The first time I saw this game I said to myself: "It's already mine". So I look everywhere for it until i found it in ebay. Loved the drawings in the original version and I like Munchkin Cthulhu so I said why not.

Components


The cards are enough for somebody that likes Munchkin Cthulhu but anybody playing Call of Cthulhu CCG, Arkham Horror or Mythos will definitely want more to buy this game.


Another down to this game is the mat. As you can see it's more than a mat the prototype of one. It does it's business but on a non creative way.

The material of the last edition is better than the previous ones but it looks like it is a very cheap printing with a very cheap artwork (even for kovalic). And by the photos I see at BGG I would love to find the original cards that seemed to have a very good artwork.

Note: Check my custom game parts below the review

Gameplay



The system is very basic and direct. Your only two strategies are the choice of cultist you are going to attack and some lucky shots of event and mondo cards plus the use of the fuggly points to your advantage (well, I am convinced... there is some strategy after all). The objective of the game is to eliminate the opponents' cults or to summon your own personal lovecraftian deity before anybody else.

To do so you each turn you replenish a hand of six cards that you are going to use to do thug attacks or conjuring attacks. The first one is a direct hit with a weapon or element to a certain cultist and the second one is an invocation of a creature to attack a cultist. The attacker chooses the target and engages in a dice roll. If he succeds the opponent might defend with very few possibilities or remove the cultist from the sanctuary.

The mondo cards affect one or all of the players as they are random events happening in the world. Some of them are funny some boring. They are supposed to add spice to the game but most of them fail to do so.

Events are cards a cult can cast upon other cult to do some damage through cosmic events.

And sorcery cards are spells that provides the cult with some ability useful to your goals.

There is a quantifier called fuggly points a cult can use strategically to modify the results of a combat by adding points to the dice rolls and are the main power to summon the deity as with 25 points you can start casting your summoning spell. If you are successful your cult wins, if not the consequences can be as harsh as the total oblivion of your fellow cultists and the eradication of your name from the face of the earth (truly... I am not exagerating... I know a guy whose cousing know the brother in law of the girlfriend of an uncle whose name everybody forgot due to this game).

Conclusion

Creatures and Cultists is not the best game in the Lovecraftian mythology but does it job when players do not want to think too much and still play in HP's world (when I read the it was a struggle between cults I couldn't resist the idea, plus if you look at it with more imagination you can even see yourself summoning dark youngs to smash your enemies or being attack due to a wrong summoning by a byakee... yes I am crazy but remember the name of the game).

I enjoy it very much but couldn't even touch it with the elements inside the box. If I have to be fair I would give this game a 4 of 10, because visual atmosphere is very important in the world of Cthulhu and the original game parts lack of it but the system is not bad and with some support of the game buddies you can give it a 5 of 10.

Custom Game



I am a designer so to play a game I have to see cool pieces plus a cool system. If not I cannot throw a game that costed me a lot of money to the garbage so I have to fix it. This game has a good system but the idea to write a mat in order to play or to create a sign and then draw it over and over again seems stupid at best.

So I updated the system dice based. No writting needed, non ruining the elements of the game with pencil or pen. Just dice, a cool mat and lots and lots of D&D miniatures.

So here is the recipe for each player:

- 6D12 (D20 might be better) to represent sorcery, conjuring and thuggery skills
- 1D10 and 1D100 to represent the fuggly points
- 8 snaketongue cultists (50/60, CE 17) $0.25-$0.35 each
- 8 blood of vol cultists (29/60, LE 18) $0.25-$0.35 each
- 4 blood of vol fantatics (27/60, LE 30) $0.25-$0.35 each
- 4 deathlock (50/60, CE 12) $0.25-$0.35 each
- 1 dreamblade Madhouse miniature to represent who is favored by the stars. $2 each
- 1 custom playing mat.

Yeap, lot of elements but after $8-10 per player the looks are amazing:



So everytime you have to modify a skill or fuggly counts you just use the dice as visual reference.

Why so many different cultists, well I imagined thugs and conjurers would be very different types so I picked from my D&D collection the 2 that fit the genre perfectly. Imagining forward I thought also that on the highest level of the herarchy the cultists would be so strong that a thug would turn into an absolute fantatic and the conjurers wouldn't be human anymore for their deal with the dark creatures and the fanatics of Vol provided the visual appearance I wanted keeping the relation with the Vol cultists and the Dreadlock was simply amazing with it's arm rised in a conjuring sutra.



But the first thing I imagined was the mat. I hated the one that came in the box not for it's simplicity but for it's lack of creative talent so I looked on my head for the elements to create a cool mat (since I am not an artist) and Warhammer quest gave me the clue. So I edited everything taking just a floor mosaic and added the taurine statue found also on one tile and modified enough until I had a Cthulhu like creature. Then merge everything, gave the proper lighting and added a medallion I found on the internet to give more atmosphere, yet I needed a frame... where could I have found a frame for a cultist game but in another cultist game so I borrowed from Do you worship Cthulhu (a game I must recommend when you have 20 friends that like to have fun) and edited more until I composed what I had in mind from the very first moment I look at the game description.



And after a month waiting for the miniatures arrived I played Creatures & Cultists deluxe edition my way.



If you are going for a cheaper version may I suggest you use the Zombies miniatures that can be found on ebay a pack of 100 for just 8 dollars.


So with this recipe I am certain to say the game rises to a 7 of 10.