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Chaosium Digest Volume 02 Number 01
Chaosium Digest Volume 2, Number 1
Date: Sunday, April 4, 1993
Number: 1 of 2
Contents:
Player Death...The Final Arbiter (Jason Corley) CALL OF CTHULHU
A Review of Creatures & Cultists (Shannon Appel) CREATURES & CUL
Suggested Rules Changes (Shannon Appel) CREATURES & CUL
Berkeley Battle Rules (Eric Rowe) PENDRAGON
County Equivalents (Heidi Kaye) PENDRAGON
Editor's Note:
Dave Hipple (D.R.S.Hipple@open.ac.uk) sent in a couple of questions
this time. First, he mentioned that he'd just picked up a copy of the
fifth edition of Call of Cthulhu, his first new Cthulhu book in some
time. He was glad of the purchase, but wondered about a few mistakes,
such as a mysterious "Mislead" skill noted in the Haunted House
scenerio, and a lack of indication of the number of spells available
from a given book. So, Dave asked if anyone had compiled a list of
errata or addition for the fifth edition rules. Anyone out there have
such a list or know where it might be available? (Dave does correctly
note in his query that The Unspeakable Oath has been running a set of
expansions for the fifth edition, but I have little more info on that.
Perhaps someone could do a review of the additions that TUO has
implemented?)
Later in his letter, Dave asks if reviews of out of print material
would be useful. I think they would be, to help us collectors get a
better idea of what old stuff is good and what isn't. Any other
opinions?
In Pendragon news, the latest word from Chaosium is that the release
of the fourth edition rules has been delayed two months, so that the
magic rules can be just right. This should move the release back to
July. From what I've seen so far, though, the fourth edition is
really something to look forward to.
Recent Sightings:
This is a new feature that I'm starting where I'm going to try and
list current articles published for Chaosium's games in the various
Role Playing magazines that exist. There are many gaming magazines
out there that I don't read, so if you pick up something new that has
an article I haven't mentioned, please drop me a line.
* Call of Cthulhu - "Angular Dreams", a thirteen page scenerio in The
Last Province #1 [October, 1992] ; "thirtiesomething", four pages of
notes for playing Call of Cthulhu in the 1930s in The Last Province #2
[December, 1992] also printed in The Unspeakable Oath #7
* Pendragon - "And Then There Were Nun....", a four page scenerio in
The Last Province #1 [October, 1992]
--------------------
From: corleyj@GAS.uug.Arizona.EDU (Jason D Corley)
Subject: Player Death...The Final Arbiter
System: Call of Cthulhu
In-Reply-To: V1.9 PC Casualties
Reading the comments on player death took a sudden turn to the
practical in our campaign the other evening. I left the room to get a
soda (it was between sections of a scenario), and left the players to
talk things over for a while, as they are pretty good about staying in
character. When I returned, they were all sitting there smiling.
I was immediately suspicious.
"We want," the Author said, "to make out our wills."
I smiled.
Essentially, they made arrangements with several different lawyers
that if they died or disappeared, the lawyers would release evidence
and information to dozens of different public sources: newspapers,
libraries, book publishers, etc. It would be the 'true' story of what
happened (the author was already publishing some of it as science
fiction/horror).
They, in other words, set themselves up for a PC death scene. They
have reached the point where they are realistically expecting death or
disappearance to occur at literally any time. And that's the final
arbiter for PC deaths...the storyline. If it works, it works.
Later!
--------------------
From: Shannon D. Appel <appel@erzo.berkeley.edu>
Subject: A Review of Creatures & Cultists
System: Creatures & Cultists
One of Chaosium's strengths has long been their willingness to let
others produce supplements for their games. The Game Workshop
hardcovers for Call of Cthulhu, Runequest and Stormbringer are
extremely beautiful productions. I have little doubt that the FASA,
Grenadier, Judge's Guild and TOME supplements for Chaosium's various
games each expanded upon the games in ways which Chaosium might not
have (although, I still have but a smattering of these works). Pagan
Publishing seems to be heading down this same path, producing very
good supplements for Call of Cthulhu.
Before moving on to the actual review of Creatures & Cultists, I'm
going to give a bit of info on Pagan Publishing, for those Call of
Cthulhu players who aren't yet aware of the company. Pagan
Publishing's premier publication is clearly their Call of Cthulhu
magazine, The Unspeakable Oath. I've only been able to get one issue
of the magazine, but I found it to be an excellent work. The newest
issue (#7) had an adventure, rule mods for CoC5 and lots, lots more.
