Thank you for your review of my scenario, Seth. Now, every time I'm about to start writing for _KULT_ I go back to this video to learn where to tighten and rethink things. Just a great overview from a GM and player perspective 🙂
@@linearman0245 Oooooh, now that's a clever idea. Like introducing someone undercover amongst the Enlightened? Slowly being dragged deeper and deeper into the horrors of Metropolis. The key would be the maintaining the dichotomy between their life in Elysium and the life beyond the Illusion.
Play enough Kult or Call of Cthulhu and you learn that the two most deadly events that can happen in a person's life are inheriting a house/diary from a dead relative or being invited to an art exhibition :P. A fantastic review as always Seth x
“Hey ugly! Your art is uninspired and lacks originality. And your girlfriend thinks you’re an asshole!” Ok it’s official protect Kult Detective Jack at all costs. He is a precious
12:00 You could also get around the "how do we make sure all the PCs are inside for the first showing" thing by just having the turnout being lousy and the organizer taking absolutely anyone she can get to go in the place, wait staff and crashers included. I rather like the idea of Marielle being a pretentious twit who vastly overrates how popular the artist's work is at this point and has to take anyone she can get to find enough potential sacrifices. Maybe rub it in by having some randos in the crowd that got paid $20 to come in with the promise of free food and drinks on top of it. Overheard snarky comment from an art critic: "Atrocity Exhibit? Well, it's aptly named if we're talking about the quality of the work."
I love this. You have a small group of ultra-rich snobs in fancy dress and then a bunch of randos from a nearby bar, art students from the local community college looking for extra credit, a girlscout troop, and a family of foreign tourists who don't speak the language.
@@SSkorkowsky And Marielle's half-embarrassed, half-furious and desperate to get the ritual done before her potential victims start wandering off. Some of the NPCs the PCs rescue are a couple from the bar who slipped off for sexy times someplace private and have no idea what's going on, probably caught in the act while the party has a bunch of rescued girl scouts in tow just to make things even more awkward...
The use of the bathroom as a location for scary stuff to happen is actually really smart. It's one of the most vulnerable times people can be in, so a threat is just that bit scarier.
35:25 Another approach to the museum's "reset" when the baddies are beaten would be for no time to have passed at all. NPCs (and PCs) that died during the course of events could just be edited out of existence, maybe with false memories of them dying at other times under other circumstances - traffic accidents, heart attacks, bad oysters, etc. Even the art exhibit itself could be rewritten, with it being a last posthumous gesture by a Marielle who died of cancer recently and whose grief-stricken husband committed suicide shortly thereafter. Maybe with the nepharite beaten the paintings in the exhibit lose their power and appeal and are re-evaluated as trash made by an talentless hack who's best left forgotten, leading to the art community to quietly agree to just pretend this whole embarrassing gesture by Marielle was a dead woman's folly.
I can't help but think that there should be a curated tour where the guide walks you through a timeline of the artist life and works and how the one effected the other. Using some of the imagery like his father going from this monstrous and domineering presence to becoming a prisoner trapped in his memories. Giving the context and establishing some of the symbolism that could help guide the PC's through the purgatories.
Suggestion: for people who are familiar with historical firearms, throw a Chauchat automatic rifle into the anarchist weapon cache. It's an infamously unreliable weapon, so while it gives them excellent firepower, it might jam at exactly the wrong moment.
10:44 "I've never taken a leak in my life without something terrifying happening." You should probably see a doctor about that, Jack. A little penicillin will clear that right up.
This is all very interesting. Sounds like a LOT in only 28 pages. I love the idea of talking to to stone angel if the players are smart enough to pick up on it. Making allies of possible enemies is one of my favorite things in rpgs. I also love some your takes on this and Jack's attacking the paintings. "Your art is uninspired and lacking in original form! Also, your girlfriend thinks you're an asshole!" LOL Of course shipping from Poland is expensive. What did people expect? Ordered mine.
Gotta say, (together with Matt Colville) Seth is just the best RPG UA-camr around. Each video a treasure, fun, informative, inspirational and just damn entertaining. I have not yet seen a single video from either of those two that I didn't love. Awesome! (Can we maybe have some kind of RPG Philosophy collab between the two of them? They are each so thoughtful, but also different enough that some debate or conversation between them would surely be the absolute kicker.)
"It's also a lot more interesting to be looking at pictures of somebody instead of just... looking at my face" Stares at Seth's face for 40 more minutes.
And my first thought was that it would have made an interesting mini-campaign if it started out with the characters being freelance art "acquisition specialists" hired to retrieve all of these pieces for the museum. At first, they are confronted by mundane threats, as they transport the pieces back. As more of the pieces come together and/or more occultish former owners seek to recover their stolen painting, some slightly stranger encounters happen. Finally, after all their hard work, this adventure serves as the capstone of the campaign. That rival Necromancer might also play a hand in opposing the project.
So part that I ended up cutting out of the video (believe it or not, it was originally longer) is one of the PCs in our game is deeply indebted to a local crime boss who was also who secured the stolen paintings and forged the ownership papers for Marielle. The boss got word that Nasra was in town to confront Marielle at the event, and was worried it might come back on him. So the PC spent 2 days digging up dirt on Nasra because his job was to intercept Nasra before he could cause a scene and convince him that it would be in his best interest to quietly leave the exhibit. So when Nasra finally arrived, the PC approached him, made a killer roll, and Nasra left (meaning he survived unscathed). He'll probably be back and cause problems for the crime boss and therefore also to the PC.
