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Chaosium Digest Volume 12 Number 12
Chaosium Digest Volume 12, Number 12
Date: Sunday, February 11, 1996
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
Drinking in the Blues (Eamon Honan) CALL OF CTHULHU
Using Patrons in CoC (Eamon Honan) CALL OF CTHULHU
Giovanni Da Milan: A CoC Patron (Eamon Honan) CALL OF CTHULHU
Announcement: AOL CoC Adventures (Michael C. LaBossiere) CALL OF CTHULHU
Editor's Note:
Welcome to the 144th issue of the Chaosium Digest, which also marks
the start of the Digest's fourth year. Today's digest goes out to 851
subscribers, and all told 425,000 words have passed through the pages
of the Digest. Here's to many more years, and many more words of
Chaos.
This week, you'll find a whole slew of articles for CoC, including
Giovanni Da Milan, a particularly neat patron. I appreciate all the
support the Digest has been getting from new and old subscribers alike
in recent weeks (I'm already expecting several other articles for
upcoming issues); if you haven't written something for the Digest yet,
consider doing so!
Shannon
NEW RELEASES
* Call of Cthulhu - _The Cthulhu Poster_ (Pagan Publishing, 1 pg.,
$8.95) is the first in PaganPub's new Cthulhu Mythos Poster Series.
It features a very nice full color picture of Cthulhu, drawn by
Toren Atkinson.
_The Dunwich Cycle_ (Chaosium, 252 pg., $10.95) is book #9 in the
Cthulhu Cycle series. Like Hastur, Shub-Niggurath and Azathoth, it
contains a variety of stories about one subject, all ably edited and
introduced by Robret M. Price. This particular volume includes work
by Price, Derleth, Lupoff and other.
_The Unspeakable Oath #13_ (Pagan Publishing, 64 pg., $5.00) is the
newest issue of The CoC magazine. It includes an introductory
adventure, a scenerio centered around "The King in Yellow", all the
regular features, and much more
RECENT BOOKS OF NOTE
* Nephilim - _Two Crowns for America (Bantam: Spectra, HC, 375 pg.,
$22.95) is an interesting new book by Katherine Kurtz. It's all
about Jacobite and Masonic influences during the foundation of the
United States. I just started reading the book on Friday, but can
assure you that it's sufficiently full of visions, magic, secret
societies and conspiracies to please any Nephilim player.
* Pendragon - "The Book of Ballads and Sagas #2" (Green Man Press,
$2.95) is the second issue of a comic series I've mentioned before
(see V11.11). It features renditions of classic ballads and sagas,
beautifully drawn by Charles Vess. This issue includes "King Henry"
(Childe #32), "Sovay" and the second part of the Norse saga "Skade".
NEW ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
Necoronomicon Press Archive Updates
ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/cthulhu/necropress
The Necronomicon Press archives on ftp.csua have recently been updated
with a new catalog (update95-4) as well as a new version of their
checklist.
--------------------
From: Eamon Honan <Spire@Indigo.ie>
Subject: Drinking in the Blues
System: Call of Cthulhu
This is an idea for a scenario that came to me while listening to
"Drinking in the Blues", a CD by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee (two
great blues musicians), with some damn fine music on it. I got the
idea when listening to the song "I'm a Stranger". If you have the CD
or a copy of the song, I'd suggest the investigators hear "I'm a
Stranger" when they first see Simon play.
This scenario has very little action (if run right, virtually none),
but plenty of role-playing opportunities. Read up a little on the life
of blacks in the 1920's, and don't flinch from showing the
investigators how bad things were (and are in America and most Western
countries today). CoC can be educational as well.
PS: Don't hesitate to use this idea has an excuse to play some really
fine music.
Scenario Idea
A black musician arrives in the investigator's hometown (or wherever
they live) with a guitar and a suitcase done up with string. Not much
of a big deal, huh? The musician says his name is Simon Turner. He
plays sweet music for anyone who asks him to, be it for a couple of
dollars in a smoke filled speak, or for a meal and a bed for the
night, or even for nothing but a few kids loitering on a streetcorner.
The gentle guitar notes trickle like gold into the ears of Simon's
audience, and his mellow bass voice soothes all troubles.
The investigators should encounter Simon accidentally somehow, bumping
into him in the street or hearing him playing in a rented room in a
flophouse, where the music drifts down to the listener as he walks
home at night. The investigator who hears the music will be enchanted,
longing to hear it again. However, no matter how the investigators try
to meet Simon, they will just miss him every time, by only a few
minutes.
