[Guyin Cognito]

"All my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large." -- Lovecraft, 1927

Familiarity with H.P. Lovecraft isn't restricted to an exclusive club, so dont bother asking for my ID card.

"Welcome my bloodied, chaotic, and slimy disciples… you have walked through a door to H. P. Lovecraft’s version of Hell by way of a surreal dreamscape. You are diabolic champions who are destined to be as Godlike as your emperor Satanis. But don’t start to feel all smug and superior because at one time your kind were the feeble, unwanted, unloved, beaten, abused, spit upon, hated, and feared dregs of humanity. Citizens of the human realms who practiced sorcery were banished from the universe. Each time you are reminded of your struggle for power, a blind volatile rage takes hold. A twisted sense of dark purpose hides behind a decadent masque of revenge fantasy." --The Empire of Satanis.

The author states in his own words that his work (EoS) is about Lovecraft's version of hell, (or in his mind) meaning the actual pan-dimensional universe that Yog-sothoth, Cuthulu, and so on hail from, you can now experience it in a way that D&D may not have really given you access to. Its the place on the other side of the veil the reader and characters of horror/real-world sci-fi Lovecraft tales seldom glimpse and are held in constant suspense over. He also emulates the writing style of Lovecraft, namely the terminology. He never claims hes the next Lovecraft.

He goes on to say that he has infact blended his view of modern Satanism with Cthulu to form the entity of Satanis which is the premise of the game... That’s new in my book. It is also presented in a raw way that isn't mainstream-ized like some of these supposedly great RPGs Demon:the Fallen, Kult, Vampire the masquerade. All of them are more or less based on the biblical interpretation of things, don’t we tire of that old noise? EoS needs no such crutch and pays no such homage. It makes reference to Satan, hell, and anti-Christ, as mockeries to boxed-in thinking. It presents evil as a wholly unique self created entity. That’s new from what I’ve seen and well done by EoS.

"Shed your humanity if you dare." is the theme I get from it. These other games would have you playing "good to be bad" fiends who "struggle" with emotions and concepts of good vs. evil. "Fallen angels..." Their publicity and loose use of demonic terms, pentagrams and comic-book artwork really doesn’t hold much water in comparison. I don’t need lots of fancy "scary" imagery to feel the horror. Most horror tales by popular authors have no pictures. Lovecraft is strictly verbal from what I’ve seen. I’m glad Satanis Unbound chose the imagery it did. The pencil drawings for me were more effective than all the air brushed fury these professional artists can muster because it originated from very sincere sources. Btw Heavy Metal rocked and any game that can invoke that kind of gaudy terror deserves kudos, few can.

While I’ve seen other games use a d6 concept, none do it with the deceptively simple method EoS chooses. The statistics of it d6 skills are balanced contrary to what some reviews say and allow for lots of expansion with out fear of "power" inflation (mind you being a demon is already powerful). The combat system is inline with the skills (d6+the same scores) and are down right fun to roll in comparison to other systems I’ve tried. Storytelling and descriptive horror are the main thrust, not a cumbersome characters sheet.

Here’s the kicker: as the GM and players you could easily play the EoS game in any fashion you liked, even to the point of good vs. evil if it really suited you. Again, the reviews assume a "dark" but good natured gamer looking for something new but not willing to do any work to get it. You are right in your own courtroom but thats the end of it.