One of the most interesting games I bought in 2018 was Lexoccultum by the Swedish publisher Riotminds. Last week Riotminds announced a new Kickstarter project, a new book and addition to Lexoccultum, Carta Monstrorum.
Last few weeks have been great. I’ve mostly been reading new and recently published Swedish roleplaying books. Among them is the occult and horror roleplaying game Lexoccultum by Riotminds, who also publish the great fantasy rpg Trudvang Chronicles. Both games use the same game system, which gives players much freedom in character creation and character development.
Trudvang Chronicles and Lexoccultum were originally published in Sweden and translated for english after a successful Kickstarter campaign. When I spoke with the creators of these games, Magnus Malmberg and Theodore Bergquist, they admitted that they initially had their doubts about using Kickstarter, but since then Riotminds have successfully funded a sourcebook for Trudvang Chronicles, Stormlands, and recently introduced their new campaign, a sourcebook for Lexoccultum called Carta Monstrorum.
Monsters of the 18th century
Dig deeper into the mysterious and occult world of LexOccultum. Move beyond the veil of darkness and enter the domain of horrid creatures and callous monsters. This is the complete monster manual for the LexOccultum RPG game, this is Carta Monstrorum!
Carta Monstrorum is not what you’d call a monster index. In D&D terms, this is not a Monster Manual, but more akin to Volo’s Guide to Monsters, where you get in-depth information about more than 30 monsters, along with stats and everything you need to introduce these monstrosities to your game.
Steven Saville
RiotMinds is going the extra mile this time and has partnered up with international bestseller author Steven Savile to write Carta Monstrorum, which makes this addition to Lexoccultum all the more interesting.
Steven Savile has written for Doctor Who, Torchwood, Primeval, Stargate, Warhammer, Slaine, Fireborn, Pathfinder, Arkham Horror, Risen, and other popular game and comic worlds.
Why choose Lexoccultum
If you like games about the occult, secret societies and mysteries, you should check out this game. It has everything you need and more so, since it offers the players great advocacy. Also, Riotminds excel at writing modules, Wildheart (written for Trudvang Chronicles) is absolutely great and so is The Great Secrets of Ubel Staal.
However, Lexoccultum has a high learning curve and character creation takes time. If you are into D&D style of gaming, you might find Lexoccultum and Trudvang Chronicles hard and at times unrewarding to those who choose to solve problems with swords and spells.
Lexoccultum is first and foremost a roleplaying game, and as player you need wits, cleverness and brains just as much as brawn and courage. The setting is detailed and great, Europe in the 18th centuries, with all their secrets, nobility, monsters and mysteries. Therefore, I can’t wait to get my hands on Carta Monstrorum.
