RPG of the Week

The RPGNews Indie Game of the Week focuses on a little gem that found it's way mysteriously into my home last week. Pokethulhu is a new game from S. John Ross of Cumberland Games and John Kovalic of Dork Tower. Pokethullhu: the Adventure Game, The Monster in Your Pocket is Cuddly, Evil and Itching for Action. Gotta catch you all! That said; let's take a look at this "interesting" game. Each Character takes on the persona of a "Cultist" who is attempting to fill his or her Pokenomicon respectively. Your Pokenomicon stores as you catch and provides a reference for the 400 known thulhu (plural of Pokethulhu) species in the world today. Creating a cultist is as easy as Ftaghn! That's right! All you need to do is assign any score you would like, greater than 1 and less than 12, to the 6 abilities the book has listed. By following the 4 rules provided for this open character creation you can come up with some pretty unique characters. Game play is as simple as catching Drek Maki on an off day. There are three levels of challenges that can pose a threat to your cultist. The "Owner" assigns the Cultist one of these three tests which allows the user to roll 3,2 or 1 twelve sided dice respectively. If you roll at or below the tested ability you succeed! One of your scores is assigned as your "lucky" trait at the beginning of the game; with this stat you always roll three dice! Pokethulhu battles are a bit more complicated but still quite a bit of fun as you get to create Pokethulhu cards for each thulhu you create! The book contains rules for training, creating and battling thulhu. Fighting thulhu goes something like this 1) Pre-Fight - The cultists brag and pose trying to gain a mental initiative. Dodecahedrons are rolled. 2) Whoever lost the Pre-Fight goes first by announcing their thulhu combatant. The winner then decides which of his thulhu shall battle. Each thullhu has four attack modes with a power listed next to each; the attacker (whoever won the pre-fight) chooses one of these attacks and rolls the appropriate number of dice. This continues until one thulhu falls or one combatant decides to run away. Pansy. The book itself is thin, only about 30 pages or so. Pokethulhu looks and feels like a comic book. In fact, it contains a Dork Tower "intro to roleplaying" and another adventure of Sparky and Renfield, an advertisement for Cumberland Games. There are also illustrations for the cthulhu listed in the book and the winners of the thulhu design contest held when the original Pokethulhu was released. I really liked this game and recommend it to anyone is more interested in having a good time than getting some serious chartmaster in. The adventure arcs, written by Steve Jackons Games Art Director Phil Reed, are just as fun as the game itself. But, as mysteriously as this relic appeared in my house it seems to be more of a mystery of where to buy it. Pokethulhu had an April 7 release date but I have only seen "store copies" recently. I'll keep all of you posted as to where to purchase this incredible find! Watch for news, it really is worth the 5.95 price tag.