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Chaosium Digest Volume 20 Number 06
Chaosium Digest Volume 20, Number 6
Date: Sunday, July 20, 1997
Number: 1 of 5
Contents:
The Complete Keeper's Revenge Kit (Jonathan Turner) CALL OF CTHULHU
Mythos Team Play Rules (Al Placette) MYTHOS
Serpent People with Guns! Mythos Deck (Shannon Appel) MYTHOS
Editor's Note:
Welcome to the newest issue of the Chaosium Digest, which is this week
five(!) parts long. You'll find the following articles in this week's
issue: in V20.6 a set of three Cthulhian articles including some
keeper's advice for CoC, team rules for Mythos, and a new Mythos deck;
in V20.7 a description of the Gorgoroth for H. P. Lovecraft's
Dreamlands; and in V20.8 through V20.10 a set of rules on Irish Brehon
Law for Pendragon, which originally appeared over in PENDRAGON-L in an
unrevised form.
To avoid overloading any mail servers, this week's Digest is going out
in two chunks. V20.6-V20.7 are being sent as per normal on Sunday and
V20.8-V20.10 will go out Monday evening.
I've already got a Call of Cthulhu adventure lined up for the next
Chaosium Digest, but still send in those submissions!
Shannon
NEW RELEASES:
* Call of Cthulhu - _The Dreaming Stone_ (Chaosium, 64 pg., $11.95) by
Kevin Ross is an epic campaign set primarily in the Dreamlands. It
involves one of the many schemes of Nyarlathotep, the Crawling
Chaos, and a mysterious artifact known as the Dreaming Stone.
_The New Orleans Guidebook_ (Chaosium, 96 pg., $16.95) by Fred Van
Lente is a complete resource for the 1920s Crescent City, from the
French quarter to the bayous. Included are rules for voodoo, new
occupations, five secret societies, and "Twilight of the Fifth Sun",
a short scenario.
* Glorantha - TradeTalk #2 (The Chaos Society, 44 pg) is the
second issue of a fanzine dedicated primarily to Glorantha, but also
including features on Chaosium's other games. The first issue of
TradeTalk, released a year ago, was mostly reprints from Free INT,
but it's now a magazine of its own, with new articles and a regular
publication schedule. This issue includes many articles on
Glorantha's Ralios as well as an adventure of my own for Elric!,
"The Restless Dead", which originally appeared in an unrevised form
in the Chaosium Digest. You can order TradeTalk directly from the
Chaos Society, or from Wizard's Attic.
RECENT BOOKS OF NOTE:
* Call of Cthulhu - _The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft_ (Dell, 360 pg.,
$12.95) edited by S. T. Joshi collects the following Lovecraft
stories: "The Rats in the Walls", "The Colour Out of Space", "The
Dunwich Horror", and _At the Mountains of Madness_. These stories
are very heavily annotated by Joshi, explaining references and
drawing correlations between the stories and Lovecraft's life.
RECENT (FRENCH) SIGHTINGS:
* Call of Cthulhu - "Les statuettes de Sarayana", a four page play aid
for Call of Cthulhu describing five myserious statues and providing
many newsclippings on them, Casus Belli #106 [June, 1997]; "Le
Septieme chant de Maldoror", a 15 pages scenario set in 1969,
with pre-generated characters living in the cinema milieu, Casus
Belli #106 [June, 1997]; "A Review of Dreamlands Fourth Edition",
Casus Belli #107 [July/Aug, 1997]
* Elric! - "Le Joueur de Lune", a four page scenario for Elric!, Casus
Belli #107 [July/Aug, 1997]
* Misc - "Three Questions to Greg Stafford", on what he thinks of the
TSR takeover by WOTC, Corum's current status, and the future of
Glorantha, Casus Belli #107 [July/Aug, 1997]
--------------------
From: Jonathan Turner <jonno@enterprise.net>
Subject: The Complete Keeper's Revenge Kit, Part One
System: Call of Cthulhu
The Complete Keeper's Revenge Kit: Part One
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever been frustrated by your players' arrogance? Have they
ever taken your most well-crafted and terrifying scenario and spat it
back at you? Well, you can take it easy from now on. It's payback
time.
