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Kult: Divinity Lost
Kult: Divinity Lost - Core Rules
In KULT: DIVINITY LOST, the world around us is a lie. Mankind is trapped in an Illusion. We do not see the great citadels of Metropolis towering over our highest skyscrapers. We do not hear the screams from the cellar where hidden stairs take us to Inferno. We do not smell the blood and burnt flesh from those sacrificed to long forgotten Gods. But some of us see glimpses from beyond the veil. We have this strange feeling that something is not right—the ramblings of a madman in the subway seems to carry a hidden message, and our reclusive neighbor doesn’t appear to be completely human. By slowly discovering the truth about our prison, our captors and our hidden pasts, we can finally awaken from our induced sleep and take control of our destiny.
KULT: DIVINITY LOST is a reboot of the highly acclaimed and infamous contemporary horror role-playing game “Kult”, originally released a quarter of a century ago, in 1991. This anniversary version of the game features a completely new rule-set, and the setting is updated to present day. Escape your nightmares, strike bargains with demons, and try to stay alive in a world full of pain, torture, and death.
KULT: DIVINITY LOST is a reboot of the highly acclaimed and infamous contemporary horror role-playing game “Kult”, originally released a quarter of a century ago, in 1991. This anniversary version of the game features a completely new rule-set, and the setting is updated to present day. Escape your nightmares, strike bargains with demons, and try to stay alive in a world full of pain, torture, and death.
367 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
November 30, 2018
This is the fourth edition of a Table Top RPG game from Sweden. It was first released via a Kickstarter campaign, from where I was able to get my own copy. It is definitely aimed at adults, and deals with dark and distrubing themes of sex, violence and the occult, among other things. They even discuss the use of safe words and "Horror Contracts" should the game get too intense for the group at play. That being said I like the aesthetic a lot. Very reminiscent of Clive Barker's "Books of Blood" or "Hellaiser" series. The story that unfolds is that of a world ruled by Illusion. What we call "reality" is actually a veiled existance called "Elysium." It was once controlled by the Demiurge and his Archon angels, with the purpose of enslaving mankind and make us forget our own divinity. But the Demiurge has disappeared and the entire universe is now thrown into chaos. The factions of angels are warring with each other, and Astoroth, The Demiurge's dark twin has stepped in to try and take control of Elysium with his own tribes od Dark Angels. And to top it all off, the illusion is beginning to thin, leading to some of us becoming "awakened." You play as a human, who has seen or experienced something that has reveled the illusion behind Elysium. You are trying to recover your own divinity.... The game incorperates many Gnostic and occult themes, along with a dash of Jungian Archetypes. It is all very well researched enough to create a cohesive world, ripe for many an exploration. It's different from regular Dungeons & Dragons, because the Game Master has to rely on the players to help weave the story together. The game play is similar to Age of Apocalypse games, so you will be using two 10-sided dice. As mentioned before, this game is very much intended for a mature audience, and group that is not afraid to explore the darker regions of their psyche. It is very much intended to be a horror fantasy that bridges off our world. I am looking forward to creating my first Kult Campaign!
March 7, 2021
Kult... la verdad es que con este juego tengo una serie de encuentros y desencuentros, y sensaciones contradictorias, y eso que aún no he conseguido jugarlo y no sé si ese evento va a llegar en algún momento, la verdad. A ver.
Conocí Kult hace más de veinte años, cuando estaba en el instituto, por publicidad, y formaba parte de una serie de juegos de terror contemporáneo que salieron poco más o menos al mismo tiempo aquí en España: Nephilim, Ragnarok... y Vampiro. Y claro, Vampiro lo devoró todo, hasta el punto que hasta muchos años más tarde no volví a encontrarme con Kult, y me pasaron dos cosas con él. La ambientación y el trasfondo me dejaron absolutamente fascinado, pero creo que a día de hoy aún no he entendido el sistema de juego. Aquella idea de un Dios ausente, de unos arcontes en guerra, de un laberinto en el centro de la creación, de los ángeles caídos... Todo aquello molaba muchísimo.
Y muchos años después, Nosolorol ha traído de nuevo Kult a la palestra. Bueno, han tardado más de dos años en traerlo, y de aquella manera, las cosas como son, que yo participé a través de tienda solicitando los tres libros que se sacaban (Kult, Tarótica y La Virgen Negra), y dos años después solo han sacado uno de los tres... pero en fin, vamos a dejar esto aparte de momento. El caso es que en esta versión actualizada, han cambiado el sistema para adaptarlo al Apocalypse (otro sistema que tampoco he probado pero que al menos entiendo) y también han adaptado la ambientación para actualizarla a nuestro mundo de internet y redes sociales. El caso es que Kult: Divinidad Perdida ha vuelto de nuevo como un juego perturbador, actualizado con algunas reglas que me han resultado parecidas a Unknown Armies, por ejemplo, como el mapa de campaña que sugieren hacer.
En el mundo de Kult, los humanos somos dioses caídos, aprisionados en una mentira ilusoria por el Demiurgo y sus Arcontes, encarnaciones de diversas estructuras y conceptos que se corresponden con las luces de la Cábala. No hay un cielo, pues el nuestro es el nivel más alto de la realidad, y a nuestro alrededor, en los límites de esa ilusión, se mueven ángeles, demonios y extrañas criaturas de pesadilla. Kult es un juego de horror tangible, y me refiero con esto a que es un juego de vientres abiertos, criaturas despellejadas, garfios y fluidos de todo tipo, y quizá de hecho esta sea una de las cosas en las que me parece que es excesivamente turbio. Pero es tan sumamente retorcido que resulta apasionante... y al mismo tiempo me hace tener un poco de miedo de que me guste tanto. Insisto, los conceptos, creo que al bajar al detalle es excesivamente gore.
Y no le he puesto las cinco estrellas por un motivo que no tiene nada que ver con el juego, sino con la forma que han tenido desde la editorial de publicarlo. Por los dos libros que no han sacado aún, y por el de aventuras que anunciaron en tapa dura y finalmente ha sido tapa blanda, por mucha excusa sobre contenido y presupuestos que hayan dado, era una meta y se supone que alcanzada, si algo ha hecho que a última hora se saliera de presupuesto... pues que queréis que os diga, son profesionales que deberían haber tenido en cuenta todas las variables. Ahora bien, tengo que decirlo. Al menos del tomo que tengo entre mis manos. Y es que es una auténtica maravilla en cuanto a su factura. El libro es una auténtica preciosidad... a nivel factura, luego como he dicho el contenido de ilustraciones en algún caso puede ser un poco perturbador. Pero es una maravilla, de verdad. El papel, las tintas, los dorados, la paleta de colores...
En fin, de nuevo vuelve a generarme sensaciones encontradas, ya os contaré cuando lleguen el resto de los libros...
