Cultistorm

The Cultistorm is a Cooperative Weird Fiction / Cosmic Horror Tabletop Game in the universe of H. P. Lovecraft.

Planned campaign launch date: January, 2018.

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More details and registration: http://cultistorm.com

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KEY FEATURES:

- Cultistorm board game with 220/600* beautifully illustrated cards, player boards, 15 custom dice, 200+ tokens and markers
- Five different, independent mini extensions which can also be combined. They add new game elements and mechanics to the base game*
- The original, simple version of Cultistorm
- The Overlord Expansion – a semi-cooperative expansion*
- Progression of Investigators – RPG-type expansion*
- Storm of Cultists – campaign game play expansion*
- Narrative Gameplay Expansion – as a separate ring binder with 250+ flash fiction stories (and rule modifications)
- A printed Art Book in colour ( bestiary and catalogue of locations)
- Stories from the time of cultists– Short story anthology book
- Exclusive Soundtrack Album by Graham Plowman (!)
- Unique dice tower
- 70 mm H. P. Lovecraft miniature*
- Practical plastic insert
- A very cool Early Bird surprise gift which will surely please Lovecraft fans*

+ All the Stretch Goals will be visible from the launch of the campaign

+ We didn’t plan any paying add-ons for the campaign, we would like to give you all the elements, extensions, “atmosphere boosters” as Stretch Goals and to give them along the base game for free without any extra costs.

+ If there any extensions or elements we don’t reach as Stretch Goals, we will make sure that they become available in the Pledge Manager after the campaign (this way, of course, for additional financial support.)

(*Stretch Goals)


THE BACKSTORY OF THE GAME

The players assume the roles of investigators who work for the special department set up by the Massachusetts Bureau of Investigation and the Miskatonic University. The investigators have to work together to stop the schemes of the cultists. Their aim is to invite their masters, who reside in cosmic space and time, to our world through the open dimension portal. Since the mere appearance of these Great Old Ones would be devastating, it’s imperative to stop their followers, ideally even before they open the portals.

SUMMARY OF THE GAMEPLAY

Every player chooses an investigator with a special ability. Then they draw two equipment cards, but keep only one of them. Every player receives the starter action card deck.

During every turn, one or several cultists appears on one of the five location cards. The cultists who had appeared before but haven’t been vanquished stay on their location.

Then the players decide who fights the cultists (and where), goes to search for new equipment or uses other special actions. In the fight against cultists the players can use their action deck, their special ability, the support of others and an investigation die – these help the players to create the combination of symbols they need to defeat the cultist. The cultist’s value is modified by their own die roll, their special effects or rules and their location.

The majority of the cards in the investigators’ action deck consists of two parts: not only do they provide the magical symbols for combat, they also have a supporting effect enabling the fight of the other investigators. Whenever the players use a card, they have to decide if they want to use the symbol or the supporting action. The starter deck also contains some other types of cards.

At the beginning of the round, the investigators complete their hands from the draw pile then discuss who would attack which cultist and where and if someone would want to do a different type of action. Some of the investigators can only attack the cultist in the entrance of the location, while others have the ability to attack those further back.

After each investigator has occupied their chosen place, they play their actions in an order defined by their location: we research, fight, heal or support the other investigators by using the possibilities offered by the special locations.

If an investigator defeats a cultist, they receive a magical trophy they can later use in combats and they can also draw another combat card from the draw pile, thus making their action pack stronger and more varied.

If there are too many cultists in a given location at the same time, they open a portal to an Other World and a Great Old One appears on the other side. The opening mystical location sucks in the investigators who have been defeated by the cultists there. In the next round the Old One steps into our world through the dimension portal and he devours the unvanquished cultist on that location. The cultist’s life force and dark magic is added to the power of the Old One. If the Old One arrives to the location card of our world, an investigator has to fight him. If the investigator wins, we are saved for a while, however, if he fails, we lose the game immediately.

We’ll be honest: the game is very had and oppressive, but those who have read Lovecraft’s stories know that only this atmosphere is worthy of the Master. The investigators have to work in a well-coordinated manner, carefully contemplating in the case of every card if they want to use it for their own goals or to help the others. Although luck plays only a tiny role in the fight against the cultists, because of the game’s fragile equilibrium this small part can turn out to be fateful. The players can also unearth some important and unexpected things during our research. If there are too many cultists in play at the same time, we lose as investigators. If even one Old one gets through the locations, we lose. If we fail to seal every location in time, we lose. If even one of the investigators dies, we lose. We can only win if we seal all five locations successfully before the cultist pack runs out, if we manage to kill the summoned Old Ones or if every cultist in every location is vanquished.

However, winning is only the beginning. There are nine rule modifiers in the base game only and we plan to add more during the campaign. The modified rules can be combined. Different cultist sects have different abilities, the special locations opening on their wake have completely unique effects and the elements added on during the campaign would vary the game with numerous new mechanics.