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Chaosium Digest Volume 06 Number 11
Chaosium Digest Volume 6, Number 11
Date: Sunday, June 26, 1994
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
RQ-Con 2 Update #1 (Shannon Appel) MISC
A Nephilim Preview (Shannon Appel) NEPHILIM
New Spells for Elric! (Poizat Daniel) ELRIC!
Ye Booke of Monsters Index (Chaosium) CALL OF CTHULHU
Editor's Note:
A few weeks ago, a new area was added to the FTP site for Necronomicon
Press, a small publisher who puts out a variety of Horror & Cthulhu
related books. /pub/chaosium/cthulhu/necropress on soda.berkeley.edu
currently contains the following files:
catalog94 ; the Necronomicon Press 1994 catalog
checklist ; a list of everything that Necronomicon Press has ever
; produced
hplcoll-1 ; the complete text of the HP Collector #1
update94-1 ; an update to the 1994 catalog
Recent Sightings:
* Call of Cthulhu - "Dance of Death", a four page adventure for either
the 1920s or the modern era, Challenge #73 [June/July-ish, 1994]; "Les
Enfants Terribles", a four page French adventure which may be used as
an introduction to the Dreamlands, Casus Belli #81 [July/August, 1994]
--------------------
From: Shannon Appel <appel@erzo.berkeley.edu>
Subject: RQ-Con 2 Update #1
System: Misc
Work on RQ-Con 2 has continued in the last two months. Here's a
general update on the current status of things.
** GENERAL INFO
As noted before, the Convention is going to be held January 13-16 in
the San Francisco Bay Area. We've chosen the San Francisco Clarion
Hotel for the Convention. It's in Millbrae, California, just a bit
south of SF.
Sandy Petersen has been officially added to our Guests of Honor list,
which at this point also includes all four RQ2 authors as well as Greg
Stafford.
Wizards of the Coast has let us know that Ars Magica will be the
spotlighted game that they are presenting on January 15. Jonathan
Tweet, the co-author of Ars Magica and current editor of the Ars
Magica line will be in attendance.
** SPECIAL EVENTS
A number of old events will return for RQ-Con 2, many of them with new
and interesting twists.
Trollball this year will be held in balmy Dagori Inkarth, rather than
on Valind's Glacier. It will be open to all Uz, not just Uzhim.
Geo's will be hosting a look at the dishes of the Lunar upper class.
Please bring a Pelorian delicacy, and the recipe (both Gloranthan and
Terran). Entries should fit into the categories of Snack, Drink,
Salad, Main Dish or Dessert. Braised Alticamelus tongue in ginger
sauce, over a bed of saffron maize and bloodbeans? At this point, do
not plan on cooking facilities other than those you bring yourselves.
Orlanthi Storytelling this year is titled Trickster's Night Out.
Please bring stories (not more than 10 minutes in length) about
Eurmal, Bolongo, Ratslaff or some other Trickster figure from
Gloranthan Myth. Our panel of Gloranthan sages will judge the contest
based on mythic substance and humor.
The game auction this year will feature all our Spotlighted games.
This is your chance to pick up rare and prized items. Runequest and
other Chaosium products, Skyrealms of Jorune and Ars Magica products
are sought for the auction.
We will have our information auction again, where you can ask Greg (or
our other guests) any question and receive an answer. Our guests
reserve the right to return your money if they can not or will not
answer your question.
This year we will introduce some new contests and displays:
Gloranthan Introductions is a game of pure role-playing. Present
yourself or another in the style of one of the Gloranthan cultures:
Orlanthi boasting, Lunar bureaucracy, Praxian geneaology, etc.
Introductions should be kept under two minutes.
A Gloranthan Costume Parade is scheduled, as is a Display of Battle
Standards and Banners of Glorantha. A brief description of the object
and its history should be provided. As this is the first year of this
event, we do not plan on making it a competition. All are welcome to
enter; winners only receive the admiration of the audience. Please
note that we do not want to have twenty copies of the Banner of the
Empire of Wyrm's Friends (the Chaosium symbol).
A display area will be provided to showcase your Gloranthan
Miniatures. A similar area for your Gloranthan Artwork will be
available. We do not plan on this being a competition. Entrants will
be asked to proivide some information about their entry. Again, the
only prize is admiration and envy!
Several private and company collections of our featured games will be
available for your perusal. These games will be available for viewing
throughout the day for the run of the convention.
** SEMINARS
We're still working on seminars for the con. Nothing is set in stone
yet, but we should have talks on cultures and religions of Gloranthan,
tips on gamemastering Glorantha and a discussion of Heroquesting for a
start. If you have ideas for other seminars that you'd like to see at
the Con, drop me a line.
** GAMES
People are still needed to run RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, Elric!,
Pendragon, Nephilim, Skyrealms of Jorune and Ars Magica games at
RQ-Con 2. If you'd be interested in running something, please drop me
a line. People running games will be given discounted admission to
the Con.
Shannon Appel
appel@erzo.berkeley.edu
(510) 649-7467
PS: If you're not already on the mailing list for RQ-Con 2 and would
like to be, send me mail.
