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Chaosium Digest Volume 03 Number 01
Chaosium Digest Volume 3, Number 1
Date: Sunday, July 18, 1993
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
Pendragon Vignettes (Shannon Appel) PENDRAGON
A CyberCthulhu Vignette (Kaid Ramdani) CALL OF CTHULHU
Coc Adventure Timeline (Brian Vickers) CALL OF CTHULHU
Editor's Note:
Welcome to the 25th Chaosium Digest, also the start of the third
volume of the Digest. I'm happy to say that the Digest has shown some
impressive growth since the first issue. In the last 6 months, the
membership of the digest has grown to 173 members. That's compared to
56 subscribers back in January.
A few new releases last week. Elric! (Chaosium, 160pp, $19.95) is the
successor of the Stormbringer game. It's a good game, beautifully
laid out. The Unspeakable Oath 8/9 (Pagan Publishing, digest-sized,
160pp, $8.00) is a huge magazine. There's too much stuff in the issue
to itemize it all. To whet your appetite, one of the scenerios is "I
was a Teenage Cthulhu Chaser."
Two things have been added to the FTP site on soda.berkeley.edu in the
last few weeks. Chaosium's current catalog is available as
/pub/chaosium/info/catalog. A catalog for Pagan Publishing is also
available, under /pub/chaosium/paganpub/catalog. Both catalogs
include lots of fun information on upcoming products over the next few
months.
Finally, a few short comments and questions from subscribers.
Kaid Ramdani (NUMERIK1@ze8.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de) asks if any Digest
subscribers have ever been inspired by the lyrics of a modern pop or
rock song to write an adventure. He said that he had been working on
a Stormbringer adventure based on two Sting songs, "Tea in the Sahara"
and "I Burn for You". He thought they fit perfectly with the Weeping
Wastes. His adventure was of a long (un)dead sorcerer who tried, with
the help of the players, to find his long lost love. Unfortunately,
they eventually discovered that she had been dead for hundreds of
years, and the sorcerer became an eternal column of flame. Other
songs that Kaid based adventures on included Billy Idol's "Eyes
without a Face" (which led to a Cyber adventure) and Marillion's
"Assassing" which sparked the idea for a Hawkmoon story. [I'd note
that people interested in pursuing this particular source of ideas
should look into the works of The Deep Fix, Hawkwind and Blue Oyster
Cult. All of them have had songs based upoon Michael Moorcock
stories.]
Stefano Lanticina (lanticin@ghost.dsi.unimi.it) has an idea he would
like to develop. It concerns an alternate reality in which some Great
Old Ones have taken over the Earth, and the few humans left alive (and
sane) are fighting a guerrilla war to bring sanity back. He's hoping
to eventually develop this idea with the help of others.
See you all next week.
Shannon
Recent Sightings:
* Call of Cthulhu - "Burnout", two pages of information on enchanted
braziers in Vortext #8 [Spring, 1993]
--------------------
From: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu (Shannon Appel)
Subject: Pendragon Vignettes
System: Pendragon
Here's another set of Vignettes for Pendragon. The seeds of these
ideas were all borrowed from _English Myths & Legends_ (Dorset Press,
1991).
The Adventure of the Lost Knight: Sir John Attwood, a chivalrous
knight, ventured off on his own during Arthur's continental campaign.
In Italy, he was captured by treacherous city dwellers and held
captive for many years. Now, he has returned to England, and just in
time, for his wife is about to be married to Sir Bledri, a black heart
who loves only the supposed widow's money. Sir Attwood will come to
the players for help in recovering his wife. This task will be
hindered by the wife refusing to believe that her husband is alive,
and Sir Bledri doing his best to discredit (or kill) Sir Attwood.
The War of the Corpse: The players come across two groups of monks
engaging in a most violent fight. If they somehow manage to part the
combatants, the players will learn that the monks are fighting for the
possession of the corpse of one Sir Childe. Sir Childe froze to death
upon the bridge on which the monks war. He left a note (written in
his blood) that granted his lands to the one who buried him. The
players will have to do something to keep the monks from killing each
other, perhaps by making their own decision and then somehow
convincing the monks to accept it.
Encounter with the Knights of Bulls: In Angleland (see BLOOD & LUST
pp. 76-89) there is a Lord by the name of Osric. He wishes to be as
chivalrous as any of Arthur's knights, but unfortunately is extremely
poor. Thus, he has mounted his five knights upon bulls. These beasts
are very unresponsive (all Horsemanship rolls are made at -5) but
extremely damaging in a joust (10d6). How will the players react when
they meet these bull-riding knights?
The Adventure of the Giant Dam: The peasants of a small village have
angered a huge giant. Thus, he has set out to dam up a nearby river,
diverting the water so that it floods the village. When the players
first encounter the giant, he will be carrying huge rocks to the dam.
Perhaps the knights can outwit the giant, diverting him from his task.
Or, alternatively, they may discover that he has a valid grievance
against the village.