Besides this, Pagan Publishing currently has a couple of other Call of
Cthulhu items in print, including a T-shirt and a book of two
scenerios called Alone on Halloween.
And then, there's Creatures & Cultists. It's not exactly a Call of
Cthulhu supplement, but rather a game based upon it, in the same way
that Arkham Horror was a Call of Cthulhu based game. You get to play
a Cult trying to summon their god to earth. Unfortunately, there are
a number of other cults trying to do the same.
The game reminds me a lot of The Challenge and Family Business. You
have twenty-four cultists, each with skills in conjuring and thuggery.
In addition, you have a hand of six cards, divided among Mondo cards,
Event cards, Thuggery cards, Conjury cards, Defense cards and Sorcery
cards. With these cards, you can gun down enemy cultists, summon
Cthonians to kill your foes, cast spells such as the Vorpal Tenrec of
Tynes, defend with Elder Signs and, just for kicks, Sink the Titanic.
The most basic goal is to kill enemy Cultists. By doing so, you get
Fuggly points. When you get enough, you'll be able to attempt to
summon your god. The best part about killing enemy cultists is the
fact that you get to lean over the other player's Cult sheet
afterwards, and inscribe your cult symbol upon their late cultist.
Creatures & Cultists has a pretty simple game system. You have three
different skills, in Conjuring, Sorcery and Thuggery. When making
attacks or casting spells, you'll be using one of these skills. You
take your base skill number, make appropriate modifications for the
skills of the cultist taking the action (if any) and for any other
variables (ie difficulty of conjuring, if that's what's going on, if
the stars are right, etc) and then roll 3d6. On real low numbers, you
crit (spooge in the rules). On real high numbers, you fumble (boof in
the rules). Otherwise, you compare your roll to your modified skill,
and see if you succeeded or failed.
There are some flaws in the game. The frivolous attitude turned me
off a bit. A certain card really messed up things in the game we ran,
and the end game kind of dragged on. But, I think that the problems
will be fairly easy to fix. Since the game was pretty enjoyable
overall, and the problems easily correctable, I'd give the game a high
rating. It only cost $6.95 and was fun to play; I really can't think
of any reason not to go out and buy a copy right now.
--------------------
From: Shannon D. Appel <appel@erzo.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Suggested Rules Changes
System: Creatures & Cultists
As I mentioned in my review, Creatures & Cultists does have some
flaws. I'm going to summarize them here and suggest some additions
and changes to make the game better. First, here's what I saw as
flaws in the game:
* The Card from Hell - There's a certain card labelled "Herbert West"
that nearly lets you have an infinitely long turn. You kill people
with your cards, give the bodies to Herbert and draw more cards.
Again and again and again.
* Randomness - A lot of people seemed to end up with the conditions
necessary to summon their god at the same time (ie enough fuggly
points). Then, only the person who randomly was chosen by the stars
got to win.
* More Randomness - Another problem with the end game (ie when people
have enough points to win) is that unless someone is very, very weak,
you get a situation where, either someone has drawn a "make someone
else lose a turn card" or the person chosen by the stars wins. Much
too arbitrary.
* Obscene Scores - By the end of the game, lots of people have real
high values in their three abilities. This makes it a bit
distracting, because you basically end up succeeding or fumbling.
Here's some changes to hopefully make things work better [haven't
gotten a chance to try them yet]:
* Herbert West - Modify the card to read "Only one corpse may be given
to Dr. West per turn."
* Permanent Cards - Several Mondos and Effects have a permanent effect
upon a player. Herbert West falls into this category, as do cards
which add to the various characteristics. Change the rules so that
these cards are kept in front of a player that they effect (ie not
shuffled back into the deck). This will lower, to some extent, the
characteristic inflation that can occur. [I don't want this to be
applied to certain things, like the card that makes you reroll your
characteristics, so to be absolutely unambiguous, the spells that are
Permanent in this regard should be marked such].
* Summoning Your God - Allow players to summon their Gods even if the
stars are not right (although the Stars Being Right still does give a
bonus). Increase victory conditions by ten Fuggly points to offset
this (and, for a shorter game, you can increase the number by less, or
not at all).
