K_Peterson
Legendary Pubber
- Joined
- May 1, 2017
- Messages
- 1,338
- Reaction score
- 2,527
I'd heard of this freeware Rpg years ago, and I vaguely recall seeing a character sheet for it. But I never checked it out. I'm not really in the market for yet another Cthulhu rules set, but noticed that there's now a Cthulhu Dark Kickstarter. So, I read up on the KS campaign, watched the fish-tank video, and looked at some of the various links to rules sections. CoC gaming is 90% of the gaming I do these days, so I'm always on the lookout for interesting products/scenarios/supplements for my campaigns.
Quite a lot of praise for this super-light Rpg. "Economical", "clean", "evocative", "thoughtful", "works hard". Well, it's certainly 'economical' and 'laser focused', but I don't quite understand the other accolades. A lot less is more? Unless the Keeper's Section is absolutely amazing - jammed pack full of campaign design advice - I can't grasp why Cthulhu Dark is "Lovecraftian horror at its most intense", and "nothing will feel closer to Lovecraft's awful truth than a game of Cthulhu Dark".
I don't like feeling like a jaded, cynical gamer, and try to give "out-of-the-box" Rpgs a chance. (Hell, I bought Trail of Cthulhu; liked a few things about it; but decided it wasn't for me based on some its design choices). But, when I look at Cthulhu Dark I get more the feeling of I could have designed this. I could have boiled down the essence of CoC into a compact form like this Rpg tries to do, but still have more 'meat' to work with. Why would I pay $15 for a PDF of this, unless the Keeper advice is revolutionary and the campaigns are brilliant?
Maybe someone can enlighten or educate me. What is it about CD that brings designer praise, nearly 500 KS backers, and ~$27k+ in pledges?
Quite a lot of praise for this super-light Rpg. "Economical", "clean", "evocative", "thoughtful", "works hard". Well, it's certainly 'economical' and 'laser focused', but I don't quite understand the other accolades. A lot less is more? Unless the Keeper's Section is absolutely amazing - jammed pack full of campaign design advice - I can't grasp why Cthulhu Dark is "Lovecraftian horror at its most intense", and "nothing will feel closer to Lovecraft's awful truth than a game of Cthulhu Dark".
I don't like feeling like a jaded, cynical gamer, and try to give "out-of-the-box" Rpgs a chance. (Hell, I bought Trail of Cthulhu; liked a few things about it; but decided it wasn't for me based on some its design choices). But, when I look at Cthulhu Dark I get more the feeling of I could have designed this. I could have boiled down the essence of CoC into a compact form like this Rpg tries to do, but still have more 'meat' to work with. Why would I pay $15 for a PDF of this, unless the Keeper advice is revolutionary and the campaigns are brilliant?
Maybe someone can enlighten or educate me. What is it about CD that brings designer praise, nearly 500 KS backers, and ~$27k+ in pledges?