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Chaosium Digest Volume 09 Number 12
Chaosium Digest Volume 9, Number 12
Date: Sunday, March 19, 1995
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
Little Death (Steve Hatherly) CALL OF CTHULHU
Random Armor for Nephilim (JS Wright) NEPHILIM
Magic as Metaphor (Jamieson Norrish) NEPHILIM
Editor's Notes:
The Chaosium Digest has been a little irregular recently; several
weeks have passed between nearly every issue of late. This is at least
partially my fault, due to other constraints on my time. I plan to do
my damned best to correct that in the future, and try and restore the
Digest to a weekly distribution (or, at the worst, 3 issues per month,
which was I was doing for most of last year). However, I also need the
support of all the subscribers... even if you've never written an
article for the Digest before, consider doing it now. I believe that
the Digest has been an invaluable forum for the exchange of ideas
concerning Chaosium's games, and I'd like to see that continue.
Shannon
STRANGE AEONS: The newest release for Call of Cthulhu is Strange Aeons
(Chaosium, 96 pg., $14.95). It's an interesting set of adventures
covering several time periods never before seen in CoC. The three
scenerios are set in: the Spanish Inquisition, Eliabethan London and a
UN Moon Base.
CHAOSIUM WEB: For those of you with WWW browsers, there is now a nifty
sorted index of the Chaosium Digest available on:
http://www.tierzucht.uni-kiel.de/~sma/chaosium/
You can also retrieve old issues of the Digest there, and no doubt
pointers to other Chaosium resources will soon appear.
NEPHILIM WEB: And, there's a nice new Web page for Nephilim now
available as well. The Address of that one is:
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/who/Jamie.Norrish/nephilim/nephilim.html
COC GENERATOR: A new version (1.2) of the Windows CoC Character
generator has now been uploaded to ftp.csua.berkeley.edu. The file
name is:
/pub/chaosium/cthulhu/coc/programs/cocgen12.zip
OOPS: Danny Bourne asked that I mention that in last issue's
announcement of Chaosiana, it should have been Lawrence Whitaker who
was noted as contributing to the first issue, not James Whitaker.p
Recent Sightings:
* Call of Cthulhu - "Horror of the Centuries", a 4 page scenerio set
in Egypt that acts as a sequel to "Curse of the Centuries", an
adventure published in the sixth-fifth issue of Challenge, Challenge
#76.
--------------------
From: Steve@flar.demon.co.uk (Steve Hatherley)
Subject: Little Death
System: Call of Cthulhu
LITTLE DEATH: A TALE OF TERROR
by Steve Hatherley
Prayers are said, vigilance kept, but still it is not enough. Still
they die. Somebody is mutilating children. Naked, nails through both
feet and one hand, heavily mutilated and wildly contorted, at least
one tiny corpse is discovered per week. It is a terrible way to die,
and the police are doing their utmost to catch the perpetrator. So far
they have had no luck.
Possibilities:
1) The children are murdered by a gaunt, white haired man. They are
found in cheap hotels and derelict buildings, and enough eye-witnesses
have appeared to give the police an accurate picture of the killer.
However, they have yet to apprehend him, he seems to be able to stay
one step ahead of them.
The man is a fortune-teller, selling his services to the highest
bidder - often the underworld. He kidnaps the children, drugs and
nails them to the floor. The child then dances a self-mutilating
dance, and in it the man can see the future. His clients pay well for
the service, which is unerringly accurate, and are able to line up
further clients. Within the dance, the man can see his adversaries
(including the police), and where they are due to strike next. Thus
forewarned, he is able to flee.
2) The children were Dreamers, sacrificed in their sleep by a cult in
Dylath-Leen. They are found dead in their bedrooms with no sign of a
break-in, having mutilated themselves. The police have no leads at
all, and there is nothing obvious to link the children.
The investigating authorities will soon discover that the killings are
worldwide. The cult is making sacrifices at a rate estimated at one a
night.
The sacrifices continue until the cult is somehow disbanded.
3) The police know the killings are ritual, but have yet to identify
it. All the children have been dark haired and brown skinned, and the
police have narrowed their search to the cults of ancient polynesia.
The killings are the work of one man, the sole survivor of an
expedition to an unchartered polynesian island home to a blasphemous
temple, an ancient cult, and unimaginable horror. He stayed far too
long, the experience emptying his mind of any lasting reason and
sanity. In their place insatiable red demons took up residence.
He returned to civilization some months ago, barely able to function
in society. He kills regularly in a vain effort to satisfy the
bottomless hunger within his skull.
