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Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.

I've always wanted to pick up Call of Cthulhu (I did pick up Nephilm once which was the closest I had ever gotten). The idea of a game that basically said to the players “each victory is merely another step towards ultimate defeat” was, for some reason, attractive to me. Plus I'm a sucker for a game that includes pseudo-historical supernatural elements.

And so the prospect of a game featuring Lovecraft's Mythos and giant robots in a future that Man Was Not Meant To Know was too good an opportunity to miss. So after annoying my local game store with “is it here yet?” day after day I scurried home with a copy clutched in my sweaty grasp (it was a hot day).

c·thul·hu·tech – Cthulhu armed with a calculator

the tome arcane

For your information, the copy of the game I have is the colour version published by Mongoose (Mongoose also published a black and white version, and Catalyst have just released a colour version with some minor changes to the format) …

The book is a hard cover with the front cover featuring a woman with a weird armoured tentacle creature behind her, and behind both of them a larger armoured many-eyed thing. The background of the cover seems to be a mix of circuitry and arcane writing.

The pages are in full colour with illustrations of both the world of Cthulhutech and the creatures most foul of the Strange Aeon. Overall the game has an excellent presentation.

forbidden lore

There are 18 chapters within the book and 9 pieces of short fiction.

Welcome … Cthulhutech starts with the obligatory introduction, game terms and recommended sources and influences; then launches into the setting. The reader is given a timeline detailing events leading up to 2085AD (now), with major setting elements (e.g. The Eldritch Society, The Engel Project) covered is separate sections.

That Was Then, This is Now … In brief, it is 2085AD. The discovery of arcanotech, a fusion of sorcery and technology, has lead to the Migou of Pluto to attempt to destroy civilisation, first with a genetically-engineered race (Nazzadi) and, when the Nazzadi turned upon their creators, in person. During these events horrors once hidden appear and lay waste to many parts of the world, ancient gods reappear and cults from within work to corrupt humanity and wake their own dead gods. In terms familiar to fans of H. P. Lovecraft, The Stars Are Right... To defend humanity from these threats mankind has armed itself with giant robots and reality-defying magic. Humanity is fighting a war on two fronts... and might be losing!

The Art of the Game … Cthulhutech uses a system the developers call Framewerk – using 10-sided dice and a interesting way of summing the total from the roll of a dice – highest single, highest sum of duplicates (2 dice +) or highest sum of straights (3 dice +) – a little like poker – the number of dice rolled coming from your skill level with the result being added to the pertinent attribute.

Character creation is divided over three chapters (Alter Ego, Skillz and Qualities) and details the process of creating a character and the descriptions of the Skills and Qualities (advantages and drawbacks). Also supplied is a list of professions to get you started. The professions are a mixture of generic and focussed occupations that, joined with Qualities and Skills, cover most permutations of what a Player might wish to play. For example, an Occult Scholar can range from an independent sorcerer to one either in the employ of the NEG (New Earth Government) or Eldritch Society dependent on the Quality of Duty; whereas Tager is somewhat limited to the Eldritch Society.

The Way Of The Future … provides equipments lists and information on aspects of life in 2085. Arcanotech power sources, weapons, computer technology and communications, transportation, nanotechnology, medicine, currency and gear all are touched upon and includes lists of equipment. This includes information on the legality and restrictions the NEG places on items.

Life, Death & Madness … are the rules for conflict (i.e. combat) using Framewerk.

The New War Machine … lists the Mecha and Engels available for use by the characters or to battle and some rules to govern them. Also in this chapter are the Tagers – the holy warriors of the Eldritch Society created with the Rite of Sacred Union. The Tagers are one of the unique items in the game; a shape shifting warrior created from bonding a human to an alien symbiote using a magic ritual that could kill the recipient (of course, the assumption is that your character survived this rite).

Blasphemous Whispers … details the magic of the setting, listing tomes of magic and the rituals available to any prospective sorcerer. The tomes and rituals are all given details such as legality, whether it is censored (tomes only) and how insane it will drive the character. The magic is not your typical fantasy-game magic with spells shot off with a wink and a nudge but require time for preparation (from hours to days), time for casting (from hours to days) and often some fairly heinous components (for example, to summon a ghoul the occultist requires a blood sacrifice of at least dog-sized). And on top of this, the NEG require sorcerers to be registered and keep a close watch on them in case they are corrupted by the maddening powers they wield – being one is not the easy profession you find in other games.

Unspeakable Horrors … supplies the unspeakable horrors (or monsters) of the game. From shape shifting Dhohanoids (precursors to the Tagers available as characters) to what are likely familiar mythos creatures to those who have played earlier Mythos-based games such as Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu: Ghasts, Bakhi, Gibbering Horrors, etc, a Storyguide has a wide range of foes to challenge the characters with.

Vehicular Homicide … lists vehicles from personal to capital ships (both New Earth Government and Migou).

Parting The Veil … (Chapter Fourteen), The Honored Guide (Chapter Fifteen) and The Population (Chapter Sixteen) are all Storyguide-specific chapters. Parting The Veil reveals the “secrets” of the game, the secret history of the world and why the characters should be worried. Included are briefs on the Great Old Ones, the Forgotten Ones etc., the ancient long-gone gods of the game's setting, some of which have reappeared.

War, Fear and Vendetta … (Chapter Seventeen) gives a new Cthulhutech Storyguide two stories and a few story hooks to help them start their own game.

Finally the Appendices (Chapter Eighteen) finishes off the book. This includes an index and character sheets.

As you can see there is a lot of information in Cthulhutech. It provides enough to start a game immediately and will keep the game running for quite a while without needing more books from the line – which is a good thing since the developers aren't prolific with their writing (to date, two other supplements have been released, more are planned).

the good, the bad, and the non-Euclidean

There are some minor editing issues with my copy of the game and the back cover bends out. With a change to the publisher (Catalyst, the company that also publishes Shadowrun) and a new printing, it is unlikely you will encounter these specific problems if you pick up the new printing.

The artwork is brilliant. I just loved the page format of the Races, Character occupations and the Tagers and would love to have seen it continued on the Mecha and Engel pages.

Para-psychics are left out, being detailed in the companion. All we get is an advantage to serve as a place holder for Players wishing to play one.

Shoggoths, O' Shoggoths, where for art thou...?

The setting is very evocative. It blends the horror of the Mythos well with the futuristic technology and gives relatively plausible explanations... or should I say that its all put down to (non-Euclidean) magic that drives most people mad if they delve too deeply. The game supports various styles of play (New Earth Government/Mecha, Secret Society Hunting Mythos Cults to name two) which creates a wider potential audience, appealing to both people who like giant robots and those who prefer games that involve the occult (a familiar campaign type for those who have played Call of Cthulhu) or investigation.

in summary

Cthulhutech is a surprise purchase, one that I did not plan to make. I enjoyed the mesh of supernatural horror and science fiction and the book is beautiful to behold.

I give the game 5 in Style: a game that joins Cthulhu with Giant Mecha is certainly very stylish, and 4 in Substance: it is very meaty, missing only a few staples of the Lovecraftian setting.

I'm looking forward to picking up a few more supplements for the game (at the time of completing this review – I began writing many, many months ago – I have just picked up Vade Macum, the Companion).