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Chaosium Digest Volume 08 Number 11
Chaosium Digest Volume 8, Number 11
Date: Sunday, November 20, 1994
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
Nephilim Plans (Sam Shirley) NEPHILIM
Review: Herald of Doom #1 (Shannon Appel) ELRIC!
Review: HPL's Miscellaneous Writings (Bob Cannard) CALL OF CTHULHU
Editor's Note:
Welcome to another issue of the Chaosium Digest. Just today,
subscriptions topped 550 people, more than ever before.
PRINCE VALIANT RETURNS: Fans of King Arthur, Camelot and Hal Foster's
Prince Valiant may be interested in Prince Valiant #1 [of 4] (Marvel
Comics, $3.95). It's a brand new story, set at the very end of King
Arthur's reign, beginning with the final climatic battle between
Arthur and Modred. It's quite good, and seems to be fairly true both
to Foster's Valiant and the Arthurian legends. Writers are Charles
Vess and Elaine Lee. Artists are John Ridgway and Curtis Woodbridge.
--------------------
From: Sam Shirley <Chaosium@aol.com>
Subject: Nephilim Plans
System: Nephilim
I'm writing to clear up a few concerns expressed by Peter Whitelaw
regarding Nephilim and our planned support. It's unfortunate that
someone got the impression that we are not planning to support the
game. Indeed, our intentions are the opposite. Our annoucements of
upcoming releases are not the only releases we plan -- they are merely
the one we will do in the near future, with some speculation of what
will be out in the medium and long term. There main emphases is to
tell what will be released in the next 3 to 4 months, and in those
upcoming months, there will be several new Nephilim items available.
First on the schedule is the Gamemaster's Veil, which will be out in a
few weeks. This contains a GM screen, a 13 page adventure, and an
Astrological Modifier wheel to quickly calculate the modifier for any
day. Shortly after that, at intervals of every two or so months, we
will publish Past Lives (character generation), Mystery of the Serpent
Mounds (adventures), Secret Societies (sourcebook), Major Arcanum
(sourcebook), Templars (sourcebook), Revealed Mysteries, Liber Ka
(magic) and various adventure books as we get finished manuscripts in
house. We have numerous other projects planned and semi-planned,
including soucebooks for the different Arcanum, regional books,
campaign adventure books, the Selenim, and more, but it is our policy
not to officially announce projects until they are solidly underway.
Which brings me to my next topic: We certainly would like
contributions to a book of short adventures, as Peter has suggested.
These will be compiled into a 128 page book of adventures, or perhaps
more, as material allows. If you have something you'd like to
contribute, or a proposal for an adventure, please write me at
chaosium@aol.com, or Chaosium Inc, 950-a 56th street, Oakland, Ca
94608, to discuss them.
Other projects for which I am soliciting contributions are: Nephilim
Gamemaster's Companion: History and Timeline, Secrets about the
societies, secrets about the world, big plots. Contributors to this
book will have to work closely with me and with each other. It will
help to have access to the net (which all of you do, obviously).
Nephilim Player's Companion: More weapons, equipments, spells,
creatures, etc.
If you have contributions to make to these, please write us at one of
the above addresses.
Thanks,
Sam Shirley
--------------------
From: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu (Shannon Appel)
Subject: Review: Herald of Doom #1
System: Elric!
A few weeks ago, I received in my mailbox the first issue of Herald of
Doom, the newsletter of Elric! roleplaying. Although the 'zine is
small (just 12 pages), it chock full of fun things for the Elric!
fan. Also, unlike many starting fanzines, Herald of Doom is a
pleasure to look at. It is beautifully laid out, full of dark and
gloomy, doom-filled art.
Here's a quick run-down of the articles contained in the first issue
of the Herald of Doom:
Welcome to Your Wyrd, by Richard Watts. An explanation of the change
from Stormbringer to Elric!, and an exploration of the 'dooms' that
Richard feels are central to Elric! campaigns.
NPC Digest: The Sword of Justice, by Malcom Wolter. A lawful NPC to
use in Elric! campaigns.
A Breed Apart, by Nick Haggar. Information on the Glaurax, an
interesting new demon breed.
Ranyart Finn, by Lawrence Whitaker. A story set in the world of
Elric!, and a new spell, 'Memory of Cran Lyret'.
Wyrd Tales: Hoard of Amber, by Mark Morrison. A short adventure
centered around the Codes of the Sealords of the Purple Towns.
HellRazors and Other Enchantments: The Vessels of Eternal Elan, by
Ross Isaacs. Information on the ancient Melnibonean war saints, and
the vessels which still carry their souls in the modern Young
Kingdoms.
Bright Umpire, by Lynn Willis. Questions about Elric!, and official
answers from Chaosium.