Conocí Kult hace más de veinte años, cuando estaba en el instituto, por publicidad, y formaba parte de una serie de juegos de terror contemporáneo que salieron poco más o menos al mismo tiempo aquí en España: Nephilim, Ragnarok... y Vampiro. Y claro, Vampiro lo devoró todo, hasta el punto que hasta muchos años más tarde no volví a encontrarme con Kult, y me pasaron dos cosas con él. La ambientación y el trasfondo me dejaron absolutamente fascinado, pero creo que a día de hoy aún no he entendido el sistema de juego. Aquella idea de un Dios ausente, de unos arcontes en guerra, de un laberinto en el centro de la creación, de los ángeles caídos... Todo aquello molaba muchísimo.
Y muchos años después, Nosolorol ha traído de nuevo Kult a la palestra. Bueno, han tardado más de dos años en traerlo, y de aquella manera, las cosas como son, que yo participé a través de tienda solicitando los tres libros que se sacaban (Kult, Tarótica y La Virgen Negra), y dos años después solo han sacado uno de los tres... pero en fin, vamos a dejar esto aparte de momento. El caso es que en esta versión actualizada, han cambiado el sistema para adaptarlo al Apocalypse (otro sistema que tampoco he probado pero que al menos entiendo) y también han adaptado la ambientación para actualizarla a nuestro mundo de internet y redes sociales. El caso es que Kult: Divinidad Perdida ha vuelto de nuevo como un juego perturbador, actualizado con algunas reglas que me han resultado parecidas a Unknown Armies, por ejemplo, como el mapa de campaña que sugieren hacer.
En el mundo de Kult, los humanos somos dioses caídos, aprisionados en una mentira ilusoria por el Demiurgo y sus Arcontes, encarnaciones de diversas estructuras y conceptos que se corresponden con las luces de la Cábala. No hay un cielo, pues el nuestro es el nivel más alto de la realidad, y a nuestro alrededor, en los límites de esa ilusión, se mueven ángeles, demonios y extrañas criaturas de pesadilla. Kult es un juego de horror tangible, y me refiero con esto a que es un juego de vientres abiertos, criaturas despellejadas, garfios y fluidos de todo tipo, y quizá de hecho esta sea una de las cosas en las que me parece que es excesivamente turbio. Pero es tan sumamente retorcido que resulta apasionante... y al mismo tiempo me hace tener un poco de miedo de que me guste tanto. Insisto, los conceptos, creo que al bajar al detalle es excesivamente gore.
Y no le he puesto las cinco estrellas por un motivo que no tiene nada que ver con el juego, sino con la forma que han tenido desde la editorial de publicarlo. Por los dos libros que no han sacado aún, y por el de aventuras que anunciaron en tapa dura y finalmente ha sido tapa blanda, por mucha excusa sobre contenido y presupuestos que hayan dado, era una meta y se supone que alcanzada, si algo ha hecho que a última hora se saliera de presupuesto... pues que queréis que os diga, son profesionales que deberían haber tenido en cuenta todas las variables. Ahora bien, tengo que decirlo. Al menos del tomo que tengo entre mis manos. Y es que es una auténtica maravilla en cuanto a su factura. El libro es una auténtica preciosidad... a nivel factura, luego como he dicho el contenido de ilustraciones en algún caso puede ser un poco perturbador. Pero es una maravilla, de verdad. El papel, las tintas, los dorados, la paleta de colores...
En fin, de nuevo vuelve a generarme sensaciones encontradas, ya os contaré cuando lleguen el resto de los libros...
July 25, 2019
Reviewed without playing it.
This book is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but in the end the production value of this book pushed it up to a 4 star book. The design and the art in it is nothing but spectacular, if Guillermo del Toro would have directed Hellraiser, I think it might have looked a bit like this (as I see clear inspirations from both in the art). Also, how the pages are layed out and some small easter egg put in to the book. A fantastic work on the design of the book. Easy 5 stars, might be the best I have seen in a RPG book.
The Apocalypse world engine that the game runs on is very strange to me, as I am used to more classic systems. Without testing it out I cant really say if it is good or not, or if I like it or not. With a bit of work I think it will be possible to hack it into something like the Kult (1 ed) I used to play back in the days, or just make a straight BRP system out of it, that might work as well. But I will try a few one-shots with the system before I start to hack.
The GM section on how to build an adventure is one of the best I have read and might be my main take away from the book. Easy, visual and usefull.
Then we come to the meat of the book, the background. And here I run into some problems with Kult. As I said, I was GM for it back in the mid-90is, and I loved it. We had a lot of fun playing it in Our mid teens. It was dark, it was edgy, and it did not hurt that Kult got the swedish "satanic panic" treatment. Even my very liberal mother started to wonder what the fuck we where doing.
To start with, the book straight on the tin says that it deal with mature themes (and have a good section on how to deal with them with Your players, good). And some of these themes I dont like. That is nothing to do with the book, and they are up-front with it, but I dont like my RPG games to involve some things. Its just not fun for me. And sometimes these themes seems to be forced in just so the book can be extra edgy. That might have worked very well for 15 year old me, not so much for 39 year old me.
The second and third problem goes hand in hand. The book is very wordy and EVERYTHING is dark, and horrible, and painfull, and bad, and rusty, and bloody, and sacrifice and so an and so forth. The good guys are evil, the bad ones are worse and the ones in the middle are just horrible. If you gonna paint a Picture, you cant only paint it black. This makes the interesting ideas in Kult become repetative and boring. And that is the worst thing a RPG can be. Every creature want human sacrifices (for some reason), every metal surface is corroding (or extremely sterile), everything is dark, all concreat is crubling. And these two things put together made me get really bored while reading the stuff I was looking forward to read.
If you gonna have this super-mega-grim world you need at leat one of two Things: Hope or humor. Warhammer 40K is grim, "there is only war" bla bla bla. But everything is so over the top it gets funny. Some horror books can get away with being extremely nihilistic, because after you read it you are done with it. But an RPG you are supposed to stay with for a long time, with friends. "You are horrible, s/he is horrible, It is horrible and everything is horrible" is not interesting enough.
So when I play this in the future I think I will go more the CoC rute, normal people taking the fight to the mythos. And there will be good people in there as well. They might have to make some horrible Choices, many will probably die or go insane, and all will be changed when the game ends. But there will be hope in the end. The PC have made the world a little bit better. Not only changed one horror for another, because then, what is the point?
But that might just be me.
This book is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but in the end the production value of this book pushed it up to a 4 star book. The design and the art in it is nothing but spectacular, if Guillermo del Toro would have directed Hellraiser, I think it might have looked a bit like this (as I see clear inspirations from both in the art). Also, how the pages are layed out and some small easter egg put in to the book. A fantastic work on the design of the book. Easy 5 stars, might be the best I have seen in a RPG book.
The Apocalypse world engine that the game runs on is very strange to me, as I am used to more classic systems. Without testing it out I cant really say if it is good or not, or if I like it or not. With a bit of work I think it will be possible to hack it into something like the Kult (1 ed) I used to play back in the days, or just make a straight BRP system out of it, that might work as well. But I will try a few one-shots with the system before I start to hack.