@@SSkorkowsky Trust me when I say that nobody here would've complained about a longer video. Well maybe somebody might but that would make them a troll and ignorable. ;-D
This was a GREAT game. I think once we better understood the mechanics, or lack of need for a lot of mechanics, the game was way more fluid. KULT is pretty dark, like "Use your traumas as a starting point" dark, and then add Seth's own..... unique imagination on top of that, and we were both horrified and ecstatic about this game. It's definitely worth playing, so long as your players know what they're getting into!
As companion prices to this adventure, I really recommend two stories by horror author Laird Barron: "The Imago Sequence" and "Strappado". The first one is about cosmic horror revelations expressed through a cycle of art pieces (the titular Sequence). The second is about a life-changing brutal art performance.
@@evilscientistrecords For sure, I actually just got the last of my collection signed so I have a complete set of signed books, minus the Little Brown Book that they only made 500 copies of.
It's no Call of Cthulhu but Kult Divinity Lost definitely does sound like something I want to check out what I'm good for it. Plus, a lot of these videos starting with The Asylum seem to be getting longer nowadays, which is fine by me; I hope Seth is willing to keep it up.
KULT is pretty great. Less Lovecraftian, more Gnosticism mixed with Clive Barker Also, in the background setting? - - - - - - - - - Know how in Call of Cthulhu, you're generally trying to stop Eldritch beings of incredible power from awakening? In KULT, HUMANS are the Eldritch beings and a good chunk (though not all) of the creatures in the setting are trying to make sure we stay asleep. The PCs are unaware of this at first, but may, MAY learn of their lost godhood if they survive and peel back the Illusion. Hence its name, "Divinity Lost" ❤
Something I have taken to doing with every scenario is including a few strategic "Keeping-Options-Open" tools early in a scenario. I spent too many early days GMing where the players had great ideas but not the tools to make them happen, so they tended to resort to cruder methods. By including a few tools for non-lethal combat, trinkets and baubles for gifts and bribery, and other such things, I find my players tend to seek to do more than blast their way through problems. For example, in a Cyberpunk-type game, Shadowrun I think, I had the PCs doing a heist. They planned a lot, but just to be sure, I included a secretary's desk in the first room they broke into. The desk had a taser, a bottle of fine whiskey, a handful of pretty stone-bead bracelets, and a pepper-spray device, the sort of things I would find in the desk of coworkers in many offices. The PCs hadn't thought of these things themselves, but on seeing them, they recognized their potential value and immediately grabbed them. Sure enough, they ended up using the taser to safely subdue a diligent guard, the whiskey was ideal for distracting a couple of midnight-oil-burning cubicle-dwellers, and the pepperspray saved the team's Face when she botched her fast-talk attempt. The bracelets were the real prize, however, because they helped not only save the PCs when their escape went wrong, but ended up making them powerful new allies. You see, the corporation guards were in pursuit through the streets of a run-down neighborhood, and the PCs came across a little street urchin. The urchin agreed, in exchange for the pretty bracelets, to pretend that the corporation guards were trying to kidnap her, which would bring the local gang to her defense as they prided themselves on protecting all those on their turf. Sure enough, when the guards showed up a few moments later, the gang was waiting for them, prompting a brief firefight. The PCs joined with the gang in fending off the "corps-corpse collectors" and the PCs thus could claim to have helped save a poor child from becoming another victim of corporate something or another. The gang would become invaluable help in future missions, always happy to help because the PCs had shown a proper respect for "Community values."
Just wanna say, Seth, your videos are what initially got me into Call of Cthulhu. And just last week, I my brother-in-law through a semi-session 0. After creating his PC, we went through a few combat rounds to give him a taste. He didn’t realize how brutal COC combat can be. Afterwards, I ran him through a short scenario “To Dead Boarder”. Needless to say we had a lot of fun.
I've been rewatching Psych for the umpteenth time and it's good to see Lassie's face here. Timothy Omundson is a great actor and a beautiful face for Guy Vauquelin.
Great video as always Seth! I'm in the middle of running a Delta Green campaign at the moment, this sounds like it may fit in quite well (with some careful modding) as a King in Yellow inspired adventure. Very similar themes and atmosphere to Impossible Landscapes. Cheers, and keep up the sterling work!
I know that this comment is a day late and a dollar short, but I had absolutely no interest in playing Kult until watching this video. Thank you, Seth. My already overpacked and screaming for relief bookshelf does not thank you, but I do. Great video as always.
Thank you for posting these videos. Your voice relaxes me and I have been going through a bunch of life stuff. I have been a fan for years and so happy that you continue to post content.
Kult has such an unique and interesting lore, I also love how dark the theme is in most scenarios. The biggest downside though, is that the rules are so fiddle... I wish they get enough feedback to come back with a new revised edition soon.
I thought this was a great scenario when I read it, but, as always, I love your additions and suggestions. I'm just sorry that there was no way I could run it at a con - just too long!
Quick question and a suggestion. Considering that all the adventures in Purgatory is based on Vaquelin's dream, can I just go "well, time works differently in a dream..sometimes we dream of events that took years but it's only just a few minutes of nap time"? So the players might spend DAYS in each segment but they came out, only 15 minutes had elapsed.
The passage of time between the realms isn't an area I've seen covered in any of the materiel. So that's up to you. It could be like in Constantine where a few minutes in Inferno lasts for lifetimes. You could slow it down or speed it up. So the PCs might spend an hour in a Purgatory and emerge back in the museum seconds after they left. Or maybe many hours after they left. Because the entire museum is in Inferno, the whole affair might only be seconds from the perspective of everyone back home on Elysium. The big reason why I believe there was a passage of time on Elysium is when the Museum returns after Vauquelin is destroyed, it mentions response units bursting inside, which causes me to believe there was enough time for the authorities to realize something was wrong and mobilize a response team.
