Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Chaosium Digest Volume 15 Number 01
Chaosium Digest Volume 15, Number 1
Date: Sunday, June 16, 1996
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
The House on Old Main Rd. (Jocelyn Y. Tourigny) CALL OF CTHULHU
Summoning: Oriel (Geoffrey C. Grabowski) NEPHILIM
FAQ: Nomads of the Time Streams (Allan T. Grohe Jr.) ELRIC!
Editor's Note:
This time around, articles for a triad of Chaosium games. The House on
Old Main Rd. is a vignette which can be used to generate a fun Call of
Cthulhu scenerio. The Summoning of Oriel is a new Nephilim spell which
answers the question "why would people lace their computer wiring with
Orichalka?" It first appeared on the Nephilim Mailing List. The Nomads
of the Time Streams FAQ contains the newest information on the Michael
Moorcock Appreciation Society. It recently appeared on the Eternal
Champion Mailing List.
Shannon
NEW RELEASES:
Lots of Lovecraftian releases should be arriving at stores in the next
week.
* Call of Cthulhu - _The Golden Dawn_ (Pagan Publishing, 192 pg.,
$19.95) is actually several weeks old. It's the long-promised
sourcebook of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn for Cthulhu by
Gaslight. It's contains: tons of background on the history and the
members of the Golden Dawn; a set of four Golden Dawn Adventures;
and a number of appendices, which include player's information,
notes on creating victorian investigators and more. Players of
Nephilim will probably always want to take a look at this resource.
_The London Guidebook_ (Chaosium, 96 pg., $14.95) recently shipped
from Chaosium, and should be available late this week. It's a
sourcebook on 1920s London, including overviews of all the different
districts and notes on famous people, recreation, occult London and
much more.
* Mythos - _Legends of the Necronomicon_ (Chaosium), the third booster
for Mythos, is scheduled to go on sale on Monday, June 17. This
third booster includes the new Middle-East region and the city of
Boston in Lovecraft Country. New monsters, new tomes, new spells and
new adventures round out the set. Each complete box of boosters also
contains a package of all 9 double-sided investigator cards.
_Mythos Investigator Cards_ (Chaosium, $5.00) have also shipped. If
you don't want to buy a complete box of _Necronomicon_, or just want
more investigators, this seperately bundled packet also contains all
9 double-sided investigators.
--------------------
From: <jytourigny@cyberus.ca>
Subject: The House on Old Main Rd.
System: Call of Cthulhu
A NEWSPAPER REPORT: THE HOUSE ON OLD MAIN ROAD
"After much debate in the local newspapers and council meetings,
despite the avid protests by the local Historical Society, the house
at 138 Old Main Rd. is finally going to be destroyed. Its hollow husk
has been perched on the deserted property since times immemorial, its
wicked iron fence a menace to the curious neighbourhood children.
"One of the very first houses built in this city more than 150 years
ago, very few are sad to see it go, not so much because of a bad
reputation (which in fact it doesn't really have), but because of its
anachronistic presence in the new neighbourhood and its seemingly
irresistible attraction to vagrants and children."
The event is well publicized in the local papers, at least on the
Society Page. The present owner (in whom's family the deed to the
house has been passed on for nearly four generations) will not even be
coming to town to witness the destruction, seeing as he lives
overseas.
THE MAD MAN AT THE HOUSE
On the day the house is destined to be torn down, as the machines come
on to the property, a man peers through the door and starts
threatening the workers and the photo-journalist covering the story.
He seems terrified at the thought that the building will have to come
down, and keeps screaming that he can't leave, that he'll die if he
does. He needs to stay there, he says, to preserve his life. He starts
throwing things from the inside at the workers. Hoping to scare him
off, they advance towards the house with their machines, and as they
hit the house's cornerstone the man falls to the ground screaming
hysterically.
All this is covered in the evening papers, along with pictures of a
strange glyph noticed by the journalist on the cracked cornerstone.
The man is brought to the hospital, weak, unconscious, and covered
with strange marks, thought self-inflicted. The destruction of the
house will wait a few days to give time to process this new
development.
INVESTIGATOR RESEARCH
A little research will uncover that one of the first owners was well
known in the young community, one Jonathan Chetwood.
Through the years, and in front of the town, he went from a young
eccentric recluse, the cause of many a whispered warning, to an old
paranoid recluse, recipient of mocking glances and wary sniffs. He was
found in front of the house in his night clothes one evening, staring
blindly at the house and shouting garbled obscenities. Authorities
brought him to the hospital, for he seemed ill, and in fact he did
deteriorate rapidly despite all their help. He died in their care a
few days later.
After him, the house passed into the hands of an out of town relative.
For the past 30 years, it has housed an endless parade of homeless
individuals. Strangely enough, almost nothing has been displaced or
stolen.