The GM section on how to build an adventure is one of the best I have read and might be my main take away from the book. Easy, visual and usefull.
Then we come to the meat of the book, the background. And here I run into some problems with Kult. As I said, I was GM for it back in the mid-90is, and I loved it. We had a lot of fun playing it in Our mid teens. It was dark, it was edgy, and it did not hurt that Kult got the swedish "satanic panic" treatment. Even my very liberal mother started to wonder what the fuck we where doing.
To start with, the book straight on the tin says that it deal with mature themes (and have a good section on how to deal with them with Your players, good). And some of these themes I dont like. That is nothing to do with the book, and they are up-front with it, but I dont like my RPG games to involve some things. Its just not fun for me. And sometimes these themes seems to be forced in just so the book can be extra edgy. That might have worked very well for 15 year old me, not so much for 39 year old me.
The second and third problem goes hand in hand. The book is very wordy and EVERYTHING is dark, and horrible, and painfull, and bad, and rusty, and bloody, and sacrifice and so an and so forth. The good guys are evil, the bad ones are worse and the ones in the middle are just horrible. If you gonna paint a Picture, you cant only paint it black. This makes the interesting ideas in Kult become repetative and boring. And that is the worst thing a RPG can be. Every creature want human sacrifices (for some reason), every metal surface is corroding (or extremely sterile), everything is dark, all concreat is crubling. And these two things put together made me get really bored while reading the stuff I was looking forward to read.
If you gonna have this super-mega-grim world you need at leat one of two Things: Hope or humor. Warhammer 40K is grim, "there is only war" bla bla bla. But everything is so over the top it gets funny. Some horror books can get away with being extremely nihilistic, because after you read it you are done with it. But an RPG you are supposed to stay with for a long time, with friends. "You are horrible, s/he is horrible, It is horrible and everything is horrible" is not interesting enough.
So when I play this in the future I think I will go more the CoC rute, normal people taking the fight to the mythos. And there will be good people in there as well. They might have to make some horrible Choices, many will probably die or go insane, and all will be changed when the game ends. But there will be hope in the end. The PC have made the world a little bit better. Not only changed one horror for another, because then, what is the point?
But that might just be me.
October 2, 2021
Vivimos en un mundo en el que el sol se ha puesto. Por las calles desiertas de las moribundas ciudades vagan criaturas desamparadas. Ángeles caídos que guardan luto por su Creador buscan cobijo en catedrales abandonadas de acero y óxido. Tras las mudas fachadas de los rascacielos, unos individuos vestidos con trajes de diseño atan a sus víctimas a las frías mesas de autopsias. El terror y la sangre humana son los hilos que tejen rituales prohibidos. Los cadáveres mutilados se desechan en bolsas de plástico y no se los vuelve a ver más. Cada cruce, cada desvencijada escalera o puerta puede conducir a un mundo desconocido. Estamos presos en la frontera de la Oscuridad y la Locura, los Sueños y la Muerte. Sobre nuestros ojos hay un velo que enmascara la Verdad y mantiene dormidas nuestras almas divinas.
Kult: Divinidad Perdida es un libro de rol con una ambientación gótica de terror psicológico. Está dividido en tres partes, o libros: La Mentira, La Locura y La Verdad. Pero antes tenemos una pequeña historia que nos va adentrando en el oscuro y peligroso mundo de Kult. Libro I: La Mentira comienza con un capítulos donde ubica a los jugadores en este mundo y se habla del Demiurgo, un ser con un inmenso poder que bajó a la Tierra, atrapando y sometiendo a la humanidad. Para ello creó 10 Principios para encadenar a los humanos y quitarles el fuego divino. Ahora viven en un mundo falso, dormidos antes la realidad, hasta que su poder se debilitó y muchos despertaron. Los jugadores aquí son despertados de su sueño repentinamente, descubriendo la verdad: que toda la vida es una mentira. Estos jugadores se tendrán que enfrentar a una serie de horrores, hasta con sus propios pasados y miedos más extremos.
En este capítulo se trata sobre qué es un juego de rol, sus componentes y sus reglas, con un ejemplo completo y bastante claro. El capítulo 2 se dedica a los arquetipos, los cuales proporcionan un marco que permite a los jugadores crearse sus personajes. Hay 25 arquetipos muy distintos, pero si vemos que ninguno encaja con lo que queremos ser también podemos crear uno propio (siguiendo una norma de creación). Cada arquetipo dispone de dos páginas donde se hace una descripción, hay una imagen y se tratan sobre sus ocupaciones, secretos inconfesables, desventajas y ventajas, atributos, apariencias, nombre y relaciones. Podemos ser, por ejemplo, el académico, el agente, el artista, la cazafortunas, el delincuente o el juguete. También está el durmiente, aquellos jugadores que comienzan dormidos en su falsa vida hasta que, por un acontecimiento, despiertan (y cambian a un arquetipo). Acaba el capítulo con las normas para crear nuevos arquetipos (para descargar los personajes y arquetipos). El capítulo 3 sigue centrado en los personajes, pues es un capítulo donde se tratan de forma muy profunda las desventajas, ventajas y secretos inconfesables. Se complementa con el 4, que trata sobre los atributos y movimientos de los jugadores, relaciones con otros jugadores y ganchos dramáticos, así como el equipo (una armería).
El Libro II: La Locura se centra más en el papel del director del juego. El capítulo 5 trata sobre los principios para dirigir una partida, con bastantes consejos para hacerlo más vivo, dinámico y entretenido; las distintas escenas y los movimientos del director, sobre todo el cuándo y el cómo hacerlo; los conflictos; el contrato del terror y cuándo se revela la mentira. El 6 ayuda al director a plantear una historia, mientras que el 7 en la primera sesión. El 8 se centra en las influencias y los poderes superiores de Metrópolis, el Infierno, el Inframundo y el Limbo, así como cuestiones sobre los oponentes y movimientos exclusivos. El noveno nos ayuda a crear y manejar los mapas de intrigas, las reacciones o qué ocurre cuando un personaje jugador muere y cómo acabar la historia. El capítulo 10 habla de la creación de módulos, una historia cuyos componentes (historia y arquetipos) son elegidos por el propio director.
El Libro III: La Verdad es el más extenso, pues se centra en toda la ambientación del juego y todo el extenso lore de Kult, así como su bestiario particular. El capítulo 11 encontramos qué hay más allá del velo, con los principios, los arcontes (sus símbolos, esferas, aliados y enemigos) y los ángeles de la muerte. El 12 en la ilusión, el 13 en el Elíseo y la ciudad, con todos sus dioses; el 14 en la locura, el tratamiento psicológico, la paranoia, las alucinaciones, fobias y toc, la depresión, el pánico y los trastornos de personalidad, así como las sectas. El 15 se centra en las pasiones, el 16 en la muerte y el sueño, el 17 en el Inframundo con sus siete niveles, el 18 en la Metrópoli, la ciudad de los muertes y ciudadelas, el Infierno en el 19, Gaia en el 20, los pactos y la magia en el 21 y el despertar en el 22. En todos ellos se trata en profundidad todas las criaturas, monstruos, ángeles y demonios que habitan estas esferas.