Another quality video from one of my favourite UA-camrs as always. I was wondering though do you think it’s a possibility that you might make a video at some point in the future about dungeon/adventure environment design? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic.
Here's what you could've used for that one part Seth, The Weeping Angel's from Dr.Who think about it when the lights went out for a second BAMB! right in front of them it gives the Players both a challenge and a little nastalgia pop at the same time.
This game is so dark that I don't think I would ever run it. I do appreciate the aesthetic and the writing but wow. It's like a Clive Barker novel that I would read all alone in the middle of the night to get that super spooky vibe. Kult does this in spades and more. Not a place I wanna visit much but this ttrpg is freaking amazing from what I have seen. I kinda wanna dig into the ruleset to see if there is anything I can steal. But nope, hard pass, not immersing in it.
You keep mentioning the Silent Hill movies as inspiration for playing Kult, why not just the first four games? They're just as good to reference for supernatural horror of this nature and are, like, actually good media to boot.
In the years of lead, Milan bit you really missed a chance to reference operation Gladio and the P2 lodge.. hints of greater horror at the edges of the time
Hey Seth, just wanted to tell you that 3 months ago I didn’t know who you are and since then I watched most of the videos in your channel. Thanks for your amazing content!
So far (after a brief hiatus due to one player being out for a couple months due to family crisis), we've done a few games since this one ended. First we each did a 1-on-1 with all 3 PCs, opening with them in the hospital and learning of the "failed robbery" and "hallucinogenic nerve agent" they were gassed with. They had to meet with therapists and what-not to get released. One spent a couple weeks getting doped up in the psych-ward before he convinced them he understood it was all a drug/trauma-induced hallucination. One PC was attacked by this nasty monster from the dream-realm that feeds off of guilt (He has the Guilt Disadvantage related to his backstory). Another is an occultist/exorcist and one of his Personal Relations is with a local priest. He ended up convincing the priest to let him come to an exorcism where he ended up saving the day. That was a kid who had gotten radicalized by Gamichicoth's influence and was planning mass shooting. One PC, who had stolen a couple small items during the Atrocity Exhibition (including the curator's Rolex), tried to pay off his debt to a local mob boss who pretty much owned him. It didn't work out as planned and he ended up killing the mob boss, but now has the mobster's son as a Nemesis. All the PCs had some supernatural event during their 1-on-1 session, as a way to convince them that not every supernatural event is related to the Occultist PC, who in their shared Dark Secret/Backstory caused a ceremony to go sideways and lead to 3 of their friends being killed. One, who hadn't spoken to him in the years since, was convinced that even the events of the Atrocity Exhibition were due to the Occultist PC being there, because "Horrible things happen around you!" Anyway, during the Exhibition when they went to Milan, they learned from one of their dead friends that the ceremony they had all done needs to be completed in order for the souls of their friends to be released from Inferno and the spirit of this serial killer that they'd been trying to contact to be sent back to Inferno (He's currently Haunting the Occultist PC and is a delightful twisted character that only he can see and occasionally possesses him into doing bad things). But to finish the ceremony they need to gather all the surviving people who were there, as well as an artifact they'd used. So after they had recovered from the Exhibition and one managed to get a new job (because her old one at the museum was gone), they contacted one of the NPCs from their backstory to see about talking her into doing this ceremony. She'd fallen on hard times with a lot of drinking and therapy since the Backstory Event, but was hopeful for a new therapy she was about to start. They went to go visit her a week later, but she was missing. This has led them to the adventure UNLAND (a Call of Cthulhu scenario that's actually a better Kult scenario). We're almost done with that adventure (plan to finish it next week). After that we'll be doing an adventure I wrote (and might publish), followed by the Laraine Estate. That should be the last one where they gather the rest of the old gang from the Backstory Ceremony. Then we'll do the finale adventure with the ceremony. At this point, they're all about 5 Advancements in, so once we're done with UNLAND two of them plan to change Archetypes, which looks to be interesting as their characters have grown a whole lot. This is a really cool campaign because we're really taking our time and deep-diving into the details of these characters' personalities and lives. Lot of dysfunctional romantic relationships and work drama going on with this crew of heroes. It's been a blast.
@@SSkorkowsky Thanks a lot for sharing Seth. I think its fascinating how you've weaved in existing scenario's naturally into the characters backstories and evolving developments. It occurred to me the other day that Gallery of Souls would also make a great scenario to start a campaign. I know that that scenario has pre generated characters, but I don't think that it would be too difficult to make new ones and alter their employer or the NPC that sends them on that adventure. I think Gallery of souls provides some really cool food for thought as to what could happen after that adventure to continue as a campaign. I wish I'd put more thought into that when I ran that adventure a year and a half ago.
1) Thank you for not making this an April Fool's Day joke. 2) I think it is more fun if almost no time passes. The group goes through this and all of 20 minutes have passed and the next group is waiting to look at the paintings, which the players may and probably have destroyed.
Weird thing in our game was the paintings survived. Aside from dream versions they trashed in the 5th Purgatory, the paintings all made it. In fact their colors are a little bit more vibrant now. I was so certain they'd shoot/slash/burn the paintings that it didn't even seem an option that they wouldn't.
@@SSkorkowsky Yeah, that is weird. If there is a plot macguffin that seems to be the source of evil in the scenario, it is guarenteed that they will attempt to destroy it.
The Atrocities Exhibition sounds like a Death or Black Metal Album. And the subsequent events make that even moreso! This sounds freaking amazing and I wish I could play it.
