Review of Feed The Shoggoth!

Blurb from the publisher: 'A deliciously evil Lovecraftian card game!

Players earn points and win the game by sacrificing Minions from their Cult to the Shoggoth. However, the Shoggoth is indiscriminate in whom it eats; if you can't feed the Shoggoth on your turn with a Minion, it eats you, and you are out of the game!'

What you get: Your USD 20 or equivalent will buy you Feed The Shoggoth!, a light-hearted take-that card game with a Mythos theme that accommodates from 3 to 6 players in half an hour or more. Feed The Shoggoth! is a game licensed by Chaosium, even though it is not published by them. In addition to the rulebook in English that can also be found at the publisher's website free of charge, the game also contains 120 cards (28 Artifacts, 53 Spells, 8 Actions, 36 Minions, 10 unique Factions, one Shoggoth and one Graveyard).

Gameplay: Players are Cult Leaders that are sacrificing Minions to the Shoggoth in order to attain a predetermined number of points depending on the number of players (e.g. 3 points for 6 players, 5 points for 3 players). To do so however, one must first bring the Shoggoth in front of him. Each player begins with a particular faction amongst the ten on offer. Each of them has a special ability. As an example, the Chapel of Contemplation wins the game with one point less, while the Keziah Mason's Coven can look at another Cult Leader's hand once per turn. Each player begins with a hand of seven cards.

In his turn, a player can place as many Artifacts as he wishes in front of him (they will be activated on his following turn), move the Shoggoth in front of him (if he can), declare that he feeds the Shoggoth with a Minion (his opponents will most likely try to stop that from happening), resolve the sacrifice, and refill to seven cards.

Artifacts are cards that need to be played face up on the table during your turn, get activated one turn later, and discarded after bringing forth their effect. Their powers vary from 'exchange score with another Cult Leader' to 'discard to move the Shoggoth in front of you' to 'gain an additional +1 when sacrificing a Minion'.

Spells can be played at any time, your turn or another's, straight from your hand, and are also discarded. Examples include sacrificing a Minion during another player's turn when he manages to sacrifice a Minion himself, cancelling a Spell while it is cast or when it is in effect, moving the Shoggoth etc. Actions are like Spells, but they cannot be countered. There are only three types of actions: Dodge (move the Shoggoth to your left or right when someone brings it in front of you), Parry (move the Shoggoth back to the player it was in front of when he is moved) and Shoggoth Burp (the Shoggoth will not eat until your turn comes again).

The Minions do nothing but provide one point each when sacrificed. They hold no special abilities or strengths.

Optional rules include playing for more points, in order to make the game less lucky, as well as being forced to feed the Shoggoth every time it lands in front of a player. The latter variant makes the game obviously more luck-based.

The strong points: Easy, light and straightforward is the experience that Feed The Shoggoth! provides. It is a rather typical take-that game, in that players will fight it out with what appears to be an ebb and flow of dwindling resources that once every now and then get refreshed. In principle the game has abstract similarities to Lunch Money, another very well-known take-that game, not however when it comes to the actual mechanics and fluff. Its asymmetrical nature and exceptions upon exceptions on the other hand is mildly reminiscent of Cosmic Encounter, one of the first abstract asymmetrical games with a humorous feel.

The game is easy to learn. The cards are rather obvious and not convoluted whatsoever. Bonus points for not going down the pictograph way that so many games opt for nowadays. Each card's instructions are short and to the point, leaving nothing to be desired.

As an experience, Feed The Shoggoth! squarely falls into the filler category. It might not be the game you meet to play, it is definitely however an entertaining game that can be used as an intro to other, heavier escapades. The fluff and mechanics might not be a fully perfect fit, they do however work cohesively. There is invariably mirth when the hapless Minions are in limbo (have neither been sacrificed nor not sacrificed, thanks to the frantic card play), or when they finally reach their goal, which is nothing more than to become points, of course.

What I found most interesting in the game is how the dynamics of where the Shoggoth is change within a turn. When players have a hand full of cards, there is a tendency of claiming the Shoggoth. The more the cards dwindle the less the players want the Shoggoth, due to the fact that they have no Minions to sacrifice, at least until they refresh at the end of their turn, and will thus be thrown out of the game if the Shoggoth ends up in front of them. That's a clever trick, and I admit I have not seen it elsewhere. One can bluff his way through, by trying to push away the Shoggoth at the beginning and obtain it in the end, creating a counter-intuitive sort of play that can be decoded but not before the game is lost. That's solid stuff; this juxtaposition definitely needs to be revisited in a heavier gaming experience.

The weak points: For a light-hearted filler the rulebook uses a lot of words for rather simple concepts. I would have preferred a much tighter editing and layout. As the game is, even its contents are mentioned on the website and not on the game itself, something that makes me wonder. Even more so, there is a six-question FAQ out there. Having to put out an FAQ for a game of such minor difficulty is rather disappointing. I would have gone with a brand new, totally redone rulebook that takes care of everything.

The box is not of the highest quality. It is made of light cardstock that opens on the less wide side, like Lunch Money and Corruption. This is by far an awkward way of inserting the cards back in the box, seeing how you run the danger of bending or scratching them. Even more so, the contents fit the box comfortably only if you do not sleeve the cards. I thought that by now it would this was widely understood: game boxes should fit their contents not only as they are shipped, but as they are altered by the buyer. I know very few gamers that do not protect their games nowadays.

The art is good but nothing spectacular. What I found rather interesting is that the art on the box is probably the worst piece of art of them all. I am wondering whether this was done on purpose in order to give an underground feeling to the game. If that was the case, the game definitely succeeds.

Game-wise there is not much to say. Feed The Shoggoth! is a rather straightforward experience: prevent others from winning until you can win yourself. Exhaust your hand way before your next turn and you are guaranteed to be eliminated due to the unforgiving nature of the indiscriminately hungry Shoggoth. If you are averse to luck as a part of game design, you might wish to steer clear without regrets. The game is definitely luck-based and a less than stellar draw will consistently see you on the losing side. This does not mean that there are no tactics in the game, however they are rather obvious, and once everybody starts following them it becomes a lot more entrenched than it aspires to be, with numerous discards and defensive play. In a sense, many of its weak points are weak points of the take-that genre overall. It is a pleasant game to play, after a few plays however you will feel the Mythos aspects slowly fading away. If you are looking for a humorous experience, I felt that the law of diminishing returns applies here faster that I would have wanted it to. The point will soon come that the card play will be frantic, but the fluff will be all but forgotten.

Conclusion: Feed The Shoggoth! is a fast game with interesting dynamics, numerous combos and exception-based tactics. It provides options and a gameplay that does not stall and provides an entertaining experience, even though it lacks the depth of other fillers. If you are looking for something light with a Cthulhu mantle, it is a legitimate contender for your gaming library.

To find out more about Feed The Shoggoth and Squamous Studios take a look at http://www.feedtheshoggoth.com and http://www.squamousstudios.com.

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