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Chaosium Digest Volume 02 Number 03
Chaosium Digest Volume 2, Number 3
Date: Sunday, March 11, 1993
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
Pendragon Fourth Edition Magic Preview (Eric Rowe) PENDRAGON
Creatures & Cultists History (John Tynes) CREATURES & CUL
Comments on Creatures & Cultists (John Tynes) CREATURES & CUL
Setting Cthulhu in the Wild West (Jason Corley) CALL OF CTHULHU
Upcoming Pagan Publishing Releases (John Tynes) CALL OF CTHULHU
Editor's Note:
Submissions for the digest have been pretty light of late. If you've
got the outline of an adventure from a recent game, some rules changes
the you've been considering, or even just some comments, and you've
been thinking about sending them in but haven't, please do. The
Chaosium Digest is still young and needs contributions to keep on
going.
Shannon
--------------------
From: Eric Rowe <rowe@soda.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Pendragon 4th Edition Magic Preview
System: Pendragon
Here is a brief review of the upcoming Magic System that will be
incorporated into Pendragon 4th edition. Currently the rules are
about 60-80% complete so nothing mentioned here is completely certain.
The Other Side
The magic of the world of Pendragon is powered by the other side,
something not easily defined. It is basically the other side of our
awareness, and it differs from person to person. It is all you do not
know, whether due to culture, experience or biology. It is the world
of dreams. It can change its size. It is where meaning is found.
The section which presents this is done from the viewpoint of a
sorceress and it describes what magic is, and who magicians are. It
explains the creation of the world, the impact and power of
christianity, and the cost of magic. What is nice about this section
is that it provides the necessary Arthurian feel to why and how magic
works in Pendragon.
[I also found it wonderfully written. It's my favorite part of the
new magic system -sda]
Magician Character Generation
This is done in pretty much the standard manner of regular character
generation. Notable changes are that the character can now come from
a peasant background, and that you roll for magical talents.
Generation takes you from the age of first notice to training,
initiation, patronage, qualification and graduation. Of interest here
is the qualifications needed for each class. Like the qualifications
for mercenary knight, banneret knight, etc. these qualifications
differ for each type of magician. Currently, these are the following
magical classes, but I expect them to change a bit: Berserk,
Diabolist, Druid, Enchantress, Friar, Monk, Mystic, Ovate, Priest,
Rabbi, Shaman and Witch. Different talents can lead to different
classes, and these then lead to different training of spells and
magical skills.
As is, I don't like several of the magical classes. I also have
reservations about the flexibility of the class system. It is
currently possible to have the old D&D problem of, "Look, a Druid, he
knows these spells." This is being worked on, and anyway, the very
nature of how the magic system works lessens its importance. Overall,
the generation system is easy to use and I think any bugs will be
removed in later revisions.
The Magic System
First of all, magicians do not get glory. They aquire insight, or
awen. However, it is gained and used in an almost identical manner to
glory for easy comprehension/comparison.
Life Force (Power) is what is necessary to work magic. It is based
upon your religious traits. So, for example, Druid's power comes from
his Pagan traits while a Monk's power would come from his Christian
traits. Life Force is basically the sum of the religious traits. The
number of d20s that can be used to manipulate the other side is based
upon the Life Force divided by 20.
Ambient power is what exists in the world to be tapped into by the
magician using his power of manipulation. It varies from 1d20 in a
city to 5d20 in a holy place. Specific places can have even greated
power for specific uses/spells. The new skill of centering is rolled
to determine the success of gathering the ambient power of the area
(if not sufficient, personal life force can be added). If there is
enough, the shaping (talent use) roll is made to determine success and
cost of the spell. On average each spell takes several hours to
complete. There are very few 'instant' spells, and these cost extra
to cast.
The current list of spells includes Animal Friendship, Curse,
Divination, Glamour, Healing and Shapeshift as well as several others.
