Cthulhoid Choices: Lovecraftesque

Call of Cthulhu is the preeminent roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror and has been for over four decades now. The roleplaying game gives the chance for the players and their Investigators to explore a world in which the latter are exposed, initially often indirectly, but as the story or investigation progresses, increasingly directly, to alien forces beyond their comprehension. So, beyond that what they encounter is often interpreted as indescribable, yet supernatural monsters or gods wielding magic, but in reality is something more, a confrontation with the true nature of the universe and the realisation as to the terrible insignificance of mankind with it and an understanding that despite, there are those that would embrace and worship the powers that be for their own ends. Such a realisation and such an understanding often leave those so foolish as to investigate the unknown clutching at, or even, losing their sanity, and condemned to a life knowing truths to which they wish they were never exposed. This blueprint has set the way in which other games—roleplaying games, board games, card games, and more—have presented Lovecraftian investigative horror, but as many as there that do follow that blueprint, there are others have explored the Mythos in different ways.

Cthulhoid Choices is a strand of reviews that examine other roleplaying games of Lovecraftian investigative horror and Cosmic Horror. Previous reviews which can be considered part of this strand include Cthulhu Hack, Realms of Crawling Chaos, and the Apocthulhu Roleplaying Game.

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Lovecraftesque: A storytelling game of eldritch mysteries is not a traditional roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror or indeed of Lovecraftian horror, or even a traditional roleplaying game. Published by Black Armada following a successful Kickstarter campaign, it is a storytelling game in which the players create and tell the story of one person as he experiences a series of terrible, unknowable events born of Cosmic Horror. It is played without a Game Master, and it is played without the Lovecraftian Mythos, so no Cthulhu, no Mi-Go, no Deep Ones, and so on. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this approach. One is the lack of familiarity with the subject matter, but that also allows the players the freedom to be creative in terms of the Cosmic Horror and to directly avoid the issues of racism and xenophobia with both H.P. Lovecraft and his writings as inspirational as they are and have been in terms of horror writing and gaming. This also means that a play through of Lovecraftesque can be more representative of minorities should the players want that. Another is the lack of familiarity with the style of play, Lovecraftesque being a storytelling game, meaning that it is a collective endeavour rather than one in which players control individual characters trying to work together. In fact, Lovecraftesque is not just a collective roleplaying game, but a consensual one, since the players are working together to tell a single story, and they all need to agree on its telling. The play is also procedural in nature because the game is trying to tell a particular type of story. This requires a shift in perspective and style of play, but storytelling games—or ‘Indie role-playing games’—have been part of the hobby for over two decades now, so they are not new.

So how is Lovecraftesque played? It is designed to be played by three to five players who take in turns to assume one of three roles. The first is the ‘Witness’, the protagonist of the story, the second is the ‘Narrator’, who like a Game Master in a traditional roleplaying game will set the scene, portray NPCs the Witness will meet and interact with, but unlike a Game Master in a traditional roleplaying game will consult the third role, the ‘Whisperer’, whose task it is to help the ‘Narrator’ by adding atmosphere and details (but not clues), and by portraying NPCs as necessary. So, from one turn to the next, one player will be the Witness, one the Narrator, and one or more the Whisperers, depending upon player count. Lovecraftesque can either be played using a setting created from the game’s core cards or it can use a pre-generated scenario, of which there are several included in the game. Throughout the players will use Mystery Cards to add clues that the Witness can interpret, whilst at the same time, there will be moments where they each have the opportunity to ‘Leap to Conclusions’ and interpret the clues played so far to hypothesise and then later, revise, a possible explanation as to what might be going on.

