05 - The Gamemaster

Chapter 5: The Gamemaster

To play KULT: Divinity Lost is to engage in a conversation between players and gamemaster. The players’ primary job is to speak for their characters and describe what they do and how they act. They also relay what their characters think, feel, and remember, as well as answer questions posed by the GM about their characters and how they live. The GM’s job is to explain everything else: portraying every other person in the world, and narrating what transpires during the story. Whenever the player characters (PCs) enter a new environment, the GM describes any notable details and answers any inquiries the players have about the scene.

When the PCs speak with somebody, the GM takes on the role of that person for the scene. All people, creatures, and entities who aren’t player characters are called non-player characters (NPCs), as only the GM portrays and controls them.

Agenda

When creating stories in KULT: Divinity Lost, the GM should be checking off three agenda items over and over. The rules of the game are designed to help…

• Tear back the Illusion to reveal the true Reality behind it.
• Keep the PCs on edge, only allowing them moments of respite.
• Let the PCs’ actions make an impact, regardless of consequences.

Every story in KULT should strive towards tearing the Illusion apart, and revealing the true Reality behind it. Whenever the PCs’ misunderstanding of the world and what they believe to be real collide with the dark Truth in violent conflict, madness and horror emerges. By allowing the PCs to confront Reality, you also put them in a position to finally confront their lost divinity.

The characters in these stories are haunted; occasionally by external elements, but just as often by internal forces and conflicts, which drive them towards madness. As GM, it is your job to challenge the PCs and drive them towards action. In KULT’s dark, horrific stories, any respite is fleeting and new threats lurk behind every corner. The rules will assist you with representing this: Disadvantages allow you to invent new threats, Dark Secrets anchor the PCs to terrors in their pasts, and GM Moves naturally escalate danger and drama into a crescendo and, eventually, climax.

In KULT’s stories, the PCs are the core protagonists. The story revolves around their activities, whether those activities occurred in the past, present, or future. The GM’s job is to encourage the players to act, and - through the rules - the characters’ actions will make an impression on the story. You should place obstacles in the player characters’ path, yet support their efforts to discover solutions to the situations they’re in. Never tell them “no,” but rather say “yes, and…,” or in some cases, “yes, but how…?”

When the PC says she drives her dagger into the lictor’s eye, the GM doesn’t say “you can’t.” Instead, encourage their action, such as “Her eyeball bursts like a cherry tomato popping. Its white, goopy insides bloom from the ruined eye-socket, pooling around the dagger before trickling down Laura’s face. Ignoring the grievous wound, she grabs you and lifts you into the air like a small child. A wicked smile plays across her lips as she whispers, ‘So, you want to play with me?'''

The Fiction

The fiction is mentioned occasionally in this chapter, and this concept might demand some explanation. The fiction consists of the established facts within the game world’s narrative. These constitute the laws regulating what makes sense in the setting. These are rules known only to and agreed upon by the game group.

For example, the player’s character having the attribute Coolness +3 is not an aspect of the fiction. But, if the same player describes their character as having nerves of steel and being awesome at stealth, then this is a part of the fiction. Game rules affect the fiction and provide guidelines for what might happen in the story, but only the players know about these rules on the meta-level. However, the PCs have as little knowledge about their precise Attributes, Advantages, and Disadvantages as they are aware they are imaginary personas controlled by the players. The player characters’ reality is ‘the fiction.’ The GM’s job is make sure the fiction is equally ‘real’ for the players.

When the GM asks a player what their PC’s Deadly Stare advantage looks like and the player describes her character’s piercing, ice-cold eyes make people feel uncomfortable, it becomes a fact established in the fiction. It affects what the PC is capable of and how other characters in the game world react to the PC.

This is meaningful to the game because the fiction guides the GM’s and players’ Move choices. The next time the player describes how his Criminal character tries to intimidate a bouncer by transfixing him with his gaze, the GM will rememher the PC’s Deadly Stare and take the fiction into account when describing how the bouncer reacts. Perhaps he’s frightened and lets the PC through without hassle, while another PC might have been denied entry.

The GM’s Moves are always derived from the fiction. If a PC is shot in the leg, he will be in pain and any actions requiring two fully functioning legs are now an ordeal. If the GM is unsure whether or not to make a certain Move, they should always consider the fiction and what’s already been established to determine if it makes sense. If the rules of the game contradict the fiction the group has established, the GM should give precedence to the fiction.

Principles

Principles serve as the GM’s guidelines for running the game. Whenever she picks and describes a Move, the GM should also rememher her Principles.

Insinuate the Supernatural

As GM, you will want to create a world in which the characters suspect something is terribly wrong - although they cannot tell what. From time to time, you should introduce odd occurrences and weird details, suggesting to the player character there’s something questionable about their concept of reality. They should frequently question aspects of the world - if not their own sanity.