Within each type of spell you can work differing levels of effect,
depending upon your power available. For instance, if one knows
Animal Friendship it takes 10 points to understand their speech; 30
points will enable communication, 60 will summon a type of animal and
100+ may be needed to actually control an animal.
Additional rules cover duration, permanent items, multiple targets,
and group efforts. Geography and time are also very important to the
ability to cast and the skills of celestiomancy and geomancy help
these. Magicians can establish a 'home' wherein their magic will work
better than other places.
Magic is quite expensive to cast. Just manipulating 1d20 of ambient
power will require a week of sleep, and each d20 of personal power
requires a month of sleep. Aging rolls can sometimes replace sleep.
Until rested the magician cannot use the life force already spent
again.
While the rules are still really just taking shape I feel they have a
lot of promise. The only real problem I have is the integration of
magicians into most campaigns. While they will make great NPCs and
good occasional PCs I don't see them as currently viable as long term
player characters. On the good side, Chaosium has integrated a magic
system into the real feel of an arthurian game. I also am very
pleased with the flexibility of the system as well as the basic
mechanics. I look forward to the final version.
eric
--------------------
From: John Tynes <paganpub@aol.com>
Subject: Creatures & Cultists History
System: Creatures & Cultists
In-Reply-To: V2.1 A Review of Creatures & Cultists
V2.1 Suggested Rules Changes
C&C actually appeared in the Unspeakable Oath originally. TUO4
included the complete rules and the cards printed on cardstock, at the
normal cover price. At that point I think there were a dozen or so
fewer cards than there are now.
We reprinted C&C on its own in a 200-copy limited edition with some
new cards but not much else different. This editon was sold at GenCon
1992 and through mail, and sold out late in '92.
C&C as published and distributed around the world recently features
extensively revised rules and a total of 128 cards.
As noted in the rules, the inspiration came from Craig Taylor's
classic Avalon Hill card game Naval War (published in the late 1970s).
The Challenge is a blatant (to my mind) knock-off of this game. Family
Business I haven't played, but I've heard good things about it. I
*highly* recommend Naval War; it's tremendous fun, and very quick to
play.
John Tynes
Pagan Publishing
--------------------
From: John Tynes <paganpub@aol.com>
Subject: Comments on Creatures & Cultists
System: Creatures & Cultists
In-Reply-To: V2.1 Suggested Rules Changes
A few notes on the rules changes suggested for Creatures & Cultists:
The Herbert West card: in one of our playtest sessions, a player used
it like you describe: he just kept on re-drawing and attacking. The
thing is, you can only make two attacks per cultist in your current
row (one Thuggery attack and one Conjuring attack) which keeps it from
going on TOO long. But, a limitation on the number of cards you can
take per turn isn't a bad idea.
End Game stuff: I know what you mean, but I think it keeps the game
unpredictable. My absolute FAVORITE play is to use the "Dr. Armitage
Suspects" card. It's the single most powerful card in the game,
because you can wipe out an entire cult just by playing it. It's the
card that makes the next roll by the victim a boof. You play it on
them just before they roll to summon their God, and therefore they
boof....which means their cult is destroyed. There are a number of
cards like this which can be used to forestall the Favored cult from
winning, mostly through losing a turn.
Obscene Scores: true, but intentional. As the game goes on, you should
get more and more powerful. It speeds up things as time goes by, and
makes for more and more cult death which is rather fun.
My favorite playtest came when two other players were knocked out
through massive attacks and I and one other player were left behind.
He had only one cultist left. He attacked me with a monster. I played
"Dr. Armitage Suspects," causing him to Boof his Conjuring roll. The
monster then attacked and killed his cultist, leaving me alone and
triumphant.
Again, thanks for the review and the comments. They will be seriously
considered for the next revision of the game (some ways down the road,
probably when the expansion set is released -- which includes a new
card category, Artifacts!).