The playthrough of Lovecraftesque is divided into three Acts. Act I is ‘Signs and Portents’ and consists of five Investigation Chapters during which the Witness will find clues as to strange things happening that suggest a secret horror. Act II is ‘Impending Doom’ and is much shorter, only three chapters long, but the clues no longer hint at something strange going on, but are more explicit and obviously weird. The third and final act, Act III, much longer than the previous two chapters combined, takes the Witness on a ‘Journey Into Darkness’, in which the horror becomes increasingly obvious, the Witness comes face-to-face with it and the truth is revealed in the ‘Final Horror’. The consequences of the ‘Final Horror’ are played out in the ‘Epilogue’, whilst in the ‘Conclusion’, everyone has the opportunity to discuss the game and the story and their ending. All this, including set-up, is designed to be played through in roughly two to four hours, the shorter playing time and regular structure making it suitable for a pick-up game, whilst the longer playing makes it suitable for a single session or even as a convention game.

This includes some set-up time as well. This not only involves creating a setting from the Core Deck or setting up a Scenario Deck to play through, but also covers a discussion on safety. This includes everyone contributing to a ‘Hard Ban List’ of things that one or more players do not want to see in the game and a ‘Soft Ban List’ of things that one or more players are happy to see mentioned in the game, but not dwelled upon or detailed. Both lists remain in view throughout the game, as do the ‘Erase Card’ and the ‘Stop Card’. The ‘Erase Card’ is used by a player to remove an element from play that he is uncomfortable with, whilst the ‘Stop Card’ is used when a player wants a break. In addition, the ‘Extras’ book includes short essays on ‘Lovecraft and Race’ and ‘Lovecraft and Mental Health’, which serve as introductions to their subjects and the controversies over both.

Lovecraftesque comes as a boxed set that contains a forty-four page ‘Rules’ book, a thirty-six-page ‘Extras’ book, ‘Playmat’, a ‘Story Token’, an ‘Active Player Token’, ninety-two Gameplay cards, six Scenario decks consisting of eighty Gameplay cards, pads for the ‘Main Character & Supporting Characters’, ‘Conclusions’, ‘Ban List’, ‘Setting & Locations’, and ‘Clues’. The ‘Rules’ book provides a complete guide to the game and how it is played, taking it from set-up through its three Acts to the conclusion. The ‘Extras’ book adds optional rules that allow for play by one or two players, with the solo option opening up the possibility of Lovecraftesque being played and recorded as a journalling game. There are notes too on playing this version with scenarios of the first edition of Lovecraftesque and even for legacy play in which the players will alter the cards themselves. It gives six scenarios that include a mystery in a dilapidated country house, in the last days of Pompei, a far future dive into a black hole, a parent’s frightful confrontation with their child’s imaginary friend, a mystery at a spa on the Yorkshire moors in World War 2, and a hunt for an artist in thirties Mexico who has gone missing below an ancient meteorite crater. These six have their own Scenario Decks and highlight the scope of Lovecraftesque and its flexibility. And that is confined to just the core box, before the players consider the expansions available from the publisher. In addition to the essays on ‘Lovecraft and Race’ and ‘Lovecraft and Mental Health’, the ‘Extras’ book includes a lengthy example of play that encompasses a whole game.

The roleplaying game’s cards are divided into several smaller decks. The ‘Story’ deck mirror’s fifteen or so chapters across its three acts and guide the players through the stages and procedures of playing Lovecraftesque. They are included as a mechanical prompt rather than a means to learn the rules. The ‘Role Cards’ define the tasks for each role and will be passed around as play progresses from chapter to chapter, whilst the ‘Rule Cards’ explain various aspects of the game. The ‘Erase’ and ‘Stop Cards’ from the ‘Rule Cards’ remain visible throughout the game, whilst the others are referred to when necessary and when they come up on the ‘Story Cards’. This referral to the ‘Rule Cards’ could have made a lot easier on the ‘Story Cards’, primarily by including the number of the cards as well as their names. The ‘Mystery Cards’ give the clues in simple fashion, along with possible suggestions. For example, ‘Murky History’, described as “Intriguing and bizarre records from the distant past.” also includes the suggestions, “Old photographs”, “Genealogical information”, “Deeds, plans, or other land records”, “Newspapers, reports, or journals”, or “History books”. The ‘Location Cards’ do the same for possible places, whilst the ‘Character Cards’ do the same for the ‘Witness’. Included amongst the ‘Mystery Cards’ are several ‘Special Cards’ each of which breaks the game’s rules. For example, ‘An attack’ enables the Narrator to inflict harm, including lethal during a scene that he will narrate, including on the protagonist—though they cannot die—which ignores the ban on deliberate harm under the ‘No Deliberate Harm’ and ‘Survival And Sanity’ rules, whilst ‘A surprising theory’ can be played at the end of Act I, ‘Signs and Portents’ to have each player pass his Conclusions to the player to his left, who then has to build on them as part of his play. This ignores the ‘Isolation’ Rule. These ‘Special Cards’ alter the narrative flow of the game and invariably give greater narrative control to a player at the point at which they are played.

