Kult



Kult is a Swedish Dark Fantasy/Splatterpunk (self-description) Role-Playing Game by authors Gunilla Jonsson and Michael Petersén. (Who are, despite the very dark topic, two nice people working in a bookstore.) It takes place here and now, in the reality of today. But reality is not what we think. Around us the world is dark and dangerous and nothing is what it seems to be. Our reality is The true world, invisible to us, is ruled by creatures who dominate the false facades, our prison wardens and torturers. And if your characters happen to steep too far into Evil, they might actually.

Kult can be used for any kind of horror game, from "splatter the attacking zombie hordes" to "solve the occult mysteries of the universe" to more subtle paranoia and conspiracies. Players play characters who somehow came into contact with darkness - whether purely theoretical, like students interested in the occult, Mad Scientists or Mad Artists; in reality, like muckrakers, private detectives or COPS; or actively fighting it, like soldiers, gang members or street fighters.

What can you do in Kult? You can fight evil... or become evil yourself... or simply go mad.


 * Abandoned Hospital and Abandoned Laboratory: Urban decay and blight are but one theme of Kult.
 * Alien Geometries:
 * Alone with the Psycho
 * Artifact of Death
 * Ax Crazy: The Angels of Death, who serve a similar function to the Archons, but are much, much more malevolent about it.
 * Bedlam House: Most asylums are like that, and often the doctors and wardens there are at least as mad as the inmates.
 * Black and Gray Morality
 * Blue and Orange Morality:
 * Body Horror: What can happen when your mental balance plummets low enough.
 * Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu:.
 * Cannibal Clan
 * Corrupt Church: Chokmah, The Black Madonna.
 * The Corruption
 * Cosmic Horror: It's difficult to judge whether this setting or the Cthulhu Mythos are more horrific.
 * Well, at least here,
 * Crapsack World: If you are Born Lucky, then it's only a World Half Empty. Most Horror settings have at least one faction who aren't pure evil, even if it is just the mundane police. Not so in Kult.
 * The Dark Side
 * Dark World:
 * The Dragon: Golab and Hareb-Serap,
 * Enemy Mine: Notable Netzach, who will join forces with Malkuth or even Angels of Death if it will help him defeat Astaroth.
 * Evil Counterpart: Angels of Death to Archons and Astaroth to Demiurge. Actually Eviler Than Thou Counterpart since neither of the pairs are truly good.
 * Fighting a Shadow: Subverted.
 * Freak Lab Accident: One possible background for player characters.
 * Freak-Out
 * Game Face
 * Go Among Mad People
 * God:
 * God Is Dead:
 * God Is Evil:
 * Go Mad from the Revelation
 * Happy Place: One could say, in the world of KULT most humans are there.
 * Harbinger of Impending Doom
 * Hell: Inferno.
 * Hell Hotel
 * Heroic BSOD: Failing a terror throw.
 * Homicide Machines
 * Humanoid Abomination:.
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters:
 * In a sense. While it's rather difficult to see as the good guys, truth is, the  were completely amoral bastards that destroyed millions of lives and caused untold suffering to members of weaker species. Perhaps the setting's deepest, most interesting question would be
 * Despite being embodiments of evil, found the darkness in humans' hearts surpasses theirs.
 * Indian Burial Ground
 * Infernal Retaliation
 * Knight Templar: Geburah is embodiment of this trope.
 * Light Is Not Good:
 * Love Transcends Spacetime
 * Mechanical Lifeforms:
 * Mirror Scare
 * Neurodiversity Is Supernatural: Schizophrenia is actually the ability to see behind the veil covering mundane reality. Mental illness in general is one of two roads to supernatural mojo (sainthood is the other one, but power-wise they're mutually exclusive).
 * Off on a Technicality
 * Orifice Invasion
 * Police Brutality
 * Power Born of Madness
 * Religion of Evil
 * Religious Horror: And with a title like KULT, is it really any wonder?
 * Room 101:
 * Room Full of Crazy
 * Satan:
 * Scary Scarecrows
 * Serial Killer
 * Sinister Subway
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The whole game is practically glued to the cynical end.
 * Snuff Film
 * So Beautiful It's a Curse: The "Sexually Tantalizing" disadvantage. You're so beautiful that everyone wants a piece of you and nobody can listen to what you're saying.
 * Soulsaving Crusader: The player can potentially become one of these, since
 * Split Personality
 * Spooky Photographs
 * Teens Are Monsters
 * These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know
 * Through the Eyes of Madness
 * Tome of Eldritch Lore
 * Torture Cellar
 * Torture Technician: Golab and many others.
 * Town with a Dark Secret
 * Trauma-Induced Amnesia
 * Unstoppable Rage
 * Weirdness Censor: Probably the only reason why ordinary humans can survive in this world without going mad immediately.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Malkuth's servants kidnap humans and perform wild experiments on them.
 * Town with a Dark Secret
 * Trauma-Induced Amnesia
 * Unstoppable Rage
 * Weirdness Censor: Probably the only reason why ordinary humans can survive in this world without going mad immediately.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Malkuth's servants kidnap humans and perform wild experiments on them.

Hell, almost every of the Crime and Punishment Tropes, Evil Tropes, Madness Tropes or Horror Tropes might find a place in your KULT sessions.

Typical Characters that may appear in KULT:


 * Agent Mulder
 * The Aggressive Drug Dealer
 * Amateur Sleuth
 * Ancient Keeper
 * Artificial Human:
 * Ax Crazy
 * Back-Alley Doctor
 * Badass Biker
 * Bouncer
 * Con Man
 * Defective Detective
 * The Grotesque
 * He Who Fights Monsters
 * Hired Guns
 * Housewife: Subverted.
 * The Hunter
 * Inspector Javert
 * Intrepid Reporter
 * The Jailer
 * Mad Oracle
 * Sadist Teacher
 * Weirdness Magnet
 * Sadist Teacher
 * Weirdness Magnet