Once the investigators see Simon play the first time (if they see him
play, they may just hear him), they should never actually see him
again. After staying for a few days, Simon moves on, but in the weeks
that follow, the investigators should notice a strange mellowing of
the attitudes of the town. Racists and bigots become less ardent, and
life becomes just that little bit easier for blacks in the town. While
not a complete turn around, things have improved and Simon Turner has
left his mark.
Explanations.
1. Simon Turner is simply an ordinary, if incredibly gifted, man. His
music is beautiful, but not Mythos inspired. Not all strange events
relate to madness and tentacled monstrosities.
2. Simon is one of the less malevolent avatars of Nyarlathotep. His
music is the music of gods and demons, an ambrosia for the ears, a
melody divine. And, like his music, his favour is heaven sent. Anyone
actively antagonising the black community without fair reason may just
disappear with a slither of tentacles and a strange piping at night...
3. Simon is an Outer God named Yd'gh'tjetye, the same who lured Erich
Zann to music and to madness. This inhuman musician seeks an audience.
The mellowing, due to a steady drain of POW and MPs, is a side effect
of listening to such unearthly music.
Well that's all for now. Send any comments, queries, etc. to
spire@indigo.ie. I would be very interested to see if anyone runs this
as a full fledged scenario. If so, I would like to hear how it worked
out. Personally, I prefer explanation 1. It's more mysterious and
gives the investigators something to wonder about, which is much
scarier then another Deep One/Serpent People/Dhole/etc hunt.
--------------------
From: Eamon Honan <Spire@Indigo.ie>
Subject: Using Patrons in CoC
System: Call of Cthulhu
Have you ever been stuck for a plausible way to introduce the
investigators into a scenario? It is usually not a problem when you
have written the scenerio yourself, but on occasion a really cool idea
for a scenario or an excellent prepublished one comes along, and
you're stuck. As one who has gone to extreme lengths to finagle
characters to join forces ("You were college roommates", "He has nice
eyes", "He's your long lost uncle Ernie", "You have a thing for
blondes"), it can really stretch the players suspension of disbelief
after a while, to be told that this guy came up to them in a bar and
asked very politely, would they like to help defeat the Old Ones from
beyond the Stellar Rim.
I've come across a way of resolving this problem: give the characters
a patron, a rich and well connected person of some power. This patron
can be a source of money, influence and excuses to go and face the Old
Ones. Of course, patrons should have just enough money, influence and
power to get the investigators involved, without enough to make it a
cakewalk.
Reasons Why a Patron is a Good Idea
1. Travel
Most adventures will require travel, and almost all of HPL's
antagonists and protagonists did a fair bit of globe-trotting in their
time. It would follow that the investigators will have to travel, at
least a bit. In the 1890s, 1920s and even in the 1990s, this can prove
a problem. Travel costs money. In the 1920s and earlier, it costs a
lot of money. Unless the investigators happen to live in Arkham, where
the round trip of the most Mythos ridden places on earth (Innsmoth,
Dunnwich, Kingsport) can be done for under $10, the investigators will
have troubles getting around. A patron can slip the investigators a
few plane tickets to get them where they need to go. Also, a well
connected patron can provide adventures, pointing trouble in foreign
climes out to the investigators.
2. Money
Dosh, cash, greenbacks, spondoolix, call it what you like,
investigators need money and lots of it. Medical bills, asylum fees,
ammunition, occult tomes and black market weaponry all cost money, and
the investigators can't really work while Cthulhu hunting. Unless one
of the investigators (possibly a businessman, mobster or a
dillettante) can bankroll the investigator's operations, they will
require money when their own (all ready overly generous in the
rulebook) bank accounts go into the red. A Patron can solve the
problem, if he is a rich person of independent means who can pay for
all the expenses the PCs will incur. Doing this has one added
advantage: in every group there is a player who, whatever they do in
real life, is a closet accountant. This person will account for every
measly penny, add VAT, subtract DIRT and get it all to the cube root
of the investigator's tax band. A person with a relatively unlimited
bank account solves this and we can all get back to the role-playing.
However, you must make it clear to the investigators that their
patron's bank account is finite. Do not allow them to run around like
kids in a sweetshop; keep a tight rein on their more grandiose
schemes, but allow anything that seems interesting. Even to this day,
my players' eyes light up when they hear the magic words "expense
account".
3. Connections and Influence
Investigators are often solitary bookish types or sleazy PIs (at least
in my experience). And, of course, one simply can not allow such
barbarians into polite society. Most rich people mix with high
society, play golf with the Police Commissioner or the District
Attorney, and generally circulate in the higher social circles. Such
circles can prove impenetrable barriers to investigators who are
either of poor social background, the wrong skin colour, the wrong sex
or who are generally unsociable. This can all change if a patron knows
the right people. While a contact in the Mafia, police force,
military, MU or CIA generally prove more useful, an introduction to
high society can prove vital, as for some reason (probably due to
inbreeding, vast amounts of leisure time, and weird family relations)
cultists seem to be good at gathering followers there.
