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[Educate yourself] Kult RPG
elkatas
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Introduction
Long time ago, human was godlike. This changed when unknown entity called Demiurge imprisoned humanity inside Illusion. Nobody knows who or what Demiurge was, or why he wanted to imprison humanity. Some legends told that he had created the universe, or at least part of it. Some legends said that humanity had broken laws that Demiurge had set. Some people whisper he was just a human who didn't want any competitors. No matter what the truth was, Illusion took humanity's godhood away and imprisoned it this reality.
During 17th century Demiurge's grip on our prison started to slip. Humans started to doubt myths and believes that Demiurge had so carefully implanted, and finally discarded them as false. As a desperate attempt keep the humanity blind, Demiurge tried to introduce science as alternative for his own myths, but this didn't help. Soon after this something unexcepted happened, and Demiurge vanished.
The Illusion started to crumble quickly, and Astroth, master of the Inferno awoke. He noticed that his brother had disappeared and he decided to go to seek him, because without Demiurge, Astaroth himself wouldn't have any kind of meaning. This pushed whole reality into crisis, as angels, demons and licktors noticed that they were without master. Some humans were able to find their way through the Illusion and reclaim their godhood. Unfortunately, weakened Illusion also meant that those who where outside it could finally see inside it...
From this premise starts Kult, swedish RPG industry's most famous RPG, which was originally released by Target Games in 1991. It is little hard to explain what Kult is about, but it is psychological horror RPG that is a mix between Matrix movies, Clive Barker's horror books and Twilight Zone television series.
Rules
Unlike in many other horror RPGs, Kult's heroes aren't pencil necked accountants or dusted fossils. Instead they are hard boiled detectives, sly drug dealers, shady government agents, jaded mercenaries and other mans (and womans) of action. To create characters, Kult uses pretty normal, and straight-forward point based character creation with one really good twist. Each benefit and drawback that player chooses for his character also adjusts character's mental balance. If you buy too many drawbacks without using anything to counterbalance drawbacks, character is mentally unstable right from the start, and player must choose dark secret to explain reason for his characters mental condition.
Mechanically Kult is relatively simple. Player throws single D20, and substracts thrown result from his characters skill / attribute. The difference between throw and skill / attribute tells how well action succeeded. If dice's result is only tenth of characters skill, action succeeds perfectly, when throwing natural 20 means always total catastrophe. Kult's combat mechanics are extremely unloving, and bodies aren't uncommon sight. Unfortunately, Kult had always certain kind of identity crisis, and as a result of this, combat mechanics are relatively clunky and arcane if compared to other modern horror RPGs.
Setting
Kult's rulebook has been split so that players won't know anything about game's world or underlying logic. For GM, reality beyond the Illusion and means to get there are described loosely, but so that they awaken his own imagination. One good example is Metropolis, the first city where humanity originated from. Metropolis is connected to each world's city, and you can simply walk to it in places where the Illusion is weak enough. Or what about The Labyrinth, logic defying labyrinth filled with monsters that connects all world's tunnels together. In addition of describing reality, GM's section also describes Archons and Angel of Deaths, and their current aims in the world. Kult's setting is extremely abstract, and surrealist, but it is also so well described and logical, that it makes sense in some insane way.
When I post this thread, Kult's future is uncertain. Game's rights are currently owned by french RPG company called 7th Circle, which has released two english rulebooks for the game; Rumours: Players Guide and Kult: Beyond the Veil. First of these books is meant for players and it only contains rules for the game, and no setting whatsoever. Beyond the Veil is GM's book and it contains all rules and setting info. Both books are based on Kult's second edition, and are compatible with older sourcebooks. Although 7th Circle has promised to keep Beyond the Veil on the print, it has no plans to re-print older sourcebooks again.
Hypnotically inclined.
elkatas on
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For some reason this doesn't strike me as particularly beginner-oriented. Yeah, mechanically it sounds simple (though I have been an advocate of addition rather than subtraction since the dark days of T.H.A.C.0) but the setting sounds confusing and difficult to roleplay.
Yeah, title is little incorrect, as I meant this article as education on less popular RPGs.
Our first big campaing was... I don't really know how to describe it but the basic premise was that the players were searching for a painting by Da Vinci so a bit of the Da Vinci code with cults and secret fellowships and the catholic church added in. And then you add in some Kill Bill (as in the Deadly Viper Assasination Squad being on their tails), a touch of Long Kiss Godnigth, liberal detour of Blood Diamond and of course huge doses of horror movie. And some conspiring dark deities.
The best part was that not only did the players characters get more insane and jaded as the adventure went along the players themselves really got into it. It ended up with everyone turning on everyone in the final standoff.
I still think the highligth moment (as in it really starts going downhill) is when one player who has been kidnapped by the other players decides to make a run for it in a cafe in Venice.