Where does the homeless man who dances in the park fountain disappear to? One moment he is visible to everyone, but somehow vanishes in the next.

What forgotten subway station does the train pass between 50th and 42nd street? Who are the people standing there, waiting?

How could the well-dressed man have fallen from the sixth floor onto pavement without getting crushed?

Who sent the message to your voicemail, where someone who sounds exactly like you warns of dire events they say will occur in the future?

The true Reality exists on the periphery of the characters’ awareness, ready to burst forth when the Illusion tears. By suggesting a fundamental wrongness with minor details in the story, the GM can incite the sense that the player characters’ concept of reality is falling apart and something awful might be revealed at any moment.

Address the Characters, Not the Players

Rather than ask the player, “Sara, what does John do during the evening?” instead say, “What are you doing this evening, John?” Describe the world to the player character, “She observes you with lustful eyes as she releases one of the hooks of her macabre dress from her skin. With one hand, she motions to you, and without uttering a word makes it clear she wants you - she’ll make all your dreams come true. She knows exactly who you are and what you desire.” It is the PCs dreams the demon wishes to fulfill. By speaking directly to the character, the GM and the player are present together in the story, instead of acting as two players viewing the fiction from the outside.

Make Your Moves, But Use the Fiction to Disguise Why

The GM makes Moves based on real-world events rather than what transpires in the fiction. When a PC enters a new location or otherwise transitions to a new scene, when a player misses their roll (usually by rolling a (-9)), when the text for a player Move instructs the GM to make a Move, when the players looks to the GM for input, then the GM makes a Move. Yet the GM should act as if the reason is because of events in the story!

For example, if the GM’s Move is Capture Someone she should never say, “Since you failed your Act Under Pressure Move when sneaking into the factory, you make it only halfway before they catch you.” Instead say, “After you climb through the broken window, you drop down onto some old glass panes, which break with a loud crash. After a few seconds, it seems like you are in the clear, but as you exit out into the main hallway, you only make it a few feet before there are footsteps behind you. Two security guards stare at you down the barrels of their rifles. Another two guards emerge from the rooms. What do you do?”

The final outcome is the same, the PC will be captured in the factory. However, the GM has presented the Moves to the players as if they were triggered by events in the fiction.

Make Your Moves, But Describe Them in the Fiction

When the GM’s Move is to deal damage to PCs, you don’t say “you take damage.” Instead, describe how the creature’s teeth sink deep into their flesh. Even if your GM Move turns the PC’s Move against them, you don’t say, “I turn your Move against you,” but instead explain, “You aim your pistol at the back of her head and she slowly raises her hands. Suddenly, her elbow strikes you in the face, and in a disorienting flash she tears the gun from your grip. With a wicked grin, she points it directly at your forehead and says, ‘Who did you say should put their hands up?‘”

Assign Motivations to All Your NPCs

All NPCs, human or not, should be given their own straightforward emotional drives and self-interests.

For example, Captain Ben Harrison willingly risks his own life to get his hands on one of the PCs, so he can drag her back to the military research compound she escaped from. He is convinced it was his fault she got away, so it’s now his duty to ensure she returns - even if it ends up killing him.

There’s no need to get overly complicated. Assign simple, straightforward reasons for why people act the way they do. If the GM knows that the reason the club bouncer fulfills his duties is only for the money, she knows immediately he’d act differently if one of the characters tries to bribe him, rather than if he had been working out of loyalty to his boss.

Give Your Creatures Their Own Internal Logic

All entities in KULT: Divinity Lost have their own personal backstories, their place in the cosmology, and their own purposes and motivations, despite how alien and inhuman they may appear. They’re driven by urges in the same way humans are, and aren’t just introduced into their locales as obstacles for curious PCs. It’s the GM’s job to ensure the entities the characters encounter are exciting and true to life, no matter how bizarre they may be. Nepharites seek out people wracked with guilt, creating personal purgatories for them. To the Nepharite, these purgatories are not ‘evil,’ but rather a gift granted to their victims, allowing them to experience the gospel of pain. Lictors impose their control mechanisms on people, because they know first-hand what fearsome and ruthless gods humanity would become, should they be released from their prison. A wraith haunts someone because they desire something from them - be it to regain their physical form or carry out a task in the land of the living.

Every entity’s actions should have an internal logic to them, however twisted or weird, and it’s the GM’s job to develop this logic and reveal it to the characters. She doesn’t tell the players directly, but allows it to saturate and become apparent in the actions the creature takes.

