Cthulhu Gloom

Can I play this game with different types of people? Is it easy to teach/learn?Gloom is not a hard game to pick up and play, but it has a lot of shifting elements to keep track of, so it becomes quite intricate. I believe this poses as much or as little a problem as you choose to make of it. Some players are going to be better at keeping track of the layers of effects, both cancelled and persistent under stacks of cards. Others are going to feel like they are constantly losing track of what's going on, even within their own family. My feeling is: live in the moment, build a story, toy with your opponents, and if a few things slip through the cracks, so much the better. It is the world of H.P. Lovecraft, after all. Some chaos, deception, and mislaid fragments are only fitting.Sometimes it's confusing what the card wants you to do. It's best to have a relaxed attitude about this, too. The longer you play, the less confused you will feel. But in the beginning, don't get too hung up on playing flawlessly.Do you have to have to know who H.P. Lovecraft is to play this game?No. Here's how it is. If you don't know anything about H.P. Lovecraft, not only will you not get the jokes, but some words will be complete gobbledegook. For instance, say you played the card "Said 'Hastur' Thrice" or "Matriculated at Miskatonic." What story would you make up about Hastur or Miskatonic, if you had no idea of their Lovecraftian significance? Well, all kinds of things, really. If you have a high enough vocabulary to make some logical inferences*, the stories you come up with are going to be even more amusing than those of the H.P. Lovecraft fans, who might feel enslaved by a duty to be 'correct.' If your knowledge of Lovecraft lore is very good, every card will make you grin, and it will be easier to invent stories than when playing regular Gloom, because you get to build upon a framework of stories that already exists. And the completely inappropriate improvised yarns of the non-Lovecraftian gamers, will make you giggle even more. So, it's actually quite a lot of fun to play with a mix of people. Which, is presumably the way everyone plays, as I'm sure the percentage of the population who only hangs out with others who worship Cthulhu is pretty rare.*If you don't have sufficient vocabulary to infer or invent an appropriate meaning for the gobbledegook words, you will end up making up some pretty silly sounding story contributions. But you're still going to be able to master gameplay, so it will be fine.Will boring people tolerate this super fun game?Yes. You will be surprised by the creative sides of your non-heavy-gamer friends. There's something about this game that makes people feel like they are on a fun adventure, loosening them up and inspiring them to be experimental. It's a deck of cards, versus a complicated board, and there are so many intriguing words and cunning drawings, you just can't help but want to be a good sport. Maybe give them a beer, if necessary.

I liked it a lot. I enjoy the concept of Gloom, and this is the same basic gameplay, with a Cthulhu theme. Each player gets a family/group, and their goal is to make them as insane as possible, and kill them off (yes you kill off your own people) when they are at their most insane by laying clear modifier cards on top of their player portraits. However many insanity points a character has at the time of their death transfers to that player's score. As an opponent, your job is to play cards that will lower your opponents' characters' insanity score, and kill them off when they're at their sanest to block that player from reaping the points. There are also story cards, and if you're able to meet the demands of the card, you can claim it as your own!Perhaps one of the best aspects of Gloom is the storytelling. Each card has an event, but the idea behind Gloom and Cthulhu Gloom, is to tell a story of what happened with that card. So rather than just play a card that says "Was Followed By Fungi", you would actually tell the group a brief story of how your character was out in the woods one night, enjoying the crisp Autumn air, when suddenly he heard a twig snap...had that odd shadow been there before? A strong damp smell permeated his nostrils, a familiar smell, like mushrooms pushing through the ground after an early morning rain shower... And so on and so forth. Tell the story! Make it fun and creepy and terrifying! It's half the joy of the game.The one star was taken off only because of the content, and how closely the game sticks to its source material. I LOVE Lovecraft Mythos. I have read most of his short stories, and know his lore pretty well. This game is a genuine love letter to Lovecraft. Why does it lose a star then, if it's so true to the stories? Because you almost have to be a big Lovecraft fan to play. I played with a group of five, and was the only person in the room who'd read Lovecraft. Two of the group had never even heard of Cthulhu (which sounds impossible, as ubiquitous as he is in gaming and on the internet!). They were absolutely lost. If your friends are a bunch of Lovecraft hounds? Then you slap that fifth star right at the end and enjoy the heck out of this game. But if terms like Shoggoth, Miskatonic, Innsmouth, Dunwich, or R'lyeh confuse you, or if names like Herbert West, Randolph Carter, Charles Dexter Ward and Yog-Sothoth don't make you giggle with madness? This game will likely be completely lost on you, and confuse you entirely.

Great fun to play

And this is about as strange as you'll get!I haven't had a chance to make a video of what's in the pack yet, but if you look at my review of  the Original Gloom Card Game , you'll have a fair idea, because this game is very similar.You can learn the rules in under a minute, and it's great fun to play. Players start with a family/team of five cards, and the object is to ensure that your own team endure the worst horrors (thereby gaining the lowest scores) and then meet an untimely and unnatural end while thoroughly miserable.Conversely, you'll try to make sure your opponents family members die as happy and untraumatised as possible.The game mechanics, while very simple, are a stroke of genius - and are the reason the cards are printed on transparent plastic. And there are enough 'event' cards and twists to keep the game interesting.If you've never heard of HP Lovecraft (er, WHY are you reading this?), then many of the Dire Events will make no sense to you, and you might be better off with the original Gloom.But if you have a passing acquaintance with the Lovecraft Mythos, you'll feel right at home! Great fun! the Original Gloom Card Game

This game is AWESOME. The cards are really, really stinky. Wish that wasn't the case. But the game is incredibly fun and a really great addition for anyone who plays Cthulu. Gives excellent ideas for your next encounter, too. We love coming up with stories for the characters. Made the perfect stocking stuffer.

This game is so much fun to play! The rules aren't complicated, it's easy to pick up while you play it through. The artwork on the cars is really good and the way the clear cards work stacking on top of each other is clever too (the plastic cards do smell a bit tho) I usually play Cthulhu Fluxx and this game has equal amounts of madness to it, with random event cards and effects coming into play. A must for any fan of card games or anyone fond of H.P.Lovecraft's works.

The game is great fun, werid concept but always a laugh. Is a card game, no board.