Once a patron has been introduced, it would be a good idea to set some
parameters on who s(he) would know, as playboy millionaires are
unlikely to have contact in the CIA. Also, there is a strict limit to
what contacts can or cannot do. No MU librarian is going to let a
investigator away with an original Necromonicon, no matter who they
know.
4. Resources.
This is a catch all section, but some patrons have resources others
don't. I mean, why buy tickets if you have access to a plane and a
pilot? When you create the patron, decide roughly what sort of
resources (s)he has access to. Just note the weird stuff specifically
and give general categories for the rest. For example, Vince Fontaine,
a 1920s millionaire playboy, might have access to any type of normal
car and top quality lab equipment, but nothing in the line of weapons
or occult items. His weird resources might include a private plane, a
private airstrip and a powerful wireless capable of transmitting to
any point on the globe reachable in the 1920's.
Personally, I would not allow Mythos tomes or any kind of magic into
player hands via a patron, as that would be too easy. Resources should
suit the character and should not be to extravagant. As with
everything else, if the investigators start using the patron's
resources as a crutch, kick it out from under them.
--------------------
From: Eamon Honan <Spire@Indigo.ie>
Subject: Giovanni Da Milan: A CoC Patron
System: Call of Cthulhu
Giovanni was a young and enthusiastic renaissance man, born in Milan
in 1534. He was an avid scholar, well respected by his peers. When he
was 24, a rich Florentine nobleman offered him a position as a tutor
for his children, which he took.
With his first year's wages from his new position, Giovanni went on a
summer tour of Italy, visiting all the great libraries and places of
learning. While in Venice, Giovanni was captured by some cultists who
worshipped three Mi-Go that had been separated from their own kind and
were eking out an existence in Venice, until they had enough strength
to fly back home. Giovanni's brain was removed and placed in a
container.
However, a group of witch hunters attacked the cultists while
Giovanni's brain was being operated on, and made subservient to the
Mi-Go. The alien who was operating on Giovanni was killed in the
ensuing conflict, but the witch hunters were defeated. Giovanni was
placed in a simulacrum (explained later), and the unaltered condition
of his brain was unnoticed. His brain was implanted (explained below)
with enough Mi-Go knowledge to act as a lab assistant to the two
remaining Mi-Go. The shock of the implantation process broke
Giovanni's mind for several months, but he eventually came back to his
old self and managed to escape.
Shaken and terrified, Giovanni roamed Europe, working as a teacher or
a musician until his battered psyche repaired itself. This done, he
began to build up a fortune that would allow him revenge on his
tormentors. The two Mi-Go were long gone, but Giovanni destroyed
several cults and the monsters they worshipped.
Giovanni has lived under various aliases, moving every twenty or
thirty years. He has lived in every major European city including
Berlin, Vienna, Milan, Paris, Prague, London and Bucharest (his
favourite). He moved to America after the revolution, knowing his
great wealth and lack of identity would serve him well. Giovanni lived
in New Orleans for fifty years, until the attentions of an over
curious catholic priest forced him to move. After a brief spell in
Chicago, he moved to Chile and stayed there under various different
aliases until he moved to Russia in the 1860s. In Russia, he travelled
widely and divided his time between exploring the far east and
socialising in Saint Petersburg. He moved to New York at the turn of
the century and has lived there ever since as Mr. Simon Bates, self
made man and reclusive millionaire, valued at over $12,000,000.
Giovanni is an intelligent, wise and gallant man. He has fought, not
without success, against the Mythos for over 350 years. However, he is
now getting old and feeling it. The incredible mental strain he was
under has caused his resolve to crack in the last few years. He is a
very lonely man. He has no peers and none of his few friends know of
his secret. Giovanni's good looks, a matter of personal pride in his
youth are gone, and he has no female companions. He is on the edge and
is finely balanced. Paranoia and deep depression are setting in.
Giovanni will fall and when he does, it will be fast and terrible. He
will join the forces he fought against for so long as a slave and
worst of all, a kernel of himself will remain human enough to
appreciate the horror of it all. The investigators will probably end
up destroying their patron in the end and learning his secret the hard
way.
Giovanni Da Milan
Str:8* Dex:8* Int:18 Idea:90
Con:8* App:10* Pow:23 Luck:115
Siz 11* San:24 (o.75) Edu:34 Know:170
HP: 30
DB: -
Armour 2 pts metal skin.
Spells: Brew Space Mead, Conjure Glass of Mortlan, Elder Sign,
Summon/Bind Byakhee
Attacks:
Fist 50% 1d3
.22 air pistol 60% 1d6
All other attacks at base chance.
