their loss.

Drugs sales in another part of town are dropping rapidly in a run section on C Street.

The gut puking bad guys body was discovered.  Nine miles from where the players thought they killed him.  His body having been cut open, guts laid out and another symbol in blood drawn around him.  All in the playground of a shut down elementary school.  Also the police identified him as a well off lawyer that had gone missing eight months ago. 

No new info on Philanthropist Inc.

Then on with doing some footwork and heading down to C Street:

After talking with some locals and spotting a guard who was at the last hookah location they discover another one in an abandoned building.  They guys at the door would only let Jeff, Tammy and Lucy in but turned away Andrew and Shelly without really giving a reason (they then went on to find other ways in). 

Lucy immediately took a hit much to the dismay of Jeff who thought it was a bad idea.  Tammy, being a drug chemist herself, decided to take a hit also to see if she could figure it out just form the effects.  From that she determined that there is something really wrong here and she has no idea how to replicate this form of high, especially the hallucinations experienced which were like seeing bits of another persons memories. 

After a bit of work and messing around Jeff finally finds a way to get the top of the hookah and opens the top revealing a deep blue colored liquid, rather thick and slimy.  Then discovered the body of another person inside of it with some tubes stuck in him matching the injuries they saw on Jones autopsy photo.  Jeff gets a sample of the goop and they start to head out.  But not before one of the other users tells Tammy that the boss still expects payment for the meeting last time and they have three days to decide which of them will die.

Then back at Hume's bar they examine everything they have discovered.  Tammy does a field test on the blue liquid and comes to the conclusion that, whatever it is, should be causing the effects they were getting at all.  As they discuss this Lucy starts to come out of her high and spots a glowing crack in the air before her when she reaches out she accidently pulls her, and the group, through the illusion into a side reality of the bar much like they saw after their fight with the gut puker last time.

Grabbing up some paperwork on the tables that looked important to what they were doing the group decides to try and find their way out of the building.  Only to be attacked outside by a large creature of flesh, steel and glass with a snap jawed head somewhat like a crocodile.  In the ensuing battle Jeff is fatally wounded as the thing runs it's fingers through his chest and Lucy suffers under its jaws and is flung off to the side.  Andrew hotwires a car in the parking lot and runs the thing over and they pull their injured friends back inside.  Suddenly, just as quickly as it happened, they find themselves back in their regular reality.

Lucy and Jeff are hauled off to the hospital and Hume tells the others to get out of there before the police grab them up as well.  Andrew wakes up in the ER, hooked to life support, unable to move only regaining consciousness for a moment before passing back out. 

Thus ended that nights session.


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For those who enjoy this blog, the various articles and session recaps and wish to show some support.  The DrivethruRPG and RPGNow links over on the right are tagged with my affiliate code.  Simply click through to their site and buy whatever you normally buy from them and I'll get a few pennies as a kickback.  Or if you don't like Onebookshelf you can paypal me directly at 'peteramthor -at- trulyrural dot com' as well.  Currently this is how I am purchasing new gaming material.  Hopefully I'll be able to get some stuff and start doing short reviews once again in the future.

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Kult: Trimming the fat part one.

Skinning the fat from the rules of Kult.

The very basic system for the Kult rpg isn't actually to bad. It's pretty simple, roll a D20 and get under your skill. Damage uses a wounds system. You have some added flavor like Advantages, Disadvantages, mental balance and, of course, your dark secret. However a lot of that the simple ideas are buried under some mid to late 80's game design. So I started cutting down on what is there and I'll go over it bit by bit one blog post at a time.

First off I'm giving the skill section an overhaul. Games from this time period loved their skill lists and man does it show with the pages and pages of them. Don't get me wrong I used to love them as well and would go through all my games and compile a master skill list for everything.... yeah but I got over that. Vampire: TM was the game that sort of opened my eyes to the 'simpler is better' approach. Their base list of thirty skills covered a lot of what was ever necessary in most games. Not to mention tossing what other games had several skills for under one title. Like just having 'firearms' instead of pistol, long gun, shotgun, etc.

So going with the simpler is better approach works best in this area. Athletics can cover swimming, climbing, etc; anything sports of physical activity related is good to throw into there. Firearms replacing all the different gun types. Brawling and Martial Arts replace all the special maneuvers and strange attacks (more on how I work them specifically will be in a future article).

Now I know combining them like this isn't realistic. But I toss realistic out the window when it comes to making something smoother, faster and easier to use.

Then I also remove another part of old style game design. I remove the skills based on attributes or special stats idea altogether. No more CHA based, or MOVE based, etc. They stand alone from your attributes in every way. How this changes attributes I'll have to go over later.

In the end I have a half made list that is strangely like that of the old World of Darkness games. Plus being open to player suggestions or specialization. If it's not on the list they can ask if they can buy it and then I say yes or tell them which existing skill it falls under or suggest a better broader skill to buy. Example: Say a player wants Acupuncture as a skill, I could either let them buy it or suggest that they buy Eastern Medicine as it will give them Acupuncture along with some other handy stuff.

I'm not posting up a skill list yet as I'm still revising and tossing ideas around. Currently playtesting with pregenerated characters and getting feedback. But when I'm all done I will make a final suggested list.

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For those who enjoy this blog, the various articles and session recaps and wish to show some support.  The DrivethruRPG and RPGNow links over on the right are tagged with my affiliate code.  Simply click through to their site and buy whatever you normally buy from them and I'll get a few pennies as a kickback.  Or if you don't like Onebookshelf you can paypal me directly at peteramthor@trulyrural.com as well.  Currently this is how I am purchasing new gaming material.  Hopefully I'll be able to get some stuff and start doing short reviews once again in the future.

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