Shannon
--------------------
From: NUMERIK1@ze8.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de (Kaid Ramdani)
Subject: A CyberCthulhu Vignette
System: Call of Cthulhu
This CyberCthulhu Vignette is based upon the Call of CyberCthulhu
rules posted by Alex Antunes (in V2.10 of the Digest).
DO NETRUNNERS DREAM OF ELECTRIC VAMPIRES?
One of the characters is given a vast sum of money to help a new
netrunner to enter the security system of a media cooperation. This
youngster, named Edward P. Cant Junior, is the son of a rich
cooperation manager and a fan of old horror movies. He wants to enter
the virtual reality and steal some of the old films which are kept in
that part of the net.
It's an easy job and everything is just fine until an antipersonnel
program, which looks like a vampire, attacks the boy and drains him.
The character has to jack out. He finds the kid lying dead at his
terminal. The father accepts his son's death and everythings seems to
be all right, until seven days later a telephon call wakes the
character in the middle of the night. There is nothing but a single
hollow laugh from the other side. Edward P. Cant Junior is back
again.
The AI (Artificial Inteligence) of this system was interested in
Cant's complex personality and copied Cant's mind into his system.
Thus, Cant became an AI. Past the initial shock of being noncorporal,
Cant is now out to take revenge on all those who have made this
happen, including his father, the seller of the terminal, his
bodyguards and, of course, the characters. Some of the victims will
die in gruesome ways, but always a computer will be at fault in the
victim's death. All of the victims will have been tortured for a
while (eg an elevator accident, but first the elevator rose to the
highest floor, and everybody heard a diabolic laughter while it fell
to the ground).
To frighten the characters, Cant will drain some netrunners of their
lifeforce and then send them as mindless zombies to hunt down the
characters. Eventally, Cant will lure the characters back into the
net. Now that he is part of it, he has all the advantages. Here, he
plans to torture the characters and kill them slowly. All the
characters can do is counter attack. Cant needs vast amounts of energy
to keep himself alive. The character could either destroy his source
of energy or try to isolate him. This should not be an easy task.
Cast: Edward P. Cant Junior (netrunner) E.P.Cant (artifical intelligence)
STR 10 DEX 14 INT 13 DEX 30 INT 13 POW 18
CON 12 APP 13 POW 18 SAN 01 EDU 30
SIZ 13 SAN 50 EDU 14 Skills: Net running 80%
Skills: Computer use 60%
Net running 30%
Edward P. Cant sen. (coop.manager) Paul Chambers (bodyguard)
STR 8 DEX 12 INT 14 STR 20 DEX 20 INT 13
CON 12 APP 10 POW 13 CON 14 APP 12 POW 10
SIZ 13 SAN 60 EDU 16 SIZ 16 SAN 20 EDU 13
Skills: Accounting 80% Skills: Dodge 40%, Camouflage 70%
Credit Rating 90% Hide 30%, Interrogation 60%
Computer use 70% Sneak 45%, Spot Hidden 40%
Debate 30%, Law 60% Cyberequip.: Cyberarm, Cybereye(IR)
Psychology 40% Enhanced Reflexes
Weapons: Fist/Punch 85% 1D3+1D6
Netrunner Zombies Grapple 55% spec.
STR 10 DEX 5 INT 1 Colt .55 65% 3D6
CON 12 APP 10 POW 1
SIZ 12 SAN 00 EDU 00
Weapons: various 25% ???
KAID
--------------------
From: "Brian Vickers" <brian_vickers@isd.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
Subject: CoC Adventure Timeline
System: Call of Cthulhu
This is a Call of Cthulhu Adventure Timeline. It is a compilation of
every CoC adventure from each known Chaosium CoC supplement. The
timeline contains the date of the adventure, the title of the
adventure, the sourcebook where the adventure can be found and the
level of experience necessary to play the adventure as suggested by
the author (if any). The timeline is sorted (obviously) by date.
I also have some information on adventure duration and location. If
you'd like this info, I'll probably be uploading the Excel database to
soda.berkeley.edu soon, so look for it there.
Unfortunately, there are still a few omissions. Specifically, I'm
still missing information about the adventures in:
Alone Against the Dark
Alone Against the Wendigo
Escape from Innsmouth.
If you own these adventures, please e-mail me the info regarding them.
Special thanks to Soeren Busch-Knudsen <busch@aud1.aud.auc.dk>, Dirk
Vandenheuvel <vandenb1@imec.be>, and everyone else whose helped so
far.
-- Brian
brian_vickers@isd.jpl.nasa.gov
.sigless-niggurath
--------------------- -------------------------------- ------------ ----------
Date Title Sourcebook Experience
--------------------- -------------------------------- ------------ ----------
192- A Happy Family AiAC
192- Bless the Beasts & the Children AiAC
192- The Dark Wood AiAC
192- The Whore of Bahama AiAC
192- The Hills Rise Wild AU
192- Dead of Night AU Mod.
192- The Condemned AU Mod.
