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Chaosium Digest Volume 11 Number 08
Chaosium Digest Volume 11, Number 8
Date: Sunday, September 10, 1995
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
Arthurian Name Generator (Jonas Pope) PENDRAGON
Books to Study (Ulises Santos Espino) CALL OF CTHULHU
Editor's Note:
Welcome to another issue of the Chaosium Digest. Enclosed you'll find
articles that should be quite useful in just about any Pendragon or
Call of Cthulhu game. As ever, thanks for the submissions.
In skimming through the Digests from the last few months, I've noticed
a peculiar lack of ELRIC! articles. Any one out there dreaming up new
ideas for the Young Kingdoms? If so, send them this way.
Until later.
Shannon
NEW RELEASES:
* Call of Cthulhu - _Coming Full Circle_ (Pagan Publishing, 160 pg.,
$17.95) is another huge campaign book for CoC. It contains a set of
four linked scenerios, set between 1929 and 1939. They are
especially notable because they are all non-mythos horror; instead,
the build upon the gruesome folk lore native to New England.
* Glorantha - _Glorious ReAscent of Yelm_ (Wizard's Attic) has been
reprinted, and supplemented with 20 new pages of star lore, maps and
myths. If you haven't picked up this book yet, it contains all kinds
of Solar Gloranthan Lore. If you already have an older edition, you
can mail it in with $5 to get this new one. Give Wizard's Attic a
call at 1-800-213-1493 for more info.
_Les Dieux Nomades_ (Wizard's Attic) is the French revision of Nomad
Gods, compatible with the Dragon Pass game. You can now get it in
the US, along with an English copy of the new rules. Again, call
Wizard's Attic at 1-800-213-1493.
MAGAZINE SIGHTINGS:
* Call of Cthulhu - "Evil of the Centuries", a three page 1920s
adventure which is a sequel to earlier adventures in Challenge
issues 65 and 76, Challenge #77
(FRENCH) MAGAZINE SIGHTINGS:
Thanks once more to Frederic Moll for these French sightings.
* Elric - "Pour quelques bronzes de plus...", a 10 page scenario, the
first of a two part adventure, Tatou #24 [June/July, 1995]
* Hawkmoon - "Ascenscion et Chute du Tenebreux Empire", 10 pages of
background history, Tatou #24 [June/July, 1995]
* Pendragon - "Vengeances", an 11 page scenario, Tatou #24 [June/July,
1995]
NEW ELECTRONIC RESOURCES:
Pendragon Campaign Logs
ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/chaosium/pendragon/fellowship
These directories contain campaign logs, timelines and characters from
the Pendragon campaign of Dale Meier, The Fellowship of the White
Lion.
--------------------
From: Jonas Pope <POPEJ@cofc.edu>
Subject: Arthurian Name Generator
System: Pendragon
I have found coming up with names for NPCs in Pendragon can be
difficult. To ease the task, I offer this Arthurian Names generator.
To use, simply roll 2 D10 and consult the First Element table, then
roll D6 and D10 and consult the Second Element table. Combine first
and second elements to create the name. For first elements ending in a
vowel in parentheses (e.g., Car(a)-) add the vowel or not according to
taste.
Example: A roll of 3, 8 on the First Element table yields the element
Dur-; a roll of 5, 3 on the second table yields -gran. Combine them
to get the name Durgran.
The tables are rather rough-and-ready. Some of the results they give
are not very euphonious. Also, they are set up to generate male
Arthurian names--female ones tend to have a very different flavor.
Additional note: when generating families of NPCs, it can be effective
to use the same first or second element for all of them. Thus Durgran
could have brothers named Durstan, Durlois, and Durheris; or Peligran,
Nerogran, and Lamogran.
FIRST ELEMENT:
Die
Die 1 2 3 4 5
1 Acca- Agla- Agra- An- And(o)-
2 Ar- Aug- Ba- Bal(a)- Bande-
3 Baude- Bed(i)- Bel(e)- Bellan- Ber-
4 Berci- Ble- Bod- Bra- Bran-
5 Bre- Bru- Ca- Cad- Caher-
6 Cal(o)- Cane- Car(a)- Celi- Clama-
7 Clau- Dago- Di- Din(a)- Dodi-
8 Dris- Dru- Dur- Ec- Eli-
9 Er- Esca- Esco- Ev(a)- Fal(a)-
10 Fer- Foran- Ga- Gale- Gan-
Die
Die 6 7 8 9 10
1 Gar- Ge- Ger- Ging- Gir-
2 Gola- Gor(a)- Gorne- Gorve- Gringe-
3 Guine- Har- Her(i)- Hum- I-
4 Iva- Lamo- Lan- Lar(a)- Leode-
5 Lio- Ma- Mabona- Mad- Mar-
6 Med- Melea- Mer- Meria- Mor-
7 Mord- Nero- Or(a)- Pal(a)- Par-
8 Pedi- Pel(i)- Perce- Pere- Sagre-
9 Sar(a)- Sel(e)- Sor- Tor- Tris-
10 Tyo- Uri- Val(a)- Vel(i)- Vorti-
SECOND ELEMENT:
Die
Die 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 -dan -das -deles -din -dinis -doc
2 -don -dor -dos -dur -ens -flet
3 -gan -ger -gern -gore -gran -gros
4 -halt -heret -heris -holt -hus -lac
5 -lan -lant -les -lin -lois -lon
6 -mant -magus -mart -medes -mor -nant
7 -nas -nel -net -nor -ons -rain
8 -ran -rant -reint -red -ret -reth
9 -ris -ron -sor -stan -tan -tor
10 -vain -val -ver -wain -wyn -wys
Jonas Pope
popej@cofc.edu
--------------------
From: Ulises Santos Espino <vystrik@sopa.dis.ulpgc.es>
Subject: Books to Study
System: Call of Cthulhu
Following is a set of books used and created in my games. Most of them
are funny, but I think they can fit in a serious campaign.
