Horrific news!

KULT IS COMING BACK

First edition. Looks like a heavy metal album.

I was very pleased to come across an announcement I have been wanting to hear for a number of years. Last night I was on RPGnet's No Fun Forums* and a thread caught my eye, "New version of Kult coming." After spitting out my dinner with shock, I cleaned up the table and found the web page for the new Kult.

The new version will have a new rule system (should be good as I did not like the original system), and the world will be updated from the 1990's to today (Smartphones and Prius' oh my!). A Kickstarter is planned for the fall with the book's release set for 2016,

If you do not know, Kult is a game of horror imported from Sweden. It is in a world based on Gnostic beliefs and the kabbalah (and is actually well researched). The blurb from the first edition sums up the setting: "Kult is a contemporary horror role-playing game. It takes place here and now, in the reality of today. But reality is not what we think. Around us the world is dark and dangerous and nothing is what it seems to be. Our reality is an illusion, created to keep us captive. We are imprisoned since ages past by a dictatorial creator. The true world, invisible to us, is ruled by creatures who dominate behind the false facades, our prison wardens and tortures."

Actual scene from Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. with H.P. Hatecraft

As I describe it: "Kult makes Call of Cthulhu look like Scooby-Doo."** A warning though. This game takes no prisoners and is meant for mature people that can handle extremely gruesome scenes, and sometimes sexually deviant material. Kids, you will have to sneak it for yourselves.***

CHAOSIUM RETURNS

As you have heard by now, Greg Stafford and Randy Peterson have returned to take the reigns at Chaosium and restore the company to its former glory. As I have written, there is a glut of Cthulhu in the market, but there is always room for the original (they should cancel some of their licensees to strengthen the brand, IMHO).

Shannon Applecline, author of the excellent Designers and Dragons, a history of the RPG industry, has an interview with Greg Stafford about the future of Chaosium.

*My name for it, IMHO. It is the best site for RPG reviews, and the columns are very good, but I tread lightly in the forums. As the joke goes, "How do you avoid getting banned in the RPGnet forums? Don't post there."

**This is not to say Cthulhu is not a great game, but they are two different kinds of horror, with Kult possibly being too much for some audiences. Heck, I'll play both and be happy.

*** Kids, don't sneak the book for yourselves, it really is not appropriate. Also, respect your parents and sit in the corner and be quiet, Daddy needs some scotch.