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Meet the destructoid Team >>   Conrad Zimmerman
Conrad Zimmerman's blog
★ destructoid | Director of Video ★
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Destructoid's head of video operations. An avid player of tabletop and video games throughout his life, Conrad has a passion for unique design mechanics and is a nut for gaming history. Conrad organizes and produces video content for the site (including Sup, Holmes?, Office Chat and Saturday Morning Hangover) and is a regular host on Podtoid.

E-mail: conrad@destructoid.com
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The mere inclusion of Rodney Dangerfield can vastly improve anything. Films, music, toasters, anything. In particular, the force of Rodney Dangerfield could elevate video games to the level in which they are accepted by the mainstream as a true art form, bringing together people of all races, creeds and tax brackets in peace and harmony.

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While I adore video games, I'm equally fond of board and card games. On the Table is a weekly feature of my cBlog that examines some of these analog entertainments. If you have a suggestion for a game to appear in this column or suggestions on how to improve it, please let me know.

Sorry to those of you who might actually care if this column goes up on time each week. The reference site that I use for most of my images (and a good bit of research at times), BoardGameGeek.com, was down for maintenance yesterday right about the time I needed it. It's back up now, hence the finished column, and I'd highly recommend anyone who hasn't visited this treasure trove of board gaming to go have a gander.





This week, I'm going to do something that isn't strictly a "tabletop" game. With all the talk about NARP groups forming, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to mention a party game that works well with any size group, requires little commitment from the players and can add another element to an already awesome party.





Do You Worship Cthulhu is a party game for 5-30 players. If you've ever gone to summer camp, you may have played something similar (often referred to as Mafia, but there are many names). Every player lives in a rural village but one of the villagers is a cult member sacrificing his community, one at a time, to Great Cthulhu. Other villagers, called Seers, have the gift of second sight which they may use to try and determine who the cultists are. One person, usually the host of the party, acts as a moderator, tracks who everyone is and keeps the game running smoothly.





Each night ("night" occurs either at a pre-determined interval or at the discretion of the game's moderator), the village goes to sleep by bowing their heads and closing their eyes. At this time, the Worshipers awaken and each indicate to the moderator a villager to be sacrificed. Once this is done, the Worshipers go back to sleep and the Seers awaken. They point to a person who they think may be a Worshiper and the moderator gives them either a thumbs up or thumbs down. Finally, the village awakens and the moderator reveals who has been left at the altar (so to speak).

Of course, no angry, rural village with its citizens dropping like flies is going to sit idly by. After day breaks and more corpses are discovered, the villagers then have a lynching. One villager is selected by majority vote to be strung up. Once killed, the victim's card is shown and the village gets to feel really stupid if they've killed yet another innocent. The game ends if there are either an equal number of Worshipers as there are villagers (making the Worshipers victorious) or all the Worshipers are lynched.





Two other card types come in the set that can be integrated in if the basic experience isn't interesting enough for you. Vigilantes, wanting to protect the village and not caring about the democratic process, select one person each night to kill in the hopes that they've eliminated a Worshiper. Protectors select one villager who will be kept alive through the night, no matter who decides they should die.

It sounds kinda hokey and I guess it is, but it can be an interesting way to get people talking to each other a little more, even if it's only on the subject of who's killing everyone else. Worshipers must work hard to spread dissent amongst the villagers without tipping their hand as to their true nature. Seers have to be careful about revealing that they have their gift, as they'll be quickly snuffed out by Worshipers should it be known.





I love the art on the cards and, frankly, you'd almost have to in order to actually buy this game. At $16, this is really expensive for something that's in the public domain. The art, quality of the cards and the Cthulhu name (which some of us are a sucker for) goes a good ways towards creating value but I doubt it goes far enough for most.

All in all, if you have a large group of people who'll be open to the idea, Do You Worship Cthulhu? can be a pretty fun time. It's casual enough that you can do a round every half hour or so into the evening (depending on the group size) and have everyone wondering who they can trust throughout. You might want to consider just grabbing some note cards and saving some cash, however.



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Legacy Comments (will be imported soon)


I'm definitely looking into this game. Good write-up, I Can't wait to try it out.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

This looks pretty awesome for the art alone, I can't see myself ever playing this around here though.
I play this all the time! Except I made my own free version, and it's mafia themed not Cthulhu. Me and my friends have made a ridiculously amount of variant cards though. We usually only use one to five extra cards, depending on the group size, but we have around twenty or so available. I love this game :)
Hah, a brilliant twist on Mafia.
WOW, didnt realise you had this "on the table" going .... i def have my eye out for a couple games... i would love to hear your thoughts... also i need to find them again ...

played this one by a company in the UK i think (i was there at the time) about some galaxy domination with cards and every race having one specific power. It was Awesome to say the least, so if i find it i will send it your way.

this game... will however be a pass for me.
HOLY SHIT. this is absolutely amazing, i must buy this. THANKYE! that artwork in itself is reason enough to get it. reminds me of disney-ish haunted mansion.. not the movie, the actual ride.
MagicAQ: The game you're probably thinking of is Cosmic Encounter, which is on my list of games to do.
It probably is , but i played one that was in black n white , maybe by cheapass games , but never found it again....

looked up cosmic encounter and the cards are pretty much the only thing i remember. So your probably right, just all the new boxing and toys that come with make it unrecognisable.

waiting with kiddy delight for that review!
It's a nice idea to add Cthulhu to Mafia, but I don't think it is worth 16$.
I like playing Mafia, and the art is awesome, but I don't think I would ever actually spend money on this since it's a really basic game and can be fully played without any of the cards.

Good writeup though!
Conrad, please find/make a redneck zombies board game.
Looks like Clue, Tarot Cards, and that card game Mafia all mixed into one big fat orgy.
I'm seriously considering finding out where Conrad lives, breaking in, and stealing all his boardgames... >.> <.<
I think I played mafia a couple of times in elementary school.
I don't worship Cthulhu myself, but I love his work.
I'm not familiar with the Mafia setup at all, but this sounds neat.

Can you expand upon how the actual interactions work out? I'm kinda confused on certain respects. I mean, do people argue out who they think are cultists versus regular villagers (or whatever types you would use for Mafia) over a period of time before the at-the-table-exchange happens?

Also, how would you (moderator or random person playing) be sure that nobody was aware of who was taking actions in picking out who should be eliminated or who is using seer powers? Bowing your head doesn't really stop people from using periphery to their advantage...so maybe I'm just not understanding this fully.

Either way, it sounds like a neat idea and I'd probably be interested in just notecarding this game. It definitely sounds fun if I can fully grasp the intent of the regular gameplay. Maybe I'm just reading too hard into this.
This sounds really cool! I'm going to see if my local card game shop has a copy. It might be a little difficult to get a bunch of people together, though, and I'd want to because it seems like it's better in large groups.
This sounds a hell of a lot more fun than "Are You a Werewolf?" which has the EXACT SAME GAMEPLAY, but with vigilantes and protectors...and CTHULU!
Yeah, this game is great, but I'd prefer just using a standard deck of cards for it. Also, I was introduced to it as Mafia.

In case anybody is wondering, we just always do:
Ace = Mafia/Worshipper
King = Sheriff/Seer
Queen = Medic/Protector
Jack = Joker
Numbers = regular villagers

The only differences are that there is no vigilante, and in its place is the Joker, who wins if he gets the villagers to hang him. It adds a neat aspect where he is trying to make it look like he's part of the Mafia, but not trying too hard, or else it's obvious that he's the Joker. Typically we do 2 Mafia, one Sheriff, one Medic, one Joker, and the rest villagers. Same terms for winning, aside from the Joker.
Yeah, I like others, can't see myself spending money on this, but it sounds interesting. I do love some good Lovecraftian artwork though.

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