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Chaosium Digest Volume 05 Number 08
Chaosium Digest Volume 5, Number 8
Date: Sunday, February 6, 1994
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
New Spells for Elric! (Stefan Matthias Aust) ELRIC!
German Titles for Mythos Books (Ralf Wagner) CALL OF CTHULHU
Errata: Credo! (Greg Stafford) CREDO!
Announcement: Glorious ReAscent of Yelm (Sam Shirley) MISC
Recent Sightings:
Thanks to Frederic Moll for passing along a number of Recent Sightings
from French magazines. The following Articles are all in French:
* Hawkmoon - "Laboratoires et Bibliotheques" (Laboratories and
Libraries), a five page article about these useful places for
scientific and scholarly characters, Tatou #16; "La Tour de Varna Zak
Varna Zak" (The Tower of Varna Zak), an eight page scenario
spotlighting the weird and baroque science of Hawkmoon, Tatou #16
* Pendragon - "Les Animaux Mythiques" (Mythical Beasts), a four page
article about the creation of mythical beasts, Tatou #16; "Les Cerfs
Blancs" (The White Deer): a six pages adventure set during the second
year of King Arthur's reign, Tatuo #16
* Stormbringer - "La Magie Loyale" (The Magic of the Law), a seven
page article giving modifications and new rules for the second French
edition of the Stormbringer rules.
[Tatou is the house organ of Oriflam, a publisher of french
supplements for Chaosium games (except for Cthulhu which is published
by another company : Jeux Descartes)]
--------------------
From: Stefan Matthias Aust <sma@informatik.uni-kiel.d400.de>
Subject: New Spells for Elric!
System: Elric!
The following four spells are similar to spells listed in GURPS Conan.
Because I liked the format for describing spells given in V3.4 (A
Melnibone Grimore), I've imitated it, although the quotation aren't
authentic.
Burning Death (6) [Spells of War]
"Suddenly, he cried out! An immense heat inside his body began to
melt his flesh and to evaporate his blood. Stunned from the pain and
unable to move, he died a cruel death."
Range is sight. Chaotic. The caster causes the target, which has to
be a living being, to lose 1D6 internal damage per round, for as long
as the spell lasts. Each round, the victim can make a successful
MP:MP Resistance Table roll to end the spell.
Crystals of Communication (12) [Ritual]
"Plundering the treasure room, they found a small piece of crystal
that felt warm and full of life. Rhowan, trying to find out the
secret of this jewel, pressed it with both hands and an electrical
magic force shot through his body. Pressing stronger made him dizzy
for a moment, then he was elsewhere, standing in another room,
decorated with red carpets. Before him was a sorcerer. 'What do you
want, foolish being?' the sorcerer asked."
This ritual creates a communication device. You need a large crystal.
Each part of it that is broken off can be used to communicate with the
holder of the large part. This costs 1 MP. The enchanting costs 3
points of POW for the large crystal plus 1 point for each additional
piece made. If the caster fumbles his luck roll, the large crystal
cracks and becomes useless. The ritual to break off a piece of the
large crystal takes 1D6 hours per piece.
If the communication is established, the holder of the crystal
fragment sees the holder of the large crystal and feels as if he were
in front of him. This is an illusion. He can only communicate, not
physically interact with the holder of the large crystal.
Simulacrum (varies) [Ritual]
"Rhowan's final blow killed the sorcerer. He fell down, his dead
corpse crashing to the floor. Immediately, the corpse began to
crumble into dirt. Rhowan had to use all of his strength to pull his
broadsword from the destroyed body. As Rhowan looked about nervously,
another door opened. The same sorcerer advanced through it, laughing
evilly."
This spell allows the caster to form an earth golem into exactly the
image of a particular target. The caster needs to sacrify three
points of POW. He also needs the heart of a person from the same race
as the target, as well as some of the target's blood. The spell costs
MPs equal to the SIZ of the target.
Spheres of Devastation (1-4) [Spell of War]
"The weapons of the attackers couldn't harm Rhowan in his plate armor.
Protecting himself with his large metal shield, he ran through them,
killing two with mighty blows. Only one warrior stood between him and
the exit. Just a few steps lay between Rhowan and his last enemy when
the man cast a spell and hurled a white cloud-like sphere at Rhowan.