Hello Internet, me again. Great to see that Seth now has 96K subscribers, which means we are literally just 4000 subscribers from a full-length movie starring Seth and only Seth!
great video and help as always, especially as I wanna run it one day. And it fits as I also thought - it has a great idea and potential, but the write up is just not enough. so glad you fixed some things and the handouts are nice. always nice to see a new Kult adventure here. maybe the tall building or taroticum next? would be awesome to see your take on it (or what u think of the tarot cards)
Hey Seth. Do you have the pictures you use for all the characters in the drive? I am for some reason unable to find them and would love to use some of the character art for my game. Especially the one you use to show Vauquelin in his Nephirite form. I am only able to see the maps and other handouts, did you not post the character pictures and if so would you be able to?
Because I didn't make them (simply the product of some Google Image searches and then cropped to a standard size template) I didn't feel right in distributing them through the Drive.
18:30 You mention handheld radios in the security office - is the building cut off from reality enough to a degree that the PCs lose signal on their phones, then?
I had some Complications in my pocket that I could have the radios stop working, or pick up voices of the dead. I also had the idea that one of the monsters might come through a security monitor like that little girl in The Ring. Didnt end up using them, but they were always in my arsenal of things to throw at them in a pinch.
@@SSkorkowsky I've done the "something horrible crawls out of your phone" thing in games just to get the PCs to ditch the damn things. Half the horror tropes in existence fall apart the moment the moment the PCs get signal. :)
I'm going to guess that the five points of the pentagram correspond to the five purgatories. It would be interesting to modify the design to have a 11-pointed star surmounted by a pentagram, where every pair of the internal star's rays was each contained in the pentagram with one ray extending out of it. That could represent his search for meaning and freedom and how he eventually found it by rejecting the moral world. You could then pick two paintings each to represent the purgatories with the triptych's central pane being at the end of the exiting ray and its sides panels associated with the two rays adjacent. A few good rolls could have the PCs recall this and certainly if there was an artist along they could interpret it. It would also hint that these are the events that made him, so defeating his demons may well unravel his apotheosis.
Thanks for the heads up on a cool, free adventure! Thinking of adapting it for a lovecraftian cyberpunk campaign I'm running. Seems perfect in tone and scope for a self-contained chapter. There's even a player with a mentor that collected art, so it's too perfect.
So if you set this in Montreal I assume you had French Canadian NPCs relentlessly shout at the player characters to "parlez français, esti de têtes carrées!"?
Thank you for your review of my scenario, Seth. Now, every time I'm about to start writing for _KULT_ I go back to this video to learn where to tighten and rethink things. Just a great overview from a GM and player perspective 🙂
Thank you for a great scenario.
I'm so curious - how would a scenario similar to The Departed work in KULT?
@@linearman0245 Oooooh, now that's a clever idea. Like introducing someone undercover amongst the Enlightened? Slowly being dragged deeper and deeper into the horrors of Metropolis. The key would be the maintaining the dichotomy between their life in Elysium and the life beyond the Illusion.
@@otterpoet hence the heavy need for medication. The Costigan expy is losing it, even lashing out.
Play enough Kult or Call of Cthulhu and you learn that the two most deadly events that can happen in a person's life are inheriting a house/diary from a dead relative or being invited to an art exhibition :P. A fantastic review as always Seth x
If horror RPGs have taught me anything, it's avoid auctions, will readings, art exhibits, asylums, and Maine.
@@SSkorkowsky Does that include avoiding ebay? I guess it's safe if you stick to Buy It Now listings...
Most dangerous job in the world?
Night security guard at the Gotham City Museum.
Funniest thing I saw today :D
@@richmcgee434 "A mysterious package arrives on your doorstep. You vaguely recall browsing eBay while drunk at some point last week..."
“Hey ugly! Your art is uninspired and lacks originality. And your girlfriend thinks you’re an asshole!”
Ok it’s official protect Kult Detective Jack at all costs. He is a precious
12:00 You could also get around the "how do we make sure all the PCs are inside for the first showing" thing by just having the turnout being lousy and the organizer taking absolutely anyone she can get to go in the place, wait staff and crashers included. I rather like the idea of Marielle being a pretentious twit who vastly overrates how popular the artist's work is at this point and has to take anyone she can get to find enough potential sacrifices. Maybe rub it in by having some randos in the crowd that got paid $20 to come in with the promise of free food and drinks on top of it. Overheard snarky comment from an art critic: "Atrocity Exhibit? Well, it's aptly named if we're talking about the quality of the work."
I love this. You have a small group of ultra-rich snobs in fancy dress and then a bunch of randos from a nearby bar, art students from the local community college looking for extra credit, a girlscout troop, and a family of foreign tourists who don't speak the language.
@@SSkorkowsky And Marielle's half-embarrassed, half-furious and desperate to get the ritual done before her potential victims start wandering off. Some of the NPCs the PCs rescue are a couple from the bar who slipped off for sexy times someplace private and have no idea what's going on, probably caught in the act while the party has a bunch of rescued girl scouts in tow just to make things even more awkward...
The use of the bathroom as a location for scary stuff to happen is actually really smart. It's one of the most vulnerable times people can be in, so a threat is just that bit scarier.
35:25 Another approach to the museum's "reset" when the baddies are beaten would be for no time to have passed at all. NPCs (and PCs) that died during the course of events could just be edited out of existence, maybe with false memories of them dying at other times under other circumstances - traffic accidents, heart attacks, bad oysters, etc. Even the art exhibit itself could be rewritten, with it being a last posthumous gesture by a Marielle who died of cancer recently and whose grief-stricken husband committed suicide shortly thereafter. Maybe with the nepharite beaten the paintings in the exhibit lose their power and appeal and are re-evaluated as trash made by an talentless hack who's best left forgotten, leading to the art community to quietly agree to just pretend this whole embarrassing gesture by Marielle was a dead woman's folly.
Me: *getting out of bed* "Ugh, today is going to be awful."
