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Chaosium Digest Volume 18 Number 03
Chaosium Digest Volume 18, Number 3
Date: Sunday, February 3, 1997
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
Initiation for Sorcerers (Tal Meta) RUNEQUEST/BRP
The Cthughan: A New Monster (Mikal Phillips) CALL OF CTHULHU
All Hands On...: A Mythos Deck (Danny Bourne) MYTHOS
Editor's Note:
This week starts off with a RQ/BRP Sorcery variant. I don't commonly
run RQ articles here, because of the very busy Gloranthan ML, but when
an article comes around that is non-Gloranthan, and of general
interest to BRP players, I'm willing to include it.
Also this issue, you'll find a new Monster for Call of Cthulhu, based
on the Relic, and a deck for Mythos.
Next week I'm planning to include a few different Mythos articles,
including recent Card Files, and the updated errata for the
Dreamlands. Articles for Mythos, and other systems as well, will be
quite welcome.
Danny Bourne (d.bourne@dial.pipex.com) is currently endeavouring to
set up some Mythos tournaments in the UK. One tournament is to be held
in Sheffield in March, with one in Leeds in May. It is hoped that the
National Championships will be held at EuroGencon in July. The exact
format of the tournament is yet to be decided, but the wishes of
participating players will be taken into consideration. Any
interested parties should contact Danny by email or at 174 CUNDY
STREET, WALKLEY, SHEFFIELD S6 2WP. More details will be posted on the
digest in due course.
Shannon
RECENT RELEASES:
* Call of Cthulhu - _The Compact Trail of Tsathoggua_ (Chaosium, 48
pg., $8.95), by Keith Herber, is a reprint of a classic 1984
adventure. It involves expeditions to Greenland and Canada to
uncover ancient mysteries, and is the first in a line of short,
inexpensive Call of Cthulhu adventure books. It should be on sale by
the end of the week.
Mythos enthusiasts will be happy to know that The Dreamlands is
finally going on sale this Friday, February 7th. More on The
Dreamlands next week.
RECENT BOOKS OF NOTE:
* Call of Cthulhu - _The Cthulhu Mythos_ (Barnes & Noble, $9.98) is a
very nice hardcover volume containing the majority of Derleth's
non-collaborative Mythos work. It contains all of _The Mask of
Cthulhu_ and _The Trail of Cthulhu_, as well "The Dweller in
Darkness", "Beyond the Threshold", "The Thing That Walked on the
Wind", "Ithaqua", "The Passing of Eric Holm", and "Something from
Out There". This is an exclusive Barnes & Noble straight to
remainder book, so you'll need to go to one of their stores to pick
it up.
* Elric! - _Fabulous Harbours_ (Avon Books, $24.00) is the second book
in Moorcock's newest trilogy, that started with _Blood_ and ends
with _War Amongst the Angels_. It's been out in Britain for a year,
but this is its first US release. _Harbours_ is a collection of Von
Bekian short stories. There's a one-story overlap with 1995's US
collection _Lunching with the Antichrist_, and another one-story
overlap with _Tales of the White Wolf_, but most of the tales have
only appeared previously in magazines. This is the continuation of
Moorcock's pulpish take on the Chaos v. Law idea, as well as the
concept of cosmic archetypes. The finale in the series is now
available in Britain.
--------------------
From: Tal Meta <talmeta@cybercomm.net>
Subject: Initiation for Sorcerers
System: RUNEQUEST/BRP
I am a big fan of Sandy Petersen's Sorcery system. The only problem
I've ever had with it is that since it describes Sorcery as it is in
Glorantha, it lacks something when taken away from that world. In
Glorantha, sorcerers are worshippers of the Invisible God, and his
prophet Malkion, and can gain unique powers through the patronage of a
variety of Saints. All of this is well and good for Gloranthaphiles,
but what if your Sorcerer -isn't- from Glorantha, and/or is a devout
athiest?
The group I am roleplaying with is currently playing Shadowrun. What's
that got to do with Runequest, or Sorcery? Well, while developing my
current character, a combat mage, I had one of those quirky insights
into what to do to add the powers of Glorantha's Malkioni Saints
without the whole religious overtone it implied. Initiation.
In this document, I'm going to be synthesizing a number of ideas from
a variety of sources. Chief among those sources is Sandy Petersen
himself, as well as Paul Reilly, Loren Miller, and probably a slew of
other people whose names I have forgotten or lost track of. If I've
trampled anyone's copyrights, it is purely by accident. Send no
lawyers, please.
