Modiphius Kult: Divinity Lost (4th Ed.)

EDIT: Those in the international reviews calling this book censored are doing so somewhat wrongfully. There is NO alteration to the text. The artworks are only slightly modified, and that in no way makes this less of an 18+ book. Lastly, the artwork changes are very minor, while some artworks had entire costume pieces removed just to show genitalia, ultimately altering the image of the art (in my opinion, this is worse than losing the image of some genitalia here or there; ultimately, you get to make that decision yourself.) The "Uncensored version" was intended to be a Kickstarter exclusive and NOT the original version of the book. If you DO want even more shock value in this book, please, search out the one with nudity. In my opinion, the art suffers in that version.Side note: Those claiming they were "deceived" should've looked at the cover. One glance and you know which version it is. (Hint hint, amazon would've had to actually censor the cover in the nudity filled version) Amazon doesn't even sell the other because it was supposed to be exclusive/premium to the company and Kickstarter. (also it's more expensive because of that. About 78 USD to be exact.)If you are looking for a new replacement to the classic RPG "Call of Cthulu" or wanting to play a more horror-focused RPG, this is easily the best one to start with in all my experience playing it.Pros:Simple to learn the system - All dice rolls share the same numbers to represent success and failure, with the characters traits being the only modifierVariants on Character Creation - The game uses an Archetype system, meaning that you can either choose your character by picking an archetype and then choosing from the recommended traits and modifiers, or you can build your character from scratch using the list of advantages, disadvantages, and "dark secrets"Great Player "Safety" - This game gets into some SUPER dark territory. Anything you can imagine could come up, some it gut-wrenching, some of it disturbing, and some of it disgusting. But! It has rules written into the book to aid in keeping the players from going (Too) far out of their comfort zone. Not only do players make a contract saying the themes or situations they don't want to see in the campaigns, but they also include things that ride the line, so every player has a unique contract to state what is off-limits, but also what will get them scared and more invested in the game. (A bonus of this is that if someone leaves, you can change the game based on what they banned that other players were okay with.)Wide Setting - The game could involve a number of alternate planes of existence, including dreams, a hell-like setting, or even the layers of the underworld. It can also take place during almost any modern time period, for example, I'm writing a Salem witch trials campaign, which is technically just outside of the time frame recommended in the game. (You could probably even turn it medieval if you really wanted to.)Characters have very dramatic traits - instead of "you get +1 when attacking a demon" traits are more like "if you're trying to get info from someone, you can roll to get answers to some of the following questions." making your character more tailored around the world and the actual play you'll be doing with them, rather than just having a straight upgrade. Disadvantages work the same too; For example, the "Nightmares" disadvantage could cause your character to get trapped in a said nightmare and need help from the other members of the party in the real world to wake up.Everything is provided and detailed - relatively simple to read for the GM, with the natural flow of character creation being laid out in order, along with how you should start a game session. Almost every single monster or character has a visual aid in the book, so you can show your party exactly what horror sits in front of them, or exactly what Archon or Death Angel the thing in front of them represents. The artwork in the book is amazing also, the cover doesn't do it justice. You'll know what I'm talking about when you skim through the bestiary.ConsWide setting - this world is huge, but the gameplay is made for personal stories. You aren't killing gods in this game. Your whole campaign could focus on finding a single, "Low" threat angel, who will still give you a run for your money. This can make it hard to choose exactly what pieces of the expansive world and alternate planes to show. you will usually only see 2 in some campaigns, 3 or 4 if you're really lucky and doing a true Campaign with a capital C. As a DM this can lead make it very difficult to keep your story focused on the horror when you REALLY want to show the party how cool the dream world is.Combat isn't a focus - this is a subjective con, but it really depends on your players. Combat is very simplified in this game, while also very deadly for players. more often than not, if you're in combat, something went wrong, or you made the decision that combat was the only solution. if you want to cast a spell where you get to roll 10 dice and watch your enemy explode into dust, this game isn't for you. If instead, you want to try and escape the monster wearing someone else's flesh, then this game is for you.Comfort levels will be tested - if your GM doesn't carefully toe the line laid out on your horror contract, a game session can very very quickly go from "Oh my god this is terrifying, I love it!" to "I'm done for the day. I don't want to play out this scenario." and while there is a "Safeword" type of system built-in, its very hard to come back from that. Play this with a friend as a GM, or someone who is decently good at improvisational storytelling. (they need to be prepared to skip over or replace snippets of adventure accordingly.) which brings me to my last conRequires the GM be adaptable - some of the adventures give very vague descriptions, as it is up to the GM to fill the blank areas with encounters fitting your characters. some have to jump off points, like an apparition appearing, but the GM has to describe exactly what it is. Is it a lepper reaching out to you to invoke your fear of disease, or is it an amalgamation of flesh that wouldn't be out of place in a Cronenberg film? the GM gets to decide that for you. (hence the reason your "Horror Contract" is just as important as the GM's Bestiary.)Overall, I'm giving this a 5 because if you want a modern and very personal level (and personalized) horror game, I don't think you'll find as good of an option available. Call of Cthulhu is great, but it gets much less personal than this, so it can turn away from actual horror at times. This can be locked in to be as scary as needed for your party, and not only provides you with loads of helpful information for running the game, but also all kinds of information to create your own setting within the universe (as I said earlier, I'm making a witch trials campaign, and building my own archetypes based on that world using everything in the book.)Still not sure if it's for you? Look up KULT Divinity Lost online and go to their resources page. they have FIVE FREE ONE-SHOTS. not only can you try before you buy, but you can also try before you buy 5 TIMES. So even if you find out the game isn't for you, you can even try another adventure to see if it as just those themes that weren't for you, all before you even have to put money into the product. I can't stress this enough. Try one of the free games! some are very short and good for a trial run, while some of them are upwards of 30 pages (which takes longer in this game than some other games do.) and could take you several sessions to complete.