A nivel de juego, se nos aconseja que los jugadores comiencen todos como durmientes y que vayan despertando a medida que van apareciendo sus traumas y secretos más inconfesables. Tras esto, ya van eligiendo los arquetipos. El libro es muy fácil, ya que se nos dice exactamente qué partes más importantes leer tanto para los jugadores como para el director del juego, lo que facilita mucho el trabajo. Es un juego creado y pensado para que los jugadores tengan muy poco tiempo de respiro y estén en constante tensión y acción.
A nivel de trasfondo, Kult plantea un mundo muy oscuro y terrorífico. En él habrá drogas, muertes, suicidios, trastornos mentales y mucha violencia. Una trama creada y enfocada más en el horror personal de los propios jugadores, pues explora los rincones más oscuros y retorcidos de nuestras mentes. Ya he dicho que es un juego fácil de jugar, para el que solo necesitaremos 2d10 (dos dados de 10 caras) y unas hojas de personajes. Quizás no es un juego apto para todos los públicos, además se requiere de mucha interpretación, pero es un mundo tan bien conseguido y logrado que merece mucho la pena.
En cuanto al apartado artístico, al comienzo el libro nos va adentrando en el trasfondo de Kult con unas frases muy oscuras y pesimistas, con unas imágenes oscuras con un toque terrorífica y en un papel de negro penetrante por completo. El libro está completamente ilustrado y detallado hasta lo más mínimo. Me gustaría destacar todo el bestiario esparcido en el Libro III, porque es brutal y maravilloso. Un derroche artístico increíble. Por último, la edición también es magnífica, así como la exhaustiva traducción del texto original.
En conclusión, Kult: Divinidad Perdida nos plantea nuestro mundo con una humanidad encarcelada en un mundo onírico y falso por una serie de ángeles caídos. Un mundo fácil de jugar y sencillo, con un trasfondo súper bien creado y trabajado, el cual saca a la luz lo más oscuro de la mente humana y juega con sus propios miedos. Una historia asfixiante, caótica, una continua carrera llena de oscuridad y violencia. ¿Serás capaz de sobrevivir?
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Kult: Divinidad Perdida es un libro de rol con una ambientación gótica de terror psicológico. Está dividido en tres partes, o libros: La Mentira, La Locura y La Verdad. Pero antes tenemos una pequeña historia que nos va adentrando en el oscuro y peligroso mundo de Kult. Libro I: La Mentira comienza con un capítulos donde ubica a los jugadores en este mundo y se habla del Demiurgo, un ser con un inmenso poder que bajó a la Tierra, atrapando y sometiendo a la humanidad. Para ello creó 10 Principios para encadenar a los humanos y quitarles el fuego divino. Ahora viven en un mundo falso, dormidos antes la realidad, hasta que su poder se debilitó y muchos despertaron. Los jugadores aquí son despertados de su sueño repentinamente, descubriendo la verdad: que toda la vida es una mentira. Estos jugadores se tendrán que enfrentar a una serie de horrores, hasta con sus propios pasados y miedos más extremos.
En este capítulo se trata sobre qué es un juego de rol, sus componentes y sus reglas, con un ejemplo completo y bastante claro. El capítulo 2 se dedica a los arquetipos, los cuales proporcionan un marco que permite a los jugadores crearse sus personajes. Hay 25 arquetipos muy distintos, pero si vemos que ninguno encaja con lo que queremos ser también podemos crear uno propio (siguiendo una norma de creación). Cada arquetipo dispone de dos páginas donde se hace una descripción, hay una imagen y se tratan sobre sus ocupaciones, secretos inconfesables, desventajas y ventajas, atributos, apariencias, nombre y relaciones. Podemos ser, por ejemplo, el académico, el agente, el artista, la cazafortunas, el delincuente o el juguete. También está el durmiente, aquellos jugadores que comienzan dormidos en su falsa vida hasta que, por un acontecimiento, despiertan (y cambian a un arquetipo). Acaba el capítulo con las normas para crear nuevos arquetipos (para descargar los personajes y arquetipos). El capítulo 3 sigue centrado en los personajes, pues es un capítulo donde se tratan de forma muy profunda las desventajas, ventajas y secretos inconfesables. Se complementa con el 4, que trata sobre los atributos y movimientos de los jugadores, relaciones con otros jugadores y ganchos dramáticos, así como el equipo (una armería).
El Libro II: La Locura se centra más en el papel del director del juego. El capítulo 5 trata sobre los principios para dirigir una partida, con bastantes consejos para hacerlo más vivo, dinámico y entretenido; las distintas escenas y los movimientos del director, sobre todo el cuándo y el cómo hacerlo; los conflictos; el contrato del terror y cuándo se revela la mentira. El 6 ayuda al director a plantear una historia, mientras que el 7 en la primera sesión. El 8 se centra en las influencias y los poderes superiores de Metrópolis, el Infierno, el Inframundo y el Limbo, así como cuestiones sobre los oponentes y movimientos exclusivos. El noveno nos ayuda a crear y manejar los mapas de intrigas, las reacciones o qué ocurre cuando un personaje jugador muere y cómo acabar la historia. El capítulo 10 habla de la creación de módulos, una historia cuyos componentes (historia y arquetipos) son elegidos por el propio director.
El Libro III: La Verdad es el más extenso, pues se centra en toda la ambientación del juego y todo el extenso lore de Kult, así como su bestiario particular. El capítulo 11 encontramos qué hay más allá del velo, con los principios, los arcontes (sus símbolos, esferas, aliados y enemigos) y los ángeles de la muerte. El 12 en la ilusión, el 13 en el Elíseo y la ciudad, con todos sus dioses; el 14 en la locura, el tratamiento psicológico, la paranoia, las alucinaciones, fobias y toc, la depresión, el pánico y los trastornos de personalidad, así como las sectas. El 15 se centra en las pasiones, el 16 en la muerte y el sueño, el 17 en el Inframundo con sus siete niveles, el 18 en la Metrópoli, la ciudad de los muertes y ciudadelas, el Infierno en el 19, Gaia en el 20, los pactos y la magia en el 21 y el despertar en el 22. En todos ellos se trata en profundidad todas las criaturas, monstruos, ángeles y demonios que habitan estas esferas.
A nivel de juego, se nos aconseja que los jugadores comiencen todos como durmientes y que vayan despertando a medida que van apareciendo sus traumas y secretos más inconfesables. Tras esto, ya van eligiendo los arquetipos. El libro es muy fácil, ya que se nos dice exactamente qué partes más importantes leer tanto para los jugadores como para el director del juego, lo que facilita mucho el trabajo. Es un juego creado y pensado para que los jugadores tengan muy poco tiempo de respiro y estén en constante tensión y acción.
