In an age where the Cthulhu Mythos has been figuratively perverted, mostly with plushy dolls and sing-a-long CDs, Cthentacle was the game that took that perversion literally, making HPL’s creation into an erotic and disturbing card game – so naturally, I very much enjoyed it. Imagine my shock and twisted delight when, like a deviant coming back to prey on his one-time victim again, Postmortem Studios released an expansion to Cthentacle, entitled The Dunb!$@* Horror.

Now, first things first here: I’m honestly surprised they went with a name as tame as that. I would have thought it’d be called something like “The Dumb-B$~&@ Whore.” But I suppose that’d move a bit too far away from the source material that it’s parodying to be immediately obvious…this marks the only time I can think of that any part of Cthentacle shows restraint.

I was surprised to find that, unlike the main Cthentacle game, The Dunb%@@@ Horror expansion actually has a story behind it. The PDF opens with a half-page of text about the town of Dunb#!!$, and the two residents who are added characters to the Cthentacle game: the groan-worthy-named BJ and (Sheriff) Cooter. Both are residents of the town of Dunb*~%#, and both are mixed up in the town’s darker side, which ultimately puts them on a path for the lusty horror that the set is named after. That’s the scenario behind this expansion pack.

…you’ll notice that I never said the story was a good one.

Anyway, the set introduces two character cards for the aforementioned girls; like in the original Cthentacle, both are double-sided, having one for the girl starting out, and one after being thoroughly violated by Mythos monsters. Beyond that, there are twenty new cards here for use in Cthentacle, expanding the game by almost a third-again. Specifically, there are five “!” cards, four 1 cards, three 2 cards, two 3 cards, three 4 cards, two 5 cards, and one SP card. There are also eight generic card-backs.

The above leads me to my only complaint about the game – how the number cards are staggered. The original Cthentacle had exactly eight of each type; this changes how many cards of each kind there are, meaning that some will be rarer than others. This isn’t really a problem, but it’s a bit annoying to think that there are now more 4 cards than 3 cards, when all of the number cards must be played subsequently. Likewise, you’re now more likely to draw – all things being equal – a “!” card than any other kind, even though the point is to play number cards on the other players. Of course, this is an altogether minor complaint, so given that it’s my only one, that should let you know that this is a very worthy expansion to the original Cthentacle.

Having said all of that, I can’t not mention the artwork. Original Cthentacle artist Darkzel returns for this set, keeping the same great cartoony-yet-erotic look as the main game. All of the cards here feature the two new heroines, from being in slightly suggestive situations to fighting back against the monsters to full-on copulating with strange and unnatural creatures. Needless to say, you’d never know this wasn’t an original part of the game.

It’s worth noting that there are no new rules here, per se. The card types are the same, with no new mechanics being introduced. There are, however, explanations of some of the cards in this set. A few have mechanics that could be dubiously interpreted, such as how the “In the Ghoulies” card works on “male humanoid looking” cards; as such, the rules section at the beginning of the PDF expressly lays out what cards – both from the original game and this set – that that and other such cards work on, eliminating any such ambiguity. That’s a nice plus, since I’ve been in heated arguments with people over how to correctly interpret rules in a card game, and it’s not something I care to repeat.

All in all, it should be pretty clear that I quite liked The Dunb#~~& Horror expansion. These extra cards fit in perfectly with the original Cthentacle game, keeping the same art style and not introducing any rules that weren’t already there. I wish that the new cards it introduced were all in the same quantities, but that’s not a big deal. So, if you’re already playing Cthentacle, turn up the perversity a bit more by letting The Dunb%$+$ Horror run loose in your game.