INITIATION FOR SORCERERS
When a sorcerer chooses to follow the path of initiation, he sets
himself apart from his fellows by making a deeper commitment to his
studies. He also places himself at risk, as the deeper levels of
magical interaction open him up to domination by the very powers he
has sought to master!
Initiation creates a source of 'shadow POW', usually refered to as a
Twin (some cultures refer to it as a Shadow, or Doppleganger, etc).
Like a shaman's fetch, this POW exists on the Spirit plane, and makes
the sorcerer subject to a certain degree of distraction. However,
unlike the shaman's fetch, the sorcerer has no access to his Twin's
magic points, nor will it assist him in spirit combat. The Twin is
comprised of the sorcerer's suppressed desires, darker emotions, and
whatever other 'spiritual baggage' the sorcerer seeks to purify
himself of. However, by the very act of concentrating such emotions
into the spirit plane, the sorcerer slowly forges an enemy which may
someday come to challenge him for the control of his own physical
body!
The Vows which sorcerers take during later initiations are a good
source of ideas concerning what the Twin is comprised of: they all
make good 'repressed' desires.
THE FIRST INITIATION
A sorcerer's first initiation is generally the most taxing, requiring
a sacrifice of POW equal to half his original POW attribute, rounded
down. The Twin starts with a POW equal to half of the POW expended. It
is strongly recommended that the sorcerer in question have a current
POW higher than his original stat. If it is too low, a battle between
the Twin and Sorcerer may occur, as noted in THE GROWING SHADOW,
below, possibly resulting in tragedy.
With the first initiation, the sorcerer gains the ability to expend
POW in spellcasting for certain direct benefits (i.e. a spell can be
cast with no MP cost in exchange for one POW, spells that strike a
random hit location can be made to strike specific hit locations,
etc). In almost every case, the initiated sorcerer gains the ability
to trade POW for distinct effects that would otherwise have been
random.
LATER INITATIONS
Each initiation after the first requires a POW sacrifice equal to one
quarter the sorcerer's original POW attribute. These later initations
give the sorcerer access to injunctions (see below). These injunctions
allow the caster to expend POW in order to gain specific advantages.
They can be acquired in any order, at any time, but the POW sacrifice
for each new initiation must be made all at once (i.e. you can't save
up several small sacrifices; the POW must be given up in one
continuous ceremony for each new initiation.) An initiate's Twin grows
in POW at a rate of 1/2 the POW sacrificed for individual injunctions.
[Example: Fred Parker, sorcerer extraordinaire had an original POW of
15, and a current POW of 18. He becomes an initiate, costing him 7 POW
(his Twin is founded with a POW of 4). Each future initiation he
undertakes will cost him 4 POW and increase his Twin's POW by 2.
Each time a sorcerer takes a new initiation, he must take a Vow that
limits him in an emotional context. Vows such as Celibacy, Never Kill
a (species), Shun Element, Shun Harm, Abjure Rune Magic, and Abjure
Spirit Magic all make good initiation Vows. Players and GMs are
encouraged to create new Vows as needed to add flavor to their
individual games.
Using (invoking) initiated abilities does not add to the time required
to cast a spell. If a sorcerer has access to more than one type of
injunction, he can use them all at once (i.e. he can use the
Injunctions of Permanancy & Intensity with the casting of the same
spell to render a truly large spell permanent...)
Examples of secondary initiations are as follows:
Injunction of Concentration: Until next nightfall, the initiate has
great force of mind. He automatically succeeds in any INT roll,
including Concentration rolls. He automatically succeeds in sorcery
spell casting and manipulation, with no die roll necessary, and no
critical successes possible.
Injunction of Hold: Invoked only when a spell is cast using the Art of
Hold. It enables the user to Hold that spell in mind even if he
already has a Held spell. Any number of spells can be Held, each
requiring a separate invocation. Once the spell is cast, the user can
re-Hold the extra spell without re-invoking this injunction, but only
if it is the exact same spell. (i.e. if this injunction were Holding
an Evoke Fire 5, Range 3, Multispell 4, Hold 5 spell, it could only be
refilled by another Evoke Fire 5 R3/M4/H5 spell.)
Injunction of Intellect: The user's mind is expanded. For the next
week, all research and experience checks automatically succeed, plus
the amount of increase is always the maximum possible (this last also
applies to training). Thus, if the initiate does research in Mace
Attack, and uses this injunction, not only does he automatically
increase, he gets 4 full points.
Injunction of Intensity: Invoked only while casting a sorcery spell.
