Lovecraftesque, the Cthulhu-inspired GM-less tabletop RPG, is getting a second edition
Features “hundreds” of prompts.
A new edition of Lovecraftesque, the GM-less tabletop roleplaying game, is on its way.
Lovecraftesque is a tabletop RPG that takes inspiration from the mythology created by HP Lovecraft, but without the author’s known racist sentiments. The TRPG has players confronting great evils as ordinary folks who could be of a wide variety of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. As well as subverting Lovecraft’s racism, Lovecraftesque also offers a more complicated approach to mental health and deconstructs the negative ideas surrounding it.
Alongside providing a fresh perspectiv on cosmic horror – which has also been adopted by the likes of classic horror tabletop roleplaying games Call of Cthulhu and Trail of Cthulhu – Lovecraftesque enables players to collaborate together thanks to the fact that it doesn’t require a games master to be played. A GM-less RPG is when players collectively tell a story, rather than having a single person fulfill the role of the narrator. Through a selection of story prompts, players in Lovecraftesque can take control of a cast of characters as they react to certain events. According to the publisher – Black Armada Games – Lovecraftesque’s gameplay system was adopted by several other tabletop RPGs such as Brindlewood Bay and Apocalypse Keys.
Throughout the horror TRPG, players will draw a series of clues which will alert their characters to the existence of a terrible plot that is sure to spell the end of humanity. By following these clues, players will visit a variety of different locations in order to search for the next clue. In classic cosmic horror fashion, players’ ordinary characters will be better served approaching potentially dangerous situations with caution, otherwise they risk facing something they can barely comprehend, let alone defeat.
Lovecraftesque: Second Edition is the next version of the tabletop roleplaying game, one that Black Armada claims is the game it “really wanted” to release when the original Lovecraftesque was first conceived but was unable to due to the “financial risks” involved. The next edition of Lovecraftesque will feature “hundreds” of prompts to guide players through the story, includes brand-new scenarios for players to experience and streamlines the learning process of the original. There will also be a solo game mode found in the new edition.
The co-designers behind Lovecraftesque: Second Edition are Josh Fox and Becky Annison, the creators behind the original game and other Black Armada titles such as the sci-fi roleplaying game Flotsam and Bite Marks, a TRPG about being a werewolf.
The crowdfunding campaign for Lovecraftesque: Second Edition launches on Backerkit in October.