He tried to block this attack, but the cloud hit his shield and
blasted it apart."
Range is sight. Chaotic. The sphere is harmless, except when it
touches metal, whereupon it bursts with an explosion doing 1D6 damage
per MP spend. This spell especially destroys armor points of metal
weapons and armor.
--Stefan Matthias Aust
--------------------
From: zca41122@rpool1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de (Ralf Wagner)
Subject: German Titles for Mythos Books
System: Call of Cthulhu
Some Notes on German Titles for Mythos Books
(0/-1 Sanity; +0 Mythos; no spells; skill check for German)
While skimming through the Keeper's Compendium, I noticed some obvious
mistakes in the titles of several mythos tomes. Some of them _might_
be explained by obscure/archaic grammar, but I don't think that the
English speaking authors who invented the books knew that much about
German.
UNAUSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN / NAMELESS CULTS:
This one hurts. Really. Three grammatical mistakes and a
mistranslation all in one title. First of all, the right spelling for
the adjective is "unaussprechlich". Second, the given title is a
mixture of two declensions. It should either read:
"Unaussprechliche Kulte" = "Nameless Cults"
or "Von unaussprechlichen Kulten" = "Of Nameless Cults".
Finally, the title isn's translated properly:
unaussprechlich = unspeakable, ineffable
namenlos = nameless
Personally, I'd stick to "unaussprechlich" which sounds creepier.
This mistake might be attributed to the pirated Bridewell edition,
which is, as the Compedium states, "...full of mistranslations...".
CTHAAT AQUADINGEN:
Apart from the fact that I think this title is exceptionally stupid,
the German word for "things" is "Dinge", which then becomes "Cthaat
Aquadinge".
NEW MYTHOS TOMES (p. 34):
Ghorl Nigral: The translator's name is given as Gottfred Mulder,
Gottfried sounds more German.
Secret Mysteries of Asia: The German title might be "Die Geheimlehren
Asiens" or "Die geheimen Lehren Asiens" or "Die Mysterien Asiens".
Unter Zee Kulten: This should read "Unterwasserkulte" and doen't sound
very German. Better don't use it.
Uralte Schrecken: This is a truly good one and means "Ancient
Horrors".
Von denen Verdammten: The correct declension is "Von den Verdammten" =
"Of the Damned"; I don't know the word "Kazaj" in the author's name,
so I assumme it is actually "Karl-Heinz Vogel" with "Karl-Heinz" being
the first name.
If anyone is interested, I could do a short write-up of the
pronounciation of the German titles.
Ciao Ralf Wagner (zca41122@rpool1.uni-stuttgart.de)
--------------------
From: Greg Stafford
Subject: Errata: Credo!
System: Credo!
Here is a provisional errata (January 26, 1994) based upon questions
received from various sources. I am responding in part to questions
asked, and answering questions which are already given in the text.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
Q: Are Patriarchs treated as Bishops? Or are they immune to cards and
events that effect bishops?
A: See page 6, col 2, 10. Anytime a card says Bishop, it means
Bishops and Patriarchs; if Patriarch, it means only Patriarchs.
Q: When you draw a new Article and put it on your display, do you put
it into any empty slot? Could it be any slot, perhaps bumping another
article to a new location?
A: Place it in any blank spot. Once placed, Articles may not be moved
on the display.
Q: What are the wins and losses when a double article (1&2, for
example) is passed?
A: When a multiple doctrine is passed, it takes up BOTH slots. In this
case, everyone who does not have the article loses for BOTH articles
on their own display, but whoever's Article was passed collects for
only ONE doctrine being passed. Likewise, if the double doctrine is
rejected, the holder of it loses only once.
Q: When I "Take" a flock, do I rifle through my opponent's hand or
just accept his largest Flock?
A: Just ask for his biggest flock, and Take it. I thought p 2,
col 2, para 10, last sentence, covered this.
Q: I play an Event which allows "Seculars May Persecute." Whose
Seculars? How many times? Once per Secular? Who chooses what to
Remove?
A: Persecution is basically an act of revenge. A result of Persecute
is exacted only once, not once per Secular. The player who is doing
the Persecution exacts his revenge by choosing which cards to Remove.
If you failed a Proselytize, for instance, your attempted "target" may
Persecute (if he has a secular in that half of the empire).