The man who was inside the home is David Leroux, a 28 year-old factory
worker who just recently got laid-off. His wife declared him missing a
few days ago, when he went drinking one night and never came back. He
lives a few streets away.
POSSIBILITIES
There are several possibilities here:
1) David has become agoraphobic recently, and is deathly afraid of
being outside the house.
Unbeknownst to his wife, he was introduced to a long-standing local
cult by a drinking buddy. After he became aware of some of the
activities they participate in late at night, he decided it wasn't for
him and tried to leave. They warned him that for him to be excluded he
would have to die; he took his chances and they summoned a
star-vampire to kill him. Walking home after a drink one night, he was
attacked and was nearly killed before he reached the house in a panic.
The strange glyph kept the creature at bay, but in the hospital, he
knows he isn't safe.
David can name the cult, and where they meet, although the doctor
overlooking him is a member. He secretly monitors all his
conversations. Ironically enough, Johnathan Chetwood was one of the
founding fathers of this cult. It is mostly harmless, believing itself
invested with Satanic powers, when only one minor member has any real
mythos knowledge or spells.
2) David will be released a few hours later, and will find his way
back to the house. Others will start to join him, from different
social backgrounds, all claiming that they have to stay in the house.
They do not object to other people coming, as long as they are not
asked to leave. Inside the house, they sit around the basement, using
broken bottles to mark their skin, and letting the blood fall to the
floor.
Some sort of large creature lives buried under the floor, kept
imprisoned by the glyph on the cornerstone. It contacts people by
implanting thoughts, asking them to come and wait for its arrival,
when it will need lots of fresh people. It was too weak all those
years to contact any people except the very sensitive, but now that
the glyph has been damaged, its work is much easier.
Johnathan Chetwood is not responsible, although he did know about it.
He fought most of his life with the creature's thought-sending, but
finally lost, and became a broken and mindless man.
There are hidden books inside (that David holds as "holy tomes") that
may help.
3) The soul of Jonathan Chetwood has lived on through the years,
trapped in the cornerstone of his house. For some now forgotten
reason, perhaps through his own occult research, his soul got tied to
the odd glyph on the stone, which made it impossible for him to go too
far from his house for any extended period. Tired and angry at the
end, he tried to stay away as long as he could, but eventually died,
and his soul returned to the stone. Throughout the long years, he has
tried taking over many bodies, and succeeded many times, continuing
his search for an escape, but they all eventually got away from him.
At the very least, he has been able to preserve his house and its
possessions.
Now Chetwood has taken hold of David, and is still in him at the
hospital. This is the farthest he has been in over 150 years, and he
is anxious to get back to the house, to pursue his research. With the
glyph broken, the body he inhabits is deteriorating and his soul will
finally die if he cannot find an answer to his 150 year old dilemma
soon.
^..^
Cat
--------------------
From: The Raindog <gcgst1+@pitt.edu>
Subject: Summoning: Oriel, Lord of the Golden Tower
System: Nephilim
PENTACLES, THE REALM OF HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE
----------------------------------------
Oriel, Lord of the Golden Tower, Serpent Armed with the Bitter Sting
of Dreams
Circle: Pentacles
Ka-Element: Air
Threshold: 40%
Contract: 28
Rupture: Capture
Duration: One Intrusion
Range: Unlimited
Autonomy: Total
Oriel appears as an androgynous being in long green robes with
intricate golden patterns worked into them. His face is beautiful, and
his hair is a mixture of silver and gold. His voice is melodic, but
without emotion. Oriel rarely converses with his summoner, instad
simply carrying out his assigned task and departing. He carries a
golden rod in his right hand, and bears a living asp in his left. His
head is crowned with a circlet of gold.
Oriel is a lesser prince of the the elemental fields of Air, and a
servant of Sandolphan. He will not Capture anyone who has previously
made a pact with Sandolphan.
Oriel will perform only one service, the penetration of security
around electronic networks. So long as Oriel is present and the
computer used by the caster can trace a network connection, no matter
how tenuous, to the target computer, the summoner will have full
administrative access to the machine. This access cannot be logged or
detected by normal means, though traces of their presence like deleted
and altered files may be. Machines which have no outside connection
(power lines do not count), are turned off or which are shielded by
Orichalka are immune to Oriel's influence. Certain Secret Societies
and Arcana are rumored to have the means to detect and trace Oriel's
influence as well as block it.
Oriel's summoning has long been known, but his purpose and powers
remained a mystery until recently.
|Geoffrey C. Grabowski|gcgst1+@pitt.edu|Undergrad, U.Pittsburgh|Swing Heil!|
--------------------
From: Allan T Grohe Jr <iscladoc@falcon.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: FAQ: Nomads of the Time Streams
System: Elric!
The FAQ below also appears on my web page (url below), and gets posted
to alt.books.moorcock, rec.arts.sf.announce, and rec.arts.sf.written
about monthly to every six weeks.