Ask Questions and Build on the Answers

Start with simple questions for the players. “What does your apartment look like?” “Who among you have known each other the longest?” As the story progresses, the GM can start asking more direct and intimate questions about the PCs’ experiences, emotions, memories, and opinions. Sometimes, it can be interesting to zoom in, such as “Do you keep photographs on your office desk?” On other occasions, the GM is only looking for big picture overviews, “How is your office furnished and decorated?” This depends on the narrative pacing at the time. When a PC takes an unanticipated action, the GM can ask questions about it: “Oh shit, you beat him to death with a hammer?! Is this really the first time you’ve assaulted someone?” This gives the player an opportunity to contextualize their actions to the rest of the group and give their character more depth, while providing the GM more information to determine what happens next.

When an answer has been provided, the GM should follow up on it. Following up means three things:

• Things might not be as they seem; the GM can throw in details causing the PC to doubt their reality.
• The GM can incorporate the answer into the story later on.
• The GM uses the information to develop her own threats, incorporating the answer into their own vision of the world.

For example, if the question is “Who do you think your pursuers are?” and they respond “They’re inhuman - they travel through doorways and disappear without a trace,” the GM can use it in the following ways:

• “One time, when you opened the door a pursuer had gone through, you saw another world beyond it. What was supposed to be a bathroom, instead appeared to a decrepit gallery filled with exotic mosaics and old, broken statues of angels.”
• The pursuers and their doorways appear to the PC later in the game, be it directly, such as a door cracked open to another dimension, or indirectly, such as hearing myths or stories relating to creatures able to travel between doorways.
• Consider what sort of creatures the pursuers might be and to where their doorways lead.

It’s particularly important to ask questions the first time a PC utilizes a supernatural Advantage. For example, how does the character with Enhanced Awareness experience their visions? Do they come on suddenly when the character is unprepared, or does she conjure them consciously? Are they terrifying to her? After the first time it’s happened, the GM should add her own details when the character makes use of the Advantage.

Be a Fan of the Player Characters

Being a fan of the characters means the GM offers the PCs opportunities to be cool, as well as vulnerable, and not to thwart the progress and successes they’ve earned through hard work. The worst thing a GM can do is remove or inhibit what makes a character cool. If a player has put in time into describing their character’s faithful German Shepherd and pointed out how the dog is their character’s entire life, it’s not okay to have the dog get run over and killed during the first game session for no reason. It’s a different story if some of the character’s enemies kidnaps the dog, giving the character an opportunity to fight to get it back. In the latter case, the GM is validating the player’s character concept regarding their relation to the dog, while in the former case she’s just destroying it.

Another thing to avoid is denying the PCs successes they’ve fought for and won. It’s more interesting to let consequences arise from the characters’ successes. Have NPCs react to the character achieving one of their goals. What threats might now view the PC as a possible ally? What threats now perceive her as a dangerous enemy? Allow the PCs to affect the world. Let their choices matter. If the characters depose a Lictor from its position of power in the city, it would be pretty strange if there were no consequences. And what player enjoys playing a story where their actions don’t matter?

Think Beyond the Scene from Time to Time

When the GM is about to make a Move, she might consider what her NPCs have been up to. Have any of them done or planned something that might become apparent right now? Is something taking place elsewhere deserving of the GM’s attention? Maybe the death cult is opening a portal to Inferno to release the living dead into the city, while the PCs are busy snooping around the mafia hideout down by the docks. When the GM makes her Move, she describes the characters hearing sirens and helicopters in the city, pillars of smoke rising from the downtown districts. This method makes the world feel real, and by frequently recalling her threats the GM also makes the characters’ lives more interesting.

Scenes

A scene is an uninterrupted section of the story, transpiring in a single place and/or continuous span of time. For example:

• Pillow talk between the PC and her lover.
• A car chase through the streets of Manhattan.
• Talking with a witness for information.
• Investigation of a murder scene.
• A firefight between the PCs and the had guys.

A story consists of many distinct scenes, and the GM’s duty is to present these scenes, keep track of time, and move on to the next when appropriate. Typically, the GM cuts to a new scene when the story moves to another place or time. For example:

• Later that morning, after James has gone to work, the phone rings. What do you do?
• You lay low in the parking garage for a while. Your pursuers don’t appear. What do you do?
• After searching the apartment for clues for a few hours, you started getting hungry. You’ve all headed to the fast food joint across the street. This seems like a good opportunity to discuss what you found at the murder scene. What do you talk about?
• After escaping from the warehouse, you all meet up at Andy’s place. Sam is bleeding heavily from the bullet wound in her arm and seems about to go into shock. What do you do?

The moment to end a scene often arrives naturally. Sometimes, the players initiate this by taking actions to leave a locale or move forward in the story:

• “I’m going to head over to [location].”
• “I take it easy for a while and wait for sunset.”
• “I want to skip ahead until [situation].”

Sometimes, the GM will feel it appropriate to conclude a scene because nothing much is happening. The GM can always ask the players if it’s okay to cut the scene short, or if they plan on doing something else, so the players don’t feel like their actions don’t matter.