* Add the following cards using the blank cards supplied with
Creatures & Cultists:
Let's Do the Timewarp Again (Sorcery): Make a Sorcery roll. If you
are succesful, your powerful magicians turn back time, so that any
Mondo or Event that has just affected you is avoided. This card may
be played as soon as you are affected by an Event or Mondo. Spooge:
You may choose another person to be affected by the event. Boof: You
make the event you were trying to avoid worse. Take double effect, if
applicable.
The Gods are Angry (Mondo): Apparently, you mixed up eye of newt and
wing of bat in that last ritual. Your god has grown angry with you,
and begun to remove your gains of recent months. Discard all
permanent cards currently in front of you.
FBI Raid (Event): You have gained a recruit who has connections in law
enforcement. With his help, you can finger one other cult, causing a
raid upon their headquarters. The victim should discard all of his
permanent cards.
Hopefully, this set of rules changes will make Creatures & Cultists
into an even more enjoyable game than it already is.
Shannon
--------------------
From: Eric Rowe <rowe@soda.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Berkeley Battle Rules
System: Pendragon
The Berkeley Modular Battle System
Here is what we will be using now at our Berkeley game. Basically,
every type of battle follows the same flow-chart, but different types
of battles require different tables to be inserted in the correct
places. Below is the flow-chart for battles and following that the
standard tables and their explanations. Specific examples follow for
demonstration.
Start Here:
________________ ________________ ______________
|Army Commander| |Unit Encounter| |Group Leader|
|Battle Roll: | |Table: | |Battle Roll:|
---------------- ---------------- --------------
|%Troop loss. |--->|Foe Table |--->|Weapon |--------\
---------------- |Modifier | |Modifier | |
|Unit Encounter| ---------------- -------------- |
|Table Modifier| | |
________________ \|/ \|/
/|\ ----------- ------------
| |Player |---->|Foe Table:|
| |Modifiers| ------------
| ----------- |
| |
| |
| \|/
| ---------
| |Combat!|
| ---------
| |
-------- |
|Battle|<---------------------------------------------------/
|Over? |
--------
|
|
-----------
|Funerals |
|and Glory|
-----------
Army Commander Battle Roll: Affects Unit Encounter Table, Battle Over
roll and Follower's Fate. Modifed by factors in book such as
superior knight values. Roll for each side to determine losses.
Roll UET/BO Follower Fate (from current forces)
Critical +4 No appreciable follower loss
Success 0 10% Losses. 2% killed, 8% wounded
Failure -2 50% Losses. 10% killed, 15% captured, 25% wounded
Fumble -4 75% Losses. 50% killed, 25% captured
Unit Encounter Table: Modifies Foe Table. Roll 3d6. Modify roll by result
of Army Commander Battle Roll.
03: -3 Witty description here if you want.
04-05: -2
06-08: -1
09-12: 0
13-15: +1
16-17: +2
18: +3
Unit Leader Battle Roll: Modifies Sword Skill.
Critical +5
Success 0
Failure -5
Fumble -10
Player Modifiers: We allow PCs to try to make things harder or easier
for themselves with a heraldry roll. This modifies foe table.
Critical + or - 2: Player's choice.
Success + or - 1: Player's choice.
Failure No affect.
Fumble + or - 2: Opposite player's choice.
Foe Table: Roll 3d6. Modified by player modifier and result of Unit
Encounter Table.
Roll Opponent Skill Damage
<= 03 Pretender 07 3d6
04-05: Young Knight 15 4d6
06-08: Young Knight 18 4d6
09-12: Ordinary Knight 20 5d6
13-15: Notable Knight 21 5d6
16-17: Famous Knight 22 5d6
>= 18: Extr. Knight 23 6d6
Combat: Standard rules, one roll to represent a battle round. Optional
rule here is you wish to allow additional rolls against current
opponent.
Battle Over?: Also modified by troop losses, see below table. Roll 3d6.
03: Total defeat.
04-05: Decide to retreat.
06-15: Battle Continues.
16-17: Foes retreat.
18: Total victory.
Modifiers:
Presently outnumbered -1 (+ if on larger side)
Presently outnumbered 2-1 -2 (+ if on larger side)
Presently outnumbered 5-1 -3 (+ if on larger side)
Loss of 25% of total force. -1
Loss of 50% of total force. -2
Loss of 75% of total force. -3
Result of Army Commander Battle +4 to -4
Glory: Standard from book with modifiers listed there.