A nivel de trasfondo, Kult plantea un mundo muy oscuro y terrorífico. En él habrá drogas, muertes, suicidios, trastornos mentales y mucha violencia. Una trama creada y enfocada más en el horror personal de los propios jugadores, pues explora los rincones más oscuros y retorcidos de nuestras mentes. Ya he dicho que es un juego fácil de jugar, para el que solo necesitaremos 2d10 (dos dados de 10 caras) y unas hojas de personajes. Quizás no es un juego apto para todos los públicos, además se requiere de mucha interpretación, pero es un mundo tan bien conseguido y logrado que merece mucho la pena.
En cuanto al apartado artístico, al comienzo el libro nos va adentrando en el trasfondo de Kult con unas frases muy oscuras y pesimistas, con unas imágenes oscuras con un toque terrorífica y en un papel de negro penetrante por completo. El libro está completamente ilustrado y detallado hasta lo más mínimo. Me gustaría destacar todo el bestiario esparcido en el Libro III, porque es brutal y maravilloso. Un derroche artístico increíble. Por último, la edición también es magnífica, así como la exhaustiva traducción del texto original.
En conclusión, Kult: Divinidad Perdida nos plantea nuestro mundo con una humanidad encarcelada en un mundo onírico y falso por una serie de ángeles caídos. Un mundo fácil de jugar y sencillo, con un trasfondo súper bien creado y trabajado, el cual saca a la luz lo más oscuro de la mente humana y juega con sus propios miedos. Una historia asfixiante, caótica, una continua carrera llena de oscuridad y violencia. ¿Serás capaz de sobrevivir?
https://lagranbibliotecadedavid.blogs...
March 14, 2025
Even when I have never played it, I have loved (ok, really liked) KULT from the moment I first read about it. It is in many ways the ultimate RPG, since both players and player characters try to get away from what they think is reality. Many modern fantasy RPGs have a bit of that—my dearly beloved Unknown Armies, and the different Mages come to mind—but there is something special about KULT. Maybe it is just that it was the first one of its kind I heard of. Or its judeo-christian-but-not-quite mythology. I however, think it is its approach to horror: deeply personal, deeply disturbing, and somehow terribly beautiful. I suppose it has a lot to do with that “exquisite pain” people write about, but I am unable to enjoy even when people tickle me, so what do I know. Let me try to say it another way: if you like this game you are 1) just pretending, you emo, 2) fucked up (even if it is just a little bit), or 3) truly enlightened, if not about Reality, at the very least about what moves people. I think I am somewhere between 1 and 2.
This new edition has done something great for an excellent setting: bring a whole new set of rules. One reason I have never played the game is because by the time I got it the rules felt a bit old and heavy. The new one is a phenomenal system that nevertheless needs very committed players and GMs. The former are not going to roll dice very often, and the latter nothing at all. If there is a system that is only an excuse for the story, is this one. I do not mean simply that is a light one—it is—but also that is a system where rolling is merely a way of moving the story forward, not a confrontation. As a player, you need to accept (and enjoy) that sometimes you are going to botch a roll, and things are going to take a hard turn south for your character.
Visually speaking the book is gorgeous. I never thought silver and gold lettering could look so good. The illustrations range from the eeriely beautiful to the fucked up macabre, but their quality is always extremely high. I am glad I did not have to share them with other people on the bus though.
In summary. I love the setting, the rules, and the book itself. What is the problem then? Scenarios, or the lack of. Specially in complex games like this one, where the setting is more than a place to walk through, it is good to have examples on how to bring everything together. I know there are books out there to fix this problem—two are sitting on my shelf as I write this—but having something inside the core rulebook would have made it a more solid product. Until I have read something else, I am afraid I will keep my 2nd edition opinions: Great setting, I am not so sure how good of a game it is though.
This new edition has done something great for an excellent setting: bring a whole new set of rules. One reason I have never played the game is because by the time I got it the rules felt a bit old and heavy. The new one is a phenomenal system that nevertheless needs very committed players and GMs. The former are not going to roll dice very often, and the latter nothing at all. If there is a system that is only an excuse for the story, is this one. I do not mean simply that is a light one—it is—but also that is a system where rolling is merely a way of moving the story forward, not a confrontation. As a player, you need to accept (and enjoy) that sometimes you are going to botch a roll, and things are going to take a hard turn south for your character.
Visually speaking the book is gorgeous. I never thought silver and gold lettering could look so good. The illustrations range from the eeriely beautiful to the fucked up macabre, but their quality is always extremely high. I am glad I did not have to share them with other people on the bus though.
In summary. I love the setting, the rules, and the book itself. What is the problem then? Scenarios, or the lack of. Specially in complex games like this one, where the setting is more than a place to walk through, it is good to have examples on how to bring everything together. I know there are books out there to fix this problem—two are sitting on my shelf as I write this—but having something inside the core rulebook would have made it a more solid product. Until I have read something else, I am afraid I will keep my 2nd edition opinions: Great setting, I am not so sure how good of a game it is though.
July 22, 2021
Kult 4ª Edición es un juego redondo. Soy fan de la franquicia desde 2ª Edición y creo que los cambios que trae 4ª con respecto a 2ª son muy notables y muy positivos. Para empezar, cambia por completo el sistema, a uno más centrado en la narración que en las reglas, con ciertos parecidos al de Blades in the Dark. Esto le viene muy bien a Kult, ya que los juegos de miedo no se basan en sistemas complejos sino en la presión de la historia, de modo que un sistema centrado en mantener esa historia avanzando le encaja muy bien. A mayores, el manual incluye muchísimo más trasfondo del que incluía antiguamente, cubriendo muchos temas diferentes, aunque como siempre no es recomendable leerlo si no vas a dirigir Kult, porque sin duda está lleno de spoilers de todo tipo.
La maquetación quizás sea el punto más negativo que le veo. No me malinterpretéis, la maquetación es brutal, la calidad del manual es muy buena, todo a color, etc. Pero en las imágenes, si bien ahora tienen una calidad mucho mayor, se ha rebajado ampliamente el tono con respecto a las antiguas, mucho más brutas y crudas.
Pero, en resumen, la 4ª Edición de Kult es una delicia que vale muchísimo la pena.
La maquetación quizás sea el punto más negativo que le veo. No me malinterpretéis, la maquetación es brutal, la calidad del manual es muy buena, todo a color, etc. Pero en las imágenes, si bien ahora tienen una calidad mucho mayor, se ha rebajado ampliamente el tono con respecto a las antiguas, mucho más brutas y crudas.
Pero, en resumen, la 4ª Edición de Kult es una delicia que vale muchísimo la pena.
July 13, 2023
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.c...
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.c...
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.
Read
February 5, 2022Another in my series of checking out all the RPGs at the Austin Public Library. This is the 4th edition of the Swedish game Kult, a game I've long heard of and maybe even flipped through, but never really chewed over.
