barry_x's review
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
WARNING: REVIEW MENTIONS SEXUAL VIOLENCE
Phew! I've finally got through this book dipping in and out of it for about a year.
Kult is a RPG game focussing on a general premise that humans were once gods, that everything we see around us is an Illusion and that we are kept in a prison that stops us from reaching our Divinity. We've been imprisoned by a godlike figure called the Demiurge who created something like twelve Principles or Archons to maintain the prison (named things like Family, Hierarchy, Lust, Safety etc.). To cut a lot of lore out the Demiurge has disappeared, cracks are appearing in the Illusion and there is a fallen Archangel type figure who has created Death Angels which appear in opposition to the Archons, like a mirror. Reality contains a series of dimensions which represent different elements of the godlike entities full of fucked up creatures, ridiculously graphic descriptions of all kinds of horror, violence, torture and abuse which is seemingly 'reality'.
The general premise seems to be that humans, if we we actually knew, are FAR WORSE than these messed up hellscapes. It also seems that the way we open these gates to these portals is by generally being as depraved as possible, drawing on the very worst of human nature.
This is generally the most challenging part of the book. It's a horror rpg and there are frequent graphic descriptions and artwork featuring all kinds of graphic torture, sexual violence, including rape and paedophilia, murder, depravity and cruelty. You cannot read this with children in the room (or anyone who doesn't want to see artwork of genital mutilation for instance). Once you get past the first 150 or so pages of character creation, rules and GM advice the remaining 200 pages or so are setting information and it is pretty hard to read. I consider myself exceptionally broad minded and I have seen a lot of transgressive horror but the 'ideas' in here for games, flavour and monsters or scenes is exceptionally fucked up. There are only so many times you can read about horrific abuse as a game idea. At times it reads like the worst edgelords fantasy of how to be as offensive as possible with yet another description of something unsettling and upsetting.
If anyone wants to read some of the more graphic examples of what I am talking about this review here rips the book to shreds, whilst having a laugh doing it https://writeups.letsyouandhimfight.com/purplexvi/kult-divinity-lost/
On the flipside, there is some of the best advice I have ever read for creating scenarios and developing an intrigue map and also handling adult subject matter and player safety. It's definitely good advice for a book with 'edgy' themes.
I truly am in a mixed mind with this book, because I can only recommend this game to very experienced GMs who really trust and support their players. In the right hands the game plays brilliantly. The system is a skinned Powered By The Apocalypse system and it really suits narrative style games and puts the power in the players hands. I'm wrapping up one Kult game and it's been one of my best gaming experiences. It's a game which pushes envelopes but you really have to know what you can and cannot do. It flows quickly, is dynamic and supports pushing the story on. I really love the mechanics and you can do a brilliant horror game and present unsettling choices whilst still not needing a bath afterwards.
My two other Kult games ended when the rest of the PCs wanted to sexually abuse and torture another character and another had my character commit a serious sexual assault against another character 'because my character was possessed by an entity'. That's my serious biggest fault with the book - it's a system that supports player agency but also allows the GM to use fucked up entities to essentially rape players or commit similar acts. I suspect most people don't have the maturity and experience to run and play this.
It does sound like I am slating the book, but I am convinced that it will be a go-to ruleset for horror games in future for me, and you don't need to use any of the dimensions that make up 'Reality' and if you do, you don't need to use all the fucked up examples in the book (e.g., Gaia represents the world as-is so one can play a horror supernatural game set in a desolate mountain range without needing an entity to turn the players into cannibals. Limbo represents Dreams where you can literally create anything).
It's a five star book for the rules, and for the general Judeo-Christian but not quite Gnostic setting mixed with Hellraiser. It's still a five star book for all the challenging horror examples. It is definitely one point for the continual references to abuse which are edgy once and become tiresome after a few hundred pages of setting info saying the same things... (i.e. in 392 pages including 30 pages of intro art and about 10 pages of index the word 'porn' features 22 times, 'fluid' 12 times, 'abuse' 18 times... you get the idea).
Problematic trash or the perfect rules and setting for horror games? I'm really not sure.
Phew! I've finally got through this book dipping in and out of it for about a year.
