In the spirit of the Pokémon Jr Adventure Game, comes Pokéthulhu which combines the market tested appeal of anime cockfighting with the ageless horror of H P Lovecraft's writing. There is something about the unspeakable horror of Cthulhu that just begs, no screams (in terror), to be combined with Pokemon in a cute role-playing game. Finally someone has gone and done it. Kovalic & Ross no less, has there ever been a more ungodly collaboration?
Pokethulhu begins with three pages of the Dork Tower strip meant as an Introduction to Role-Playing. Of course it's nothing of the sort and like the game itself is a parody. Most of you will already have read this Dork Tower as it was featured in the Pyramid a while ago, but is no less amusing here, serving as a primer for those who might not have realized the book is a parody and not third edition.
The game itself is satire at it finest and filled with in-jokes for aficionados of both Pokemon and Lovecraft. In the world of Pokethuhlu, not to be mistaken with this world, or that of Call of Cthulhu or Pokemeon, adorably cute creatures of evil called `thulhu abound. For the most part they simply go around scaring adults, and amusing themselves being evil, but a few are tamed and trained by preteen cultists. These cultists collect `thulhu in `shining dodecahedrons' and train them to compete with one another in never ending battles for dominance. Adults lack the sanity to control or even stand up to `Thulhu so it really is up to the kids to save the day when it really hits the fan.
A nice touch is the inside front cover's map, which details the world of Pokethulhu, or at least a small portion of it. Such notable locations as Merciless hill and the Muskratonic Valley beg for exploration by a team of intrepid cultists. While the enigmatic sign bearing only an arrow and the word `yellow' is simply an unfathomable conundrum wrapped in a mystery, unless you know your Lovecraft.
I was surprised how well the game reads and how the game system ran fairly smoothly. `Thulhu each have stats for power, speed and hit points pretty standard fare for any RPG. They are further described with two of eight aspects such as Fishy or sticky and a single weakness from the same list. The aspects enter play in relation to attacks and defense in which an attack using a specific aspect such as a decomposing injure attack will be harder to resist if your `Thulhu has a weakness to decomposing.
There are four types of attacks, Injure (does hit point damage), Frighten (cause target to faint), Trap (immobilizes target) and Dodge (heals hit points). Combat ends when an opponent `faints'. Cultist (PCs) only have statistics for Grade level (knowledge), Phys Ed (a catchall skill), Pokethulhu Lore (guess), Sanity (Guess again), shoplifting (stealth & dexterity) and Talking Trash (sort of an intimidate skill that is used to determine initiative during `thulhu bouts). Combat and gameplay uses twelve sided dice, with skill values used as target numbers and the difficulty of a challenge determined by how many dice you roll. Three d12 is an easy challenge while one d12 constitutes a difficult roll. Average beginning cultists can have scores between 1 & 12, but will average between 4 & 8.
Pokethulhu bouts are of course the focus of the game and most of the rules pertain to combat. RPG challenges have little space devoted to them, but in such a light and lighthearted game you don't need large chapters on gamemastering. There are five plothooks masquerading as episodes of the mythical pokethulhu cartoon and a nice little six page adventure that captures the feel of the game in all it's satirical cuteness. Most of us will no doubt pick up the game on a lark, but it is nice to see that it is a complete and completely playable RPG with some thought given to adventures and campaign play.
Of course it is meant to be fun and there is plenty of humor in the book, from the Whatley me worry hat one of the character's wears to the Hastursaur, who hates to hear anyone else say his name (Pokethulhu can only speak one word, their names). Scattered throughout the book are great little one liners and obscure references to Lovecraft and Pokemon as well as Kovalic's cute art. I was especially fond of the cutouts that fold and can be used as characters during the game. One side of the cutout has a far too cute Pokethulhu while the other side has a simple black silhouette of the same creature in the tradition of CoC.
A nice surprise in the book was the inclusion of three fan created Pokethulhu, which brings the total `thulhu in the book to six. I would have liked to see more of these creatures perhaps in the form of a stable or zoo. The Hastursaur is mentioned a lot in the book but never presented with stats. I think an opportunity was missed here, but otherwise the game and joke is nicely executed. Pokethulhu has a lot of little chuckles in it and could be a very enjoyable game, though I suppose most of us will pick it up just to display the cover in our bookcase.
Andrew J Lucas
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