The setup and pacing of scenes can be highly variable. Sometimes, the GM simply wants to describe a location and let the PCs interact with it without worrying about establishing a high concept or introducing important NPCs. At other times, the GM will want to nurture tension and drama through making Moves, introducing threats, or presenting obstacles the PCs are forced to react to.

When the GM describes locations and NPCs, it can be helpful to focus only on the general impression and some notable details. Let the players take the lead on what aspects they’re interested in getting more details on.

For example: “You enter an enormous hallway with red walls and black carpets with gilded patterns covering the marble floor. Several large, closed double-doors built from aged wood line both sides of the hallway, and from the far end you can hear a piano echoing from a bright, white salon. In the door opening stands an old, black man dressed in a white tailcoat. Despite the doorway being probably three meters tall, you get the sense the old man is hunched over, in order to fit it. What do you do?”

ASTAROTH

The GM’s Moves are meant to create obstacles for the PCs to overcome during the course of the story. Unlike the players, the GM never makes dice rolls for their Moves.

When?

The GM makes a Move when one of the following takes place during a game session:

• When the GM wants to increase tension.
• When a player Move tells that the GM may make a Move; note the ‘may,’ as the GM always has a choice whether to make a Move or not.
• When a character’s actions grant an opportunity for the GM to make a Move.

How?

The GM follows this sequence when making a Move:

1. The GM describes an obstacle and asks what the PCs do about it.
2. The players describe their characters’ responses to the event. Sometimes, these responses involve rolling for one of their Moves.
3. The GM describes the outcomes of the responses, based on established fiction and any Moves the players made.

As the GM makes her Moves, she keeps her Principles in mind and describes the environments the PCs find themselves in.

An obstacle is a creature, object, or event hindering or opposing the character from reaching their goals. The GM Move descriptions, and the threat section in Chapter 9 provides plenty of inspiration for obstacles the GM can put in the characters’ way.

Some examples of obstacles are: a storm, a hostile witness, a psychotic killer, an inquisitive police inspector, a mysterious object, a curse, a locked door, the sound of approaching footsteps, a revelation that the murderer is one of the character’s best friends, a rusty old fire-escape, a fire, a riddle, a vision of the Illusion ripping apart and Inferno intruding upon the cityscape.

Soft and Hard Moves

The GM’s Moves are sometimes described as soft or hard. The distinction is drawn based on the Move’s impact and whether or not the PCs can prevent them or not. A soft Move is a setup for a consequence, which is still preventable. Hard Moves are consequences crashing down on the PCs directly and irreversibly. Hard Moves often entail the characters suffering injuries or other afflictions, or having something taken from them. As another example of how soft and hard Moves differ, consider “the man raises his pistol and points it at you, what do you do?” versus “the man raises his pistol and shoots you in the chest.”

As a soft Move, the Gamemaster could describe how a misshapen, burnt dog lunges at one of the PCs. If the PC is unsuccessful at avoiding the dog’s jaws, the GM makes a Harm Move and describes how the dog’s teeth sink into her arm. Once the dog has bitten the PC, she must Endure Injury - this consequence is immediate and irrevocable.

Hard Moves are often follow-up consequences to a PC mishandling their reaction to a previous soft Move. The GM decides freely whether a Move should be soft or hard. Sometimes the consequence of a soft Move can be another soft Move. Sometimes hard Moves follow immediately as the result of a PC’s actions. Be judicial about making multiple consecutive hard Moves. You run the risk of the players feeling like you’re trying to shut them down or ‘win,’ if they’re not given a chance to avoid the obstacles you set up.

Separate Them

The GM separates the PCs from each other and/or from their allies.

Examples:

• “You hear the rotted floor start to give way, and behind you Jessica emits a shriek. A gaping, dark hole has opened up and Jessica is nowhere to be seen. What do you do?”
• “The others don’t appear to see the rusty pipes, or hear the pained creaking of the machinery. They take off down the stairs, as if everything seems normal. When they pass through the door, you spot the mechanisms along the walls. They look like torture instruments. The others have already gone on ahead, but their voices sound as if coming from somewhere far away, ‘Where did Sandra go?’ What do you do?’’
• “John, you’re in Ray’s Bar drinking a black coffee. Cassie still hasn’t checked in with you since you parted at the factory three days ago. What do you do?”

Capture Someone

The GM introduces an obstacle that keeps the PC in place.

Examples:

• “When you’re about the leave the room, the enormous guardian steps in front of the door. He grins evilly at you, and you’re certain he has no qualms about injuring you. What do you do?”
• “The car door clicks locked behind you. What do you do?”
• “You notice they have you surrounded. Some have taken cover out in the corridor, two are crouched behind one of the pool tables, and yet another man with a rifle is waiting for you by the exit. As soon as your head pops out, the bar counter is peppered with bullets. What do you do?”

Put Someone in a Bad Spot

The GM sets up a difficult situation or a hard choice for one or more PCs, applies additional pressure and urgency to the current situation, and then observes the result.