*checks phone, sees Seth posted a new video* "Today's gonna be awesome!"
A day in Purgatory?!
I can't help but think that there should be a curated tour where the guide walks you through a timeline of the artist life and works and how the one effected the other. Using some of the imagery like his father going from this monstrous and domineering presence to becoming a prisoner trapped in his memories. Giving the context and establishing some of the symbolism that could help guide the PC's through the purgatories.
Suggestion: for people who are familiar with historical firearms, throw a Chauchat automatic rifle into the anarchist weapon cache. It's an infamously unreliable weapon, so while it gives them excellent firepower, it might jam at exactly the wrong moment.
The art critique monologue followed by a blasting sub-machine gun...hilarious!
10:44 "I've never taken a leak in my life without something terrifying happening."
You should probably see a doctor about that, Jack. A little penicillin will clear that right up.
Yes, never eat scrabble pieces, as a journey to the toilet may then spell disaster!
Sounds like a tabletop war story.
This is all very interesting. Sounds like a LOT in only 28 pages. I love the idea of talking to to stone angel if the players are smart enough to pick up on it. Making allies of possible enemies is one of my favorite things in rpgs. I also love some your takes on this and Jack's attacking the paintings. "Your art is uninspired and lacking in original form! Also, your girlfriend thinks you're an asshole!" LOL
Of course shipping from Poland is expensive. What did people expect? Ordered mine.
Who does not just / I simple fell in love with Jack (the NPC) ! :-)
Gotta say, (together with Matt Colville) Seth is just the best RPG UA-camr around. Each video a treasure, fun, informative, inspirational and just damn entertaining. I have not yet seen a single video from either of those two that I didn't love. Awesome! (Can we maybe have some kind of RPG Philosophy collab between the two of them? They are each so thoughtful, but also different enough that some debate or conversation between them would surely be the absolute kicker.)
"It's also a lot more interesting to be looking at pictures of somebody instead of just... looking at my face"
Stares at Seth's face for 40 more minutes.
Blimey, Seth, you really put in a load of work into dressing up your narration in this video. Great stuff. 1970's Milan Jack looks especially cool.
And my first thought was that it would have made an interesting mini-campaign if it started out with the characters being freelance art "acquisition specialists" hired to retrieve all of these pieces for the museum. At first, they are confronted by mundane threats, as they transport the pieces back. As more of the pieces come together and/or more occultish former owners seek to recover their stolen painting, some slightly stranger encounters happen. Finally, after all their hard work, this adventure serves as the capstone of the campaign.
That rival Necromancer might also play a hand in opposing the project.
So part that I ended up cutting out of the video (believe it or not, it was originally longer) is one of the PCs in our game is deeply indebted to a local crime boss who was also who secured the stolen paintings and forged the ownership papers for Marielle. The boss got word that Nasra was in town to confront Marielle at the event, and was worried it might come back on him. So the PC spent 2 days digging up dirt on Nasra because his job was to intercept Nasra before he could cause a scene and convince him that it would be in his best interest to quietly leave the exhibit. So when Nasra finally arrived, the PC approached him, made a killer roll, and Nasra left (meaning he survived unscathed). He'll probably be back and cause problems for the crime boss and therefore also to the PC.
@@SSkorkowsky Trust me when I say that nobody here would've complained about a longer video. Well maybe somebody might but that would make them a troll and ignorable. ;-D
35:21
>The muzzle flash is in the reflection of his glasses
*Golf clap*
Very pleased to see Seth tackle some more Kult. Kult is dark, VERY dark. But it has the potential to go some deep places other RPGs don’t normally go.
This was a GREAT game. I think once we better understood the mechanics, or lack of need for a lot of mechanics, the game was way more fluid. KULT is pretty dark, like "Use your traumas as a starting point" dark, and then add Seth's own..... unique imagination on top of that, and we were both horrified and ecstatic about this game. It's definitely worth playing, so long as your players know what they're getting into!
I only hope Virgil survives long enough to see what I got planned for him.
@@SSkorkowsky me too!
@@SSkorkowsky Death is only the beginning ;D
Ooooooooo a Seth Player?
@@nasir6r996 shhhhhhhhhh
getting some strong Persona vibes from this adventure, sounds awesome! I'll have to try and get my players to try this
As companion prices to this adventure, I really recommend two stories by horror author Laird Barron: "The Imago Sequence" and "Strappado". The first one is about cosmic horror revelations expressed through a cycle of art pieces (the titular Sequence). The second is about a life-changing brutal art performance.
I second this recommendation. He has better stories but those two both fit this adventure really well.
@@chickendragon8526 Definitely one the the best contemporary horror authors!
@@evilscientistrecords For sure, I actually just got the last of my collection signed so I have a complete set of signed books, minus the Little Brown Book that they only made 500 copies of.
It's no Call of Cthulhu but Kult Divinity Lost definitely does sound like something I want to check out what I'm good for it. Plus, a lot of these videos starting with The Asylum seem to be getting longer nowadays, which is fine by me; I hope Seth is willing to keep it up.
KULT is pretty great. Less Lovecraftian, more Gnosticism mixed with Clive Barker
Also, in the background setting?
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Know how in Call of Cthulhu, you're generally trying to stop Eldritch beings of incredible power from awakening?
In KULT, HUMANS are the Eldritch beings and a good chunk (though not all) of the creatures in the setting are trying to make sure we stay asleep. The PCs are unaware of this at first, but may, MAY learn of their lost godhood if they survive and peel back the Illusion. Hence its name, "Divinity Lost" ❤
Something I have taken to doing with every scenario is including a few strategic "Keeping-Options-Open" tools early in a scenario. I spent too many early days GMing where the players had great ideas but not the tools to make them happen, so they tended to resort to cruder methods. By including a few tools for non-lethal combat, trinkets and baubles for gifts and bribery, and other such things, I find my players tend to seek to do more than blast their way through problems.
