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Chaosium Digest Volume 17 Number 11
Chaosium Digest Volume 17, Number 11
Date: Sunday, January 5, 1997
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
The French Hawkmoon (Philip Benz) HAWKMOON
Daughters of Giants (Timothy Ferguson) PENDRAGON
Editor's Note:
This week, a pair of articles which originally appeared in some of the
other online Chaosium forums. The French Hawkmoon, a listing of
Oriflam's original Hawkmoon products, first appeared on the Eternal
Champion ML, while Daughter of Giants first appeared on PENDRAGON-L.
On January 2, the first issue of the R'lyeh Report was posted to the
chaos-info mailing list. This is a new monthly newsletter which will
provide information on upcoming Chaosium products, what conventions
Chaosium will be attending and other news and rumors. You can sign up
for the chaos-info list by mailing to:
majordomo@erzo.org
with the command:
subscribe chaos-info
in the body of your message (not the subject). If you missed the first
issue of the R'lyeh Report, it's also been posted to rec.games.frp.announce.
Roderick Robertson, one of the organizers of the California Bay Area's
DunDraCon convention says that currently there are no events scheduled
for RuneQuest, Pendragon, Elric!, or Nephilim. If you'd like to run an
event for one of these games, you can contact Roderick at
Robertson@delphi.intel.com, or check out the DunDraCon web page at
http://www.slip.net/~dundracn/.
In Riverside, California, and interested in joining a Call of Cthulhu
game? Email tlove@microsys.net, who is currently setting one up.
Next week's digest should contain "As the Worm Turns", a CoC adventure
first announced way back in November, but slowed up by the occasional
adversities of email!
See you then.
Shannon
NEW ELECTRONIC RESOURCES:
Cosmic Visions
http://www.cosmicvisions.com
This electronic web publication has now reached its sixth issue. As of
January 1st, the new issues will all contain a variety of Mythos
fiction, along with the regular features. There are also reviews of
Lovecraft-related products and other good stuff here.
The NetherRealm
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/4657
Another electronic web publication, this one dedicated to the works of
H. P. Lovecraft.
Necronomicon Press Mailing List
http://www.necropress.com/Mailing_list_2.0
Want to get emailed all the newest info on what's coming out from
Necronomicon Press? Sign up for their new ML at this link.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath Artwork
http://www.ioc.net/~larryloc/dream_r.html
A set of unpublished drawings based upon Lovecraft's Dream-Quest of
Unknown Kadath.
Running CoC-Style Adventures on Harn
http://jumi.lut.fi/Harn/HTML/Cthulhu.html
The title says it all. Lovecraft for Harn campaigns.
--------------------
From: Philip Benz <100575.2061@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: The French Hawkmoon
System: Hawkmoon
Hawkmoon: France in the Tragic Millennium
Copyright Philip Benz, 1996
Although Hawkmoon's quests reach from Asia to America, France -- and
the Kamarg -- is the central location from which he sets out and to
which he always returns. France is central to the ambitions of the
scheming Granbretan conquerors and provides the most appropriate
setting for Hawkmoon role-playing adventures.
But what will players find in France? Mike gives us details of a few
locations, especially the Kamarg, but most of the rest is left to the
imagination. Fortunately -- at least for those who speak French -- the
French licensee of Chaosium's Eternal Champion games, Oriflam, has
filled this need admirably.
Here is a brief list of their publications. Most of this material was
done by or under the direction of Eric Simon, for the original
Hawkmoon game. The new version of Hawkmoon was released in France in
October, with significant changes from the US edition.
* _La France_ is a 223-page hardcover sourcebook featuring 15 detailed
chapters on different regions of France. Each chapter includes notes
on geography, special events, population, politics, religion, science,
armies, important characters, interesting locations, history, travel,
and adventure seeds. There are also short sections on creating French
characters, on a new science (psychology), on special combat rules and
on mental health -- sanity as in Call of Cthulhu (which Oriflam also
incorporated into their Elric! releases). This book is worth its
weight in gold to anyone running Hawkmoon campaigns.
* _La Kamarg_ is an 80-page campaign sourcebook containing all the
information necessary to run a long-term campaign over three periods
in Kamarg history: the Bulgarian sorcerer, peace before the storm, and
the great war. This book is an excellent example of how role-playing
adventures can be incorporated within the narrative framework of
Mike's novels.