Examples:

• “You wake up feeling urgently nauseous. Everything is sore and your clothes are sticky. You retch and vomit over the side of the bed. Blood, flesh, and chunks of hair. You don’t rememher anything from the night before, except you saw the demon in the mirror just before you went to bed. What do you do?”
• “You’ve walked a block or so when you hear footsteps behind you, approaching rapidly. When you glance over your shoulder, you spot the grotesquely contorted figure limping after you. She’s back. What do you do?”
• “Your hands are bloody and your face swollen after the heating you took. Masrov’s body lies immobile on the table, the knife protruding from his back. You hear the doorbell. What do you do?”

Exchange Harm for Harm

One of the GM’s threats, or something else in the environment, deals Harm to a character in exchange for taking some herself. This works in much the same way as the listed outcome at (10-14) in the player Move Engage in Combat.

Examples:

• “You launch yourself at him, only to both fall and tumble down onto the wet cobblestone. He manages to get on top of you, landing punches down into your face before you manage to roll over and grasp him by the head. You bring it down on the hard stone over and over until he stops struggling. That’s the moment you notice the bloody knife in your side. Endure Injury with -2.”
• “You release a couple of rounds blindly around the corner at the cops out in the street. The tall mustached one falls over onto the pavement. The dark-skinned one you spoke with earlier fires back at you, and pain courses through you. Endure Injury with -2.”

Announce Off-Screen Problems

The GM describes a potential threat manifesting outside the area the PCs are at.

Examples:

• “When you pick up, you hear Kelly’s frightened voice on the other end. ‘They’re here in the apartment. I hid in the bedroom.’ You hear a door opening and Kelly goes quiet. Someone seems to be looking around the room. Kelly’s breathing is heavy and rapid. ‘Please God, don’t let them find me,’ she whispers. Then you hear someone tearing the closet door open and Kelly’s screams. What do you do?”
• “When you look over towards Ginza, you see how Nakamura Tower seems to have grown. It reaches up to the clouds. Huge flocks of those deformed birds circle the building and the sky is a shade of sickly red. Sakamoto’s ritual must have been completed before she was sucked into the rift. What do you do?”

Announce Future Problems

The GM describes a threat that will manifest in the future, if the player characters don’t do something about it. This is a great soft Move you can use as a setup for building tension in a great variety of scenes.

Examples:

• “You hear voices outside. They sound Russian. The speakers stop outside the office door and start working a key in the lock. What do you do?”
• “The skin around the wound has taken on a dark, sickly color. It smells had and pus oozes out of it. The pain throbs constantly now and you feel mildly nauseous. What do you do?”
• “It’s evident he doesn’t believe you and it’s only a matter of time until he summons security. What do you do?”
• “‘You’re not allowed to leave me again,’ she says. Her beautiful face splits into a wide smile. The corners of her mouth stretch unnaturally far, nearly up to her earlobes, and her face contorts. She looks taller now - bending her neck to clear the ceiling - and the previously perfectly manicured nails look like they could rip through your skin as easily as newsprint. What do you do?”

Deal Damage

The GM harms the character or someone in her vicinity; dealing damage is always a hard Move. Normally, the player would roll to Endure Injury, but sometimes a character is affected by Harm they are unable to avoid. For example, if someone pulls the trigger on a gun pressed directly to their temple, they fall from the roof of a skyscraper, or they are sucked into the gaping maw of an enormous monster, it’s perfectly acceptable to hand out a Serious or Critical Wound, or even say the character is dead or dying. In this case, the Harm should be derived from actions the PC made of their own free will, not just a random hard Move she had no opportunity to avoid. You should take care to signal the danger to the player before activating this Move. If the Harm inflicted is fair, the player will accept it. By abusing this power, the GM risks unnecessary conflict with their players and violates the Principle of Be a Fan of the Player Characters.

Examples:

• “He smiles at you, the gun resting against Kelly’s head, and says ‘It’s too late to apologize now.’ You hear a bang and watch as Kelly’s left eye explodes. She watches you in shock and surprise until the right eye fills up with blood and her body falls limp to the floor. What do you do?”
• “It feels like forever before you reach the pavement. You glimpse the giant’s contorted face up there in the broken window on the fifth floor. Glass shards sail through the air around you. You recall Jason and the kids at home. You wonder if they’re still looking for you, or did he give up already? And then your body hits the asphalt.”
• “You duck the left hook, but you’re not fast enough to avoid the right. When you’re off-balance, he continues raining blows down on your body and face. Endure Injury with -1 .”

Decrease Stability

Sometimes the PCs experience something so horrifying the GM feels there’s no way they wouldn’t be affected by it. In these situations it’s okay for the GM to automatically decrease their Stability by one, two, or even four steps, rather than ask them to make a Keep It Together Move.

