Death is not the end

I recently bought the new edition of Kult (this one has the subtitle Divinity Lost, which I like better than Death is Just the Beginning).
Kult is a game that I have been fascinated with since I read about it in the glossy Danish rpg-mag FØNIX back in the 90s. The fascination came with a good deal of frustration. For one thing it seemed that all the articles about this strange and shocking game (like the Nine Inch Nails of gaming maan!) were plagued with downright atrocious layout choices and background art.

This turned out to be entirely in keeping with the game itself. Both the original Swedish and English translation were similarly reader-unfriendly.

Where it shone was the setting. The world around us is a prison, from institutions to time, space and biology. We used to be as gods, before we were trapped by the Demiurge in a web of limitations. Look for a way out and you're liable to find cruel entities, inspired by Clive Barker, David Cronenberg and Hieronymus Bosch.

The rules were a bit of a mess with oodles of weapons and rules for combat. I did not use them much, so maybe I never really did right by them.

I have yet to play the new version, but it uses a slightly adapted version of the Apocalypse World rules. They seem fine from a quick skim, and the Apocalypse rules are generally quite simple at their core. Still, I'm trying to make my own version, based on the Resistance system by Grant Howitt and Chris Taylor (you may know the rules from The Spire). I am a restless soul, or maybe just an idjit.

The setting is still the main attraction for me, and this time it is quite easy to read! The art is beautiful (if quite dark), and does a brilliant job at illustrating the setting's horrors and wonders.

The wonders is a big improvement by the way. In the older versions of Kult, everything could get a bit monochrome and, well, Cannibal Corpse. In the new version things are still horrifying, brutal and transgressive, but there are instances of beauty and indications of lost grandeur. Breathtaking ruins and remnants fallen far from glory. Particularly the Underworld, the labyrinthine net of sewers, subway stations and fallen inhuman cities from beyond the illusion, has a lot of melancholy and wonder. This part of the setting also seems to hint at the casual cruelty and subjugation humanity perpetrated when we were gods.

In short, I can't wait to play in this beautiful version of the Kult setting.