Call of Cthulhu is a game which is all about atmosphere. Like the
literature on which it's based, crawling chaos and unimaginable
horrors close in on the characters as they carry on their titanic
struggle for goodness and sanity.
At least, that's the noble ideal. But what happens when your players
get so jaded they don't care? Does this sound familiar?
KEEPER: "Okay, the thing lunges at you again, dripping ichor. It
claws you across the chest and throws you backwards into the wall."
Rolls dice. "Lose four more hit points."
PC: "No problem, I still have three left. I blast it with my
sawn-off."
KEEPER: "Gahhh!"
Irritating, huh? It's long been my contention that players know far
too much about their characters' well-being. For example, can you say
how many SAN points you think you have left? Oh yeah? Well how do you
know something out there isn't just waiting to push you over the edge?
Every roleplaying game needs rules, sure, or we're no further on than
when we were kids playing make believe. But I think a few Paranoia(TM)
style gamemaster tips are in order. Fear and Ignorance are the
essential ingredients of a Keeper's Revenge.
You might ask, why bother? The simple answer is, anything which makes
your players think like their characters is a good thing. Fear is the
key.
STEP ONE: Don't tell them how many hit points they have.
Let's get back to our friend with the sawn-off. Now instead of telling
him how many hit points he's lost, let's just tell him what his
symptoms are. Check this out:
KEEPER: "The thing lunges at you and hits you in the chest. You
stumble backwards and" (rolls dice) "slump to the ground. The pain
in your chest is incredible, like a vice was wrapped around your
torso. When you look down through your torn shirt, you can see one
part of your chest moving in when it should be going out and vice
versa. You're almost panting in pain."
PC: "Good God! Somebody get me to a hospital!"
See the difference? The PC in the first example doesn't really care
because he knows he can hang on long enough to put the monster
down. The second guy, he doesn't know what the hell's going on, so he
panics. For your information, he has a terribly painful condition
called flail chest.
This is a jump away from the rules, of course, which state that PCs
can keep going until they're down to their last few hit points. It may
not be to everyone's taste, but hey: it's just a suggestion.
Of course, if you're going to go down this path, a little knowledge
about medicine is a good thing. Hopefully I'll touch on that in a
future article but for now, just get your hands on a good first aid
manual. The ideas there are pretty frightening. For your players,
anyway. Heh, heh, heh.
STEP TWO: And the same goes for SAN and Magic Points.
The best way to introduce a phobia to a player is not to say: "Okay,
Jim, you've got a phobia of snakes." That noise you just heard was the
atmosphere closing the door as it left the room.
Instead, introduce madness the way it creeps into real life: phantom
voices, sudden anxiety attacks, strange feelings of dread and doom. Do
it right, and your player won't know whether he's actually going mad,
or whether he's having a genuine supernatural experience.
Never ask for SAN rolls. (See step three for how to get around it).
Never tell a player he's just failed one. Let's just say someone's had
a bad shock--running into a monster for example. They fail their SAN
roll and lose a couple of points. Their character would maybe start
hyperventilating. Heart palpitations, anyone? Nausea? The symptoms
would also theoretically be similar for losing magic points, but would
include tiredness, lethargy and that sort of thing.
Of course, your smart-aleck player who has read the rule book from cover
to cover will be asking himself what the hell is going on. Work it right
and he may think he's under some kind of magical attack. And maybe he
is! That's the beauty of the whole thing!
STEP THREE: Ask for lots of apparently meaningless dice rolls.
Keep a list of key skills for all of your players pinned to the back
of your shield. You do have a shield of some kind, of course.
(Homemade ones are better because then your players don't know what
the hell you have behind there).
My list includes SAN, Luck, Spot Hidden, Listen, Idea, Know, and maybe
a few others like Sneak and Hide depending on my mood.