But for whatever reason, this wasn't really my taste. Is it too 90s, too ::guitar chord:: metal, too self-consciously twisted? Like: There's one image of a dark angel with its finger unspooling a dead baby's guts, and honestly, this is less shocking than slightly cliched. In fact, though the production is lavish -- the first ~30 pages are all some dim images with just a few words, either a great waste of space or an intro setting the tone -- I found myself getting bored at the subjects: blah blah, bloodied angels, blah blah, sutures and sewn flesh, blah blah. Again, this reminds me of the 90s, when such things were shocking and interesting. Here it plays like a middling cover band: good chops, but always raising the question of why this now?
The premise of the game is also pure 90s, the decade when nerds discovered gnosticism: there's a dark demiurge who enslaved the divine humans, some of whom are now awakening into their power and have to fight against our jailers, leading to power and madness. One nice note, though, is that the demiurge has disappeared, and our jailers are all in disarray. Or is that a nice note? I go back and forth: on one hand, it's a nice twist on the gnostic "world as prison under the demiurge" plot; on the other hand, it gives the game a fractured sense of purpose. Or rather, the game wants to offer so many different mind-altering ideas -- there is a divine metropolis of which all cities are echoes! there's a realm of dreams! there's primordial nature! there's vampires too! -- that it ends up coloring more in muddied browns than stark colors. Like Shadows of the Demon Lord, I'm left wondering: what is the story I would want to tell here? What's worth fighting for?
(Another nice note: humans are enslaved divinities, sure, but when we were in our power, we weren't the kindest -- we took our own slaves, left our own scars on existence.)
So, I can't say that I'm attracted to this game as I understand it, but there's a lot here about running horror games safely that appeals to me; and there is so much here that you might be able to find something to play. Here's my pitch: the demiurge is dead, humanity is awakening to its divinity, reality is crumbling from above and below, but power isn't the only answer: sure, you have to protect yourselves against the demiurge's angels who are trying to put you back to sleep, but you have to find some way to make amends with the horrors of your divine past, perhaps even building alliances among former enemies, making reparations to those beings you've hurt in the past. A game not of enlightened beings fighting for their own self-realization alone, but of atonement.
But for whatever reason, this wasn't really my taste. Is it too 90s, too ::guitar chord:: metal, too self-consciously twisted? Like: There's one image of a dark angel with its finger unspooling a dead baby's guts, and honestly, this is less shocking than slightly cliched. In fact, though the production is lavish -- the first ~30 pages are all some dim images with just a few words, either a great waste of space or an intro setting the tone -- I found myself getting bored at the subjects: blah blah, bloodied angels, blah blah, sutures and sewn flesh, blah blah. Again, this reminds me of the 90s, when such things were shocking and interesting. Here it plays like a middling cover band: good chops, but always raising the question of why this now?
The premise of the game is also pure 90s, the decade when nerds discovered gnosticism: there's a dark demiurge who enslaved the divine humans, some of whom are now awakening into their power and have to fight against our jailers, leading to power and madness. One nice note, though, is that the demiurge has disappeared, and our jailers are all in disarray. Or is that a nice note? I go back and forth: on one hand, it's a nice twist on the gnostic "world as prison under the demiurge" plot; on the other hand, it gives the game a fractured sense of purpose. Or rather, the game wants to offer so many different mind-altering ideas -- there is a divine metropolis of which all cities are echoes! there's a realm of dreams! there's primordial nature! there's vampires too! -- that it ends up coloring more in muddied browns than stark colors. Like Shadows of the Demon Lord, I'm left wondering: what is the story I would want to tell here? What's worth fighting for?
(Another nice note: humans are enslaved divinities, sure, but when we were in our power, we weren't the kindest -- we took our own slaves, left our own scars on existence.)
So, I can't say that I'm attracted to this game as I understand it, but there's a lot here about running horror games safely that appeals to me; and there is so much here that you might be able to find something to play. Here's my pitch: the demiurge is dead, humanity is awakening to its divinity, reality is crumbling from above and below, but power isn't the only answer: sure, you have to protect yourselves against the demiurge's angels who are trying to put you back to sleep, but you have to find some way to make amends with the horrors of your divine past, perhaps even building alliances among former enemies, making reparations to those beings you've hurt in the past. A game not of enlightened beings fighting for their own self-realization alone, but of atonement.
December 17, 2021
This is a better game than the first edition, Kult: Death is Only the Beginning..., which I gave five stars. There are reasons it gets a lower rating, though.
1. In some ways, the interior art of the first edition of the game is better. The first edition is more consistently quite good, at least, though the archetype images weren't great in either edition.
2. The new edition just is not quite as good as it could be. The first edition included some very interesting rules that were pretty cutting edge at the time, such as the "mental balance" rules that could result in fundamental transformations of the character, while the new edition doesn't really push the envelope for rules as much, and actually replaced the "mental balance" rules with something more like a very pedestrian (by current standards) mental trauma scale. In addition, while the fourth edition of the game is greatly enhanced by using PBTA rules, it does not use them as fully or as well as it could -- close, but not quite -- and that may be my biggest disappointment.
I was eager to start playing it at the time I first wrote this review (a while before this edit); the game overall looked fantastic, and that assessment proved correct in play. Seriously, it's great. We just have to PBTA-ize it a little more on the fly for maximum value.
Be forwarned: it's DARK. You should be prepared for one of the most thematically dark RPGs on the market, going into this. I'll describe a little bit of the cosmology to give you an idea:
The cosmology of Kult is heavily inspired by Gnostic heresies, wherein the world as we know it was created by a malevolent entity called the Demiurge. The true nature of humanity is well-described by Yoda: "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." We were, in short, essentially gods -- or, perhaps, emanations of the true God, or whatever (different Gnostic sects disagreed on particulars). The world as we know it is a prison in which humanity is trapped, subjected to a world the Demiurge controls, and we are kept blind to the truth of our own divinity. It seems the Gnostics saw a clear distinction between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament, and could not logically reconcile the two, so they figured the Old Testament God is the Demiurge, and Jesus is a messenger of the true God, or of ourselves, or something to that effect.
So, in a nutshell, the Demiurge -- the God of the world in Kult -- is a sadistic, power-hungry villain who fears the day we will regain knowledge of our true nature. On top of that, the devil ("Astaroth" in this gameworld) is his "evil twin", even worse than the Demiurge. Monstrous legions of the Demiurge's servants maintain our prison and keep us trapped in the illusion.
How dark is this game? It's so dark that even the Demiurge has died or disappeared, swallowed up by some dark mystery, and when Astaroth went to look for his twin brother he came back savagely damaged and decided to just undertake the work of usurping his missing brother's power.
On top of all that, humanity being "divine" doesn't necessarily mean we're all nice folks by nature. Before imprisonment, humanity had slave creatures, perverse entertainments, and so on. In theory, though, at least we're supposed to be better folk than the Demiurge and Astaroth. Let's not even talk about the Archons who served under the Demiurge, and the Archons' generally horrific minion angels, or the Death Angels who are Astaroth's equivalents of the Archons.
Primordial nature itself (called Gaia) is a monstrous thing that twists everything it touches. Achlys is a howling void that can destroy even the most divinely potent being's sense of self. Limbo, the dream world, is filled with horrors. It goes on.