Examples:

• “The Razide starts sawing your hand off with the rusty knife. You can hear the bones crunching as they give way. Someone is screaming in the room. Then you realize the screams are yours. Decrease Stability by -4 .”
• “As you step into the bedroom, James meets your gaze, madness in his eyes. His arms and legs are hooked into long, iron chains attached to the walls, and someone has neatly cut into his chest, splaying the ribs out like wings. You can still see his heart heating, exposed inside the chest cavity. Decrease Stability by -2 . What do you do?”
• “When you come to, you’re hanging upside down. Around you, the bus is a massacre of broken, shot up bodies. Tree branches have smashed the bus’s windows, impaling any passengers in their path. You and a few others are still alive, but from the mountain road you can hear the rebel soldiers shouting excitedly. As moment later, new volleys of automatic fire clatter against the steel roof and the jungle surrounding you. You all decrease Stability by -2 . What do you do?”

Take Their Stuff

The GM takes away, or prevents access to, something in the PC’s ownership. They can possibly regain the possession or resource, but there’s often a risk or cost involved.

Examples:

• “You leap on top of him and both of you tumble into a table, flipping it; glassware and plates smashing against the floor. At first, he nearly gains the upper hand, but you manage to throw him off and sit astride his chest, pinning him down. After several punches, you feel his body cease struggling as he loses consciousness. You hear footsteps approaching, and when you get up you realize your gun isn’t tucked into your pants anymore. What do you do?”
• “The enormous, bovine creature charges your car at preternatural speed. As its muscular body smashes into the hood, there’s a bang as airbags explode into your faces. Your head is swimming from the impact, your ears ringing. As you are fighting your way out of the airbags, you notice the hood is completely bashed in and the engine is smoking. The beast staggers and turns to fix its furious attention in your direction. What do you do?”
• “You reach for the cellphone but suddenly realize - shit! You must have left it on Engström’s desk. What do you do?”
• “As you drive up the street outside the house, you see a black BMW with tinted windows parked outside. You spot movement in your office window. They must’ve gotten here before you! What do you do?”

Give the Possible Consequences and Ask

The GM simply informs the player of what consequences their character’s action are likely to have, giving the player an opportunity to change their mind. This ensures there’s no miscommunication and the player is fully aware of the situation before committing, or allows the player to double-down on a risky course of action.

Examples:

• “If you fire at him, you will probably attract every security guard in the building. Are you doing it anyway?”
• “Of course you can attack the demon, but to get past the chain it’s brandishing, you’ll have to Act Under Pressure. Are you going to?”
• “You have your pistol pressed up against his daughter’s temple, so naturally you can use this as leverage to influence him. But you know doing this will make him an enemy. Are you doing it anyway?”

Offer an Opportunity, With or Without a Price

The GM describes an opportunity, as well as the potential obstacles or dangers associated with the opportunity, and then provides the PC a choice of whether to accept it or not.

Examples:

• “Suddenly, Natasha’s bodyguard leaves the table. The gigantic man lumbers towards the bathroom. Now is your chance to speak with her in private. What do you do?”
• “The moment you’re about to leave the warehouse, you hear a voice from inside one of the shipping containers. ‘Papa?’ You can open it, but the noise might attract one of the night guards. What do you do?”
• “You see a key hanging inside the bowels of the machinery, surrounded by spinning cogwheels and thrusting crankshafts. Reaching inside there and grabbing it would be risky, but not impossible. What do you do?”

Turn Their Move Against Them

The GM interrupts the PC’s planned action in such a way as to turn it around against them.

Examples:

• “You emerge from your hiding spots and point your guns at the seemingly solitary Mr. Volkov. He simply breaks out in laughter. ‘You really thought I’d be on my own?’ he says with a malicious smile. Heavily equipped soldiers armed with Kalashnikovs start streaming in through the hall doors. What do you do?”
• “You wrestle her to the ground, but despite your strong grip she manages to slip away. She grabs your arms painfully and pulls one of her legs up. Before you know it, one of your arms and your neck are caught between her legs in a triangle - as she tightens her grip, your breath weakens. Somehow, she’s managed to completely dominate you. ‘So what was it you said? You were going to beat me to death?’ she inquires with an ice-cold glare. What do you do?”
• “He doesn’t appear bothered by your threats, lowering his pistol. With a smug smile, he says, ‘Eliza, I know something you don’t. Your sister is alive, and being held captive here in town. Help me escape your friends, and I will let you know where she is.’ If you don’t help him, you must decrease Stability by one step. After all, he’s likely your only chance at getting your sister back. What do you do?”

Make a Threat Move

The GM can give her threats unique Moves to use instead of their regular Moves.

