[Card Game]: Creatures & Cultists!, reviewed by ShannonA (3/2)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10843.phtml

Shannon Appelcline's Summary:

A very light Cthulhu card game, just reprinted, but outdated in the modern gaming field.

Go to the full review for more information.

Post originally by Jake at 2004-11-17 13:34:38
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Hey Shannon,

excellent review, as usual. I was thinking of buying either <i>Cthulhu 500</i> or <i>Creatures & Cultists</i>. After this review, <i>C&C</I> doesn't seem to be the thing for me (I don't like high-randomness games that are too complex for their own good). On the other hand, while you gave <i>Cthulhu 500</i> better marks, their seemed to be some mechanical issues with that one. Too bad... why doesn't Knizia or Teuber make a Cthulhu-themed game? :-)

(And your review answered the question whether you and the Shannon Appel from my <i>CoC</i> books were the same :-) )

--Jake

Post originally by Shannon Appelcline at 2004-11-17 14:59:09
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C500 & C&C are both pretty high-random games. Your top strategies are determined by card draws in both cases. However, I think that you can overcome randomness in C500, but not C&C.

Likewise, they both have some slightly clunky mechanics: the spooge & boofs in C&C; and the passing rules in C500. In this case, I found the clunky rules in C&C easier to remember than those in C500.

However, overall, C500 feels to me like a much more modern game, with better lessons learned from the last 10 years of design, which shouldn't be a surprise given that C&C is largely unchanged from 10 years ago. It also looks better.

Thus, if I bought one, it'd be C500.

Shannon

Post originally by J. Edward Tremlett at 2004-11-18 07:31:40
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One of the cards is Steal The President's Brain, with the President represented by W.

This last Gen Con, while hanging out at Eos/Pagan Pub, I remarked that they might need to be changing the card. They laughed and said it's too late for that.

Turns out it's good for another 4 years! : P

J

Post originally by Brad Elliott at 2004-11-20 08:38:24
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Hey, Shannon -

Thanks for your well-written and thorough review! Obviously, I would have liked a higher rating, but as it is, I'll just take it as useful information to improve future editions of the game, as well as be more attentive to details like you mention in general!

And thanks again for the 'Herbert West' fix!

-- Brad Elliott, Eos Press Guy

Post originally by Shannon Appelcline at 2004-11-20 19:10:59
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Brad,

Always pleased when a review is taken as suggestions rather than just criticisms.

Shannon