* _L'Empire tenebreux_ is a 130-page sourcebook on the Dark Empire,
including sections on the Granbretan countryside, Londra, Granbretan
science, the military orders, and three scenarios. These guys make the
sorcerers of Pan-Tang look like a pack of pre-adolescent public-school
pranksters. Gassner outdoes himself with the gruesome artwork.
* _Les Portes du Paradis_ is a 130-page adventure book including a
4-part campaign by Eric Simon and two shorter scenarios, one really a
30-page mini-campaign that flirts with time travel and the multiverse
(my contribution).
* _Chair et Metal_ is an 80-page sourcebook/adventure book set in Sicily
and Malta. It was the last sourcebook released for the original Hawkmoon
rules.
* The revised French edition of _Hawkmoon_ was released in October,
along with a game-master's screen (including a short scenario) and
they plan to release another Hawkmoon adventure book in March 1997.
* _L'Ile brisee_ is a 120-page adaptation of a Chaosium adventure
book. I wouldn't have listed it here, but I understand it includes
some additional material by Eric Simon -- exactly what, I'm not sure,
never having seen the US edition.
* _Tatou_ is Oriflam's in-house magazine, with articles for Hawkmoon,
Stormbringer/Elric, Runequest, Pendragon and a few other games. It now
appears more or less bimonthly, and they are up to number 27. Some
30-odd scenarios and articles have now appeared for Hawkmoon, and
about the same number for Stormbringer/Elric. I contributed some ten
pieces, mostly for Stormbringer/Elric, including a lengthy review of
the changes in the new Elric rules.
It is unfortunate, for Americans, that all of this fine material is
available only in French. At one point Chaosium was discussing the
possibility of translating and adapting some of these books, but the
practical obstacles are considerable. In the meantime, it is possible
to exploit these fine sources without detailed knowledge of the French
language, but you are liable to remain just as frustrated as the
French gamers who have been struggling along with US games and their
limited knowledge of English for years.
Oriflam can be contacted at:
Oriflam
132 rue de Marly
57158 Montigny-les-Metz, France
Tel: (33) 03.87.63.96.69
Fax: (33) 03.87.56.04.43
Cheers, --- Phil
[also see V5.9 and V10.3 for short reviews of _Le Portes du Paradis_
and _Chair et Metail_ -sda]
--------------------
From: Timothy Ferguson <Timothy.Ferguson@jcu.edu.au>
Subject: Daughters of Giants
System: Pendragon
Hello All!
As part of the "Courts of Camelot" project (which is growing like a
weed over on http://www.employees.org:80/~pcorless/pendragon/index.html),
I've been trying to present an alterative way of getting magical women
into the family bloodline. My problem is that I'm by way of being a
bit stuck, and so I'd welcome feedback on this bit of text below. It
says what I want it to say and to me it is thoroughly clear, but I was
wondering if it was the same for other people.
Thanks all!
Timothy Ferguson.
=====
Daughters of Giants
Copyright Timothy Ferguson, 1996
In Arthur's Britain, many of the superlative knights have the daughter
of a giant as their mother. This section gives statistics for these
beautiful fae, describes how one might bring a giantess to wife and
suggests possible abilities passed onto the children of such a match.
Finally it gives character creation guidlines which assist in the
generation of player-character giantesses. Player characters should
not be designed as giant-kin without the approval, in advance, of the
gamesmaster as they will be unsuitable for many campaigns. The rules
given below are easily adapted to other faerie races, and an example,
Selkie-kin, is provided below.
The Magic of the Daughters of Giants
The most unusual feature of giantesses is their comparative lack of
height. Although some are taller than human women, it's quite obvious
that Chulwch isn't pining for a woman twice his size. Not wishing to
dwell on matters anatomical, some male giants seem able to have human
lovers, the half-giant Galahaut for example, while others kill their
partners, like Howell of Brittany's daughter. There appears to be
great variety in the height of members of the gigantic races. The
daughters of giants described below are those that usually interact
romantically with humans. In short... they are.
Giantesses are always beautiful. In some early stories, for example,
Guenivere is a giantess. They also enjoy excellent health, never
seeming to die in childbirth. This is partially because some
giantesses are sterile when they have human partners. Many are
long-lived, a quality they seem to empart upon their children. In game
terms, they roll on the aging table only every second year between the
ages of 35 and 55. None seems to die in the Arthurian stories, instead
fading away, presumably into Faerie.
Many female giants have magical properties beyond their health and
beauty. Flowers spring from Olwen's footsteps, for example.