Kult is a RPG game focussing on a general premise that humans were once gods, that everything we see around us is an Illusion and that we are kept in a prison that stops us from reaching our Divinity. We've been imprisoned by a godlike figure called the Demiurge who created something like twelve Principles or Archons to maintain the prison (named things like Family, Hierarchy, Lust, Safety etc.). To cut a lot of lore out the Demiurge has disappeared, cracks are appearing in the Illusion and there is a fallen Archangel type figure who has created Death Angels which appear in opposition to the Archons, like a mirror. Reality contains a series of dimensions which represent different elements of the godlike entities full of fucked up creatures, ridiculously graphic descriptions of all kinds of horror, violence, torture and abuse which is seemingly 'reality'.
The general premise seems to be that humans, if we we actually knew, are FAR WORSE than these messed up hellscapes. It also seems that the way we open these gates to these portals is by generally being as depraved as possible, drawing on the very worst of human nature.
This is generally the most challenging part of the book. It's a horror rpg and there are frequent graphic descriptions and artwork featuring all kinds of graphic torture, sexual violence, including rape and paedophilia, murder, depravity and cruelty. You cannot read this with children in the room (or anyone who doesn't want to see artwork of genital mutilation for instance). Once you get past the first 150 or so pages of character creation, rules and GM advice the remaining 200 pages or so are setting information and it is pretty hard to read. I consider myself exceptionally broad minded and I have seen a lot of transgressive horror but the 'ideas' in here for games, flavour and monsters or scenes is exceptionally fucked up. There are only so many times you can read about horrific abuse as a game idea. At times it reads like the worst edgelords fantasy of how to be as offensive as possible with yet another description of something unsettling and upsetting.
If anyone wants to read some of the more graphic examples of what I am talking about this review here rips the book to shreds, whilst having a laugh doing it https://writeups.letsyouandhimfight.com/purplexvi/kult-divinity-lost/
On the flipside, there is some of the best advice I have ever read for creating scenarios and developing an intrigue map and also handling adult subject matter and player safety. It's definitely good advice for a book with 'edgy' themes.
I truly am in a mixed mind with this book, because I can only recommend this game to very experienced GMs who really trust and support their players. In the right hands the game plays brilliantly. The system is a skinned Powered By The Apocalypse system and it really suits narrative style games and puts the power in the players hands. I'm wrapping up one Kult game and it's been one of my best gaming experiences. It's a game which pushes envelopes but you really have to know what you can and cannot do. It flows quickly, is dynamic and supports pushing the story on. I really love the mechanics and you can do a brilliant horror game and present unsettling choices whilst still not needing a bath afterwards.
My two other Kult games ended when the rest of the PCs wanted to sexually abuse and torture another character and another had my character commit a serious sexual assault against another character 'because my character was possessed by an entity'. That's my serious biggest fault with the book - it's a system that supports player agency but also allows the GM to use fucked up entities to essentially rape players or commit similar acts. I suspect most people don't have the maturity and experience to run and play this.
It does sound like I am slating the book, but I am convinced that it will be a go-to ruleset for horror games in future for me, and you don't need to use any of the dimensions that make up 'Reality' and if you do, you don't need to use all the fucked up examples in the book (e.g., Gaia represents the world as-is so one can play a horror supernatural game set in a desolate mountain range without needing an entity to turn the players into cannibals. Limbo represents Dreams where you can literally create anything).
It's a five star book for the rules, and for the general Judeo-Christian but not quite Gnostic setting mixed with Hellraiser. It's still a five star book for all the challenging horror examples. It is definitely one point for the continual references to abuse which are edgy once and become tiresome after a few hundred pages of setting info saying the same things... (i.e. in 392 pages including 30 pages of intro art and about 10 pages of index the word 'porn' features 22 times, 'fluid' 12 times, 'abuse' 18 times... you get the idea).
Problematic trash or the perfect rules and setting for horror games? I'm really not sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Child death, Trafficking, Blood, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Torture, War, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, and Rape
arthurbdd's review
5.0
Excellent update to the horror game. Still extremely transgressive in terms of content, but the addition of clear guidance on the use of safety mechanics extensively mitigates and recontextualises this. Generally makes excellent choices about what to include and what to retain. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordpress.com/2018/12/02/kickstopper-divinity-lost-quality-found/
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