If your news server doesn't carry alt.books.moorcock, ask the sys
admins to add it.
[Info on the Nomads of the Time Stream has appeared previously in V5.6
and V5.10, but this FAQ is considerably updated and contains new
info.]
_THE DEAD GODS BOOK_
THE NOMADS OF THE TIME STREAMS FAQ
Version 1.1, 22 May 1995
This is the FAQ for the Michael Moorcock fan society, and contains
answers to the following questions:
1. What is/Who are The Nomads of the Time Streams?
2. Why would I want to join?
3. How do I join?
1. What is/Who are The Nomads of the Time Streams?
The Nomads of the Time Streams (Nomads for short) are a group of over
250 (at last count, in May of 1992) fans devoted to the writings and
music of Michael Moorcock, World Fantasy Award winning author.
Founded in 1988, the Nomads are currently based in England.
2. Why would I want to join?
Membership among the Nomads offers several rewards:
a. _The Time Centre Times_ (TCT for short): a 32-40 page quarterly
newsletter that features regular columns from the editors, a letter
from Moorcock (detailing the current exploits, travels of him and his
wife, fun at conventions/book signings, etc.), current/forthcoming
news about MM derived/related groups (info on MM appearances/signings,
book releases, role playing game releases, info on Hawkwind, etc.),
artwork (reproductions and original) drawn from MM works, original MM
stories (both rare reprints and material that sees first publication
in the TCT), members' classifieds (free), and various articles about
MM.
b. Special Offers only available to Nomads: Include discounts on the
purchase of the White Wolf/Millenniun/Phoenix House editions of MM
books (for example, the WW Eternal Champion books cost $19.99 for h/c
but Nomads can get them for $15, surface postage paid; Millennium EC
editions retail at 14.99 BPS h/c and 10.99 BPS p/b--Nomads pay 11.25
BPS h/c and 8.25 BPS p/b). Note that if you buy four h/c books at
discount, your membership pays for itself.... In addition to the
discounts on books, other offers exist:
- Nomads are the exclusive distributors of recordings of
Michael Moorcock's "Elric: Live at the BBC" readings from April 1994
(1 cassette available for $6/3 BPS surface postage paid)
- Griffin Music has reissued MM's _The New Worlds Fair_
1975 album on cd with two bonus tracks (the previously unreleased
musical demo of "Candy Floss Cowboy" and "The Brothel in
Rosenstrasse"), available to Nomads for $22.50/20 BPS (retails at
$29.95)
- signed first editions, discounts on limited editions, very limited
special offers, etc. are available from time to time as well
- Nomads also offers photocopies of long out of print MM material to
members at cost (including such items as Burroughsiana and other
magazines MM edited/wrote for in the late 1950s and early 60s).
In addition to these various monetary discounts, when MM makes
convention appearances, he regularly holds meetings and signings open
only to Nomads, during which he also answers questions, talks about
his current writing projects, and otherwise socializes with the
members in attendance.
3. How do I join?
Two different levels of membership exist in the Nomads of the Time
Streams, yearly and eternal.
Yearly memberships last for four issues of the TCT (if delays occur in
production your membership may last for longer than a year) and cost
$20 in the USA, 10 BPS in the UK, and 15 BPS for the rest of the world
(non-USA, non-UK).
Eternal memberships last the member's lifetime. We have, at last
count, 21 Eternal members (including Michael and Linda Moorcock, Ken
St. Andre (author of Chaosium's _Stormbringer_), Kirk Hammmett
(guitarist for Metallica), and Edgar Winter (leader of the Edgar
Winter band), among others. Eternal memberships cost $150 in the USA,
100 BPS in the UK, and 150 BPS for the rest of the world (non-USA,
non-UK).
All checks should be made payable to "Nomads" and should be sent to the
following addresses:
North American memberships: Nomads of The Time Streams
P. O. Box 5201
Pinehurst, NC 28374
USA
UK and rest of world memberships:
D. J. Rowe
18, Laurel Bank
Truss Hill Road, South Ascot
Ascot, Berkshire
SL5 9AL
England
For more information, other questions, correspondence, etc. write to:
John and Maureen Davey
45, St. Mary's Mansions
St. Mary's Terrace, London
W2 1SH
England
24 hour fax machine: +44-171-724 1360.
or email to Allan T. Grohe, Jr. (iscladoc@falcon.cc.ukans.edu)
Allan.
--------------------
The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial discussion forum for Chaosium's
Games. To submit an article, subscribe, or unsubscribe, mail to:
appel@erzo.org. To subscribe to the Nephilim Mailing List, send mail
to majordomo@erzo.org, with the command "subscribe nephilim-digest" in
the body of the message. To subscribe to the Eternal Champion Mailing
List, send mail to listserver@nochet.demon.co.uk with the message
"subscribe eternal" in the body of the message.