High quality hardback. The pages are a bit thick and resistant to folding, and come with a beautiful trim around the pages themselves that's glossy and aesthetically pleasing. The art within is of high quality and deeply disturbing.The system follows a 'Powered By The Apocalypse' style of TTRPG, with each player character archetype acting as a 'playbook'. The dice required are two D10's. Rolls are determined by attributes and +/-3 modifiers to the roll. Three types of roll-states are included. 'Success' in which you do what you aim to do with no consequences. 'Partial Success' in which you succeed at a cost. And of course, 'Failure' in which you either do not do what you set out to do, or even more complications arise. The instructions on how to play are clear, and are surprisingly light.In short, this focuses more on Roleplay rather than typical TTRPG rule-heavy books.The contents of this book is not an approachable type of 'scary'. The horror is much closer to the Divine Comedy than it is with a slasher flick or broody gothic aesthetics. Kult sets out to tell as story in which the setting alienates the characters and players by introducing them to the worst types of fates imaginable without much hope of breaking free or avoiding the inevitable.To clarify, this book is for a specific kind of horror, one that isn't for some.The setting is well written, the authors clearly had high levels of comfort and insight in writing and designing it. Once I started reading the twisted machinations of the world surrounding the Illusion, it became hard to stop. The only strangeness I could really point out would be that the book seemed to switch between a feminine 'her' and a neutral 'they' when describing player character options in a way that was a bit confusing.When GM'ing this TTRPG, it's important to remember to understand the comfort zone of your party. Don't cross lines, follow the 'horror contract' suggestion within the rulebook itself to avoid any toes being stepped on!

I played the first edition of the game and it is one of my favorites. The world is well laid out with a great number of choices for adventures. One note this game is not for kids! And probably not for most adults for that matter. It us the darkest world I have ever played in. It is not for the faint hearted or easily offended. That said if you are looking for a really dark setting and world this is the game for you.

I love the world of Kult is an incredible game, the system is great, if you have never played a PBTA game it may take some time to grab it, but is a marvelous system.

This is a beautiful book, but my copy has some issues with the binding being a little loose for some pages. Fortunately, the PDF was included -- I could not find it at first, until I started reading every single page. The code to get the PDF will be on a small slip of paper stuck between two random pages somewhere in the middle of the book. But now that I have the PDF, I am reading that to minimize flipping the pages where the binding is weak. Would be five stars if the binding were in better shape, with no loose pages.

This game is so good, that even the late Robin Williams used to play the earlier editions back in the day.

I arrived well, however, although it seemed that the book is new inside, some quite wrinkled sheets came as if it were due to use

So the images have been "censored" from the Kickstarter PDF. A little bummed that it's not the same. Bought the physical copy as flipping back and forth through the PDF was becoming tedious.Also a bit ticked that the spine is weak. Internal rope bindings were clearly seen in first 1/3 of the book. Either the glue/process isn't holding or is weak or is made poorly.For the price, would have expected better quality.