I recently purchased Kult: Rumours off of eBay from Studio One. The Product was advertised as being damaged so I will not allow that to come into play on this review and will instead focus on the contents of the book as opposed to the quality of the binding.
I purchased the book after reading several glowing comments from RPGnetters in the forums. They mostly focused on the setting of the game as opposed to the system.
The cover is a very nice rendition of a female, very much in the neogothic fashion. The cover evokes the stark imagery of a Nine Inch Nails or Marylin Manson video from their prime.
The rest of the artwork is hit or miss in the "evoking the setting" style. SOme of the art is nice and earthy, where other pieces are found lacking. This is also the first place where I have witnessed the intelligent use of digital imagery to evoke a dark and horrifying mood. Most of the digital art I have glimpsed at in horror/occult rpgs has been bright and colorful, very garish on the eyes. In this book though the digital art just jumps out at you and grips your throat. Overall the art is technically proficient, but innappropriate to the feel of the game. It is kind of like throwing Mike Mignola on SUperman and John Byrne on Call of Cthulhu. Just doesn't feel right.
The presentation of the material is very simple and easy to read. I read Rumours cover to cover in one day. The writing style is easy though at times the translation is sometimes a bit rough. Some sentences seem to get mangled technically but are easy to understand nonetheless.
The meat of the book is the rules for the Kult game and they are quite simple. Stats and Skills are ranked 1-20 and you roll a D20 and try to roll under your stat or skill to succeed. The problem with the system is that if you have a skill it defaults to the skill as opposed to it's tied stat. You can not raise a skill above it's tied stat either. What this tells me is if I have an Agility of a 17 and an Acrobatics of a 12, then I have to roll less than a 12 when an untrained person with a 15 in AGility has a better chance at success than I would. Overall though the system is good. I know, deep down, that if I am wrong in my presumptions one of our loyal rpgnetters will rightfully chastise me.
A very nice part of the system is "effect". Effect represents how well you accomplish a task. Effect is the difference between your roll and the opposing roll that delineates the effect. A roll of a 1 adds 10 to the effect total. In unopposed checks it is the difference between your skill total and your roll.
Combat is a nice, simple affair just like any other roll, just roll under your skill or ability and you hit. Damage is also very different. The damage system is actually a series of description such as Scratch, Serious Wound and Lethal Wound. Based on your Constitution score, you can take so many of each type before they become a progressively worse type. Scratches are just that scratches. Serious wounds are like gaping wounds that could really use stitches and a Lethal Wound just kills you as the name implies.
Now the problem I have with the book is that it does not contain all the rules. Mental Balance is explained and what can be done with a high or low mental balance, but provides no mechanics on how to do these wonderfully horrifying things. Rumours has no rules for ritual magick or psychic powers. It has very, very little setting information outside of short introductory stories starting each chapter. Do not get me wrong, the book can be run right out of the box, but it would take some work and probably wouldn't be the same as when the rest of the rules and setting information are released this WInter. One could take the rules in this book and create a kick ass action adventure game. There are also no rules for character advancement of any kind. I think it was a mistake to not include at least a little bit of information and example creatures so that a Game Master could start at least a basic Kult game before the Beyond the Veil book comes out. It just feels like the book had a chainsaw taken to it and cut in half. Six months (or more) is too long a wait for this puppy and old editions of Kult are few and far between.
I do suggest this book in spite of all these flaws, as it is very reminiscent of the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It is a Player's Handbook and does not contain any information that should be restricted to the GM. This helps in generating a sense of wonder in a player and also reduces the necessary reading for Players. The material presented is tantalizing enough to give a player an idea for a character that would fit perfectly with a the characters of a good Clive Barker story.
I do highly suggest this book to those who have not yet played Kult and want a good starting point. The release of the GM's Guide is imminent in the next few months so now is a perfect time to get on the Kult bandwagon. It should also be noted that this is not a game for children in any way, shape or form. It is a dark and brutal game, very visceral and impacting on the mind. If you like Hellraiser, Wishmaster or any other splatterpunk horror movies, if you like Clive Barker, H.P. Lovecraft or Brian Lumley, then this is a game for you.
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