The first draft of the Lovecraftesque rules is now complete, and we’re looking for playtesters to try it out.
A reminder: The game is all about creating your own story of brooding horror in the mould of Lovecraft, but without using any of Lovecraft’s material. It’s a GMless game, in which you spend most of your time as a narrator whose role is to intrigue, torment and terrify the Protagonist. You and the other players create strange clues for the Protagonist to investigate and, ultimately, draw them together into a compelling Final Horror to drive the Protagonist to despair or insanity.
The game takes about 3-4 hours, and requires 2-5 people to play.
If you would like to playtest the game, leave a comment here or email me at lovecraftesque at vapourspace dot net. We’re looking for feedback by Saturday 14th March – if you can’t play before then we’d still love to hear from you, but we’ll be moving forward with the next stage of the project after that.
Admiral Frax adds “I’d really value hearing from people who don’t know any Lovecraft. The game should be set up so it is equally enjoyable with or without knowledge and I’d really like to know if that holds true.” Good point.
I would be very interested in reading over your playtest document and offering it to my group of interested players. Send me an email at nickwedig at yahoo.com with more details.
Thanks for the interest, Nick. You should have received a link to the files – let me know if it doesn’t show up. Hope you enjoy the game!
As an author I rely on playtesters so much I’m always delighted to try and participate and give useful positive feedback. If you want me email chrisjensenromer at hotmail.com
I have a suitable group and the time..
I would also be very interested in reading and running the playtest for my local group. Email: ephemere [dot] 66 [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thanks CJ, Aaron – you should both have received an email with the file link. Let me know if there are any problems. Hope you enjoy!
More than a little interested! It just so happens that I started a Cthulhu-esque game today, and I’m looking for a rules system.
Thanks Mike – I’ve emailled you the link.
I’ll be interested to see how the game copes with an established game; it’s designed to be zero prep, with characters, setting etc agreed collaboratively at the start. So you may need to tweak it a bit for your purposes.
Let me know if there’s any problems, and enjoy!
I’d love to give this a go if you’re still in need of playtesters. Almost everyone I game with knows their Lovecraft inside out, however.
Hey Scott! Yes, that would be great. Frax’s comment was made in the expectation that non-Lovecraft buffs might assume the game isn’t for them. But we definitely think Lovecraft fans will enjoy it, even if it isn’t quite your typical Call of Cthulhu type experience.
I’ve emailled you the files – let me know if any issues.
Hey, I would like to give the game a spin too! 😀
My email is brom00 at gmail dot com
Cool, Alessandro – link emailled, let us know if there’s any problems.
Hey, I’d really like to read your game and playtest it. A Gm-less mystery game? Sounds great!
Hi Juan – thanks for the interest, files have been emailled. Any problems, let me know.
Hi Josh/Becky,
Shoot me over a copy and I’ll see if I can run it at an IndieMeetup.
Thx
Steve
Hi 🙂 Lovecraftesque sounds very intriguing. I’d be interested in playtesting. I may only be able to test with 2 players, but this world needs more 2-player GMful games.
I would be very interested to playtest. I have never read any original Lovecraft works, but I am familiar with the use of his mythos as a theme. Very interested to see how the clue/investigation mechanisms work in this design.
Hi James, Jarrod, Steve – thanks for the interest, and the files have been emailled. Hope you enjoy!
Oh man; the possibility of lovecraftesque horror without the gross racism? Yes please!
Hi! Lovecraftesque seems a very good game, I want to playtest it.
Hi Ryan, Fagner, thanks for your interest, and I’ve just emailed you the file link. Let me know if it doesn’t arrive.
Ryan: one thing we’re going to do with the game once it’s ready to publish is take a pro-active stance on racism, sexism and other isms. Our examples and art will support this approach. At the moment we don’t have any of either, though. For now, it’s great to hear you’re thinking about this too, and the game should give you the tools to create your own racism-free Lovecraftesque vision.