It's all richly portrayed, and it's great stuff for people like my best friend who, when I referred to the fact there are people in the world who refuse to watch any movie in which the dog dies, said "Those are the only movies I watch." He was half-kidding, I think.
So, there we go. That's Kult, and these are my impressions of it, to some extent. Wish my character luck.
---
After the second read and some time spent playing the game, I'll say that with the right group and enough familiarity with PBTA games generally to really understand the keys to how and why they work so well, playing 4E Kult has been among my all-time favorite gaming experiences over almost four decades of playing RPGs so far (including games I've created myself).
My above-stated reasons for giving it four stars still apply.
---
I have both the Enlightened Edition and the second Bible Edition:
The Enlightened Edition's index is nigh useless. The Bible Edition's index is excellent.
The Enlightened Edition is beautiful, even given some minor shortcomings of the artwork (described in the above review). The Bible Edition is largely without illustration, but is extremely handy.
The Enlightened Edition is huge, substantial, and wonderfully imposing. The Bible Edition is smallish, convenient, and somehow has a more occult/esoteric feel to it (as do some editions of the Christian Bible).
When reading the Enlightened Edition, it was an experience throughout. When reading the Bible Edition, I quickly just forgot about the book itself and got absorbed in the game aspects of it. This makes the Enlightened Edition printing a consciously enjoyed pursuit and the Bible Edition highly practical and effective as a game reference (especially with the improved index). I read both, pretty much straight from front to back, in addition to going through them as reference books a fair amount, and the differing feel of them contributed to me getting different learning experiences from each in my absorption of the game and its atmosphere. I'm quite glad to have both.
I appreciate and enjoy the design aesthetic of both, though now that I have the Bible Edition my Enlightened Edition is mostly on a shelf, occasionally pulled out to just enjoy the atmosphere of its interior graphic design.
1. In some ways, the interior art of the first edition of the game is better. The first edition is more consistently quite good, at least, though the archetype images weren't great in either edition.
2. The new edition just is not quite as good as it could be. The first edition included some very interesting rules that were pretty cutting edge at the time, such as the "mental balance" rules that could result in fundamental transformations of the character, while the new edition doesn't really push the envelope for rules as much, and actually replaced the "mental balance" rules with something more like a very pedestrian (by current standards) mental trauma scale. In addition, while the fourth edition of the game is greatly enhanced by using PBTA rules, it does not use them as fully or as well as it could -- close, but not quite -- and that may be my biggest disappointment.
I was eager to start playing it at the time I first wrote this review (a while before this edit); the game overall looked fantastic, and that assessment proved correct in play. Seriously, it's great. We just have to PBTA-ize it a little more on the fly for maximum value.
Be forwarned: it's DARK. You should be prepared for one of the most thematically dark RPGs on the market, going into this. I'll describe a little bit of the cosmology to give you an idea:
The cosmology of Kult is heavily inspired by Gnostic heresies, wherein the world as we know it was created by a malevolent entity called the Demiurge. The true nature of humanity is well-described by Yoda: "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." We were, in short, essentially gods -- or, perhaps, emanations of the true God, or whatever (different Gnostic sects disagreed on particulars). The world as we know it is a prison in which humanity is trapped, subjected to a world the Demiurge controls, and we are kept blind to the truth of our own divinity. It seems the Gnostics saw a clear distinction between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament, and could not logically reconcile the two, so they figured the Old Testament God is the Demiurge, and Jesus is a messenger of the true God, or of ourselves, or something to that effect.
So, in a nutshell, the Demiurge -- the God of the world in Kult -- is a sadistic, power-hungry villain who fears the day we will regain knowledge of our true nature. On top of that, the devil ("Astaroth" in this gameworld) is his "evil twin", even worse than the Demiurge. Monstrous legions of the Demiurge's servants maintain our prison and keep us trapped in the illusion.
How dark is this game? It's so dark that even the Demiurge has died or disappeared, swallowed up by some dark mystery, and when Astaroth went to look for his twin brother he came back savagely damaged and decided to just undertake the work of usurping his missing brother's power.
On top of all that, humanity being "divine" doesn't necessarily mean we're all nice folks by nature. Before imprisonment, humanity had slave creatures, perverse entertainments, and so on. In theory, though, at least we're supposed to be better folk than the Demiurge and Astaroth. Let's not even talk about the Archons who served under the Demiurge, and the Archons' generally horrific minion angels, or the Death Angels who are Astaroth's equivalents of the Archons.
Primordial nature itself (called Gaia) is a monstrous thing that twists everything it touches. Achlys is a howling void that can destroy even the most divinely potent being's sense of self. Limbo, the dream world, is filled with horrors. It goes on.
It's all richly portrayed, and it's great stuff for people like my best friend who, when I referred to the fact there are people in the world who refuse to watch any movie in which the dog dies, said "Those are the only movies I watch." He was half-kidding, I think.
So, there we go. That's Kult, and these are my impressions of it, to some extent. Wish my character luck.
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After the second read and some time spent playing the game, I'll say that with the right group and enough familiarity with PBTA games generally to really understand the keys to how and why they work so well, playing 4E Kult has been among my all-time favorite gaming experiences over almost four decades of playing RPGs so far (including games I've created myself).
My above-stated reasons for giving it four stars still apply.
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I have both the Enlightened Edition and the second Bible Edition:
The Enlightened Edition's index is nigh useless. The Bible Edition's index is excellent.
The Enlightened Edition is beautiful, even given some minor shortcomings of the artwork (described in the above review). The Bible Edition is largely without illustration, but is extremely handy.
The Enlightened Edition is huge, substantial, and wonderfully imposing. The Bible Edition is smallish, convenient, and somehow has a more occult/esoteric feel to it (as do some editions of the Christian Bible).
When reading the Enlightened Edition, it was an experience throughout. When reading the Bible Edition, I quickly just forgot about the book itself and got absorbed in the game aspects of it. This makes the Enlightened Edition printing a consciously enjoyed pursuit and the Bible Edition highly practical and effective as a game reference (especially with the improved index). I read both, pretty much straight from front to back, in addition to going through them as reference books a fair amount, and the differing feel of them contributed to me getting different learning experiences from each in my absorption of the game and its atmosphere. I'm quite glad to have both.
I appreciate and enjoy the design aesthetic of both, though now that I have the Bible Edition my Enlightened Edition is mostly on a shelf, occasionally pulled out to just enjoy the atmosphere of its interior graphic design.
March 21, 2020
So I loved Kult the day it came out back in the 90s. After years of not playing it, this came KULT Divinity Lost. I had only touched briefly on the PbtA through a couple of session of DW.
The rules fits the game really. Robin and the others has designed a great game. The text flows well, both speaking of the rules, and how to play, the text also succeed to draw you as a reader into the world. Even when you read about the moves, the dark secrets and advantages and the playbooks; archetypes that you as a player choose to create your character. The atmosphere and the dark mood of Kult universe is there too.
