darkconspiracytherpg.info

DrivethruRpg are offering the above as a free download. It's a taster for a Lovecraftian sci-fi RPG set in an Alien style future but with travel confined to our solar system. Seems to incorporate some story telling elements. From what I gather it may be related to CthulhuTech and was previously called Cthonian Stars. I have to confess I'm intrigued but am finding info on it hard to come by. Has anyone else heard of it, or maybe even played it?

Can't say that I've heard of it before but I'm intrigued.
Unfortunately I'll have to wait 'till I'm home from work to do a proper search (sites such as DriveThruRPG are blocked by our network) but thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Not a huge fan of Cthulhutech (way too Manga/Anime for my liking) - which is Wildfire's other Lovecraftian RPG - but I do own a copy of Cthonian Stars. Unfortunately, while it is an interesting system, to me it's a paleshade of Eclipse Phase while cover many of the same concepts...

That said, I'll be interested to see what they do to extract the setting from the Traveller system (as was used in Cthonian Stars), and what mechanics they use instead.

Oh, BTW, I'm downloading the Quickplay rules as I type this

Marcus

I'm the same as Marcus, not a fan of CthulhuTech for exactly the same reasons plus one other - the authors of that game conceitedly state that if Lovecraft were alive today then their game is how he would image Cthulhu (or words to that effect).
To me that pretty much means they entirely missed the point of what Lovecraft seemed to be saying with the Cthulhu mythos.

Thanks the info chaps - I'm tempted to buy the full game if and when it comes out.

ReHerakhte wrote:To me that pretty much means they entirely missed the point of what Lovecraft seemed to be saying with the Cthulhu mythos.

Void seems closer to the Lovecraftian idea of a lonely, often futile, battle against unfathombable forces (as opposed to blasting them to bits in a giant Japanese robot). Space seems the ideal setting for games with that sort of theme. I thought Cthulhu Rising was well put together but I'd like to try something a bit more claustrophobic and perhaps non-BRP.

Void rpg finally available as a free pdf from drivethru/rpgnow. Have downloaded it and given it a quick skim. The presence of several pieces of rpg fiction smacks of padding but looks like an interesting game. Will stick with MiniSix Cthulhu Rising for now though.

Hey thanks for the update Linden.
I haven't looked at DriveThruRPG for a while so I had no idea Void was being offered free.

I'm interested in getting Void however I hold similar opinions to you, the presence of fiction pieces within the game book immediately makes me think "Ah we haven't got enough material, shove something in here to pad it out".
That might be entirely unfair of me but unfortunately it's proven true one too many times.

ReHerakhte wrote:Hey thanks for the update Linden.
I haven't looked at DriveThruRPG for a while so I had no idea Void was being offered free.

I only found out myself after chancing on a post about it on YSDC.

ReHerakhte wrote:I'm interested in getting Void however I hold similar opinions to you, the presence of fiction pieces within the game book immediately makes me think "Ah we haven't got enough material, shove something in here to pad it out".

I reckon you're right there. Only seems to be three monsters statted up in the book. You have to pay for a separate "Void bestiary". It's not a lot of money and I appreciate the publishers have to make a living but it does rather give the lie to any claim that Void is a complete rpg. Seems a bit of a rip off for anyone who likes the game enough to buy the POD version.

The other thing I didn't much care for was the insanity system which grades a character's mental health using the terms "bonkers", "loony", and "raving". I always though the CoC Sanity rules were a bit crude and mechanical but they're a model of sensitivity and decorum compared to Void's.

Linden wrote: The other thing I didn't much care for was the insanity system which grades a character's mental health using the terms "bonkers", "loony", and "raving". I always though the CoC Sanity rules were a bit crude and mechanical but they're a model of sensitivity and decorum compared to Void's.

Ouch! That's actually quite nasty - I was going to say "shitty" but I didn't want to seem so non decorus
But seriously, using words like that makes you wonder how serious the game designers are about the Sanity/Mental Health aspect of the game. Everything else seems straight-up and serious but those terms make it seem like it's all meant to be a comedic trip through the darkness. Do I get popcorn and a Coke to make it even more like a "dumb SyFy movie"?

ReHerakhte wrote:
But seriously, using words like that makes you wonder how serious the game designers are about the Sanity/Mental Health aspect of the game. Everything else seems straight-up and serious but those terms make it seem like it's all meant to be a comedic trip through the darkness. Do I get popcorn and a Coke to make it even more like a "dumb SyFy movie"?

I'd agree that context is everything here. Using the words "loony" and "bonkers" might be acceptable in a darkly humourous rpg like Paranoia but in a straight faced horror game they're inappropriate. I'm not that keen on the Gumshoe system but I thought the Sanity system in Trail of Cthulhu was well done and brought something new to what can often be just another set of hit points.