This Friday and Next Friday- 5th Edition and a Longer Term Campaign

This Friday Justin will be running a 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons Next one shot.  Pre-generated characters will be provided.

The Friday after I will be starting a longer term campaign based in D20 modern.  There is actually a lot more to the setting and system, but speaking of it will ruin the surprise.

If anyone is interested in participating shoot an email over to wehatebards@gmail.com for more information.

Kult- RPG Review and Playtest

"Death is Only the Beginning..."  This is the tagline for the cover of the Kult rpg, to say that the tone gets dark would be an understatement.  Kult is a modern day rpg set firmly in the world of horror and conspiracy.   The players take on the roles of hero's that are tainted by darkness and tormented by their pasts.  This is a role-playing game that is as intense as it is demanding.

     While the game mechanics give options for making quick characters I think that this would be missing out on Kults strongest asset.  The system is a complete point buy system with main statistics and a skill list to put points into, pretty general rpg stuff, but it comes into its own in two ways; the advantages/disadvantages and the dark secrets.  Each disadvantage and advantage has a point buy that affects skill points, end up with negative and you get more skill points, end up with a positive then you have less skill points but are more able to keep yourself from getting shocked (a roll to keep it together when faced with extreme circumstances, akin to a sanity roll from Call of Cthulhu).  With this a character gets his mental balance by adding them together, which can be negative or positive depending on his choice of advantages and disadvantages.  Characters with a high mental balance have more control over their disadvantages and are shocked less easily.  Characters with a low mental balance act on their base natures as dictated by their disadvantages, usually in a crisis situation.  

     Every character with a negative mental balance has a dark secret, characters with a positive balance do not have to take one but they can if they so wish.  This dark secret is something that happened to a character that is a driving force behind his disadvantages and is always hovering over him.  There is no game mechanic for this and it must be roleplayed out with the DM.  There are a number of categories like "Pact with a Dark Power" or "Victim of a Medical Experiment," but whatever it was it has to be overwhelming and devastating.  This sort of rule gives all sorts of opportunities for good roleplaying and it really cannot be min/maxed like a some kind of skill, it has to be central to the characters identity.

     The opportunity to push for good roleplaying was given by the rules and I took advantage of it.  When I sat down with the Bards I did not even have them look at the books, but instead took a good solid twenty minutes and had them write a description of their character.  No number crunching or min/maxing, just an outline.  From there we moved on to stats and skills, all based on the outline.  From there is was advantages and disadvantages, which really help cement the characters as having honorable qualities as well as personality defects.  Fictional characters were getting some life breathed into them.  The Dark Secret was the core though and I had each player think specifically about what it was and then tell me alone, what good is a dark secret if everyone else knows it?  The process when all done with was about 80 minutes deep, and most of that was solid character creation and not stat jockeying.  Character creation is so important in Kult that it has to be done right.  The characters and their motivations is what drives the plot; in all reality the game is about overcoming ones inner demons, or the flipside of diving head in to become a monster.  There are no princesses to rescue, dragons to be slayed, or gold to be counted at the tavern.  The characters inner life is what matters.

     The mechanical system works well and each player really only has to bring a D20 to the table.  The object is to roll under for the score to achieve the objective.  Break into a building?  Roll under your 14 on a D20 in your burglary skill. Depending on how much you roll under additional things may happen that, say for burglary if it's really high you not only break in but completely compromise the whole buildings security system.  Combat works in a round system whereby a character can do two, or more, simple actions.  Say shoot a gun or move a small distance.  Each round has an initiative order with actions progressing.  Characters with more actions can divide them between rounds.  So two character actions for one antagonist action, provided the character has that many.  Now let me say that Kult can be a real downright lethal game.  Characters have wound points from a scratch to fatal.  Each wound is cumulative and progressive and causes additional skill penalties.  So, depending on a characters constitution score, 4 scratches equal one light wound.  A character receiving 6 scratches would have 2 scratches and 1 light wound.  Though one fatal wound and you are dead, dead dead.  With guns it is really easy to die.  Shoot someone and hit and you roll above a 14 for that .45 Automatic and that is a fatal wound.  No medical check, or stimpack, that mans brains is blasted all over the wall.  Now this would be even harsher than Call of Cthulhu if it were not for Hero Points.  Every character starts out with 10 and can accumulate more over time for heroic actions.  These allow for downgrades of damage; for every point spent the character can move the damage one section down, say from light to a scratch.  Hero points also can increase successes, so if you hit with a gun and it is only a severe wound spend a hero point and now that guy is not going to get up, fatal wound, game over.

     With all the time spent putting depth and life to characters I had high hopes, and it paid off.  Every one of the Bards loved this game, and that is saying something with the diverse group that played.  We had a 4th edition D&D aficionado, a punch smash min/maxer, and a fellow DM veteran all of which absolutely loved the system mechanics, worldbuilding, and tone.

     Now I do not want to go into too much of the world because it is so exclusively spoiler heavy for anyone who is playing the game.  Even saying a little about the in-game world would ruin the mood.  What is the good use of horror and conspiracy if the players know what is really going on?  Which is a real problem for horror gaming in general, things cease to be scary and motivating when they are known.  Oh no, another Shoggoth.......get the dynamite and gasoline.  The game works best when characters know as little as possible.  Though even if the "big" ideas of the game are spoiled the mythology of Kult is so dense and diverse that any direction could be taken to keep the drama and horror flowing.  When I say dense and diverse I mean it, there is so much here to work with, and so much hinted at leaving no explanation as to what it is about, a goldmine for a DM.

     I loved this game.  If I am honest with myself I might even go as to far say it is better than Call of Cthulhu, which if anyone knows me says an awful lot.  I love my cults!  This really is a DM's kind of game, nothing is spoon fed and everything is suggested with subtlety and mystery.  The DM will have to do his homework and get elbows deep in the mechanics and mythology, it's a lot of work, but worth it.  I have to give a note of caution here though, this is a horror game, and a serious one at that.  The themes present here are NOT for children or even young adults.  Magic is also presented and in a way the mirrors actual real world occult practices, which could make some uncomfortable.  So know what you and your players comfort level is before diving in.  Barring all of that this is a solid horror game that is player motivated and mystery heavy.

I give this system a 9 out of 10 Dark Secrets.  My only real complaint is that combat and some other complicated actions tend to bog down with too many dice rolls and get rule heavy.  But even the rulebook says that no matter what keep the action happening and that die rolling will tend to put the breaks on the action/drama/horror.  I will be running this again in the future so if you wish contact me at wehatebards@gmail.com to let me know you are interested.  I will sit down with you, work out a character, and work you into the PC's current adventure.   

                           

            

This Friday- Temple of the Dragon Cult

This Friday at the We Hate Bards studio I, Cris, will be running a Dungeon Crawl Classics Module called Temple of the Dragon Cult.  If you want in send us over an email and we'll get you directions and instructions on how to roll up a character.  It will be Dungeons and Dragons 3/3.5 system and the module should run from about 8-12 depending if the party TPK's early.  It is sure to be fun time in the old school way; traps, treasure, dead bad guys, the works!

Kult rpg

Thanks to everyone who came out this past Saturday for Kult.  Everyone agreed around the table that Kult was a good system both tone wise and mechanically.  If your interested in joining our next session email a request at wehatebards@gmail.com and we'll make room for you. 

Space Marines Module for d20 Modern

This Friday at 8Pm We Hate Bards will be hosting at the Studio a Space Marines campaign. This module uses the D20 Modern system with a few....extras. Email us at wehatebards@gmail.com to RSVP, or ask us any questions. See you there.