Specific Examples:
1: Saxon Raid (small)
All modules remain the same except for the following:
Follower Fate:
Critical No losses
Success 5% Losses. 1% Killed, 4% Wounded
Failure 25% Losses. 5% Killed, 20% Wounded
Fumble 50% Losses. 20% Killed, 30% Wounded
Foe Table:
<= 05: Saxon Youth 10 4d6
06-12: Saxon Warrior 14 5d6
13-17: Saxon Warrior 17 5d6
18: Saxon Chieftain 20 6d6
>= 19: Saxon Berserk 20 8d6
Battle Over?:
03: Total defeat.
04: Retreat.
05-13: Raid Continues
14-17: Saxon's retreat.
18: Saxon's crushed.
Glory:
15 per round.
Additional 30 any round fighting Chieftan or Berserk.
Standard multipliers and modifiers.
2: Large Tournament
Follower Fate:
Critical No losses.
Success 5% Losses. 5% Captured.
Failure 20% Losses. 15% Captured, 5% Wounded.
Fumble 50% Losses. 40% Captured, 9% Wounded, 1% Killed.
Battle Over?:
Ends after set number of rounds.
Glory:
Standard for tournament. If using lengthier optional individual
combat rule then instead apply regular (for love) glory awards.
--------------------
From: Heidi Kaye [via <P.A.Snow@gdr.bath.ac.uk>]
Subject: County Equivalents
System: Pendragon
The kingdoms in Arthurian Britain are roughly connected with the
present-day counties, but many of the names have been changed. Since
the Player's Map included in Knights Adventurous is not very detailed,
I have worked out the equivalents for the Pendragon names so that GMs
can use a modern map of Britain to find locations for adventure
settings in the various regions. In the following list, I have
excluded those Pendragon kingdoms whose names and areas are the same
as the present counties, such as Essex.
For those with access to it, the "A-Z Great Britain Counties Map"
published by the Geographers' A-Z Map Co. Ltd. is recommended as one
of the few maps around with the counties clearly defined (rather than
a road atlas). This map is on the same scale as the Pendragon
Player's Map, which makes comparison easy.
Pendragon kingdom Modern county (pre-1970 county names)
Amans east Cheshire and northwest Derbyshire
Anglia Norfolk and Suffolk
Bedegraine Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire
Brun Northamptonshire
Cambernet Cumberland and south Dumfries and Galloway
Cameliard Staffordshire
Clarence south Gloucestershire
Cumbria Lancashire
Deira east North Yorkshire, northeast Humberside
Ergyng West Hereford and Worcester (Herefordshire)
Fens west Norfolk, north Cambridgeshire
Galvoie east Hereford and Worcester (Worcestershire)
Gloucester north Gloucestershire and south Hereford
Huntingdon Cambridgeshire (Huntingdon and Peterborough)
Jagent Somerset
Lambor west Leicestershire, West Midlands, north Warwickshire
Lestroite west North Yorkshire
Lindsey Lincolnshire
Lonazep Leicestershire and south Lincolnshire
Lyonesse west Cornwall
Malahaut central North Yorkshire
Maris south North Yorkshire, east South Yorkshire,
west Humberside
Nohaut Durham
Orofoise Shropshire
Pase Greater Manchester
Rheged south Cumbria (Westmoreland)
Roestoc south and west Yorkshire
Rydychan Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire
Salisbury Wiltshire
Silchester Berkshire
Somerset Avon
Southports Isle of Wight, south Hampshire
Tintagel east Cornwall
Totnes southwest Devon
Tribuit north Oxfordshire and south Northamptonshire
Wuerensis Warwickshire
(Kingdoms from The Savage Mountains)
Brycheiniog south Powys (Brecknockshire)
Bulith west central Powys (Radnorshire and north Brecknockshire)
Cardigan north Dyfed (Cardiganshire)
Elfael east central Powys, west Hereford and Worcester
(east Radnorshire and west Herefordshire)
Escavalon Gwent, Mid and South Glamorgan
(Glamorgan and Monmouthshire)
Estragales South Dyfed and West Glamorganshire
(Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, west Glamorgan)
Gomeret Gwynedd (Caenarvonshire)
Gwaelod southwest Gwynedd
Merionydd southeast Gwynedd, northwest Powys (Merionethshire)
Norgales Clwyd (Denbighshire)
Powys northeast Powys, west Shropshire (Montgomeryshire)
Ystrad Tywi east Dyfyd (north Carmarthenshire)
--------------------
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