For example, in a Cyberpunk-type game, Shadowrun I think, I had the PCs doing a heist. They planned a lot, but just to be sure, I included a secretary's desk in the first room they broke into. The desk had a taser, a bottle of fine whiskey, a handful of pretty stone-bead bracelets, and a pepper-spray device, the sort of things I would find in the desk of coworkers in many offices. The PCs hadn't thought of these things themselves, but on seeing them, they recognized their potential value and immediately grabbed them. Sure enough, they ended up using the taser to safely subdue a diligent guard, the whiskey was ideal for distracting a couple of midnight-oil-burning cubicle-dwellers, and the pepperspray saved the team's Face when she botched her fast-talk attempt.
The bracelets were the real prize, however, because they helped not only save the PCs when their escape went wrong, but ended up making them powerful new allies. You see, the corporation guards were in pursuit through the streets of a run-down neighborhood, and the PCs came across a little street urchin. The urchin agreed, in exchange for the pretty bracelets, to pretend that the corporation guards were trying to kidnap her, which would bring the local gang to her defense as they prided themselves on protecting all those on their turf. Sure enough, when the guards showed up a few moments later, the gang was waiting for them, prompting a brief firefight. The PCs joined with the gang in fending off the "corps-corpse collectors" and the PCs thus could claim to have helped save a poor child from becoming another victim of corporate something or another. The gang would become invaluable help in future missions, always happy to help because the PCs had shown a proper respect for "Community values."
Just wanna say, Seth, your videos are what initially got me into Call of Cthulhu. And just last week, I my brother-in-law through a semi-session 0. After creating his PC, we went through a few combat rounds to give him a taste. He didn’t realize how brutal COC combat can be. Afterwards, I ran him through a short scenario “To Dead Boarder”.
Needless to say we had a lot of fun.
Seth has reawakened my GM ambitions after 20+ years. And I started RPG gaming almost 40 years ago.😅
I've been rewatching Psych for the umpteenth time and it's good to see Lassie's face here. Timothy Omundson is a great actor and a beautiful face for Guy Vauquelin.
Man, Kult sounds like an awesome game. I really am intrigued by the setting. Thanks for the video Seth!
You know after some heavy modification I could see this senario being used in the OSR game The Invisible College.
Great video as always Seth! I'm in the middle of running a Delta Green campaign at the moment, this sounds like it may fit in quite well (with some careful modding) as a King in Yellow inspired adventure. Very similar themes and atmosphere to Impossible Landscapes. Cheers, and keep up the sterling work!
Never played Kult, but I really like the artwork. Wish other companies cared about their artwork like the Kult people do.
Once could perhaps call them...
Kultists.
Ha! I shall now see myself out.
This sounds like Berserk's eclipse, though less vicious, sickly and cruel
Actually it’s just as Cruel due to the fact that you’re locked in the room with with these crazy Monsters!
@@danielramsey6141 I think to sacrifice friends and people who trust you with their lives is more cruel than to sacrifice random art museum guests.
I know that this comment is a day late and a dollar short, but I had absolutely no interest in playing Kult until watching this video. Thank you, Seth. My already overpacked and screaming for relief bookshelf does not thank you, but I do. Great video as always.
This is gonna get interesting. Jack being in modern clothes makes me not feel unusual about it. Oh well, switching it up is pretty awesome.
nothing better to help get through a rough day at work than a comfy scenario review to make the time go by
14:24 Glory to New Phyrexia
Good review, you're really making me consider switching systems (or at least stealing these ideas) my dude....
I'm sorry, I can never hear the word "showing" without having glorious flashbacks XD
I want to run this using Call of Cthulhu. It sounds like I may need to use the Pulp mod.
It's vids like this which makes me glad there's over 2000 miles between Seth and my SO >.>
Man I'd love to play a horror game with Seth.
Thank you for posting these videos. Your voice relaxes me and I have been going through a bunch of life stuff. I have been a fan for years and so happy that you continue to post content.
Great video! Another example of Seth’s amazing skill as a GM and his thorough additions to make a game “better” or more playable
The rest of my Kickstarter stuff for Kult arrived today, so thanks for this!
Kult has such an unique and interesting lore, I also love how dark the theme is in most scenarios. The biggest downside though, is that the rules are so fiddle... I wish they get enough feedback to come back with a new revised edition soon.
I thought this was a great scenario when I read it, but, as always, I love your additions and suggestions. I'm just sorry that there was no way I could run it at a con - just too long!
Great review as usual. I don't play Kult but I love the work you put in to your work.
Great video as usual, nice summary and great tips. But to me, 35:15 is what sets this channel apart from all other RPG content out there.
nice touch at 35:21, you can see the muzzle flash reflected in Jack's glasses.
Quick question and a suggestion. Considering that all the adventures in Purgatory is based on Vaquelin's dream, can I just go "well, time works differently in a dream..sometimes we dream of events that took years but it's only just a few minutes of nap time"? So the players might spend DAYS in each segment but they came out, only 15 minutes had elapsed.
The passage of time between the realms isn't an area I've seen covered in any of the materiel. So that's up to you. It could be like in Constantine where a few minutes in Inferno lasts for lifetimes. You could slow it down or speed it up. So the PCs might spend an hour in a Purgatory and emerge back in the museum seconds after they left. Or maybe many hours after they left. Because the entire museum is in Inferno, the whole affair might only be seconds from the perspective of everyone back home on Elysium. The big reason why I believe there was a passage of time on Elysium is when the Museum returns after Vauquelin is destroyed, it mentions response units bursting inside, which causes me to believe there was enough time for the authorities to realize something was wrong and mobilize a response team.