Of course, my misguided sense of fair play means I always let a player
make the rolls for his character, though sometimes I get him to flick
the dice behind my shield so that he can't see what the result was.
Every so often, casually ask a player to make a dice roll. Look behind
your shield and hum to yourself.
Of course, maybe your player has just successfully made a Spot Hidden
check, and you pass on the relevant info and let him tick his skill. Or
maybe he's just failed. Or maybe you were just doing it to wind him up.
He'll never know. Heh, heh, heh.
STEP FOUR: Change the monsters.
Good players can game as if they never read the rule book, but hey, we
all know they have. You can see it in their eyes.
They find a webbed footprint in the riverbed and they're breaking out
the shotguns. Oh, good. It's only some Deep Ones, they're thinking.
But what about a Deep One who can fly? Or a Byhakee which can take on
human form? There's no reason not to twist things for your own
perverted motives. If your players are good, they would rather enjoy
the mystery of being kept in the dark and getting the pants scared off
them.
STEP FIVE: Make them work for their skills OR Make your props
interactive.
Have you ever done any "Library Use" research? Ever spent hours
translating a book? Me neither. But I bet it's pretty tough.
So your players expect to get away with just a flick of the dice, eh?
Not in my game, pal.
Recently my group of misfits was in Egypt when they came across some
mysterious hieroglyphics. The resident Egyptologist offered to
translate them with the help of an assistant.
An interesting fact which I came across in my research is that
hieroglyphics are all consonants, with no vowels. So I prepared a sheet
with the translation on it, but took out all the vowels and replaced
them with blank spaces. (Computers are wonderful things).
The great thing about this prop was when the two translators got
sucked in, scribbling away like they were on some kind of game
show. The other players carried on while the scholars muttered and
bickered among themselves. And in that moment, they were their
characters.
And that, to me, is what it's all about. Getting into character can be
difficult when you're sitting in a cosy room drinking coffee and
eating munchies. It's been my happy experience that anything you as
Keeper can do to put your players on the spot will be even more
enjoyable for them than for you.
Of course, I draw the line at going into total Paranoia(TM) mode. My
players are currently going up against Yig, but that doesn't mean that
I'm going to head down to the pet shop and buy a python.
Though, now that I mention it...
--------------------
From: Al Placette <captain@vm.cc.purdue.edu>
Subject: Mythos Team Play Rules
System: Mythos
The following Mythos variant rules allow for team play.
1) Teammates all sit in order together at the table, but each has his
own deck, his own Threat, etc. Remember, cards are never permanently
exchanged during a Mythos game.
2) A Team may not have more than one copy of an Ally in play.
3) When any one member of a Team announces "pass", and no other member
of that same Team has passed in this rotation around the table, the
Player's "pass" counts as the team's "pass" toward ending the Round.
Otherwise, the Player's "pass" doesn't count as the Team's "pass".
The Round ends when there have been 2 successive Team passes in one full
rotation around the table.
4) When teammates have the exact same Location (by title and subtype)
right-side up on top of their respective Story Decks, they may
conspire freely. This includes looking in each other's hand,
discussing strategy, etc. They may also conspire if the top cards of
their Story Decks are the same Travel Event, and the teammates played
this Travel Event from the exact same Location. In other words, it is
not enough for teammates to both be on a Train, it has to be the very
same Train that left Arkham with both aboard. (They won't have to go
to the same destination, though....)
[NOTE: Some other Netizens did not like this idea. They thought that a
Train could make multiple stops along a route, so you it should not be
necessary to start from the exact same Location. After playtesting
maybe we will know which way to go on this...]
5) Investigators who are conspiring act as each other's Steadfast
Ally. In circumstances which call for an Ally to be Buried or
Discarded, and that Ally happens to be an Investigator, change the
Bury or Discard result to a loss of 5 Sanity. In cases that a random
Ally is affected, any convenient card may serve as a proxy for the
Investigator card when shuffling the Allies for a random occurrence.