Q: I am holding a duplicate of my own Article, which is Refuted by a
Church Father. Can I then replace my lost Article with the one in my
hand?
A: No. See page 6, col 2, para 5. I thought that you might be able to
replace it anyway, perhaps by using your own Church Father. However,
the designer and developer were quite adamant on this point.
Q: When does the Emperor card come out?
A: With the deal. Otherwise, treat him as a Secular in every way,
except that it is placed Aside when eliminated so that it can be
re-entered with an Event card. Yes, this means that there may be no
emperor, which gives everyone quite a hand when they begin to
negotiate.
Q: The IN THIS SIGN CONQUER card says that the church helped the
emperor to a great victory and they can take a single secular from
anyone. Does this include the emperor?
A: This includes the emperor: Constantine himself would have gained
the Emperor card by playing "In This Sign Conquer" on its previous
holder. The Emperor is *always* treated as a secular.
Q: When one player Takes a card from another's Flock does the losing
church have to display all its flock cards, or does the victor have to
pick blindly, or perhaps in a "go fish" style?
A: We usually stack flock cards from highest to lowest, which makes a
lot of work in the game easier. In our games (and per the rules, page
two, second column, penultimate paragraph), "Take" means the victor
gets to pick the highest; your variant is fun and sensible and does
not revolt me as a house rule. (It sometimes worries me that a couple
of "One Million Flock" cards changing hands in the last round can
effectively decide the game, but as I don't play it for money I'm not
too bothered by this).
Q: On page 2 of the rules, it says to place the dummy deck of Church
Cards on the "Church Deck." But the Card Layout Guide has no "Church
Deck."
A: Oops, we had used "Office Cards" as a catch-all phrase for
"everything in the Church Deck that isn't Flock", and it crept in the
final version by mistake. Use the "Office Deck" space for the "Church
Deck," and if you keep it covered by a deck of cards then nobody need
ever know of our error.
CORRECTIONS TO THE RULES:
Page 2, col 1, Step 2: You MUST use as many of the dealt Articles as
possible. You may discard only those which have a duplicate Article.
Page 2, Col 2, Para 8, first sentence. Should say: It is dealt out
equally among the players and...
Page 6, col 1, add to end of first Paragraph: "Players must use as
many Article cards as possible; only duplicates may be discarded."
CORRECTION TO THE CARDS:
Correct the following cards to be "Play Immediately.":
(Regrettably, the software skipped a layout Return line someplace.)
Julian the Apostate
Plague In West
Plague in East
CLARIFICATION FOR REGENCY:
If the Empress card is in play, the Emperor card goes to whoever has
her card. If there is no Empress in play, the Emperor goes to whoever
plays the card.
--------------------
From: Sam Shirley <chaosium@aol.com>
Subject: Announcement: Glorious ReAscent of Yelm
System: Misc
NEW GLORANTHAN DOCUMENTATION AVAILABLE NOW!
The Glorious ReAscent of Yelm, by Greg Stafford
This is the first new Gloranthan material since King of Sartar. The
Glorious ReAscent of Yelm is 82 8.5"x11" pages of ALL NEW information
about Glorantha. It is made up of two major sections and a glossary.
1. The Glorious ReAscent of Yelm. A translation of the oldest written
material from the Dara Happan Empire. It details the earliest Dara
Happan mythology, indicating mythology of the popular gods of the
pre-Lunar (ie: circa 221 ST) Empire. It includes an index.
2. The Gods Wall. Facts about the prehistoric monumental sculpture of
Dara Happa which serves as the basis for its mythology. Shows the 111
Gods and Goddesses of their pantheon.
3. Glossary, listing and summarizing the deities of the previous two
parts.
Includes good art by Dan Barker, and maps and crude art by Greg
Stafford. The Glorious ReAscent of Yelm is a xeroxed, spiral bound
collection of background material which will be refered to in Greg's
upcoming "Lunar Book". This is a limited, small printing, of interest
to collectors and Glorantha enthusiasts.
AVAILABLE ONLY THROUGH WIZARDS' ATTIC, for $25.
Call 1-800-213-1493 to Order Today!
Or send check or M.O. to: Wizard's Attic, P.O.Box 718, Hayward,
CA 94543
--------------------
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