Skills: Archaeology 99%, Cthulhu Mythos 60%, Disguise 85%, Drive Auto
60%, Electrical Repair 95%, History 99%, Library Use 99%, Listen 10%,
Mechanical Repair 95%, Mi-Go Science 30%, Occult Lore 99%, Pilot
Balloon 70%, Pilot Boat 70%, Pilot Carriage 70%, Pilot Plane 70%,
Psychology 99%, Spot Hidden 99%
All other knowledge skills are at 75%. Add any other skills the Keeper
sees fit.
Languages: Chinese 70%, Deep One 6%, English 80%, French 85%, German
73%, Greek 80%, Indian (South American) 60%, Italian 99%, Latin 99%,
Mi-Go 30% Spanish 75%
Simulacrum
A simulacrum is a Mi-Go device similar to the one that appears at the
end of "The Whisperer in the Darkness". It is an asexual, hairless,
metal facsimile of a human. The most common model is a youngish
Caucasian male, roughly 5'11 or so. The brain canister is accommodated
in the chest cavity, where it is linked up to the thing's eyes, ears
(which are not very sensitive) and other senses. It has a rudimentary
sense of touch (the entire structure is covered by a thin layer of
living human tissue) and no sense of taste or smell. It can intake
food which must later be removed from it, as the food is not digested.
It can assimilate a meat paste that keeps the brain alive. This is
combined with the correct neurochemicals to keep the body functioning
(these can all be easily obtained). Being debrained and placed in a
simulacrum is a SAN taxing experience costing 1d50 SAN. The machine
is fragile, but is reliable and rarely requires repairs (Giovanni
performs these himself).
The Brain-Wave Implantation Ray
This ray, when trained on a human brain, emits electro-magnetic
signals that cause the synapses to warp and grow into entirely new
shapes and forms. This requires several hours, depending on the amount
of information and conditioning being implanted. However, once the ray
has been trained on it, the brain changes permanently and cannot be
affected by it again. This usually comes too late for the hapless
victim of the Mi-Go. The transmitter transmits 1d20 skill points to
one skill per hour of exposure. This requires that the subject has
been debrained and placed in a canister. If the subject is not already
nuts, it loses 1d8 SAN an hour. The ray only works on humans and the
Mi-Go have several different models for the various species they
capture and imprison. There is a Deep One ray and a Ghoul ray for
example.
Campaign Notes
Giovanni will at first communicate in secret with the investigators,
through telegrams and safety deposit boxes. Once they have gained his
trust, he will come a little closer. As they advance in his
estimation, they will get closer and closer to meeting him. He will
always provide whatever they need to fight the good fight, but will
not allow them to lose their independence.
Giovanni's mental decay should become obvious towards the end, with
the investigators being asked to investigate perfectly ordinary
organizations and people. Allow the players to come to their own
conclusions, but hint that there is something wrong. Giovanni should
eventually betray them. Let the investigators wonder about the strange
metal body and canned brain. Such an experience and loss of trust
should be terrifying to the players and SAN draining to the
investigators. Let them wonder "Was he planning to betray us all the
time.....?"
Use and abuse Giovanni as you wish; he's yours to play with. My
players are currently wondering about the mysterious telegrams and
wandering around Suffolk looking for cultists. Have fun with the
Mi-Go!
--------------------
From: "Dr. Michael C. LaBossiere" <Ontologist@aol.com>
Subject: AOL CoC Adventures
System: Call of Cthulhu
Full Length Call of Cthulu Adventures Available for the Macintosh on
America Online
Dr. Michael C. LaBossiere, author of "Blood Moon" in Strange Eons for
Call of Cthulhu, has begun distributing original adventures as self
contained electronic documents which will run on any Macintosh from
the Plus through the latest PowerMacintoshes. These adventures feature
complete, detailed text, full color maps and graphics, new Mythos
beings and other horrors, new magic, and are professionally written.
Best of all they are completely free.
To download these adventures, go to the Online Gaming Forum on AOL and
then to the OGF software libraries and then go to the Macintosh
software section. As of this writing, there are three adventures
available ("The Demon of Catheway," "The Thing in the Park," and "My
Aunt's House").
The author regrets that due to the time and expense involved he cannot
email or postal mail adventures in response to individual requests.
The author does plan to establish a web site to facilitate a broader
distribution of adventures at some point in the future. The author is
also willing to allow the adventures to be archived at internet FTP
sites or converted into HTML and set up as web pages by others, should
they so desire and agree to include due credit and copyright notices.
For more information contact Dr. LaBossiere at ontologist@aol.com.
--------------------
The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial electronic 'zine about Chaosium's
Games. In no way should it be considered representative of the views
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