Cthulhutech

By Master of R'lyeh, in CoC Off Topic

www.cthulhutech.com

I personally think this is a great concept for a Futuristic Lovecraftian universe. Anyone actually own it/play it? I really want to get it but I have a habit of picking of RPG books and they end up collection dust (either not enough time or players).

My friend Mike picked it up and was full of awe and joy. I don't think he's actually played the book yet. Does RPG.net have a review or discussion of it?

I own the book. I haven't finished reading it, but what I can tell you is that the universe mixes mecha anime with Cthulhu mythos. The big enemy are the migos. Humans and another race (I don't remember the name, they were created by the migos to destroy the humans but now they help them) have mechas, engel (NGE style mechas) and Tasker (I think that is the name, they are humans with a symbiont which allows them to transform themselfs into higher beings) to defend themself. I can't tell you how the actual RPG is.

Sounds like a cool mixture to me. :)

lordofmasks

I've read the book, and it seems to me it's like Evangelion or any other mecha theme that is "sufficently advanced to be magic" with Lovecraftian names tacked on it.The horror elements certainly take a step back in it - But since it's your campain, you can shift the emphasis whereever you like, ofcourse.

I used to play the most excellent Mekton Zeta which to me seems the better Mech game once you get your head around it, and it allows you to create a lot of Mythos horror-themed critters as well, especially with the Mekton Zeta Plus book. I don't mind Cthulhutech though; Lovecraft purists need to stay as far away as possible in any case.

Marius said:

I've read the book, and it seems to me it's like Evangelion or any other mecha theme that is "sufficently advanced to be magic" with Lovecraftian names tacked on it.The horror elements certainly take a step back in it - But since it's your campain, you can shift the emphasis whereever you like, ofcourse.

ced1106 said:

My friend Mike picked it up and was full of awe and joy. I don't think he's actually played the book yet. Does RPG.net have a review or discussion of it?

www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13516.phtml

jadrax said:

Marius said:

I've read the book, and it seems to me it's like Evangelion or any other mecha theme that is "sufficently advanced to be magic" with Lovecraftian names tacked on it.The horror elements certainly take a step back in it - But since it's your campain, you can shift the emphasis whereever you like, ofcourse.

There is often a problem with Technology and Horror, I found Delta Green pretty hard to get into because of that. For example, having people learn Mythos in an industralised manner just seemed to take away the mystique.

Delta Green is mostly "the X-Files" though. (Yeah, DG actually predates X-Files, but...) so even though there is some tech available, (it's not uncommon for agents to wield Mi-Go Mist Projectors or Lightning Guns) - Still one typically encounters unknown things most of the time.

Cthulhutech has the Migou as a known quantity though; Half the races come from Migou experimentation, and the Migou have taken a large piece of the Earth after all. There are some opportunities for the unknown to start kicking some mechs, but it's not the vibe I got from the book.

Tech and horror can work well though; The more the Mythos contradicts tech, the crazier things get. So, when tech explains more, the more unexplainable the mythos can get, because it has more common sense to contradict. :D

I am proud to say I finally scored my physical copies of the Cthulhutech core and Vade Mecum books (got lucky on ebay, half off cover price each). My versions are the new catalyst full color printings and I gotta say they are amazing. I think this game and setting has allot of potential. Can't wait to report back more.

Marius said:

Tech and horror can work well though; The more the Mythos contradicts tech, the crazier things get. So, when tech explains more, the more unexplainable the mythos can get, because it has more common sense to contradict. :D

I've still got my copy of GURPS Cthulhupunk lying around, which took things in a cyberpunk direction. It tried to get the tone right, but I was never able to give it a test drive: the GURPS system just always seemed too detail-oriented for good Mythos role-playing. I'm curious if anyone else tried it out, though.

I've bought the first two books but haven't used them yet ,as I'm still running a different game. This is how I feel about it so far though:

Call of Cthulhu is much better at personal horror, but Cthulhutech has the advantage of being better suited to sandbox play. Its more action-orientated than Call of Cthulhu, but I haven't tested it so I can't say how lethal combat is. I'm sure with some experience it wouldn't be too hard for storyguides to scale up some of the baddies to capture the same feel as Call of Cthulhu.

The setting is very interesting, but for a game using Lovecraft's work there seem to be a fair number of his creations missing. I suppose they might be added in future books, but the Elder Things, Yithians, Colours (out of Space), Flying Polyps, and Shoggoths are absent. I found that quite disappointing, and its probably the main reason I decided to keep running my other game. The creators have added some of their own creations instead, like Tagers and Dhoanoids, but they didn't tickle my fancy. Sometimes the book feels like several smaller games wrapped into one bundle, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It means its easy to completely ignore parts of the setting you don't like.

I know *I* would have preferred it if the Tagers, Dhoanoids, and Parapsychics were left out for later books, with real Lovecraftian stuff included in their place. Its not that I don't like them, but they just don't have the same flavour. The mechs actually suit the setting more than you'd think and give off a creepy War of the Worlds vibe, but the idea of players having superpowers or shapeshifting abilities isn't very interesting to me. To give you a clue as to what the Tagers are like, the example stories throw mobs of Dhoanoids (the enemy's equivelant of tagers) at the players, and tells you to add more if it looks like an easy fight.

One other thing I don't like about the book is the kind of horror it tries to use, as there seems to be a lot of talk about **** and gore. There are references to Deep One having "**** camps" to create hybrid armies, and the Rapine Storm ****** people before eating them. One of the example stories has abused women in it with one of the NPC's organizing forced porn shoots, and stuff like that. While it technically is horrific, its not the kind of horror suited to a game played for fun - unless you have some really wierd players, lol. I know if I ran the game I'd be embarassed to let the female player in our group read through the rulebook.

But having said that, it has a lot of good elements and a lot of potential. You can make it more about personal/cosmic horror easily enough, and tailor it to suit your group. I think it might get better with further releases if they provide information for some more of Lovecraft's creations. I'll definitely play it sometime. Even though it has some flaws it looks like it could be great fun.