The POW of the initiate's Twin is added to the spell's Intensity at no
additional MP cost.
Injunction of Multiplicity: Invoked only while casting a sorcery
spell. The POW of the initate's Twin is added to the casting's
Multispell at no additional MP cost.
Injunction of Permanency: Invoked only when a Permanent sorcery spell
is cast. This turns the spell into an enchantment, so that it no
longer requires maintenance, and cannot be dispelled. The sorcerer
must, of course, have access to the Art of Permanence to use this
initiation.
Injunction of Power: When invoked, the initiate's POW doubles, and
remains thus for a full day. At the end of the day, POW drops back to
normal. Any POW expended during this period comes from the initiate
when the injunction wears off. [Example: Joe Barghest, a sorcerer with
a POW of 12, invokes this power. His POW jumps to 24, increasing his
magic points, Presence, spellcasting skill, etc. He spends the next
few hours crafting an enchantment requiring 8 POW. When the injunction
ends, instead of his POW dropping to 11 (12 minus 1 for the
injunction) it drops to 3 (12 minus 1 minus 8).
Injunction of Presence: Invoked only when a sorcery spell is cast. The
affected spell takes no Presence to maintain (if temporal), but cannot
be maintained for more than one day.
Injunction of Range: Invoked only when a sorcery spell is cast. The
POW of the initate's Twin is added to the casting's Range at no
additional MP cost.
THE GROWING SHADOW
Once an initiate's Twin has a POW equal to that of the initiate, every
time the sorcerer loses a point of POW (either to disease, casting
ritual magic, using injunctions, etc) the Twin has the opportunity to
match its POW vs. the POW of the sorcerer. If successful, the Twin
will dominate the sorcerer for a number of days equal to the amount
the percentile roll succeeded by.
[Example: Fred Parker and his Twin both currently have a POW of 14.
Fred, needing to guarantee that a Palsy spell he is hurling at an
attacking warrior strikes him in the head uses an injunction to insure
that it does so, bringing his POW down to 13. His Twin attacks, and
rolls a 41 (the Twin's POW of 14 vs. Fred's POW of 13 gives it a 55%
chance of success), defeating Fred by 14 points.
For the next two weeks, the Twin dominates him. For the sake of
example, we'll say that Fred had the Vows of Celibacy, Shun Darkness,
and Abjure Rune Magic. The Twin spends its time alternating between a
whorehouse and a Temple to the local Night Goddess. When Fred's mind
reasserts control over itself after those two weeks, he's broken one
of those vows and dented the other two...]
--------------------
From: "TLove" <tlove@microsys.net>
Subkect: The Cthughan: A New Monster
System: Call of Cthulhu
Leapin' lizards and tearin' talons! I just got back from seeing the
new Mythos-inpired movie The Relic (and boy, is my hypothalamus
tired!). In my opinion, this movie is so far the best example of how
just ONE Mythos-monster can ruin your whole day, as many an
unfortunate investigator can attest. If you haven't seen this movie
yet, why not?!? The Great Old Ones command you to sit through it six
times in a row, so your sanity will become completely turned to mush
by the end ot the experience! Anyway, I don't want to spoil any
surprises for those who haven't had a chance to enjoy this very well
done Mythos-Horror movie, so read no further until after you have seen
The Relic!
I was so impressed with this monster and its potential that I created
game statistics for its use in Call Of Cthulhu. I specifically had
Cthulhu Now in mind when creating the stats, but this beastie can be
incorporated into any era's campaign. So, briskly juggling apples and
oranges, I would like to introduce you to a new horror...
A NEW MONSTER FOR CALL OF CTHULHU:
CTHUGHAN
Mutated Creation of Cthugha
In a remote region of the Brazillian Rainforest, an unknown tribe
calls upon the protection of Great Cthugha by means of an ancient,
sacred fire ritual, to bring forth an avenger that will slay their
enemies. A potion containing many different types of local fungus,
plants, frogs, lizards, and insects is brewed over the fire that is
used to contact Cthugha during the ritual. After contacting Great
Cthugha, the tribe honors him with some sort of sacrifice (Keeper's
decision as to what, or who,the sacrifice is to be). Then Cthugha
rewards the tribe's sacrifice by enchanting the potion being prepared.
A human volunteer (or victim) drinks the prepared potion and in 3D6
hours, an avenging abomination manifests... The Cthughan.
