Once in a while some game or product manages to slip through my radar completely.

Cthulhutech is one of them.
What's the story behind it? Who's doing it? What's it about? I heard "its been finally released", so what's up with it?

Give me the goods.

RPGPundit

well I don't want to say giant robots fiht cthulhu because i do think that does it a disservice, though they have chosen to use that as an artistic direction, and promote the artowkr above all else it would seem.

Essentially it's SF cthulhu.

The Mi Go are at war with the earth. Earth scientists have eldritch dimenionsal drive tech (like Event Horizon) and science based on principles Man Was Not Meant To Know.

There are a couple of genetically engineered races in a similar vein.

There are cults and organisations working on earth in service of Hastur iirc.

There are also giant mechs called Engels which are sort of 'alive'.

It's Cthulhu in the future when the stars are right, basically. It does look good, but the people responsible really haven't a clue how to run a business and have created for themselves a rather painful trial by fire. I won't be buying it for at least the foreseeable future; the window of opportunity was lost months ago and I just don't have the money. The cost is a mjaor downside since it's ostensibly £30 for something full colour that's about 290 pages. For me that's too much.

Quote from: signoftheserpentwell I don't want to say giant robots fiht cthulhu because i do think that does it a disservice, though they have chosen to use that as an artistic direction, and promote the artowkr above all else it would seem.

Just to clarify...the mecha artwork was the more noticeable part, so that was chosen.  But the mecha are just 1/5th of the setting.  You can definitely play the game as a standard, investigation/conspiracy/occult research game, just set in a different, war-torn setting.

QuoteEssentially it's SF cthulhu.

The Mi Go are at war with the earth. Earth scientists have eldritch dimenionsal drive tech (like Event Horizon) and science based on principles Man Was Not Meant To Know.

There are a couple of genetically engineered races in a similar vein.

There are cults and organisations working on earth in service of Hastur iirc.

There are also giant mechs called Engels which are sort of 'alive'.

It's a blend of eldritch horror and SF mecha war story.  The only genetically engineered race in the main book is the Nazzadi, who were created by the Migou to be their warriors.

There're major cults (Esoteric Order of Dagon, Disciples of the Unnameable, etc.), and minor ones.   One (the Children of Chaos) is in control of a major corporation.

The Engels *are* alive, and are actualy cloned eldritch creatures under cybernetic armor.  The "mech" part is propaganda.

QuoteIt's Cthulhu in the future when the stars are right, basically. It does look good, but the people responsible really haven't a clue how to run a business and have created for themselves a rather painful trial by fire. I won't be buying it for at least the foreseeable future; the window of opportunity was lost months ago and I just don't have the money. The cost is a mjaor downside since it's ostensibly £30 for something full colour that's about 290 pages. For me that's too much.

I can't comment on the business practices of WildFire and Mongoose. But in my opinion, I think the book is worth it.

Already ran with bits of the initial concept in my Tekumel campaign some and plan to revisit it in my current Dr. Who & Torchwood meet Lovecraft Country campaign.

Can't justify spending the money right now, especially since it used some custom system, has a high cost, and I can already do what I like about it with existing systems, the conspiracy/cults and hidden organizations + tech + CoC.

Like the trailer and website though. Best of luck.

(edit: I *do* really like the art and the people have been communicative when they can)

What system does it use?

RPGPundit

The system is called Framewerk, and it's a d10-based dice pool one.

Quote• Attributes are Agility, Intellect, Perception, Presence, Strength, and Tenacity.  They are rated on a scale of 1 to 10, with a five being average.
• The only dice used in CthulhuTech are ten-sided dice, simply referred to as dice.
• Determine which skill applies to the Test.
• Determine your Base, which equals the skill's associated Attribute.
• Determine your Dice, which equal the skill's level of Expertise in addition to any bonus dice from Specializations.
• Your Storyguide will determine what the Degree and Difficulty is for the Test.
• The Difficulty is the number that you have to beat on your Test to succeed.
• Roll your Dice, trying to get a high roll.
• You can take the highest single roll.
• You can take the highest set of multiples and add them all together.
• If you get roll three or more dice, you can take the largest straight and add those dice together.
• Watch out for ones, because they can make bad things happen.
• Add the result of your die roll to your Base. This is your Test Result.
• Compare your Test Result to the Difficulty.
• If your result ties or beats the Difficulty your Character succeeds.
• If your result is lower than the Difficulty your Character fails.

Here's a really simple example: your character has Agility 7 and Dodge 3. An attacker has Perception 6 and Marksmanship 3. You roll your 3 skill dice and get 5, 6, 6. You take the 6s, add them together for 12, then add Agility, for a total of 19.

The attacker rolls 3, 6, 10. He has no sets, so he uses the 10, plus Perception for a total of 16. He misses.

There is more info in the forums, and an irc channel in irc.magicstar.net, too.