Because I'm a vain narcissist (like everyone else online), I occasionally Google "Cthulhu Abides" to see if there's any reviewing going on. Now, I've neglected this project for a few months now, so imagine my pleasure and surprise when I come across this excellent, detailed and fair-minded view from Runeslinger's RPG channel:
Runeslinger picks out a few features of the game for praise and comment.
First of all, he's a fan of freeform magic (as am I) and likes the spell system. I'm glad this was well-received, but I must confess it's the aspect of the game that I feel needs the most revision. It strikes me as clumsy and overly focussed on numbers and I'd like to streamline and simplify things further.
He also likes the "poker dice" or "Yahtzee" mechanic, which is a pleasant surpriose, because I devote a lot of space in the rules to explaining and justifying this (I think) rather non-intuitive system. I can't take credit for inventing it - it's adapted from a game called "Whispering Vault" although I think I have put the basic mechanism to new uses.
Runeslinger spends a bit of time discussing teamwork and dynamic madness and those are the two parts of the game I think I'm most pleased with, so that's excellent.
Yes, the production values are not fully professional and I need to solicit some original cover art. Once I've put in all the 1-page short fiction and the scenario at the back, I'll sit down and figure out how to use Kickstarter to try and fund a professional version.
Runeslinger glosses over combat (he says it's "effective") but I'd love to hear from someone who has tried it and what their experiences have been. I very much enjoy the "twisting on a hook" mechanic the system puts you through but I'd like to know how easy people find it to use.
Runeslinger also celebrates the book's "philosophy of gaming" discussions. I certainly love reading this sort of stuff myself and Runeslinger's channel has a lot of his thoughtful video meditations on different aspects of gaming and GMing. For example:
First of all, he's a fan of freeform magic (as am I) and likes the spell system. I'm glad this was well-received, but I must confess it's the aspect of the game that I feel needs the most revision. It strikes me as clumsy and overly focussed on numbers and I'd like to streamline and simplify things further.
He also likes the "poker dice" or "Yahtzee" mechanic, which is a pleasant surpriose, because I devote a lot of space in the rules to explaining and justifying this (I think) rather non-intuitive system. I can't take credit for inventing it - it's adapted from a game called "Whispering Vault" although I think I have put the basic mechanism to new uses.
Runeslinger spends a bit of time discussing teamwork and dynamic madness and those are the two parts of the game I think I'm most pleased with, so that's excellent.
Yes, the production values are not fully professional and I need to solicit some original cover art. Once I've put in all the 1-page short fiction and the scenario at the back, I'll sit down and figure out how to use Kickstarter to try and fund a professional version.
Runeslinger glosses over combat (he says it's "effective") but I'd love to hear from someone who has tried it and what their experiences have been. I very much enjoy the "twisting on a hook" mechanic the system puts you through but I'd like to know how easy people find it to use.
Runeslinger also celebrates the book's "philosophy of gaming" discussions. I certainly love reading this sort of stuff myself and Runeslinger's channel has a lot of his thoughtful video meditations on different aspects of gaming and GMing. For example: