With only one target, even just 3-4 turns in a row could nearly destroy a victim and ruin the game. But in a two player game, this game element was problematic. In multiplayer, this was a fine aspect to the game – usually the end player didn’t have too many turns in a row, and if he did, he would “spread the love” among all his enemies.

One of the major strategic elements of Cthulhu Wars is to try to run out of Power last, so you get the last few turns without interruption. A few rules changes ensured that the game was still fun but was absolutely balanced. uring the course of the weekend, and lots of plays, we worked out what was needed. It’s not all they did – we had plenty of other frolics going on – but it had the most lasting result.

No, I didn’t sacrifice them to Yog-Sothoth – I sat them down with my assistant game designer, Lincoln P., and we forced them to work on a two-player version of Cthulhu Wars hot and heavy. We had 5 superfans on hand, all of whom loved my games, and so I decided to use them for my own dark purposes. Well in September the Masterminds showed up. Those who backed it got to come to my house for a weekend play unpublished games, hang out, get design practicums, and so forth. In our Planet Apocalypse campaign we’d included a “super-pledge” which we internally called the Masterminds. So we moved on and basically forgot about it. “Combat” factions, such as Cthulhu, dominated “Infrastructure” factions, such as Black Goat. We tried it several times, but it lacked the “mouth feel” of Cthulhu Wars, and left us cold. The two-player fans were easier to ignore Cthulhu Wars is emphatically a multiplayer game, and its interactions are seriously distorted in two player mode. I resisted – in my opinion, one important reason Cthulhu Wars was such a success was BECAUSE of its size and impact, not in spite of it. It was so popular and had such strong reviews that naturally those who couldn’t afford the price tag wanted me to do a less expensive version. Back in 2013 when I first launched the campaign for Cthulhu Wars, the single most-heard comments were “why is it so big?” “why not use cheap meeples?” “why can’t I play it 2 player?” “can you make a travel version?” I had just done my absolute dream game.

Sandy petersen chaosium