--------------------
From: Shannon Appel <appel@erzo.berkeley.edu>
Subject: A Nephilim Preview
System: Nephilim
A few weeks ago, I received a playtest copy of Chaosium's newest game,
Nephilim. I thought I'd take a little bit of space here to give a
preview of the game. I'm just touching upon a few of the things that
I thought were really neat here, since it would take much too much time
to try and explain the game top to bottom.
GENERAL CONCEPTS
Some of the general concepts behind Nephilim were outlined in the last
issue of the digest (V6.10). Nephilim is set in a world of magic,
where ancient entities have shaped history since before the dawn of
civilization. The players are disembodied spirits (Nephilim), who
take over the bodies of men (Simulacrum) so that they may once again
walk the world, seeking spiritual fulfillment (Agartha). This is not
the first time they have moved among men, and it will probably not be
the last.
At first, I was somewhat leary of the game, for it seemed similar to
the World of Darkness and other trendy games. However, I was
pleasantly surprised when I read through Nephilim. The Nephilim
aren't angsting monsters, regretful of their very existance. Rather,
they seem to be adventuring scholars, looking for lost knowledge,
while, at the same time, staying half a step ahead of dozens of secret
societies. Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco, is listed as a good
source for Nephilim. I'd also suggest Shea & Wilson's ten or so
Illuminatus! books and even the cinematic adventures of Indiana
Jones. The lost treasures, ancient forces and secret organizations of
the Jones movies would have made excellent Nephilim adventures.
NEPHILIM CHARACTERS
The character creation section of Nephilim takes up 60 pages in the
draft that I have, and I wouldn't be surprised if it grows before the
final edition. However, it's full of lots of good stuff. By the time
your character is created you know a _lot_ about who and what he is.
You start off by picking your magical affinity, that is the element
that you are tied to. The choices are Fire, Earth, Air, Water and
Moon. Then, you go on to choose your Metamorphis, which is the
ultimate expression of your personality. There are two choices of
metamorphis for each element (except moon, which has just one). For
example, the two aspects of Fire are the Djinn and the Phoenix. As
Nephilim move towards Argartha, they become more and more inhuman,
reflecting more strongly their elemental connection.
Afterwards, comes my favorite part of Character Creation, Past Lives.
You get to pick various past eras in which you lived upon the Earth,
and develop skills and knowledge from them. Finally, when everything
about your Nephilim has been determined, you roll up the stats for
your Simulacrum, which works pretty much like any other BRP character
generation system.
NEPHILIM MAGIC
The one other bit about Nephilim that I wanted to mention was the
magic system, or more correctly, the three magic systems, Sorcery,
Summoning and Alchemy. Sorcery is a pretty standard magic system,
elementally based. Summoning is, as one would expect, a system which
the Nephilim may use to bring forth and control creatures from other
worlds. The creatures summoned are quite unique and very in-character
for the game (ie Adonai, the Premier Masters of Creation, Great
Emerald Grail). I find most of them to really invoke the correct
mood, and thus make the whole summoning system that much more
interesting. Finally, there is Alchemy, the magic of transformation.
OVERVIEW
There's a lot that I haven't got into yet here, such as the extensive
background, which touches upon the powers of the celestial bodies, Mu,
Atlantis, the black moon, the fallen Nephilim and much more; the major
trumps, which are the groups which Nephilim belong to; and the minor
trumps, which are organizations of secret societies, including the
Templars, the Assassins, the Teutonic Knights, and lots more. There
are many conspiracies and secrets in Nephilim, and together they form
what I believe will be a delightful game.
--------------------
From: poizat@ensinfo.univ-nantes.fr (poizat daniel)
Subject: New Spells for Elric!
System: Elric!
Burning Breath (3) [Spells of the Elements]
Chaotic. Range is touch. Resting your hands upon someone's head will
grant them the ability to breath flames. This gives a new attack.
Base Chance: 20%
Damage: 2d10
Distance: 1d10 yards
The recipient of the spell automatically gains 2 chaos points.
Kakatal first brought this spell to the Young Kingdoms, and his
cultists are still quite possessive of it.
Stolen Knowledge of Maluk (3) [Ritual]
Chaotic. Cost is 1 POW. Range is touch. This spell may be cast on
any book or sheet of paper. Anyone reading the book must pass a POWx2
test. If he fails, he will forget some of his knowledge (d6% from a
random skill) and the caster of the ritual will learn it. A variant
of this spells exists, where the knowledge stays in the book rather
than being learned by the caster of the ritual.