@@SSkorkowsky Thank you very much.
Another quality video from one of my favourite UA-camrs as always. I was wondering though do you think it’s a possibility that you might make a video at some point in the future about dungeon/adventure environment design? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic.
Here's what you could've used for that one part Seth, The Weeping Angel's from Dr.Who think about it when the lights went out for a second BAMB! right in front of them it gives the Players both a challenge and a little nastalgia pop at the same time.
I still love to "oh really?" expression on the image you used for Brahim Nasra. He looks so done.
Wow - you put in a LOT of effort to perfect your games. I wish I were one of your PCs!
That’s not Guy Vaquelin, that’s Lassiter from Psych!
Love your Kult reviews. Hope you'll find some more Kult adventures to run!
This game is so dark that I don't think I would ever run it. I do appreciate the aesthetic and the writing but wow. It's like a Clive Barker novel that I would read all alone in the middle of the night to get that super spooky vibe. Kult does this in spades and more. Not a place I wanna visit much but this ttrpg is freaking amazing from what I have seen. I kinda wanna dig into the ruleset to see if there is anything I can steal. But nope, hard pass, not immersing in it.
I love how much Kult feels like Clive Barker.
You keep mentioning the Silent Hill movies as inspiration for playing Kult, why not just the first four games? They're just as good to reference for supernatural horror of this nature and are, like, actually good media to boot.
In the years of lead, Milan bit you really missed a chance to reference operation Gladio and the P2 lodge.. hints of greater horror at the edges of the time
Interesting. I've been in Tunisia a couple of time. Sidu Bou Said is a fantastically beautiful place.
You had me at the picture of Timothy Omundson with the flowing locks as an NPC.
wow an adventure in my city!!!!! I'll never go to an exhibition ever again!!
I'm loving these Kult situation reviews. This game sounds like a lot of fun. Hope you teach us how with a wider system review soon
Hey Seth, just wanted to tell you that 3 months ago I didn’t know who you are and since then I watched most of the videos in your channel.
Thanks for your amazing content!
Thank you very much. Glad you've been enjoying the channel.
Seeing as you used this to start a Kult campaign, I’m curious to know where things went from here :)
So far (after a brief hiatus due to one player being out for a couple months due to family crisis), we've done a few games since this one ended. First we each did a 1-on-1 with all 3 PCs, opening with them in the hospital and learning of the "failed robbery" and "hallucinogenic nerve agent" they were gassed with. They had to meet with therapists and what-not to get released. One spent a couple weeks getting doped up in the psych-ward before he convinced them he understood it was all a drug/trauma-induced hallucination. One PC was attacked by this nasty monster from the dream-realm that feeds off of guilt (He has the Guilt Disadvantage related to his backstory). Another is an occultist/exorcist and one of his Personal Relations is with a local priest. He ended up convincing the priest to let him come to an exorcism where he ended up saving the day. That was a kid who had gotten radicalized by Gamichicoth's influence and was planning mass shooting. One PC, who had stolen a couple small items during the Atrocity Exhibition (including the curator's Rolex), tried to pay off his debt to a local mob boss who pretty much owned him. It didn't work out as planned and he ended up killing the mob boss, but now has the mobster's son as a Nemesis. All the PCs had some supernatural event during their 1-on-1 session, as a way to convince them that not every supernatural event is related to the Occultist PC, who in their shared Dark Secret/Backstory caused a ceremony to go sideways and lead to 3 of their friends being killed. One, who hadn't spoken to him in the years since, was convinced that even the events of the Atrocity Exhibition were due to the Occultist PC being there, because "Horrible things happen around you!"
Anyway, during the Exhibition when they went to Milan, they learned from one of their dead friends that the ceremony they had all done needs to be completed in order for the souls of their friends to be released from Inferno and the spirit of this serial killer that they'd been trying to contact to be sent back to Inferno (He's currently Haunting the Occultist PC and is a delightful twisted character that only he can see and occasionally possesses him into doing bad things). But to finish the ceremony they need to gather all the surviving people who were there, as well as an artifact they'd used. So after they had recovered from the Exhibition and one managed to get a new job (because her old one at the museum was gone), they contacted one of the NPCs from their backstory to see about talking her into doing this ceremony. She'd fallen on hard times with a lot of drinking and therapy since the Backstory Event, but was hopeful for a new therapy she was about to start. They went to go visit her a week later, but she was missing. This has led them to the adventure UNLAND (a Call of Cthulhu scenario that's actually a better Kult scenario). We're almost done with that adventure (plan to finish it next week).
After that we'll be doing an adventure I wrote (and might publish), followed by the Laraine Estate. That should be the last one where they gather the rest of the old gang from the Backstory Ceremony. Then we'll do the finale adventure with the ceremony.
At this point, they're all about 5 Advancements in, so once we're done with UNLAND two of them plan to change Archetypes, which looks to be interesting as their characters have grown a whole lot. This is a really cool campaign because we're really taking our time and deep-diving into the details of these characters' personalities and lives. Lot of dysfunctional romantic relationships and work drama going on with this crew of heroes. It's been a blast.
@@SSkorkowsky Thanks a lot for sharing Seth. I think its fascinating how you've weaved in existing scenario's naturally into the characters backstories and evolving developments. It occurred to me the other day that Gallery of Souls would also make a great scenario to start a campaign. I know that that scenario has pre generated characters, but I don't think that it would be too difficult to make new ones and alter their employer or the NPC that sends them on that adventure. I think Gallery of souls provides some really cool food for thought as to what could happen after that adventure to continue as a campaign. I wish I'd put more thought into that when I ran that adventure a year and a half ago.