In cases when Spells, Artifacts, etc. may be redistributed among your
Allies and/or Tomes, they may not be redistributed to another
Investigator or his or her Allies. (In general, cards are not to be
exchanged during Mythos games.)
Examples: Brian and Austin are teammates. Brian's Investigator is the
Inquisitive Chinese Intellectual (knows Chinese); Austin's
Investigator is the Exploited Coal Miner (knows English). Both players
have the M.U. Orne Library, right-side up as the top card of their
Story Decks. No Allies are in play. It is Austin's turn. He may play
the R'lyeh Text (Chinese) since he is at a Tome Location and Brian's
Investigator knows Chinese.
On a later turn with both Investigators at the same Location, Brian
asks Austin to cast a Spell Austin found in the R'lyeh Text (Chinese).
This is using Austin as an Ally who knows a Spell, so if Austin
agrees, he will pay the Sanity cost of the Spell and flip it over.
This action counts as Brian's turn.
At the end of the Round, while Brian and Austin are still at the Orne
Library, Meghan attacks the Brian-Austin team with a Nightgaunt. Her
attack is directed at Austin, who loses the Sanity, and the
Nightgaunt's special effect states that it carries away an Ally, in
this case Brian's Investigator. Brian must instead lose 5 Sanity.
6) When any Adventure card has been played, that same Adventure may
not be played by any other Player of the same Team (so goodbye to 3
copies of SEL I).
7) If an Investigator is driven permanently insane, the player whose
actions caused the sanity loss may choose to have the insane
Investigator "put away" (out of the game) or else recruited to that
player's Team, with a nominal 5 San. If an Investigator drops to 0
Sanity through his or her own actions, that Investigator is simply out
of the game.
8) The game proceeds until a Team has equal to or greater than the
requisite number of Adventure points, or every member of a team has
been driven permanently insane. Usual rules determine the winner:
highest combined Team total of Sanity and Adventure points.
The Adventure points requirement is 15 points for each Investigator on
the Team. This may be satisfied by any combination.
For example, the Brian-Austin Team must complete 30 Adventure points
to successfully end the game. It may be that Brian completes 30
Adventure points and Austin completes 0, or each player completes 15
Adventure points, or any other combination.
Notes:
Our feeling was that the "recruitment" of opponents could lead to some
exciting surprise endings, since Adventure point totals could shift
rapidly by "stealing" them with the insane Investigator.
Most everyone liked the "conspiracy works as a Steadfast Ally" idea,
but the 5 Sanity penalty for being Buried or Discarded may not be the
right way to go... Where is that playtest when you need it?!?!
Cthulhu fhtagn! Ia!
"Captain" Al Placette
The Insane Cultist of Purdue
captain@vm.cc.purdue.edu
--------------------
From: Shannon Appel <appel@erzo.org>
Subject: Serpent People with Guns!: A Mythos Deck
System: Mythos
** SERPENT PEOPLE WITH GUNS! (62) **
INVESTIGATOR
Morose Veteran of the Great War
ADVENTURES (3)
Alone in the World (+7) x1
The Price (+8) x1
The Unspeakable Oath (+6) x1
ALLIES (8)
Any City:
Randolph Carter (Limited) x1
Raymond LeGrasse x1
Innsmouth:
Abigail Winthrop Marsh x1
Barnabas Marsh x1
Jeremiah Brewster x1
Robert Marsh x1
Kingsport:
Granny Orne x1
The Terrible Old Man x1
ARTIFACTS (10)
Shining Trapezohedron
Zenig of Aphorat
Enchanted Weapons:
Enchanted Knife x2
Weapons:
-30/'06 Bolt-Action Rifle x2
Cast-Iron Skillet x2
Dynamite x2
EVENTS (13)
Ambush x2
Catastrophic Failure x2
Children Have Nightmares x2
Dawn of the Solstice x2
Surprise Meeting x2
Phobias:
Demophobia x1
Portaphobia x1
Rhabdophobia x1
LOCATIONS (16)
Exotic:
N'kai x1
Greenwood:
Asylum for the Deranged x1
Innsmouth:
The Waite House x3
Kingsport:
Caverns Beneath the Old Church x1
Central Hill x1
Congregational Hospital x1
The Forgotten Crypt x3
North Point Lighthouse x1
Old Brick Powderhouse x1
The Old Gibbet x1
The Strange High House in the Mist x1
Vermont:
Waterbury State Hospital x1
MONSTERS (10)
Great Old Ones:
Tulzscha x2
Greater Servitors:
Servitor of the Outer Gods x1
Lesseer Independents:
Serpent People x4
Lesser Servitors:
Lesser Shantak x3
TOMES (2)
Call of Cthulhu x2
Strategies:
The main theme of this deck is Serpent People and Weapons, though it's
somewhat supplemented by the Lesser Shantaks to become a weird Joiner
deck.