John Tynes
Pagan Publishing
--------------------
From: corleyj@GAS.uug.Arizona.EDU (Jason D Corley )
Subject: Setting Cthulhu in the Wild West
System: Call of Cthulhu
Call of Cthlhu 1890s, as presented in the gamebooks, is a fairly good
setting. By telling your players "we are gaming in the 1890s tonight"
you are essentially telling them "Technology isn't going to do you one
little teensy bit of good, so don't even bother." This is a message
every player needs to hear, particularly ones who are used to modern
settings.
However, there is another possibility for 1890s adventuring besides
Victorian England. It's a little more along the lines of the
"Twilight Zone" or "Blood Brothers" than H.P. Lovecraft, but I think
it works anyway...
Old West Call of Cthulhu. Everyone has guns. Nobody is ascared a
nothin' until they actually see it, of course. Here are the
professions I came up with for Old West CoC.
COWPOKE DOC
Handgun First Aid
Lariat Medicine
One of Rifle, Shotgun One of Handgun, Rifle, Shotgun
Melee Ride
Ride One of Bargain, Fast Talk, Persuade
First Aid Two Others
One of: Bargain, Fast Talk,
Persuade, Other Lang. (Spanish or Local Injun)
RANCHER DEPUTY
Handgun Law
One of Rifle, Shotgun Handgun
Ride Ride
Bargain Melee
Persuade First Aid
Other Lang (Spanish) Persuade
Any 1 Other Any 2 Others
PIANO PLAYER SALOON WOMAN
Dodge Dodge
Play Instrument (piano) Sing
Bargain Fast Talk
Fast Talk Bargain
Handgun Any 3 others, no more than 1 weapon skill.
Melee
One of: Ride, History, Art, First Aid, Drive Carriage
SCHOOLMARM CITY SLICKER/SHOPKEEP
History Handgun
Art Bargain
One of: RIde, Drive Carriage Dodge
First Aid One of: History, Art, Other Language
Persuade One of: Ride, Drive Carriage
Other Language One Other
One Other
CON MAN/SNAKE OIL SALESMAN/GAMBLER
Dodge
Bargain
Fast Talk
Credit Rating (false)
Persuade
Handgun
Melee
Old West Call of Cthulhu...what a weird idea...it sounds vaguely like
a one-shot. I'll tell you how it goes. If anyone has any ideas for
adventures or other professions, I'd be happy to incorporate them.
--------------------
From: John Tynes <paganpub@aol.com>
Subject: Upcoming Pagan Publishing Releases
System: Call of Cthulhu
The following is a tentative schedule for Call of Cthulhu items from
Pagan Publishing, through GenCon.
TUO8/9--a double issue of The Unspeakable Oath, 160 pages long.
Includes several lengthy scenarios and lots of articles as well. $8,
late May.
>From the Files of TUO, Vol. 1--first in an occasional series
reprinting material from out-of-print issues. This volume presents
"Grace Under Pressure," our landmark Cthulhu Now scenario from TUO2.
Includes 25mm maps and cardstock stand-up figures, as well as the
infamous Fuggly Flee-O-Meter. 32 pages, $5.95, late May.
Devil's Children--a two-scenario adventure with pre-made characters,
NOT meant to be integrated into a campaign but rather to stand on its
own as a one-off piece. Players will vist 1692 Salem and 1992 Arkham
in a chilling and gruesome tale of evil and destiny. 48 pages, $6.95,
late June. * Recommended for Mature Readers *
Walker in the Wastes--the longest campaign for Call of Cthulhu ever
published, running at least 200 pages of globe-trotting adventure in
the grand style. Can you defeat the menace of the icy wastes? 200+
pages, $18.95, August. * Recommended for Experienced Keepers & Players *
TUO10 will ship in September, in our new format (magazine size, color
covers, same price). There are some other projects that *may* be
coming out around August, but they are still up in the air as of this
writing.
John Tynes
Pagan Publishing
paganpub@aol.com
--------------------
The Chaosium Digest is a Discussion Forum for Chaosium Games which do
not have another specific area for discussion. To submit an article,
mail to: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu
