We’ve always been big fans of Horror roleplaying, which began for me with Call of Cthulhu years ago and moved on more recently into some great homebrew settings that our friend Josh ran for us. I personally love to get inside the character’s head moreso than in other RPGs, and really try to experience and feel the fear that comes along with what’s happening to them, while Dave is more a fan of doing absolutely mean things to his players in Horror RPGs. One thing that I never really expected to see released as an official product is the melding of the Cthulhu mythos with a futuristic-anime style setting, which is exactly what CthulhuTech presents.
The first thing I notice with any product is the artwork, and I have to say that the graphic design and art in CthulhuTech really hits home for the setting. Much of the artwork is rather simple, but extremely evocative of the moods and feelings this kind of game wants the players to experience. I’m already scared out of my wits at the thought of giant alien robots scouring through ruined cities, seeking out the flesh of my would-be hero everyman. These two genres speak to me in similar ways, as my favorite giant-mecha anime is Neon Genesis Evangelion which features normal people thrust into bizarre and otherworld circumstances and that seems to mesh pretty damn well with the concepts underlying the Cthulhu mythos as well. It just has a little more badass sprinkled in, is all!
The second thing I noticed after spending some time with the material is that it’s not just two genres slapped together, a lot of work has gone into developing a rich history and backstory for the horrifying world of the future. If there’s one thing I love in a new RPG resource, it’s lots of history and backstory that can be used or at least inspires ideas for game masters and players alike. I was thrilled when the Call of Cthulhu system was revamped for the d20 system after 3rd Edition D&D was released, but now that 4th Edition has been out for several months I think the market is ripe for all of the new horror content that is being released. We were both very happy when we got to review the new Shadows of Cthulhu for the True20 system,but I think we’re even more excited looking at CthulhuTech and where it is taking the genre.
Dave shared that his favorite RPG moments have come from Cthulhu games, and so I think we both can’t wait to try this out and see how things go. This really is a rich book packed full of awesome content, and seeing that it is now under the helm of Catalyst Game Labs who I trust implicitly because of their efforts on Battletech, I think there will be many more supplements released for this that will provide months of excellent gameplay and developing storylines. There are already two supplements released, though I did not get a chance to read through them yet. Vade Mecum provides more options for your character (races and professions), new rules for para-psychics, more monsters, more mecha, and lots more! Dark Passions is another supplement which further details the smaller factions / cults which are at work in the universe, providing a good counterpoint to the main book’s development of the major players.
Want to learn more about CthulhuTech? Read on…
- Atomic Array: Episode 013: CthulhuTech RPG
- Mad Brew Labs: CthulhuTech: The Game That Almost Wasn’t
- Critical Hits: When Horror Meets Awesome: CthulhuTech
- Kore Dice: Interview with CthulhuTech’s Mike Vaillancourt
- Stan!: The Stars Will Be Right
- Arcane Underground: The Saga of CthulhuTech (Updated)
Drop by BattleCorps to pick up your copy today!
Is it more horrifying than 40k’s future of psychics consumed to fuel warp travel and whatnot?
@TheMainEvent
It’s not quite THAT dark, but its setting is still filled with a whole lot of doom. A few buddies of mine are running a campaign and there’s just so much in the backstory to explore that I doubt I will find a more interesting Pen and Paper RPG for a long while.