The design is very well done, the illustrations, the text and the setting hold the Kult universe and as said earlier. Draws you as a reader in, even if you not going to play, its a good story hidden among the pages. I would say the language is very well done. Written in Swedish, translated into English. It's easy to understand, follow. Each rule is explained perfectly. The book is also filled with hints, tips and ideas to make Kult alive with your play group.
The rules fits the game really. Robin and the others has designed a great game. The text flows well, both speaking of the rules, and how to play, the text also succeed to draw you as a reader into the world. Even when you read about the moves, the dark secrets and advantages and the playbooks; archetypes that you as a player choose to create your character. The atmosphere and the dark mood of Kult universe is there too.
The design is very well done, the illustrations, the text and the setting hold the Kult universe and as said earlier. Draws you as a reader in, even if you not going to play, its a good story hidden among the pages. I would say the language is very well done. Written in Swedish, translated into English. It's easy to understand, follow. Each rule is explained perfectly. The book is also filled with hints, tips and ideas to make Kult alive with your play group.
September 1, 2020
Creo que no voy añadir en Goodreads los manuales de rol o técnicos y ceñirme solo a los libros de narrativa.
Pero ya que en este caso lo he añadido comento que sin duda esta edición de Kult es la mejor, con diferencia, de este juego. Llevo jugando desde su primera edición y aunque caí enamorado de su ambientación desde el primer minuto siempre he pensado que su sistema era, como mínimo, mejorable.
Con el sistema PbtA Kult alcanza todo su esplendor. Pero hay que tener en cuenta que es un PbtA con trampa ya que es bastante restrictivo y los módulos no se improvisan como es natural en el género, sino que están diseñados igual que para cualquier otro juego tradicional. Pero el sistema de movimientos consigue que la trama fluya de forma continua, incluso cuando los jugadores están más trabados (algo relativamente habitual en las aventuras de Kult, que suelen tener una trama oculta tras otra).
Pero ya que en este caso lo he añadido comento que sin duda esta edición de Kult es la mejor, con diferencia, de este juego. Llevo jugando desde su primera edición y aunque caí enamorado de su ambientación desde el primer minuto siempre he pensado que su sistema era, como mínimo, mejorable.
Con el sistema PbtA Kult alcanza todo su esplendor. Pero hay que tener en cuenta que es un PbtA con trampa ya que es bastante restrictivo y los módulos no se improvisan como es natural en el género, sino que están diseñados igual que para cualquier otro juego tradicional. Pero el sistema de movimientos consigue que la trama fluya de forma continua, incluso cuando los jugadores están más trabados (algo relativamente habitual en las aventuras de Kult, que suelen tener una trama oculta tras otra).
October 17, 2022
6/5. This is perfection in RPGs. Incredible design, layout, astonishing illustrations, a new system based of PbtA that enhance playability and gives more room to narrative. Half of this big book is setting, with plenty of ideas for creating adventures. And of course it lives up and go beyond the classic Kult in its transgressiveness, extreme horror, and what's better with clear rules and tools like The Horror Contract which let the narrator and players adjust the narrative. And it's so easy to create characters and npc's, that it's almost plug-and-play! This is a love letter to game design and to how to do a great remake.
August 19, 2020
A rulebook for an RPG is always a trickey thing. Where to put the balance between introduction to what roleplaying is, the rules for your world, and background information about the world. This last one is usually a bit lacking for core books of other systems, but Kult does give ample information about what its setting is all about. The only thing I would say was missing, was some kind of metaplot. The book contains a plethora of specifics and content about the setting, but no real story to to tie all this bits together. But this will certainly be included in other books of this setting.
July 4, 2021
La edición es preciosa y el manual es un lujo a nivel visual y de lectura, pero creo que en muchos temas (y hasta estética) se ha quedado firmemente anclado en la década de los 90 y le cuesta salir de ahí. No me termina de convencer el sistema, aunque sé que gusta a mucha gente, y hubiera agradecido que el trasfondo estuviera antes que las reglas. Sin embargo, en global, es un juego interesantísimo y con mucho potencial.
February 23, 2022
Uno de los manuales más bonitos que he visto nunca, el arte es espectacular. Un sistema sencillo que deja mucho a la interpretación. Como punto negativo diría que es un juego muy crudo, en el que aparecerán temas muy duros y que ha mucha gente no le gustarán. Ya el propio juego te lo advierte. Creo que es un juego en el que los jugadores tienen que ser muy conscientes de a qué se enfrentan y consensuar que temas quieren evitar .
October 21, 2018
A masterful game that dives deep into the human psyche. As close to urban fantasy as it is to horror and clearly inspired by early Clive Baker. I love it but would only recommend it to anyone that enjoys a setting that is truly dark and disturbing. It is filled with religion, sex, violence, abuse and Gnostic mysticism and Jungian themes. Extremely well written.
November 7, 2020
One of my favorite Rpg settings of yesteryear redone using a modified Apocalypse World engine.
I was impressed with the metric ton of lore and background content you get in the core book, and also happy to see that they doubled down on the games dark horror roots (which were dulled a bit in previous editions).
I was impressed with the metric ton of lore and background content you get in the core book, and also happy to see that they doubled down on the games dark horror roots (which were dulled a bit in previous editions).
December 20, 2022
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.wordp...
September 28, 2024
Me encanta el worldbuilding que se plantea en sus páginas, crear historias con este sentimiento de caída al abismo siempre me ha llamado la atención, viendo sus páginas puedo decir que es mucho más amigable para los jugadores que para el DM, pero vale la pena para contar historias que se queden contigo.
November 29, 2025
some of the organization and editing of this original kickstarter edition leaves the first time reader a bit lost occasionally. some of the lore is a bit sketchy or difficult to synthesize into a consistent whole. But the brilliance of the marriage of personal human centric horror with this gnostic and enlightenment cosmology and the fantastic rule set make this definitely exciting to play.
July 6, 2018
An impressive feat of game design.
February 2, 2019
Känns som ett habilt apocalypse world hack.
December 27, 2019
Interesting setting, fabulous system. I love using a d10 for a PbtA game rather than d6s.
February 25, 2021
I'm still not entirely sold on the the system but I love the setting and the book itself is absolutely gorgeous. The chapter on Inferno left me wanting to take a shower.
April 3, 2021
A nightmarish roleplaying game of true horror. Puts games like Call of Cthulhu to shame.
September 8, 2025
A bad attempt at trying PbtA in Kult. No. It looks nice, thats two stars at best.
February 6, 2022
This is the best RPG system ever, because it touches tons ov roleplaying material, a character's inner fears, regrets, faults, and other bad things in life. It sets in our world, with a different kind ov perspective. Mechanics are extremely easy. Simply, a player use one ov ten action depending on the scene, called "Player Move" and rolls 2d10+relevant ability bonus. There is no complicated combat rules, or other shit. And you can create a dark and chaotic story with your players involving the storytelling. It's hard on the players' side, because the game contains physical or psychological abusement, harrassment, and sexual content.
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