THE CTHUGHAN, Avenging Abomination of Nature
STR 40 CON 20 SIZ 50 INT 18 POW 30
DEX 20 MOVE 12 (6 Climbing) HP 50
Damage Bonus: +5D6
Weapons: Claw 70%, Damage 1D6 + DB
Tail-Swipe 50%, Damage 1D6 + DB + knocked off feet
Bite* 50%, Damage 1D10 + DB
* If used on grappled target, to hit is 90% and Damage is 2D10 + DB
and Cthughan will keep biting until decapitation.
Armor: 5 points of slimy, scaly, leathery hide and muscle
Spells: none.
Sanity Loss: 2/1D10 to see a Cthughan, 1/2D6 to see how a Cthughan
eats its prey, 1/1D4+1 to see what's left of a Cthughan's prey.
A Cthughan is a huge (over 20 feet long from maw to tail), very fast
creature that combines human, insect, batrachian, and other unknown
(or perhaps alien) strains of DNA into a ferocious mutation.
It feeds on human hypothalamus glandular systems and their extracts,
and will automatically attack any human it comes across in order to
obtain its next meal. It must keep eating a continual supply of fresh
hypothalamus systems on a regular basis. If unable to feed on human
hypothalami, the Cthughan will start to lose 20 Hit Points every 12
hours (after its last meal) until it either feeds again, or reaches
zero hit points and dies. The hungrier it is, the more ferocious this
beast will be. If it starts feeding again, it will regain 5 Hit Points
per victim untill it reaches its original max Hit Points.
The Cthughan has shown that it can hunt its prey with great cunning,
dexterity, speed, and stealth. It is not known for certain if any of
the original intelligence or memories of the human host are retained
by the monster, but it does use its high intelligence to meet its own
goals as needed.
In addition to the stats listed above, the Cthughan has the following
skills: because of its size and strength, it can Jump (99%) up to 70
feet forward, 50 feet backward, or 50 feet straight up in one mighty
leap. It can run very quickly by a combination of leaps and bounds
(similar to the running style of a large jungle cat). By using its
powerful claws and talons, it can climb any surface up to and
including soft stone (wood, concrete, brick, aluminum siding, etc.) at
a Climb skill of 90% and can even hang upside-down indefinitely (as
long as it can maintain its grip on the climbing surface). Smoother or
harder surfaces are climbable only at the Keeper's descretion. It also
can Track 70%, Hide 70%, and Sneak 80%.
Despite its massive size, this beast will use any means of cover
and/or concealment it can in order to surprise its prey. The Cthughan
prefers to ambush its prey when the target is alone or in a small
group. If forced into the open and engaged in a standup fight, the
Cthughan will let loose with all of the ferocity it can muster. If the
Cthughan is vastly outnumbered, it will kill as many targets as
possible before it makes a hasty retreat to safety.
The Cthughan makes its lair in a dark, deserted and isolated location,
preferrably underground in a quiet cave or tunnel where it take its
victims back to feed on them and sleep during the daylight hours. If
encountered in its lair, there is a 20% chance of interrupting a meal
in progress and a 10% chance of finding the beast sleeping off its
last meal, but it is a light sleeper! If it is awake, then the
Cthughan will smell any tresspassers approaching it's lair and make
preparations for the soon to arrive dinner guests. A Cthughan is very
territorial and will try to kill as many humans as it can.
A Cthughan can attack up to three tagets simultaneously, using one or
more of its four clawed legs, its massive tail (to lash at targets,
similar to an alligator tail-swipe), and its horrible maw. If the
Cthughan makes a successful claw attack on a target with a front claw,
it will attempt to grapple the target and bring it in close so it can
use its maw to bite the head off of its victim and get at the juicy
meal inside of the skull at a later time (or immediately, if it is
alone and hungry). After taking the initial claw attack damage, the
target can attempt to make a successful Dodge Roll to avoid being
grappled by the Cthughan. If that fails, the target can try to make a
successful Strength Versus Strength roll on the Resistance Table in
order to get one last chance to be free from the monster's embrace
(which ends in a very messy kiss from that horrible mandibled, fanged
maw).
If a Cthughan's blood or remains are analyzed (depending on the
pathology/science level of the era) it will be revealed that the
component DNA of the creature is a mixture of many different creatures
who have totally different genetic structures and that this
combination was not possible in Nature. A by-the-book scientist or
professor could say that such an abomination of nature was produced by
"the Calysto Effect", a theory stating that major evolutionary changes
sometimes occur in a rapid, chaotic, and cataclysmic manner rather
than the traditionally accepted theory of a gradual evolution of
species. (Although anyone surviving an encounter with a Cthughan and
making a successful Cthulhu Mythos roll might gain a little more
insight into what the creature's true origins are...)