When playing, recall the quirks of these weird Joiners. Because of the
Joining rules, any number of Serpent People may only Join with one
Weapon (because Weapons don't Join) and any number of Lesser Shantaks
may only Join with one Corrupt Cultist (because none of the Corrupt
Cultists in this deck Join).
Serpent People and Lesser Shantaks can both speed up gameplay, as you
get Monsters and Weapons or Monsters and Corrupt Cultists out as one
play.
Serpent People Joined with Weapons have an implicit weakness: you must
announce that the two cards count as one, and this reveals that you've
played a Lesser Independent. The same is true when you add Allies to
your Threat with an Enchanted Weapon (like the Enchanted Knife). If
your opponent has a S/C Lesser Independent Spell, you can avoid it
with the Servitor of the Outer Gods. Remember that it changes the type
of other Monsters in its Threat. A nasty surprise.
Serpent People have a unique ability to protect Weapons. Catastrophic
Failure can really mess this deck up, especially for The Unspeakable
Oath. If any players insist on Discarding your Weapons, when you're
playing for The Unspeakable Oath, just drop a few straight into your
Story Deck via Serpent People Express.
The Price is the best Adventure to play first because it depends on a
GOO. They should always be played early when your opponents are
thinking less about stopping you. To further put off suspicion, try
and always play Dawn of the Solistice; never discard it. It's worth 1
Sanity, which is often worth the cost of a turn, and it'll keep alarm
bells from going off when you put it out. There are lots of cards you
can't keep out for future Adventures, but at least try and get out a
set of weapons, since that's the most difficult requirement for The
Unspeakable Oath. An investigator with a large hand size has
deliberately been chosen so that you can keep Phobias and the various
required Events in your hand. Remember that the Servitor of the Outer
Gods is unique. Don't discard it if you're planning to do Alone in the
World any time in the near future. One final problem has to do with
playing Catastrophic Failure, which is required for The Unspeakable
Oath. In some cases, opponents don't have weapons out. Two options:
use the Zenig for this requirement, or use it on one of your own
Weapons. You are not required to use it on an opponent.
Too often Ambush is wasted as a useless card required for an
Adventure. This deck tries to make good use of it. It has a fair
number of Allies and tons of weapons, about half of which are very
big. If you ever get in the same subregion as someone, try and ambush
them. This will likely happen most often in Kingsport. Children have
Nightmares can make this even more damaging. Randolph Carter can help
too.
The phobias for this deck are specifically an anti-aggressive mix:
Demophobia, Portaphobia, Rhabdophobia. They won't do as much damage as
some of the more offensive mixes, but they should keep people from
playing Monsters and Allies to attack you with. This will play right
into you hands with regard to Ambush, and the fact that you have very
few huge Monsters. There was a temptation to add Monophobia too, to
get them both ways, but that card was left out of the final deck.
Don't forget the following combos:
* Serpent People + Dynamite - Zammo!
* Serpent People + Cast Iron Skillet - A free play of a weapon and a
free point of damage before you give the weapon to someone else.
* Ambush + Children Have Nightmares - Reduce their ally's value before
attacking them.
* Abigail + Any Other Marsh - She's protective of her kinsfolk.
--
