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Kult Second Edition is one of the most dramatic improvements between editions I've ever seen. The new soft-cover book is written on high quality paper with black, gray, and silver text that appears to float on the white cover. The black and white art is sharp and crisp; a welcome improvement from the red-tinted art in the first edition. The layout is logical, the index seems functional, and there is no difficulty reading this well organized book.

The basic feel of Kult is introduced immediately with the introductory story; however unlike the first edition's rather gore-heavy bloodfest this one is much more psychological. The situations described tend to be much more possible and plausible which makes them even more disturbing in some ways.

The world of Kult is one of a world gone subtely wrong; where all humanity has the potential for true godhood and only the Illusion of life and death imposed by the Demiurge keeps them mortal. Sometime during the Dark Ages, at a point that no angel or demon can remember, God disappeared. Satan, fearing for his own existence, has gone searching for him. The minions of Heaven and Hell are confused without their leaders and many fear that mankind may break free of the Illusion and take revenge upon their jailers.

The players of Kult are both heroes and villians, good and evil, light and dark. Here is where you play those characters who serve the greater good with acts of localized evil. Conspiracies lurk within conspiracies as people fulfill subconscious urges left over from previous lives and supernatural influence and the beings of heaven and hell rebel and conspire against eachother with human pawns. Beings from Hellraiser, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Alien, and Child's Play run rampant in the shadows.

Kult Second Edition has managed to reduce the rules to an incredibly simple and yet incredibly effective process that would easily fit on a corner of an index card. The d20 skill roll is used to determine damage, which makes extra dice rolling unnecessary. The Kult system is simple enough to be used for LARP's while more than enough situation modifiers are described to make the game sufficiently realistic.

The background world is well documented and quite easily understood, a dramatic improvement from the somewhat chaotic first edition. The supernatural beings that are in charge are described along with their personal motivations, allies, enemies, minions, and homes. There is more than enough background material available for most GM's to start running immediately without any additional supplements.

All in all I was highly impressed with Kult 2nd. First edition intrigued me, but the roughness and non-intuitive organization put me off. Despite the fact I'm not normally willing to run modern genre games, this one is highly appealing. I recommend Kult for anyone wanting a Call of Cthulhu game where the players actually have some hope of surviving a few games or a conspiracy game with more than the normal evils lurking in the shadows.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)