The Inside Scoop on Gaming

It's amazing how one book can be, at the same time, both one of the most interesting, innovative and imaginative book designs I've seen and the most infuriating to actually deal with. Being in love with the game Kult even before I managed to actually obtain a copy of the rulebook, I snatched this book off of eBay as soon as I saw it, and I was startled when it arrived and I actually saw how it was laid out.

The entire book has no real cover. Instead, it's nestled inside some folder-like wrapping with a blue and black design on it, and the Kult logo as well. After opening this up, you find that the book is stapled to its spine and reads sideways, so you have to hold the book oddly to read. Furthermore, while the layout of the text is interesting before you read it, once you get into the book, the lack of actual paragraphs or spacing gets annoying, as does the sharply contrasting background patterns on many pages. There are no chapters, page numbers or an index. The art is similarly interesting and eccentric, but doesn't have the same infuriating influence on the book. It looks like the art department got a hold of it and decided to "try a few things" just before it went off to the printer. I'm told that some other Kult books are even worse, almost completely illegible, but this was bad enough. It was terrible difficult to read at times, having to be in just the right position to be decipherable. It's a neat look, but it's a case study in how not to do layout.

The text itself is interesting and well-written enough, giving more information on how Purgatories form and the Nepharites that tend to them. After a very brief introduction, the book gives a fair amount of detail on ten various Nepharites, a sampling of the most powerful and the most ambitious. They were, as a rule, interesting, even if too many of them seemed to be part of a conspiracy to overthrow the Death Angels. I was also surprised that game stats were given for each as well (especially considering that they weren't spectacular. Kult never seemed to be a game where you could conceive of taking on such beings instead of just surviving them. Aside from that, their personalities and preferences for various sins are described, and the common elements of their Purgatories are mentioned. The book ends with a look at some of the prominent sins of the modern era and where those sinner go, as well as some new spells for the Lore of Death dealing with Purgatories (and dangerous to deal with) and some sinister artifacts. There are a lot of good ideas here, but they are generally not of much broad use, especially in a more down-to-Earth game of Kult where the supernatural is more frightening than commonplace.

All in all, the book strongly reminds me of the book I read before it (although it was printed afterward), The Thousand Hells for White Wolf's game line, Kindred of the East. It's a collection of the more prominent entities in charge of punishing sinners, gaining power off of their guilt and pain, but I think that the White Wolf accomplished the task better actually. It was cleaner, easier to read, had more information on the important figures, didn't bother with stats and had a great deal more space devoted to exactly how to use this material, as well as more general information on the spiritual world sinners are exiled to. Purgatory is still good, but it's rather short and focused, those who want more information and ideas should definitely check out The Thousand Hells.

The book was worth the money and time I invested into it; I enjoyed reading it even if it was a pain in the ass. Like the rest of the Kult material, it is just chock full of great ideas and terrible truths, this is the kind of horror game I love.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Purgatory
Author: Jason Fryer Category: game Company/Publisher: Target Games AB Line: Kult Page count: around 40-50, at a guestimate ISBN: 91-7898-420-3 SKU: #5015 Capsule Review by Derek Guder on 04/29/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern_day Horror Gothic	It's amazing how one book can be, at the same time, both one of the most interesting, innovative and imaginative book designs I've seen and the most infuriating to actually deal with. Being in love with the game *Kult* even before I managed to actually obtain a copy of the rulebook, I snatched this book off of eBay as soon as I saw it, and I was startled when it arrived and I actually saw how it was laid out. The entire book has no real cover. Instead, it's nestled inside some folder-like wrapping with a blue and black design on it, and the *Kult* logo as well. After opening this up, you find that the book is stapled to its spine and reads sideways, so you have to hold the book oddly to read. Furthermore, while the layout of the text is interesting before you read it, once you get into the book, the lack of actual paragraphs or spacing gets annoying, as does the sharply contrasting background patterns on many pages. There are no chapters, page numbers or an index. The art is similarly interesting and eccentric, but doesn't have the same infuriating influence on the book. It looks like the art department got a hold of it and decided to "try a few things" just before it went off to the printer. I'm told that some other *Kult* books are even worse, almost completely illegible, but this was bad enough. It was terrible difficult to read at times, having to be in just the right position to be decipherable. It's a neat look, but it's a case study in how not to do layout. The text itself is interesting and well-written enough, giving more information on how Purgatories form and the Nepharites that tend to them. After a very brief introduction, the book gives a fair amount of detail on ten various Nepharites, a sampling of the most powerful and the most ambitious. They were, as a rule, interesting, even if too many of them seemed to be part of a conspiracy to overthrow the Death Angels. I was also surprised that game stats were given for each as well (especially considering that they weren't spectacular. *Kult* never seemed to be a game where you could conceive of taking on such beings instead of just surviving them. Aside from that, their personalities and preferences for various sins are described, and the common elements of their Purgatories are mentioned. The book ends with a look at some of the prominent sins of the modern era and where those sinner go, as well as some new spells for the Lore of Death dealing with Purgatories (and dangerous to deal with) and some sinister artifacts. There are a lot of good ideas here, but they are generally not of much broad use, especially in a more down-to-Earth game of *Kult* where the supernatural is more frightening than commonplace. All in all, the book strongly reminds me of the book I read before it (although it was printed afterward), The Thousand Hells for White Wolf's game line, *Kindred of the East. It's a collection of the more prominent entities in charge of punishing sinners, gaining power off of their guilt and pain, but I think that the White Wolf accomplished the task better* actually. It was cleaner, easier to read, had more information on the important figures, didn't bother with stats and had a great deal more space devoted to exactly how to use this material, as well as more general information on the spiritual world sinners are exiled to. Purgatory is still good, but it's rather short and focused, those who want more information and ideas should definitely check out The Thousand Hells. The book was worth the money and time I invested into it; I enjoyed reading it even if it was a pain in the ass. Like the rest of the *Kult* material, it is just chock full of great ideas and terrible truths, this is the kind of horror game I love. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 4 (Meaty)