Overall, Herald of Doom loooks like a good 'zine with tons of
potential. I hope that it gets sufficient support to keep going. If
you're a fan of Elric!, I'd highly suggest picking it up. You can
subscribe to Herald of Doom by sending $10 in the US or $15 elsewhere
for four quarterly issues to:
Pale Prince Publishing
2900 Rolido, #168
Houston, TX 77063
Shannon
--------------------
From: mi_go@icx.com (Bob Cannard)
Subject: Review: HPL's Miscellaneous Writings
System: Call of Cthulhu
Yes folks, it's real and it's here. The new Arkham House volume,
"Miscellanous Writings" of H. P. Lovecraft arrived on Yuggoth
yesterday evening. Here are my first (pre-reading) impressions and a
complete contents list.
It's a good thick tome, 570 pages or therabouts of the usual Arkham
quality. Cover price $29.95, ISBN 0-87054-168-4.
I was pleased and just a little peeved to find that the first four
items are the very same early tales (Little Glass Bottle etc) recently
discussed on alt.horror.cthlhu. It woud have been nice if the book
had arrived 2 months earlier! Anyway, the 18 items of fiction nicely
fill out most of the gaps in Arkham's HPL story catalogue.
After the fiction comes a whole lot of good stuff. It was interesting
to find HPL advocating a search for trans-Neptunian planets 'way back
in 1906; Pluto was not to be discovered until the '30s.
The book is illustrated. Unfortunately there's no listing of
illustrations in the contents, so I don't yet know what altogether is
in there. A random scan revealed a good few of HPL's own drawings
(e.g. his drawing of Pickman's Model), reproductions of pages from
journals such as "The United Co-operative", and photographs. "The
Battle that Ended the Century" is accompanied with photos of two of
its participants: "Two-Gun Bob" - Robert E. Howard - and "Knockout
Bernie" - Bernard Austin Dwyer; and there are several photos of HPL in
company.
Anyway, the book looks like quite a treasure-chest. Here are the
complete contents.
Introduction by S. T. Joshi
I. Dreams and Fancies
The Little Glass Bottle; The Secret Cave; The Mystery of the
Grave-Yard; The Mysterious Ship; A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel
Johnson; Old Bugs; Memory; Nyarlathotep; Ex Oblivione; What
the Moon Brings; Sweet Ermengarde; The Very Old Folk; History
of the Necronomicon; Ibid; Discarded draft of "The Shadow over
Innsmouth"; The Battle that Ended the Century; Collapsing
Cosmoses; The Challenge from Beyond
II. The Weird Fantasist
Commonplace Book; Lord Dunsany and his work; Notes on writing
weird fiction; Some nots on interplanetary fiction; In
Memoriam: Robert Ervin Howard
III. Mechanistic Materialist
Idealism and Materialism - A Reflection; Life for Humanity's
Sake; In Defence of Dagon; Nietzsheism and Realism; The
Materialist Today; Some Causes of Self-Immolation; Heritage or
Modernism: Common Sense in Art Forms
IV. Literary Critic
Metrical Regularity; The Vers Libre Epidemic; The Case for
Classicism; Literary Composition; Ars Gratia Artis; The Poetry
of Lilian Middleton; Rudis Indigestaque Moles; In the Editor's
Study; The Professional Incubus; The Omnipresent Philistine;
What Belongs in Verse
V. Political Theorist
The Crime of the Century; More /Chain Lightning/; Old England
and the "Hyphen"; Revolutionary Mythology; Americanism; The
League; Bolshevism; Some Repetitions on the Times
VI. Antiquarian Travels
Vermont - A First Impression; Observations on Several Parts of
America; Travels in the Provinces of America; An Account of
Charleston; Some Dutch Footprints in New England; Homes and
Shrines of Poe
VII. Amateur Journalist
In a Major Key; The Dignity of Journalism; Symphony and
Stress; United Amateur Press Associations: Exponent of Amateur
Journalism; A reply to /The Lingerer/; /Les Mouches
Fantastiques/; For What does United Stand?; Amateur
Journalism: Its Possible Needs and Betterment; What Amateurdom
and I have done for each other; Lucubrations Lovecraftian; A
Matter of Uniteds; Mrs Miniter - Estimates and Recollections;
Some Current Motives and Practices
VIII. Epistolarian
Trans-Neptunian Planets; The Earth Not Hollow; To /The
All-Story Weekly/; Science versus Charlatanry; The Fall of
Astrology; To Edwin Baird; To Edwin Baird; The Old Brick Row;
To Nils H. Frome
IX. Personal
The Brief Autobiography of an Inconsequential Scribbler;
Within the Gates; A Confession of Unfaith; Commercial Blurbs;
Cats and Dogs; Some Notes on a Nonentity
Bibliography
Cheers,
Your friendly local mi-go
--------------------
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