Custennin's wife, assuming for the moment that she is a giantess, can
twist fire logs with her bare hands. Gamesmasters designing a giantess
should choose a minor magical effect that symbolises some facet of her
personality and apply it. These effects are not always useful or
visual, and gamesmasters are encouraged to be creative. As with many
Fae, giantesses speak the Universal Language and so can communicate
with humans from any region. Although Fae in the Arthurian stories
seem to show little aversion to crosses, iron or other folk-charms,
Gamesmasters may wish to impose traidtional limitations on giantesses.
Romance and the Daughters of Giants
To marry a fae requires a courtship of some skill and, often, either
the permission or death of the lady's father. Balor, for example,
prevents his daughter marrying, because he knows her son will be his
killer. Similarly Olwen's father dies shortly after consenting to his
daughter's marriage. Fae fathers, when setting the conditions of the
match, will often ask a bride price that they consider it impossible
for the knight to meet. The story of "Chulwch and Olwen" is that of
Arthur's knights collecting the bride-price of Ysbaddadden's daughter,
and gamesmasters are encouraged to review it.
In some cases, where no father exists, the lady herself imposes a
quest on her suitor, so that he might prove worthy of her hand. King
Astlabor gains his faerie bride the most easily of any knight, but to
do so he must reveal to the court that he is not a Christian, and
thereby forces himself into exile until his later conversion. Again,
gaining a giantess for a wife should be the focus of a campaign,
rather than a single story, much like marrying any other notable
heiress. Faerie women are fickle and often ask for the most ridiculous
things. Occassionally they will ask a knight to demean himself, or
break oaths, to demonstrate his affection, then spurn him for proving
himself an untrue gentleman. Some extract promises as their half of
consent to marriage, and return to faerie should the husband break
them, which in folk-lore, for some eason, he always seems to do
eventually.
The Sons of Giantesses
The sons of giantesses seem to have the following benefits:
* All are fine knights. In game terms they have a five point bonus
added to their favoured weapon skill at the very end of character
creation.
* All are highly resistant to damage and age. The children of giants
cannot lose more than one statistic point to any Major Wound. They do
not age, instead dying at a time fore-ordained by the Gods.
* All are quite tall. Add 2 to their SIZ score.
* Creatures of the other side instictively know that these characters
are special. Although this does not change the knight's bonuses, it
does allow the gamesmaster to run scenarioes with added mystical
influences which have been attracted by the giant-kin. Galahaut is
Lancelot's confidant. Palmodies spends his life chasing a demonic
beast. Pelleas romances the chief Lake Maiden. PCs should have
similarly magical retainers and associates.
* Sons of giantesses are exceptionally passionate creatures, their
fixations verging on the mad. Giant-kin spend vast amounts of time
indulging their passions, so much so that they undertake other
adventures only rarely. Palmiodes chases the Questing Beast, Galahaut
hangs around Lancelot and Pelleas courts continually his aquatic
lover. The player and gamesmaster should negotiate, in advance, a
passion which will regulalry draw the knight out of the story.
* Gamesmasters are encouraged to grant other minor effects which
reflect the nature of the character's mother. A Fir Bolg descended
knight might, for example, be able to create storms by spilling his
blood on water, or might have a Fochan servant or guardian. The hair
of a fortunate Continental giant-kin might turn to gold when cut at
sunrise. A Cornish giant might be able to sense tin ore nearby, or may
be stronger on those days he eats stones for breakfast.
CREATING A GIANTESS
In Arthurian Britain there are two main groups of Giants. Cornwall is
stuffed to overflowing with them, and the seas around Ireland, and the
Isles west of there, hold the remnants of the Ui Net tribe and their
Fir Bolg servants. Two other types of giants are mentioned in the
stories. The Romans have giants in their imperial guard. Finally some
Saxons and Danes are refered to as "giants". They are, however, merely
Quite Big Humans and use human character generation rules.
Type: Either roll a 1d6, with 1-3 being Cornish, 4-5 being Irish and 6
being Continental, or choose the tribe most likely to be active in the
main kingdom of your campaign. If in doubt, assume your giantess is so
similar to "Cornish" that you may use their rules.
Culture and Religion:
Cornish Giants have Cymric culture.
Irish Giants have Errain culture, if using "Pagan Shore". Alternatively
they use "Irish" statistics.
Continental Giants generally are of Roman culture, although some are
French or belong to the tribes neighbouring the Empire. The Giant of
Saint Michael's Mont is, for example, from Spain originally.