The primary mutagen that enables the Cthughan to grow is an
unidentified fungus that is indigenous to only one area of the
Brazillian Rainforest and grows on only one specific type of green
broadleaf plant. This fungus is the key ingredient in the potion that
the Brazillian Tribe brews to create the Cthughan. They also feed it
to the newly formed Cthughan in order to speed its growth cycle. If a
Cthughan gets within 100 feet of this growth fungus, it will
automatically smell it and do anything in its power to get to and eat
that fungus. By consuming the fungus, the Cthughan will: be
automatically raised back up to full original hit points, or if
already at full hit points, add 1D10 new hit points to its maximum and
increase its SIZ by 1 (per seperate feeding of the fungus) due to the
renewed growth/evolution process that the fungus stimulates. It will
consume the fungus untill there is no more available and each time it
eats the fungus it gains the benefits described above.
If Investigators/Scientists manage to isolate the fungus and/or the
ingredients of the mutagenic potion, the accellerated growth/evolution
effect will take place in 1D6 turns after it is first tested on any
living subject (insects, lab rats, etc). The results will be unknown
and chaotic to the investigators (and a great opportunity for the
Keeper to see how nasty the mutated animals will be). If tested on any
mammals, the potion will start them off as smaller, weaker
Cthughan-type creatures. If left alone to feed on the potion, fungus,
or other living things, the investigators would have a very rapidly
growing problem on their hands). Investigators will not be able to
create the mutagenic potion from scratch (unless they are taught the
specific list of ingredients and the ancient, sacred ritual,
i.e. Contact Cthugha, by the Tribesman, and the Tribesman really do
not like outsiders. When they create a Cthughan to kill their enemies
and thin out the population of the surrounding area, they simply go
into hiding untill the Cthughan has nothing (nobody) left to eat and
starves to death.
Well Cthulhu Fans, that's all for now... I hope Keepers will enjoy the
challenge that this new moster will pose for their intrepid
investigators, and I hope the investigators will enjoy the horror or
realizing that just ONE mythos monster can ruin their whole day...
UNTIL THE STARS ARE RIGHT ONCE AGAIN,
Mikal "No, YOU hold the lantern" Phillips
TLOVE@MICROSYS.NET
--------------------
From: d.bourne@dial.pipex.com (danny bourne)
Subject: All Hands On...: A Mythos Deck
System: Mythos
Here is the All Hands On.... deck (one of the few Mythos jokes you can
do) which came midtable in a Sheffield Tournament. You'll have to wait
to see what the winning deck was.
ADVENTURES
The Expedition
The Temple
The Cruise
ALLIES
George Birch
Raymond Legrasse
Wakalea x2
Harry Houdini
Howard Lovecraft
Mrs Sonia Lovecraft
Albert Shiny
Frank Belknap Long
ARTIFACTS
Diving Suit
Disk of the Hyades
EVENTS
Amnesia x2
An Unexpected Calamity
Influenza
Powerful Storms
U-boat x2
Surprise Meeting
Tramp Steamer
Mauretenia
Titanic
Portaphobia
Discover Secret Cache
LOCATIONS
Arkham Sanitarium
Miskatonic University Orne Library
Lost Temple of Atlantis
Retoka
Otaheite
Easter Island
American Museum of Natural History
Bellevue Hospital
Congregational Hospital
Red Hook
Penn Central Train station
MONSTERS
Shoggoth
Shantak
Hunting Horror x2
Gnoph Keh
Goody Fowler's Ghost
SPELLS
Angles of Tagh Clatur
Sign of Eibon
Create Time Warp
Fly
Sign of Barzai
TOMES
Ponape Scriptures (Glyphs)
De Vermiis Mysteriis
Hutchinson Cypher
Drawbacks: this deck relies on an investigator that speaks Latin. It
is also susceptible to phobias. It would possibly be better to use
Providence locations rather than New York locations to get the Glyphs
speaking allies (and also find Locations to remove phobias).
Advantages: Many of the cards needed for adventures are denial cards,
Amnesia & Unexpected Calamity. These, with luck and played well, can
wreak havoc with opposing decks. Although you have to travel quite a
bit, Create Time Warp and Fly make this deck surprisingly
versatile. The idea behind this deck was to play only the cards needed
directly for an adventure and then finish the turn as soon as
possible, ideally completing the game at the Temple of Atlantis.
--------------------
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