The Scenario Decks include their pre-set ‘Setting Cards’ and ‘Main Character Cards’ as well as specific ‘Location Cards’, ‘Character Cards’, and ‘Mystery Cards’. Penultimately, the Playmat is marked with a Story Track for the roleplaying game’s three Acts, spaces for the ‘Erase Cards’ and ‘Stop Cards’, and the current ‘Story Cards’. The edge of the Playmat is marked with spaces to place the various other cards. Lastly, the oddest thing in Lovecraftesque is the ‘UV/blacklight flashlight’. It is intended to be used to discover hidden artwork on the box, Playmat, and the books. It is either an intriguing inclusion or one that is just a little creepy, depending upon your opinion.

Physically, Lovecraftesque is very well presented. In comparison to a more traditional roleplaying game, it feels a little light on artwork, but what there is, is good. It is well written, the play aids are useful, and everything is well explained. The components are of a good quality and the box even comes with a good storage tray with a lid which keeps the cards in place and has room for the expansions.

Since Lovecraftesque comes in a box and it uses cards as its prompts, it suggests that there is a limited amount of play that can be got out of it in comparison to a more traditional roleplaying game. In the case of the pre-set Scenario Decks that might be the case, but apart from those, a playthrough of Lovecraftesque only uses a limited number of the core cards each time, so there fair degree of replay capacity to the game and each time, the players are going to be telling a different story depending upon the ‘Location Cards’, ‘Character Cards’, and ‘Mystery Cards’ drawn as well as the ‘Mystery Cards’ played. Of course, what Lovecraftesque offers that a traditional roleplaying does not is narrative control. The ‘Narrator’ has primary narrative control throughout, but this shifts from chapter to chapter, allowing everyone to take role, plus the roles of ‘Whisperer’ and ‘Witness’ will have their own input too. The rotation of these roles also enables the players to see the story being told from different angles in a way that a traditional roleplaying does not. And this extends to the nature of the ‘Final Horror’ and the ‘Conclusion’. The players are working together to decide what that is, but there is a degree of secrecy to since unless the ‘A surprising theory’ ‘Special Card’ is played, each player keeps theirs hidden, but can still influence the outcome because they can play ‘Mystery Cards’ which best fit their Conclusions. It is almost a bit of hidden competition in a roleplaying game not designed to be competitive, but since every player is also playing ‘Mystery Cards’ to add clues, there is no winner to speak of and the determination of the final Conclusion is agreed by all of the players.

There is an element of Lovecraftesque cutting off its nose to spite its face by not including the traditional elements of Lovecraftian investigative horror and the Cthulhu, and not making it more attractive to a wider audience. There is nothing to stop the players from doing that should they agree to do so, but the point of Lovecraftesque is that it does not want to do that and that is very much not the aim of the authors. Instead, it wants to allow the exploration of the Cosmic Horror genre free of the Lovecraftian, even though its influences, rather than its elements, are present in the game. Ultimately, Lovecraftesque is a roleplaying game that is meant to be like Lovecraft, but not Lovecraftian. Which is fine, since there are multiple other games that offer that experience already. What Lovecraftesque: A storytelling game of eldritch mysteries offers is an opportunity to explore the Cosmic Horror genre from a different angle and via different means in a surprisingly comprehensive and handsome box.