Right in the title of the campaign, this one sets itself apart by not only promising and RPG, but also promoting an accompanying soundtrack. Cthulhu Dreamt is not just a game, but proposes a multisensory experience.
Before we get into looking at the campaign, this is the first time I’ve noticed a campaign providing a link to a screen-reader-friendly version of its text. Other campaigns may have done it, of course, but this one puts it up front and it’s hard to miss it. As accessibility goes, that’s a cool feature.
Cthulhu Dreamt is a near-future Cthulhu-themed RPG set in the year 2034. It’s billed as a sci-fi horror game, and a lot of work has been done to flesh it out with the soundtrack, an accompanying comic, and a novel. You can preview some of the soundtrack here:
What originally grabbed my attention about this game was actually the promise that the book would involve the work of Wouter F. Goedkoop. He has worked on creature design, illustration, and cartography. On top of that, he also created most of the visuals for the Kickstarter. He will also be doing the entire book design and layout. I know him from the little community on the Unpossible Journeys Discord and can endorse him as both a talented artist and, far more importantly, good craic.
The game is built on an original D12-based ruleset. It is designed by Jaron R.M. Johnson, whose work I have previously appreciated on his Monsters of Murka setting for D&D. I really liked this book, so I’m pretty optimistic about the designer and trust him to deliver something pretty special.
The main items in this campaign are, of course, the rulebook and the soundtrack. There are a fair few addons and options in this campaign, but only a few proper, fully pledge levels. This is good. I like it when the core pledges are pretty simple.
The first pledge costs $30 and is entirely digital. You get the rulebook as a PDF, a digital download of the soundtrack, a companion novel ebook, a PDF comic, and then whatever stretch goals are unlocked.
Up your pledge to $65 and you get all of the previous pledge, plus some physical products. Specifically, you get a hardcover copy of the book and a CD of the soundtrack.
$120 will replicate the previous pledge, but replace your physical rewards with special edition versions. The hardcover book will have a slipcase and the CD is replaced by a copy of the soundtrack on vinyl.
The cost isn’t ridiculous, but as we know from many other campaigns, shipping can be an issue. I’d love to reassure you that this won’t be the case here, but there’s no actual indication of how much shipping will cost. I completely understand a company not wanting to commit to a shipping cost in these turbulent time, especially when it’s over a year until they are expecting to fulfill their orders, but give us an estimate, guys! Couch it in messages that tell is that it’s an estimate, that it will likely, ultimately be wrong, but give us something. Please. This is a bit of a gap in an otherwise fantastic campaign.
Yeah, I’d give this a good look. It’s very promising.
You can click here to visit the project page at Kickstarter.
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