I only have one question so far... Have your players ever seen Metropolis? I mean, as a whole, not just parts of it. And I saw someone mention a map over Metropolis. How profound, the city of cities shouldn't stoop to that level. Anyway, my players have never reached Metropolis, and I think it'll take some time before they do. It's not like these things happen everyday; they would have to be gods, or at least extremely powerful. I want to keep my players on a low level, where they hardly understand what's happening. Like in my latest campaign (chronicle?), where I have only one player, which is very nice, since it's a lot easier to customize everything, and see how the player reacts. His character works in a record-store, and some guy sells him a used CD. Of course, the CD is cursed, and of course, the player doesn't know that. The only way to get rid of it is to sell it. I keep giving the player some tiny clues here and there, some misleading, some a bit cryptic, but I think he's smart enough to get the picture. Now, get this; I improvise EVERYTHING. Nothing is prepared, 'cause I didn't have time to prepare anything. I thought we'd just fool around a bit, but it turned out great. I think Kult is the best rpg for GMs who like to improvise; at least it is for me. We've been using the Kult system for several, totally different styles, like action/horror or plain action or just horror, mystery blended with some action, etc. It's a great rpg, 'cause you can do anything with it. Sometimes, we just skip the whole "the world is an illusion" bit, and use Kult for some great horror. A friend of mine really scared us when he was GM, he's a natural; I always enjoy his horrid sense of humour and his sickening imagination.

I feel that Metropolis shouldn't be a place to explore, as if it were some sort of conquerable dungeon (ala AD&D). I use Metropolis as a sort of great, incomprehensible dream, with players awarded only occasional glimpses, hints, and visions. While well written, The METROPOLIS supplement should only be used with extreme caution. I use it as a book of myth. NEVER tell your player something as inane as "you fall through a hole in a telephone booth and realize you're now in Metropolis..." Really, I was insulted to read such passages. Idea for your next KULT session: Explore the Dream Worlds. My players have had much more fun in the unpredictable Dream Worlds than dealing with Metropolis... and have fun at the same time.

The Metropolis supplement seems to be poorly written. If the rest of it is like that passage, it ruins the entire feeling of Metropolis. What I like about Kult is that the characters can't comprehend reality. It's just too much for a human being to grasp. Using/analyzing occultism and dreams is just a way to see parts of reality. Metropolis is too complex, too big, too disgusting, too beautiful; it's simply too much. Imagine a place that sums up the entire history and geography of ALL cities. You can't. Now add what lives beyond our illusions. You can't, because it's beyond our wildest imagination. Ok, now describe this as an organized place which is completely comprehensible for the players. That's what I call blasphemy.

Dream world, very good choice. It's unpredictable enough for the GM to do exactly what he wants. That's another thing I like about Kult; the GM is always right. I know this goes for every rpg, but in Kult, the players can't possibly disagree with the GM. Anything can happen in Kult. It's great.

I agree with many things said about Metropolis, but since it's a great place that can be anything the gamemaster wishes, I like to use it frequently in my campaigns. Just mentioning the place occasionally is a waste of a fantastic city...

Anyway, I never say things like "you fall through a hole in the telephone booth floor and you realize you're in Metropolis". That's just too blunt and unimaginative for me. Just don't spell it out loud. Metropolis can look like any city in Elysium except for some freaky detail, and in most cases the players don't know (but maybe suspect) they've left their own reality. I don't call Metropolis Metropolis all the time. Its inhabitants can be as ignorant as the players as to where they are. Don't waste its mysteries all at once like in the Metropolis book if there isn't a good reason for doing so, that's my tip. In my experience, details and smaller things added up are often far more scarier than one big flash of horror and gore.

Joaquim Gandara, you almost seem to be implying that Metropolis can be described. I know it's a difficult task, and that the Metropolis book doesn't succeed very well, but how else can the atmosphere and the underlying, basic structures be conveyed? There has to be some structure in Metropolis. If there weren't any structure it would be impossible to describe or use in a RPG. In my opinion it's best if the players only get brief glimpses of it though.

By the way, a map of Metropolis would be impossible following KULT logics. Metropolis is a city beyond time and space. I believe it's said in some book that the different parts of Metropolis aren't actual geographical parts of the city, just ways of giving structure to something maybe only an awakened person could fully understand. At least you'd have to be able to view space and time differently than normal humans to start thinking of Metropolis in geographical terms.

About the dream world.... Just watch out so it doesn't get too spaced out. It can be fun to begin with but my players grew tired of it after a while. Another thing is that in the dream world the players have even less control over their surroundings than usual (unless they are skilled dreamers), which can be very frustrating.

Absolutely! "Show them, don't tell them." I have "rewarded" my players with glimpses of Metropolis. Of course, these glimpses only occurred during moments of great stress, when other "events" were more than occupying their attention. They obviously didn't have time to try to make any sense of it all.

I assume that you mean " can't be described". And no, I'm not implying that. I am merely stating that the structure of Metropolis shouldn't be so obvious that the players could draw a map of it. As someone said earlier on this list; it's more like Metropolis visits the players, not the other way around. I agree with you completely, there is some structure, but it should be too overwhelming for the players to understand. Using the 'glimpses' approach, the GM doesn't have to give Metropolis any structure at all, since the player(s) only see a brief part of it. But what if the players have actually broken through the illusions? Is Metropolis something they can then comprehend? I think that would serve as an anti-climax. When the players are free at last, how can you describe Metropolis in a way that is comprehensible for the players, but still as fantastic and unbelievable as it should be?

It sounds like only part of Metropolis is visible, like in some of the really huge cities of Elysium. Of course, one way to describe Metropolis is by letting the players think that they're still in their own town and changing a few details (like using parts of the city's past and future). However, the city should then be just a tiny part of Metropolis; when/if the players see the horizon, it'll look like the city goes on forever, blending with other cities that shouldn't be there, meeting a sickening, red sky, as if the sun is rising in every direction. Well, something like that, anyway.

My players, in the games I have run in the past (one for over a year and a half) never did see Metropolis until the bitter end... Then, in one mostly story-telling ending adventure I showed them what it was they were actually involved in and ended the chapter on one of those melodramatic "We-re in deep s#!t" notes.

When my players finally reached Metropolis they were not at all powerful. In fact they were pretty much ordinary people with a slight bit of extraordinary experience under their belt. They had seen things no others had seen (at least in their eyes) and were changed but not powerful. No real magic or superpowers. Nothing of the sort. It really made the final entrance just that much more extraordinary.

The game seems to be (by popular vote of the players I've had) more fun when you are struggling along in a rollercoaster you're not in control of then when you are aware and can make the thing turn or stop at any time. If that makes any sense.


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