192- The Curse of Chaugnar Faugn CCase/CotC Exp.
192- The Asylum CCase/TA&OT
192- The Auction CCase/TA&OT
192- The Madman CCase/TA&OT
192- The Mauretania CCase/TA&OT
192- The Secret of Castronegro CClas/TCC
192- The Pits of Bendal-Dolum CClas/TftS
192- The Madman CoC (5th ed)
192- Dead-Man Stomp CoC (5th ed) Beg.
192- The City Without a Name CotC
192- The Case CurCth
192- Wail of the Witch CurCth
192- The Haunted House CurCth/ToT
192- Captives of Two Worlds Dreamlands
192- Lemon Sails Dreamlands
192- To Sleep, Perchance to Dream Dreamlands
192- Pickman's Student Dreamlands Exp.
192- Tatterdemalion FE
192- The Songs of Fantari FE Any
192- The Lurker In The Crypt FE Exp.
192- The Underground Menace FoF
192- Valley of the Four Shrines FoF
192- Along the Indus FP Beg.
192- Crash Dive FP Beg.
192- Slow boat FP Beg.
192- The Iron Ghost FP Beg.
192- Dreams & Fancies Kingsport Any
192- The House on the Edge Kingsport Any
192- Dead in the Water Kingsport Exp.
192- Mansion of Madness MoM
192- Mister Corbitt MoM
192- The Sanatorium MoM
192- The Plantation MoM Some
192- Pride of Yirrimburra TA
192- The Mystery of Loch Feinn TCC
192- The Paper Chase TCC
192- The Rescue TCC
192- One in Darkness TGOO Any
192- The Pale God TGOO Some
192- Painted Smile TotMV
192- Regiment of Dead TotMV
192- Freak Show TotMV Any
192- Trail of Yig TotMV Any
192-, (mid 20s) Fear of Flying FP Beg.
192-, (Sum.) The Watcher in the Valley TotMV
192-, (Win.) Still Waters TGOO Any
192-, Feb. 11th The Land of Lost Dreams Dreamlands Exp.
192-, Feb Black Devil Mountain CCase/TA&OT
192-, Mar. Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? TGOO Any
192-, Apr. 26th Season of the Witch Dreamlands
192-, May Dark Carnival CClas/CotC
192-, May 3rd A Little Knowledge AU Any
192-, May, (late 20s) Furious driving FP Beg.
192-, June Gate from the Past CCase/TA&OT
192-, June People of the Monolith SoYS Beg.
192-, Sept. 23rd The Temple of the Moon CClas/TftS
192-, Oct. 31st With Malice Aforethought AiAC Beg.
192-, Nov. Thoth's Dagger CCase/CotC
1920 The Haunting CoC (5th ed) Beg.
1920, (Fall) The Spawn TGOO Mod.
1921, May The Trail of Tsathogghua ToT
1921, Sept. The Curse of Tsathogghua ToT
1921, (Win.) The Warren CClas/SoYS
1922 Westchester House CCase/TA&OT
1922 Rigid Air FP Beg.
1923, Jan.-Mar. Orient Express HotOE Exp.
1924, Jan. Shadows of Yog-Sothoth CClas/SoYS Exp.
1925 Armored Angels FP Intro.
1925, Jan. Masks of Nyarlathotep MoN
1925, Jan. 25th The Crack'd and Crook'd Manse MoM Any
1925, Mar. City Beneath the Sands TA
1925, Oct. Old Fellow that Bunyip TA
1926 Sleigh Ride FP Beg.
1927, (Spr.) Bad Moon Rising TGOO Exp.
1927, Mar. 15th The Thing at the Threshold TTatT Beg./Mod.
1927, May Spawn of Azathoth SoA Exp.
1928 Edge of Darkness CoC (5th ed) Intro.
1928, (Sum.) The Fungi from Yuggoth CurCth/TFfY
1928, Oct.-Nov. Fade to Gray TotMV
1929 Return to Dunwich RtD
AiAC = Adventures in Arkham Country
AU = Akham Unveiled
CCase = Cthulhu Casebook
CClas = Cthulhu Classics
CoC = Call of Cthulhu
CotC = Curse of the Cthonians
CurCth = Curse of Cthulhu
FE = Fatal Experiments
FoF = Fragments of Fear
FP = Fearful Passages
HotOE = Horror on the Orient Express
MoM = Mansions of Madness
MoN = Masks of Nyarlathotep
RtD = Return to Dunwich
SoA = Spawn of Azathoth
SoYS = Shadows of Yog-Sothoth
TA = Terror Australis
TA&OT = The Asylum & Other Tales
TCC = The Cthulhu Companion
TFfY = The Fungi from Yuggoth
TftS = Terror from the Stars
TGaPL = The Green and Pleasant Land
TGOO = The Great Old Ones
ToT = Trail of Tsathogghua
TotMV = Tales of the Miskatonic Valley
TTatT = The Thing at the Threshold
--------------------
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