TALES OF TERROR
The above grisly morsel is a Tale of Terror, and I'm still looking
for contributions for a collection to be published by Pagan Publishing,
those insane folks who are to blame for The Unspeakable Oath and other
horrors. The Tales don't have to be quite as unpleasant as "Little Deaths",
but I won't be complaining if they are...
Deadlines? Simple - when I have a sufficient number of suitable Tales,
we'll go to print. So, the sooner the better!
Reach me at terror@flar.demon.co.uk if you need to know more.
Cheers,
Steve Hatherley
Leeds, England
--------------------
From: "J.S. Wright" <jsw22@hermes.cam.ac.uk>
Subject: Random Armor for Nephilim
System: Nephilim
This is a system of random armor protection similar to the one in
Elric. It makes armor weaker in general, but gives a broader spread of
damage results to think about and makes lighter armor potentially
better.
Instead of providing a set armor value, a suit of armor provides a
random amount of armor protection. Armor protection is determined
seperatly for each successful attack.
ARMOR (dice v.firearms/dice v.melee weapons)
Leathers 0/1d6-2
Light BPV 1d6/1d6-2
Heavy BPV 1d8/1d6-1
Chain & Mail armor 1d6/1d10
Heavy BP full body (ATF) armor 1d10+4/1d8
Chain mail coat 1d6-2/1d6+1
Full Plate 1d6+1/1d10+2
Shoal Armor 1d8/1d8
Armor of Avalon 1d8+3/1d8+3
The appropriate helmet +1/+1 or 0/+1
Only a helmet 1d6-4/1d6-4
This system reflects both the quality of the armor and the location
struck. A low random result could be, for example, a hit in a very
vital region where no amount of armor is going to stop all the damage
or a solid hit in an unvital and lightly armored, but still dangerous,
location.
This system was developed by comparing armor rolls from Elric with the
same armor's armor value and percentage of coverage in RuneQuest.
From these values a scale was extrapolated on which a percent
(RuneQuest d20 hit chart percentage coverage) of set armor points
(from RuneQuest, Nephilim or Cthulhu Now) determines which dice are
rolled.
%*AP Die
1 1d6-2
2 1d6-1
3 1d6
4 1d6+1
6 1d8
6.8 1d8+1
8 1d8+2
8.1 1d10
9 1d10+2
10 1d10+4
Josh Wright
jsw22@cam.ac.uk
--------------------
From: Jamieson Norrish <Jamieson.Norrish@vuw.ac.nz>
Subject: Magic as Metaphor
System: Nephilim
Magic as Metaphor: An Alternative Nephilim Magic System
by Jamieson Norrish
INTRODUCTION
This document outlines an alternative magic system for the Nephilim
role-playing game. It is designed to supplement and in some places
replace the official rules for sorcerous magic. This system allows for
both the prescribed spells given in the Nephilim rulebook (and any
later supplements), as well as an on-the-spot creation of new spells
by the players.
The basis of this system is given in the rulebook itself: Nephilim
think in analogies.
MAGIC AS METAPHOR
Sorcery is a general term which covers the processes by which Nephilim
change reality as they wish, by drawing on the power of Ka. The
individual procedures can also be generalised more descriptively by
examining how Nephilim conceive of these changes to reality. Firstly,
of course, the Nephilim must decide upon a change to effect. Then, as
comes naturally to Nephilim, an appropriate analogy for the situation
is thought of. This might either derive from their own experience, or
from an external source, such as a grimoire (this is essentially the
difference between inscribed and non-inscribed spells; see below,
_Inscribing Spells_). Having created in its mind the analogy, the
Nephilim then imagines the change it wants, and uses its abilities
(and the energy of its simulacrum) to effect that change in reality.
Essentially, the Nephilim forces reality to conform to the analogy in
its mind --- magic is metaphor.
DETERMINING SUCCESS
Like the official rules, casting a spell (changing reality through
magic) requires two successful rolls, one against the Nephilim's
techinique, and one against its Ka. The details of these rolls depend
on whether the three circle divisions (Lower Magic, Higher Magic,
Grand Secret) are maintained or not.
If the divisions are used:
The desired spell effect must be classed both as belonging to either
Lower Magic, Higher Magic, or Grand Secret, and also as to which Ka
element it primarily uses.
The first roll is made against the appropriate technique, modified by
the suitability of the analogy (see below).
The second roll is made against the appropriate factor of the
Nephilim's Ka element, as in the official rules.
If the divisions are not used:
The GM must class the spell as primarily using one Ka element.
The first roll is made against the Nephilim's single technique
(Sorcery), as modified by the suitability of the analogy (see below).
The second roll is made against the appropriate Ka element, using some
multiple of Ka (two or three, depending on the power level of the
game).
