Product– CthulhuTech: The Shadow War Quick-Start Rules (V2)
System- CthulhuTech (V2)
Producer– Wildfire
Price– Free here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/156677/cthulhutech-the-shadow-war-quick-start-rules-v2?src=hottest_filtered&affiliate_id=658618
TL; DR– Good, but I miss robots. 93%
Basics– Welcome to the shadow war! In CthulhuTech, magic has returned to the world and it has merged with all the tech of the day. However, strange Gods and Cults now use this for their own goals. This will not end well for mankind! This book has several pre-generated characters and a walk through of a very simple adventure with mechanics to introduce the new version to new players.
Base mechanic- This game uses a d2 system. Basically you have a skill and an attribute. You roll dice equal to their total for an action. If you get odds, you fail on that die, and evens are successes. Get enough successes and good things happen. This goes all the way through to combat and chases. It’s a VERY simple system.
Mechanics or Crunch– This is a simple game intro for a simple game. But it works. This is not crazy complex with all kinds of modifiers. I’d put this closer to a Fate system. If you want rules lighter but with some choice, this might be the system for you. 5/5
Theme or Fluff– This adventure is good, but the layout is both good and annoying. The characters have their own sections which is nice. The GM doesn’t get a lot of introduction to the system before reading box text. The game primarily teaches about the world and mechanics by box text. This is good as an intro,but I still don’t know too much about the world itself. I also feel its not really tech-based any more. I feel this is just magic or even more closer to Persona with the characters basically using summons to fight. I’d like more tech and less Cthulhu in this game. 4/5
Execution– This works well. The book has separate character sheets, pictures, and a nice layout to make it easy for players. For the GM, there are nice sections to guide the GM so they can guide the players into the story. It flows easily and quickly for a fun one shot adventure. 5/5
Summary– I am intrigued by this. It’s fun and simple. I typically like more crunch, but this works well enough for what it wants to be. The world might be better served with more build up. There is story here, but I feel like I’m missing a lot. This is due to it being a quick start. I am interested in the full book, so it did its job. 93%
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