Examples:

• Influence: Buy someone’s allegiance. “You’re just about to put a bullet in Mr. Volkov’s face, when you feel an ice-cold gun barrel against your neck. ‘I’m sorry to do this, Sam, but they have my wife.’ You can hear him sobbing behind you. ‘I have to stop you. I’m sorry!’ What do you do?”
• Object: Summon a demon. “Your blood drips down onto the cube. It starts emitting a black fog, as if something was devouring the light around it. The ornate patterns start moving and the cube floats up into the air. The darkness around it becomes so thick, you cannot see past it. All the children stand silently, staring into the pitch-black sphere. Then, something emerges. It is only vaguely human, twisted and contorted with a smile plastered onto its disfigured, child-like face. You feel your bowels loosen as the creature’s dead eyes stare at and through you. What do you do?”

Make a Move for a Higher Power or Plane of Existence

In Part III - The Truth, you will find Moves for the higher powers and the influence of several planes of existence. These Moves are also available to the GM, in addition to the standard ones.

Examples:

• Passion Move: Peer into the soul of another. “You feel his sinewy body pressing down on top of you. Your lips meet, tongues reaching out for each other. As your mouths part again, you hear him moaning. He thrusts into you, time and again, and your moist sex pulsates hot in response. Uncontrollably, your own moans join with his. Despite this intimacy, this pleasure, you suspect he has come to make you talk. You know where the gate is. But is he aware of that? You arch your back spasmodically, screaming, and moaning as he comes deep inside of you. You climax together as one, and the knowledge of his true desire enters you simultaneously.”
• Move for Inferno’s influence: Shadow of the past. “The floor is slick with blood, so slippery you need to shuffle forward to avoid falling. The stench of singed flesh penetrates into your nostrils, and here and there you spot bodies stuck in the steaming machines. The heat is inescapable and your clothes are drenched in sweat. Occasionally, you hear ancient gears turning, accompanied by the sound of breaking bones. A saw blade spins up. Someone moans, gurgles, or screams from within the torture devices. You have almost reached the spiral staircase leading out when you hear Lena’s voice, hoarse and broken with a mad desperation ‘Tom…’ When you look towards the machine you can see her face, barely visible inside it.”

Use Disadvantages/Hold

There are two ways in which the GM can use Disadvantages. Either by framing a scene in which a PC’s Disadvantage is activated, or by spending a hold she’s received from an earlier such scene to make a Move against that PC.

When spent, holds acquired through Disadvantages allow the GM to freely choose what soft or hard Move she should make, but feel free to take inspiration from other GM Moves.

Examples:

• Schizophrenia: “You can tell someone is tailing you onto the subway car. He’s only a few steps behind you; a middle-aged man with thinning hair and a cheap, brown suit. He pretends to be reading a newspaper, but as soon as you look away you feel his eyes on you. What do you do?”
• Liar: “All of a sudden, you spot your supervisor Janet through the crowd on the dance floor. She’s seen you as well and approaches at a rapid pace. ‘I thought you said you had a broken leg? What are you doing here?’ She makes no attempt at hiding the disappointment in her eyes.”
• Wanted: “Inside the crowded train station, you spot several police officers. You’re just about to turn around when you see two of them head right towards you. One of them, a tall white man, is talking into a police radio while the other, a middle-aged black woman, fixes you with her gaze. What do you do?”

After Every Move, Ask “What Do You Do?”

Whenever the GM makes a Move, she asks the players what they do - giving them an opportunity to respond to the Move. This grabs the players’ attention and prompts them to respond in the here-and-now, so they don’t trail off and lose the scene’s focus. Sometimes, they will want additional information about the situation before making their decision. In this case, provide the information unless it would be better to activate a player Move to discover it instead.

NOTHINGNESS (LEVEL VII)

Describing Minor Details Makes the World Feel Real

Details are an important tool to highlight the macabre, beautiful, and misshapen aspects of the world. Describe how as the PCs’ subway train barrels through a deserted station in the middle of the night, they notice figures crouching on the platform - one of them cradling a baby wrapped in newsprint. Describe how the PCs spot numerous dancing silhouettes on the 6th floor of the old, ruined house opposite their bedroom window. Describe how, in the middle of a vicious battle to the death against warped nightmarish creatures, a little girl peers into the alley from the busy sidewalk and exclaims, “Mommy, mommy, there are monsters over there!” as her mother absently pulls her along, paying no mind. These small details root the players in the world.

Zoom Out, Zoom In

The GM can detail an entire day for the players, or she can fast forward days, weeks, or months. Don’t be afraid to let time pass. Players often feel comfortable staying in the present, playing out minute by minute. However, stories often benefit when you allow some time to pass occasionally, letting the PCs develop, and providing the story more room to take shape. Advancing the story five months forward takes as much effort as skipping an hour for the GM and players.