-Ulises Santos Espino-
Format:
_______________________________________________
| "Name"[Translation] (Language) Author |
| +Plus Mythos xMultiplier -Sanity Loss |
| *Brief description. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"O manual das boas meigas" [The Book of Good Witches] (Spanish) Anonymous
+2% x5 -1D10
*Written about sXIII, it is the most important book about Gallician
Witches (Meigas, the most notorious in Spain). It contains several
ceremonies, summonings and satanic masses. Customs of Meigas are well
described here.
"Orchiotopeia proctophyla" (Greek) Thassos of Lesbos
+8% x2 -1D6
*Thassos wrote this volume in sIII BC, trying to describe all the
pagan practices performed in the Greece of his time. Special attention
is given to Nyarlathotep and Dagon cults.
"Anaaiban babaliba habibi" (Arabic) Rahmat Al-Guarism
+16% x3 -2D8
*The author was an ascetic of sX, who went completely mad in what is now the
Desert of Yemen. He wrote these verses as he was travelling through
time (he talks about atomic bomb and a beetle civilization). He
reveals some useful drugs and warns the mortal men about the Hounds of
Tindalos.
"Bibabuluba Shismaybeibi" (Arabic) Jebel Ben-Hansa
+10% x4 -2D10
*Summonings and pacts with the Elder God. Includes notes about cults
around Persia, Syria and the Arabian Peninsula. Contains descriptions
of Cthugha, Nyoghta and Azathoth. Mentions a being which turns to
stone to those who dare look at it.
"Les cages malveillantes" [The Evil Cages] (French) Jean-Louis Palmier
+16% x4 -1D10
*Customs of Fungi of Yuggoth, as well as devices and weapons developed
by the Plutonian inhabitants. Byakhee and other Minor Races are
described. Palmier makes special note of humans enslaved by the
Fungi. The shivering realism of this chapter could be the explanation
for his disappearance in 1895, when he was studying an Alpen mountain.
"Ils sont notre perdition" [They Are Our Ruin] (French) Antoine-Louis Pereire
+8% x2 -1D6
*Generalities about the Theogony, all the races and gods. Includes
some new beings (Iktacasua, Bheel-Sher) which have never been
confirmed. Many experts of the Mythos have decided that this book is
full of mistakes and incoherences. However, it has many good
references. Pereire committed suicide by strangulation in 1902.
"Plus ultra legio" [The Legion From Further On] (Latin) Catulus Pontaureum
+15% x3 -2D10
*This is a horrible and realistic collection of beings and happenings
hardly equaled by the Necronomicon. It places the human at an
insignificant level of the Universe. Contains history pre- and
post-human. It emphasizes the leadership of Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep and
Y'Golonac. Written in sI BC.
"Phylotanathos" (Greek) Meonides of Abdera
+10% x3 -2D10
*Life after death, includes techniques of resurrection and life
preservation. Also, it follows every technique with its counterpart.
Meonides talks especially of Cthulhu, Tsathogghua and Hastur
(indirectly). He makes a map of different doomed places over the Earth
(known in sII AD).
"Al azif jalufi" (Arab) Ben Aki
+12% x3 -1D10
"Al azif auladi" (Arab) Ben Shale
+16% x5 -2D10
*These are versions of the Necronomicon. In 1237, Mohammed Fayat Cadi
of Hashimi founded a School of Dark Studies and tried to spread the
knowledge of Al Azred among all the people. Then, he ordered Ben Aki
and Ben Shale to adapt Al Azif for peasants and children,
respectively. Both books have many pictures and are very descriptive
(especially the second one). In 1258, Hulagu, chieftain of the
Tljanes, destroyed Bagdad and the School.
"Necronomicon pro puberi" (Latin) Giovanni Scopoulos
+10% x3 -2D8
*Latin version of Al Azif Auladi performed in the Italian Trecento.
"A la rosette de l'Arabie" [The Rosette from Arabia] (French) Jean Planchette
+6% x5 -2D10
*Pre-babylonian work from Mesopotamia, found on the Arabian Peninsula.
Descriptions of Shudde-Mell, the Cthonians, the networks built by them
under the sands, and the site where the lost city of Irem is placed.