The other guy who is guarding him is playing an alcoholic mercenary who's been in to many african wars, he get's up (piss drunk) and tries to shoot him in the back but clips a german tourist in the head instead.
Well, that, the nazi bikers and a deep roted fear of black chevy suburbans.
Anyway if your looking for a horror game this is it.
Or if your just looking for a game that truly lets you play anti-heroes.
Trainspotting with some occult occurances and really wierd drugs is a blast. ^_^
And the world would be kind of hard to roleplay but the players aren't supposed to know anything and the GM can simply use the parts he wants at any time. I'm finally starting to get the full grasp of the dealings that goes on behind the scenes but it's a well thougth out setting which gives you great ideas.
Yeah. Interestingly enough, Kult was actually released before Vampire: the Masquerade, making it first "modern" horror RPG.
Nope, DnD did that in the 70's when it gained popularity.
And the attention of cartoonist Jack Chick.
(insert detailed fair use wikipedia statement here)
Who, among others, considered it to be the "Stairway to Hell"., as well as vehemently denouncing Catholicism and Mormonism (and I'm sure there were plenty of choice damnations for non-Christians as well).
Both were released in 1991, so I'd say it is a tie.
I imagine that could have led to an outrigth ban for all roleplaying games for people under the age of 18.
Kult is also not recommended for people under 15, I don't think I'd want my kids to play it if they were only 15 either.
Also, avoid at all costs the Kult CCG. Stay far far away.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
You could say that it's a gritty, angst-ridden (and, due to the system, fucking lethal) Planescape version of our world. Sources of reference is Hellraiser 1 & 2, Se7en, Jacob's Ladder and the first Silent Hill game.
It's been kinda left in a slump the last years, one of the reasons could be that it's be hard to make an official development of the setting.
There have been some new releases since the "original" days, but most of these seem pretty poor even if some people say the module Judas Grail is ok (I'm a doubting thomas on that one).
7th Circle has actually manuscripts for few new Kult books ready, but it isn't economically viable option to print them in industry's current climate. 7th Circle is, however, currently looking on possibility of releasing new Kult books in electronic format, but I haven't heard anything new about this for long time. Shame really.
Everyone else had something of similar magnitude, so we all get together with another old friend and some things are a bit 'not right' then after dark everything kicks off and we're in a horror film. Exploring you've got rooms with clanking chains hanging from the ceiling with barbs, rooms filled with deep dark water with things lurking in it, rooms obscured by hanging silk with delicate voices imploring us to enter, the whole nine yards of images from horror films.
And most of all the characters are all scaring each other by their reactions to this and in true horror movie fashion we're arguing and disagreeing all the time. Everything goes to hell and we're trapped in a room as an ex girlfriend of one of us is summoning Pinhead and his friends for revenge. End result everyone but me dies horribly and in agony. It was great
Its a game that can run any horror film you want with and it all fits in to the cosmology somewhere, but at the same time it is a more hopeful setting that CoC which also kind of makes it worse because there is a possibility of really understanding what the hells going on.
If you can, pick up the 2nd ed rulebook as it's a work of art in addition to being a great game, also the magic books 'Heart Mind and Soul' and another one are beautiful as well. Also keep a look out for The Judas Grail and Taroticum as they're great adventures.
I have the 2nd ed I think. Very nice. But I think the GM is doing something wrong if the players ever come near to understanding exactly what is going on. Getting important clues perhaps, but never the full picture. There's simply to many layers to get through. And then actually awakening (+- 500 mental balance?!) is nigh on impossible even in the longest campaings.
Not to mention that a PC going the path of ligth has a high chance of getting killed while a player turning into a child of darkness have a pretty high chance of loosing controll.
It is cool that you can play as monsters though.
What I like about Kult is that is so malleable: You can set up virtually any kind of theme or plot for adventures, since once through the illusion even time and realit(ies)y are just comforting hypothesis.
One nice convention adventure I read was about the pc:s being a bunch of hippie friends on their way to woodstock. They get lost and the environment is gradually turning into a very hostile jungle. The pc's themselves gradually transform as well, for example one of them fall down a pit trap and the injured body parts appear to be dressed in military fatigues. The adventure plays out like something resembling Lost Patrol for amiga.
The ending was the pc's getting hold of a tank and assaulting a vietcong training camp but, as the pc's let loose on the vietnamese soldiers, they hear drums among the machine gun fire: Some of the fleeing vietnamese soldiers seem to be dressed like hippies. In general, the pc's have had a bad batch of LSD and are mowing down Jimi Hendrix's woodstock audience with their van as the trip wears off
With Call of Cthulhu, humanity is totally insignificant. The Powers at work in the universe don't give a damn. in Kult, humanity is mostly insigificant, but the Powers at work in the universe want to keep things that way- they really care about humanity, in a sense.
Unknown Armies, of course, makes humanity the most significant thing there is- but portrays this as not necessarily a good thing.
The three approaches I find work very well as contrasts to one another.