Father's Class:
All player-character daughters of Cornish and Continental giants have
fathers of the "Warrior" class. Irish giants have fathers of the
Bo-Aire class and may use the fostering rules. Some giant tribes do
have chieftains, but they tend to be of the larger varieties, so that
their daughters are unsuitable as romantic partners for humans. Olwen
is an exception to this.
Liege lord: This is the character's father, or husband, usually.
Statistics:
Cultural Modifiers: Cornish = +3 CON.; Irish = +1 SIZ, +2 APP;
Continental = +1 DEX, +2 APP
SIZ: 3d6+3
DEX: 3d6
STR: 3d6
CON: 2d6+3
APP: 4d6
Personality Traits and Passions:
Giantesses are almost always Pagan, but most seem willing to undergo
Christian marriage rituals. In this Palomides's mother is an exception.
Continental giants, at the discretion of the gamesmaster, might be
Christians, or even Jews or Sassanids.
Cornish Traits: Cruel +3, Arbitrary and Suspicious +2.
Irish Traits: Vengeful, Indulgent, Proud and Cruel +2 each, Reckless +1.
Continental Traits: Deceitful, Worldly, Proud, Cruel +2 each.
Passions:
Loyalty (lord) and Love (family) are rolled normally, but giantesses
have no expectation of dowries from their fathers and so do not
subtract their daughter number from their Love score. It's possible
for giantesses, upon marriage, to generate a fresh Love (family)
score, to reflect their feelings toward their children, as some seem
not to care about the death of their fathers. Irish giantesses may
have the "Pagan Shore" passions of Loyalty (tuath) and Love
(fosterfamily) if the Gamesmaster wishes.
Giants are familiar with the human concept of hospitality, although
not all practice it.
Honour is, in essence, a knightly passion. Giants do not have it
unless they wish to, and among them it is rare. Giantesses have Honour
more frequently than giants, but it is still, for them, an optional
passion.
Giants might, in theory, be chivalrous, as might giantesses. This
would be exceedingly rare.
Women's gifts: As per mortal women, save that "Nimble Fingers" is
replaced by "Faerie Stewardess" which adds 10 to the woman's
stewardship score. This reflects her ability to bring in catches, if a
Ui Net, or to ensure the fetility of the soil, if Cornish.
Continental giants seem to have links with the weather. All that
fooling about with Olympians, you see.
As fae, Giantesses have Sight scores and can use them much as any
magician does. They cannot generally cast spells, embodying magic
rather than controlling it. A giantess spell-caster is beyond the
scope of the current rules.
Skills: As per Cymri, Errain (Irish) or Roman humans, save that
giantesses add 5 points to their Faerie Lore and have no Folk Lore
skill. They do not practice Heraldry or Tournenying and have no scores
in these skills. Falconry is an unusual skill for giants, but
Gamesmasters should decide if the character is familiar with this
sport.
INSERT:
Alternate Faerie mothers:
Selkie and Lake women.
The Selkies are a race of seal-people who can come ashore and shed
their skins. The king of the Selkies lures beautiful women into the
water, but female selkies are far safer to approach. If a man finds
and hides the skin of a seal-woman, she is forced to remain ashore
until he returns it, or she finds it. Usually the selkie-woman and the
human marry and have children, whose ancestry is apparent through the
webbing on their fingers and toes, or the leathery patches they have
on their hands and feet. When the Selkie woman finds her skin, she
returns to the water, leaving her husband behind. A similar race, the
Roane, are found in the lochs of Scotland, while the Shetland Islanads
host the Sea Trows.
There are similar Lake Women, who promise to marry so long as their
husbands do not perform certain deeds, for example striking them in
anger thrice, who leave, taking their dowries with them, when this
marriage contract is broken. Some few of these Lake Women finds ways
to re-establish contact with their husbands and children, and teach
them arts, such as healing.
For her stay on land, a Lake Woman or Selkie acts as a woman generated
under the Cornish Human rules, save that she, like the daughter of a
giant, has the Sight and has no skill in Heraldry, Tourneying,
Falconry or Folk Lore. They have a bonus to Faerie Lore of five
points. Selkies may communicate with seals at will. Lake women can
breathe underwater and have the Natural Healer talent in addition to
that which they rolled as their Family Trait. Their children are often
noted healers and sometimes have the magical abilities which reflect
their mother's nature. Melusine, the most famous fairy-wife of
France, was only a half-fae, her mother being a fountain faerie.
--------------------
The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial electronic 'zine about Chaosium's
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