The author came to Egypt with Napoleon and joined the Turks. He was
executed by treason.
"Zebubi tabulam" [Tablettes From Zebub] (Latin) Claudio Euxino
+10% x3 -2D8
*Claudio Euxino was a Roman Prince, leader of the Velites placed in
Asia. He discovered and studied some mud tablets found in Persian
ruins. In sI AD, he completed their translation, which were full of
mentions of Nyarlathotep and Y'Golonac. There are also some references
to Snakemen and Yith.
"Il fuoco della testa" [The Fire In The Head] (Italian) Luisse Pesoni
+2% -- -1D3
*Collection about drugs and objects which allow astral travels.
Glasses of Leng, oils, herbs, etc. It does not include spells, but
some monsters are mentioned here, such as Knopf-Keh, Dagon and Nodens.
Written in 1835.
"Der Hauptdarsteller" [The Whisperer] (German) Josiv Mijail Ostans
+3% x1 -1D6
*He uses many metaphors and twisted paragraphs to tell the history of
the Elder Gods, the Theogony, the coming of the monsters and so on. It
is a very dense book, but mostly incomprehensible. Herr Ostans lived
and worked in Bratislava.
"The Book Of The Dismemberment" (Japanese) Akira Ginsua
+10% x3 -2D8
*Japanese practices of evil rituals in sXVI. Several tales of sea
monsters, Cthulhu, Dagon and Hydra. He makes a discussion of the
beings from the sky, the sea and the land.
"Werewolves" (English) Anonymous
+2% x1 -1D3
*Lycanthropes and their kin. It is an old book, apparently written in
Scotland, that shows the wild life of these doomed men and their pacts
with the Elder Gods. It may be written before sXVII.
"Dasse Schpettur Seher" [The Threshold Observer] (Ancient Prusian) Anonymous
+13% x3 -2D10
*A classic book about Middle Age cults in Central Europe. There are
several bad copies in German and English around the World, but the
book have been never correctly translated due to its difficulty. One
of the notable sections of this book includes an epic poem of a
Warlord that converted his own castle in a viscous mass of mud.
"My Life In Yuggoth" (English) H.P. Lovecraft
+5% x1 -1D10
*Just before HPL died, he was changed by a biomechanic clone and sent
to Pluto by the Fungi. There, he was subjected to a treatment of
cryogenics, and he became virtually immortal. The Fungi had followed
his career and they were impressed by his writtings. Then, a hexagonal
dome was erected for him and since that moment, he has dedicated his
life to writing books like this. This volume was brought to the Earth
by a group of investigators who used a portal.
"Baku todd" [Smith From Baku] (Armenian) Anonymous
+8% x2 -2D6
*In the tenth century, some rebel peasants and smiths were united by a
leader called Vrastas. As a revenge, they killed horribly all the
nobles in the country. Afterwards, they performed a ritual to Yog
Sothoth and finally went crazy. The summoning of Tawil al Umr
converted a wide area into desert.
"Zyamalaka Tantra" [Black Book] (Sanskrit) Anonymous
+12% x3 -2D10
*Full of summonings, ceremonies and worship ceremonies. A list of
monsters and their cults makes this book a valuable file of Mythos
knowledge. Part of this book is lost but it is thought that a complete
copy is at Borneo.
"Sdraa" (Ge'ez) Ulesis the Saint
+25% x5 -2D20
*The most horrible book of the Earth, written in the lost semitic
language. It is better for the investigator not to learn this idiom,
and never to find this doomed book. EVERYTHING is crudely writen here.
The evil shamman Ulesis will be damned by the sons of the men until
their extintion. He is guilty of the doom of Sahara's Grasslands.
"Ancient Cultes In Center Europe" (English) Francis Calldit
+3% x1 -1D6
*A brief description of the most worshipped gods in Europe, from the
Baltic to the Black Sea. Sweet stories from Shubb-Niggurath and her
dark sons. The author drowned in 1798.
"Lowertown" (English) Gilbert Marking
+8% -- -1D10
*Victorian London, through the eyes of a Lord who kidnapped beggars
and prostitutes for experiments and sacrifices.
"Reportage a L'Indochine" (French) Ernest Ageites
+8% x2 -2D4
*Many photographs from Vietnam and Kampuchea, of temples and dark
clerics. There are images of Cthulhu, Nyarlathothep and other
Primogens. The text is short but descriptive. It was published in
1923.
"La huella de Kobi" [Kobee's Print] (Spanish) Eduardo Hernandez
+1% -- -1D3
*Mr Hernandez found some prints of the Minor God Kobee, the gummy
monster. The book was compiled by Esther Vega from the letters that
Hernandez sent her before he died. It is supposed that he finally
found the God. Written in the last century.
**********************************************************************
* 1989-1995 Ulises Santos Espino, Canary Islands, Spain *
* *
* is: *
* vystrik@sopa.dis.ulpgc.es *
* a1288@correo.dis.ulpgc.es *
* *
********************************************************************
--------------------
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