Cthulhu Parlour RPG: Hotel Lovecraft (Hardback)

Premise

You find yourself walking inside an unfamiliar, decaying corridor, with no past memory of whom you are or how on earth you got there.

Welcome to Hotel Lovecraft. The situation is rather unfortunate for your created character. Upon waking in what appears to be a formerly grand Massachusetts hotel corridor, you are forced to come to the realisation that you must escape the hotel, or fall victim to insanity or death.

Within the hotel are 54 rooms that you must investigate before you can hope to escape. Inside, a series of inexplicable horrors will present themselves to you from monsters to demonic presences and clues that may lead to further explanation of your captivity.

With time running out, will you be able to save yourself – and your mind – in time?

The Game

Hotel Lovecraft is a beautifully bound homage to H.P. Lovecraft, the master of horror and mystery. Bursting with lore expertly woven throughout the narrative, this RPG will surely bring joy to any Lovecraft fan. And yet, care is taken to make this accessible to any player.

With simple, direct instructions, players can begin playing immediately. With materials included within, all that is needed is two D6 and one D4 die to start. While I played this with another in person, I continually thought it would have been an excellent choice for groups who play games via video chat due to its simple mechanics.

QR codes allow players access to soundscapes which provide narratives throughout the game. I highly recommend including these during the playthrough as the voice actor was well-chosen and performed suitably for the role.

As previously mentioned, players will travel throughout the hotel’s rooms to escape or ultimately go insane or die. Each room is unique, with an illustration and detailed description to enhance the experience. There will be nods to Lovecraft’s work and lore throughout, but background knowledge is not required. Each time the player enters the room, they must select two choices before moving on. These choices can impact the player character’s stats, health or reality. It may also affect the progress of the game. While the idea of risk and danger was exciting while playing my character, I did find that I wished for more consequences following some of my choices. There were many rooms that I completed where nothing happened. However, there is always the option throughout the game to return to rooms which adds a level to its uniqueness.

Playing this game is something that I am fully intending to do again. It would be interesting to add further players to the game to see how this affects the gameplay and possible outcome, would this make the risk higher for characters? There is always the chance that more players would equal higher consequences. Including more than two players introduces the concept of player attacks, providing an interesting twist in the gameplay.

Overall, Hotel Lovecraft is an atmospheric RPG to sink your claws into during a rainy afternoon and it will be a crowd-pleaser. Tell us your thoughts by heading over to our Instagram!