One moment, the GM can have the PCs surviving minute to minute in the dark alleys of Metropolis, and the next she could say, “You wander all night down streets lined with dark stone houses. From time to time, you hear rustling, echoing steps in dark alleys, but you never see anybody. By twilight, you reach what appears to be a temple, constructed from corroded metal and plastics. Hung in its entrance are human corpses in varying stages of decomposition. What do you do?”

Share Spotlight Between All PCs

Make sure all PCs have equal share of play time, even if they’re split up. Jump back and forth between scenes, so nobody has to wait too long for their turn, using these jumps to build additional tension. The GM can cut in tense moments to give the player time to think about their next action while putting the spotlight on another character. Let the players know to remind you if they feel like you’ve forgotten about them, and ensure no one person hogs too much of the total game time. Also rememher to introduce and use what the players have told you about their characters. Activate Disadvantages to put a PC’s secrets and fears into play. Note down a PC’s important Relations and insert them into the story on a regular basis.

Take Breaks and Contemplate Until You’re Ready to Go Again

When the GM feels a bit weary, unfocused, or unsure of what to do next or what Move to select from a list of options, she can call for a break and give herself some time to rest and consider. Sometimes a short walk can be useful in increasing everyone’s energy reserves and discuss what’s happened. Listen to the players’ hopes, expectations, and plans and make use of them when the game starts up again.

Conflicts

Conflicts between PCs and other individuals or groups are a frequent source of tension, drama, and action in KULT: Divinity Lost.

A conflict takes place when two (or more) parties with differing and irreconcilable goals encounter each other in the pursuit of those goals. For example: A PC wants to enter an office building, but the guards in the lobby have been told to stop unauthorized people from entering.

Conflicts most frequently arise between PCs and NPCs, but can also be between player characters. In such conflicts, it’s the GM’s job to determine what Moves are being activated. She also makes her own Moves as usual. The GM can also have NPCs interfere in conflicts between PCs, supporting one side or the other, or in pursuit of their own goals.

There are a few important things to consider when the GM initiates conflicts and executes Moves.

Conflict Resolution Rules?

KULT: Divinity Lost doesn’t have a distinct set of rules for handling combat or other conflicts. Every conflict is resolved using the standard player Moves. Regardless of whether the PC opts to convince or attack their opponent, conflict resolution is handled no differently than any other activity - the players describe what their characters do, making Moves as they are triggered, the GM describes the outcome of the Moves and consequences of their actions, making her own Moves as necessary, which in turn incites responses from the players. The game continues on as a conversation between GM and players, where the fiction determines how much detail is necessary.

Conflict resolution of a brawl between a character and an NPC could look like this:

Example 1:

Player: “I run towards Volkov to tackle him to the ground.” GM: “Okay. He’s got a large-caliher revolver, which he’s about to unload into you. Still going ahead with that?” [Note: the GM is Give the Possible Consequences and Ask.] Player: “Yeah, I’m blind with anger. Right now, I don’t care if I get shot.” GM: “He empties the cylinder in a series of loud bangs while you run towards him. Roll to Act Under Pressure. The pressure here is the bullets might stop you in your tracks.” Player: “Okay. Haha, that’s a 16.” GM: “Cool! You rush straight at him, you can feel the bullets fly by. You hear clicking from the revolver right as you’re on top of him. Can I assume you’re tackling him, then?” [The GM is Offer an Opportunity, With or Without a Price, in this case Without a Cost.] Player: “Yes!” GM: “You connect with his abdomen and the two of you fall down onto the floor. You’re on top of him and he’s trying to fend you off. What do you do?”

Example 2:

Player: “I leap forward and try to pummel him to death.” GM: “Okay, sounds like you’re using Excessive Force, unarmed attack?” Player: “Yes, definitely.” GM: “He’s obviously planning to attack you back. Roll to Engage in Combat.” Player: “11.” GM: “Okay. You run up to him and sucker-punch him right in the jaw. He teeters backwards, but regains his balance, ducking out of the way of your next blow. His elbow hits you in the face, but it doesn’t bother you. You get in two rapid blows on his kidney and liver area. He gasps painfully and lowers his guard for a moment. Your bloodied fist hits him in the chin and he falls to the stone floor, limp. You keep bashing his face in until no human features remain. Everything is blood and your knuckles hurt like hell. Roll to Endure Injury with a -1 modifier.”

In Example 1, the GM frames the struggle so tackling the man to the floor triggers Act Under Pressure. More Moves will be activated before either of the parties have won. In Example 2, the GM zooms out a bit, and lets one attack roll determine the entire fight. In this way, the GM can easily emphasize a given conflict more or less depending on how important it is to the story. Depending on the Moves you make and the Moves you let the players activate, you can control the tempo and narrative details of a conflict.

It’s okay for the players to use any Moves they want, as long as it makes sense in the story. Maybe the character starts negotiating after she realizes she’s not going to persevere in a violent conflict. All that’s needed is for the Move’s trigger to be activated in the fiction, as usual.