--------------------
From: Chaosium <chaosium@netcom.com>
Subject: Ye Booke of Monsters Index
[Unfortunately, half of the index from Ye Booke of Monsters was
omitted. Included below is the complete index, A-Z]
Creature Source Page
======== ====== ====
Abhoth CoC5 87
Adumbrali AC1 10
Aforgomon AC1 11
Ahtu CoC5 88
Ancient Ones AC1 12
Atlach Nacha CoC5 89
Azathoth CoC5 91
Bast CoC5 91
Bloated Woman AC1 12
Bokrug CoC5 92
Bugg-Shashd AC1 13
Byakhee CoC5 92
Byatis AC1 14
Cats from Saturn AC1 15
Chaugnar Faugn CoC5 93
Chaugnar Faugn, Brothers of
AC1 15
Chthonians CoC5 93
Colours out of Space CoC5 94
Crawling Ones AC1 16
Cthugha CoC5 95
Cthulhu CoC5 96
Cyaegha CoC5 97
Cynothoglys AC1 17
Dagon CoC5 97
Daoloth CoC5 97
Dark Demon AC1 17
Dark Young CoC5 98
Deep Ones CoC5 98
Dholes CoC5 99
Dimensional Shamblers CoC5 99
Dwellers in the Depths AC1 18
Eihort CoC5 100
Eihort, Brood of CoC5 100
Elder Things CoC5 100
Faceless God AC1 19
Feaster from Afar AC1 19
Fire Vampires CoC5 101
Flying Polyps CoC5 101
Formless Spawn CoC5 102
Fosterlings of the Old Ones
AC1 20
Ghasts CoC5 103
Ghatanothoa CoC5 103
Ghouls CoC5 104
Ghroth AC1 21
Glaaki CoC5 104
Glaaki, Servants of CoC5 105
Goatswood Gnomes AC1 22
Goblins AC1 22
Gol-Goroth AC1 23
Gnoph-Keh CoC5 105
Great Race of Yith CoC5 106
Great Race of Yith, New CoC5 107
Gugs CoC5 107
Hagarg Ryonis AC1 24
Hastur CoC5 107
Haunter of the Dark AC1 24
Hounds of Tindalos CoC5 109
Hunting Horrors CoC5 110
Hydra (Deep One) CoC5 97
Hydra (Great Old One) AC1 25
Hyperboreans AC1 26
Hypnos CoC5 111
Iod AC1 27
Ithaqua CoC5 111
Juk-Shab AC1 27
Karakal AC1 28
Keeper of the Moon-Lens AC1 28
King in Yellow CoC5 111
Leng, Men from AC1 29
Leng Spiders CoC5 112
Lesser Other Gods CoC5 112
L'gy'hx, Inhabitants of AC1 30
Lloigor (Great Old One) AC1 31
Lloigor (race) CoC5 113
Lobon AC1 31
Madam Yi AC1 32
Messenger of the Old Ones
AC1 33
Mi-Go CoC5 114
Million Favoured Ones AC1 33
M'nagalah AC1 34
Moon-Beasts CoC5 114
Nath-Horthath AC1 34
Nightgaunts CoC5 114
Nioth-Korghai AC1 35
Nodens CoC5 115
Nyarlathotep CoC5 115
Ny'ghan Grii AC1 36
Nyogtha CoC5 116
Quachil Uttaus CoC5 117
Q'yth-az AC1 37
Rat-Things CoC5 117
Rhan-Tegoth CoC5 117
Rlim Shaikorth AC1 37
Saaitii ACI 38
Sand-Dwellers CoC5 118
Seekers AC1 39
Serpent People CoC5 118
Servitors of the Outer Gods
CoC5 119
Shaggai, Insects from CoC5 119
Shantaks CoC5 120
Shoggoths CoC5 120
Shub-Niggurath CoC5 121
Shudde M'ell CoC5 121
Shugoran AC1 40
Shugoran, Children of AC1 40
Spawn of the Green Abyss
AC1 41
Spectral Hunters AC1 42
Sphinx, Children of AC1 42
Star-Spawn of Cthulhu CoC5 121
Star Vampires CoC5 122
Summanus AC1 43
Tamash AC1 44
Tawil At'umr AC1 44
Tcho-Tcho People CoC5 122
Thing Hanging in the Void
AC1 45
Tsathoggua CoC5 123
Travelers AC1 45
Tru'nembra AC1 47
Tulzscha CoC5 123
Ubbo-Sathla CoC5 123
Ubbo-Sathla, Spawn of CoC5 124
Voormis AC1 47
Vorvadoss AC1 48
Vulthoom AC1 49
Wendigo AC1 49
Worm that Walks AC1 50
Xada-Hgla AC1 51
Xiclotl, Beings from CoC5 124
Xothra AC1 51
Yaddith, Denizens of AC1 51
Yekub, Inhabitants of AC1 52
Y'golonac CoC5 125
Yibb-Tstll CoC5 125
Yidhra AC1 53
Yig CoC5 126
Yog-Sothoth CoC5 126
Yog-Sothoth, Sons of AC1 54
Ythogtha AC1 55
Yuggs AC1 55
Zhar CoC5 127
Zo-Kalar AC1 56
Zoth-Ommog CoC5 127
Zu-Che-Quon AC1 57
Zy'tl Q'ae AC1 58
--------------------
The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial discussion forum for Chaosium's
Games. To submit an article, mail to: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu. The
old digests are archived on soda.berkeley.edu in the directory
/pub/chaosium, and may be retrieved via FTP.