Nice Beretta M12 prop, very Italian-appropriate, especially at that time. Cheers.
This sounds amazing, I would love to run some players through this but it's DARK
Improvised Weapon + Museum = Ming Vase
Another great review, Seth. Thanks! I really enjoy modern horror adventures. Looking forward to the next one.
Entertaining and infirmative as usual. I watch your videos whenever Im prepping for a game, hoping the GM magic can help me hahaha.
42:00
Aha! I didn't realize these were internationally shipped. I'll definitely try to snag this when it comes stateside. Thank you for the update!
1) Thank you for not making this an April Fool's Day joke.
2) I think it is more fun if almost no time passes. The group goes through this and all of 20 minutes have passed and the next group is waiting to look at the paintings, which the players may and probably have destroyed.
Weird thing in our game was the paintings survived. Aside from dream versions they trashed in the 5th Purgatory, the paintings all made it. In fact their colors are a little bit more vibrant now. I was so certain they'd shoot/slash/burn the paintings that it didn't even seem an option that they wouldn't.
@@SSkorkowsky Yeah, that is weird. If there is a plot macguffin that seems to be the source of evil in the scenario, it is guarenteed that they will attempt to destroy it.
The Atrocities Exhibition sounds like a Death or Black Metal Album. And the subsequent events make that even moreso! This sounds freaking amazing and I wish I could play it.
Hello Internet, me again. Great to see that Seth now has 96K subscribers, which means we are literally just 4000 subscribers from a full-length movie starring Seth and only Seth!
huge thanks for your great work! Thinking about giving Kult a try for a while now and looks like this one might be the perfect starting adventure
With all the hand outs Seth makes, you'd think he'd be the most sought-after editor in the TTRPG space.
4:32 As someone who just discovered Galavant, I approve of the NPC portrait and saw this adventure in a different light than I otherwise would have.
You, sir, are mad brilliant. I often GM, but this makes me want to play. Excellent work. I'll check Kult out.
Love the Hellraiser/Silent Hill themes in this adventure
I've been on a DARK CONSPIRACY kick this last few months and I'm tempted to import this whole thing! Thanks for the breakdown Scott
4:30 That is King Richard from Galavant. Like, that is specifically a promo picture for Galavant. Glorious.
To equip PCs you can go the Demolition Man way and have the museum with fully working, loaded weapons from every era of war
30:38 "we've all been there"...how did you you knew that Seth?...😆
22:32 I definitely did not expect Art the Clown to make an appearance in this video
"Montreal Spaceport. You will never find a more wretched jive of [etc etc]"
Another great video, Seth! Always looking forward to more of your content.
Silent Hill was cool, surly underrated but super fun horror flick
Great video and review, as always !
Keep on the great work :))
P.S.
Looking forward to a Forbidden Lands or Symbaroum review :p
THIS is why I avoid art exhibitions....!
This is such a small-world thing, but I’m pretty sure the image you used for the chief of security is actually a friend of mine! 😂
Seth: "Hello, Internet!"
Me: I'm here!
great video and help as always, especially as I wanna run it one day. And it fits as I also thought - it has a great idea and potential, but the write up is just not enough. so glad you fixed some things and the handouts are nice. always nice to see a new Kult adventure here.
maybe the tall building or taroticum next? would be awesome to see your take on it (or what u think of the tarot cards)
Hey Seth. Do you have the pictures you use for all the characters in the drive? I am for some reason unable to find them and would love to use some of the character art for my game. Especially the one you use to show Vauquelin in his Nephirite form. I am only able to see the maps and other handouts, did you not post the character pictures and if so would you be able to?
Because I didn't make them (simply the product of some Google Image searches and then cropped to a standard size template) I didn't feel right in distributing them through the Drive.
KULT sounds like a badass game. I need to check it out.
your pc's are the funniest on youtube. i've never even played kult
18:30 You mention handheld radios in the security office - is the building cut off from reality enough to a degree that the PCs lose signal on their phones, then?
I had some Complications in my pocket that I could have the radios stop working, or pick up voices of the dead. I also had the idea that one of the monsters might come through a security monitor like that little girl in The Ring. Didnt end up using them, but they were always in my arsenal of things to throw at them in a pinch.
@@SSkorkowsky I've done the "something horrible crawls out of your phone" thing in games just to get the PCs to ditch the damn things. Half the horror tropes in existence fall apart the moment the moment the PCs get signal. :)
I'm going to guess that the five points of the pentagram correspond to the five purgatories.
It would be interesting to modify the design to have a 11-pointed star surmounted by a pentagram, where every pair of the internal star's rays was each contained in the pentagram with one ray extending out of it. That could represent his search for meaning and freedom and how he eventually found it by rejecting the moral world. You could then pick two paintings each to represent the purgatories with the triptych's central pane being at the end of the exiting ray and its sides panels associated with the two rays adjacent.
A few good rolls could have the PCs recall this and certainly if there was an artist along they could interpret it. It would also hint that these are the events that made him, so defeating his demons may well unravel his apotheosis.
Wow, 24 hours solid play time on this scenario? That's some bang for your buck there - especially as a free download. :)
Thanks for the heads up on a cool, free adventure! Thinking of adapting it for a lovecraftian cyberpunk campaign I'm running. Seems perfect in tone and scope for a self-contained chapter. There's even a player with a mentor that collected art, so it's too perfect.
As a Montreal native, hearing it come up gave me a big grin
Woahhhh I want to run this in the city I live in (Basel-Switzerland). We have a massive art museum and that exhibition could totally be there!
So if you set this in Montreal I assume you had French Canadian NPCs relentlessly shout at the player characters to "parlez français, esti de têtes carrées!"?