Note that using the second system makes the analogy the vital part of
spell casting; as such, GMs should be strict in applying negative
modifiers to analogies which are not wholly appropriate. There is
nothing else which makes casting very powerful spells difficult,
unless the GM wishes to use different Ka multipliers for different
spells.
ANALOGY-BASED MODIFIERS
It is the GM's task to determine how appropriate a given analogy was
to the situation, and thence to determine a modifier to the technique
skill roll. If the analogy were a natural one, then the Nephilim's
full technique value would be used. The more forced an analogy is, the
greater the penalty. As stated above, GMs using the second method for
spell resolution should not hesitate to impose large penalties to the
chance of success for analogies which are not perfect. In particular,
any spell which uses an external analogy (one not from the casting
Nephilim's own experience) should receive a hefty penalty.
By using modifiers in such a way, subtle distinctions may be drawn
between different uses of the same spell, as in the example below.
[Exempli Gratia: Poti-pherah's experience of being burned as a heretic
during the Albigensian Crusade is judged by the GM to be an entirely
fitting analogy for casting the Pyretic Body spell on itself. Were it
to cast the same spell on someone other than itself, the GM might
impose a penalty, perhaps -20%; had Poti-pherah been the one who lit
the bonfires under heretic Cathars, this penalty probably would not
apply. Had Poti-pherah only been an onlooker, the penalty for either
version of this spell would be great, since the analogy would lack the
personal importance of the other experiences.]
Negative modifiers may also be applied when a Nephilim is unaccustomed
to using a particular analogy for a spell; this is particularly so
when a Nephilim "inscribes" a spell (see below) for which it already
used an external analogy. This penalty should last for every casting
of the spell until the GM judges that the Nephilim is used to using
the analogy.
INSCRIBING SPELLS
For creatures which are in many ways immortal and who can live in many
bodies over thousands of years, it is natural that experiences of the
past should play an even more important role in the thoughts of the
present than it does for humans. The best analogies are those that
come from personal experience, particularly experiences which deeply
affect the Nephilim involved.
Whenever a Nephilim uses a personal experience as the basis of a
spell, that spell is considered to be inscribed. That is, no focus is
required in the casting; there is no change to the Nephilim's aura or
suchlike, as there is under the official rules. There is also no
sacrifice of Ka made to inscribe a spell; the only disadvantage is
that the newly "inscribed" spell will have a negative modifier to
success until the Nephilim is used to using it with the new analogy.
If a Nephilim inscribes spells during past lives, it is necessary for
the player and GM to come up with an experience which provides an
appropriate analogy for that spell. This experience, as noted before,
should be of some personal importance and consequence for the
Nephilim.
CREATING NEW SPELLS
If the GM wishes to allow it, this system offers players the
nopportunity of creating their own spells relatively easily. The only
difficulties arise when deciding on such things as Range, Duration,
and Focus (if appropriate). My own feeling is that in many cases the
information for these can come directly from the analogy used.
[Exempli Gratia: Poti-pherah wishes to cast a flying spell. Recalling
its previous experiences of similar phenomenon (which do not involve
magic), it rejects a flight it made in a 737 as being neither
personally affecting, nor at all like flying - it might have been
under the ocean for all it could tell from the trip. It chooses
instead the one short time it went hang-gliding. This is far more
suitable as an analogy, since it really gave it the feeling of being
in the air and not plummeting directly to terra firma. However, the GM
rules that while the analogy is good for some aspects of flying, it
has its limitations. Notably the analogy gives Poti-pherah no guidance
on how to make itself be high up in the air to start with, since the
hang-gliding started with it leaping off a cliff.
The duration of the spell might be as long as Poti-pherah concentrates
on maintaining it.]
Given the extent to which modern technology allows effects to be
reproduced which would have been considered magic even a hundred years
ago, GMs might wish to place some restriction on using analogies drawn
from Nephilim's present lives. Perhaps the old ways really are best,
and more in accordance with the Nephilim's true nature, so that being
burned alive at the stake is a much better analogy for Pyretic Body
than putting on special clothing and setting it alight as stuntpeople
now do.
CONSEQUENCES FOR AGARTHA
It is clear that using this explanation of magic there is no innate
reason for a division into the three circles of sorcerous power which
exist in the official magic rules. That is not to say that they cannot
be present under this system (although that creates headaches for the
GM when it comes to determining the power of newly-created spells),
simply that such a division is not inherent to the explanation of
magic given here.
If such a division is not imposed by a GM, then it becomes necessary
to rework the entry requirements for Agartha. With only one Sorcery
technique, increasing this to 90% is easy compared to increasing Keys
or Philosopher's Stone to 90%.
--------------------
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