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Chaosium Digest Volume 19 Number 08
Chaosium Digest Volume 19, Number 8
Date: Sunday, May 25, 1997
Number: 1 of 2
Contents:
CF: The Great Menagerie (Shannon Appel) MYTHOS
Zombie Variants (Bryan J Stewart) CALL OF CTHULHU
Editor's Notes:
This week, two volumes worth of articles: a pair of Card Files for
Mythos, a short adventure for Pendragon, and some monsters for Call of
Cthulhu.
Shannon
NEW RELEASES:
* Call of Cthulhu - _Minions_ (Chaosium, 64 pg, $10.95), by Paul
McConnell, is a set of 15 short encounters. Each one should be
runnable in a few hours. Cultists, dark young, deep ones, serpent
people, and more abound in these pages. _Minions_ started shipping
last Tuesday, and will start to appear in stores at the end of this
week.
* Glorantha - _Tales of the Reaching Moon, Issue 16_ (Reaching Moon
Megacorp, 64 pg.) is the Lunar Special. It contains cults for the
Red Emperor and Danfive Xaron, part of the Seleric Verses, a Holiday
Glorantha describing the Oronin Valley, Rodin Greanbeak's treatise
on plants of the red moon, and more. Tales #16 is currently
available from the RMMC or Wizard's Attic.
RECENT BOOKS OF NOTE:
* Pendragon - _The Eagle and the Sword_ (Harper Prism, TPB, 340 pg,
$14.00), by A. A. Attanasio, is the sequel to _The Dragon and the
Unicorn_. It's about Pendragon's Son, Arthor. Like the original
book, it seems to be a very different take on the legend. Published
in Britain as _Arthor_.
_The Singing Sword_ (TOR Forge, HC, $23.95), by Jack Whyte, is the
sequel to _The Skystone_. It actually came out late last year, but I
didn't see it until this week. The first book in the series was a
terrific story about the dying days of Roman Britain. This book
continues the story, as a small stronghold tries to survive
Britain's darkest age.
--------------------
From: appel@erzo.org (Shannon Appel)
Subject: CF: The Great Menagerie
System: Mythos
** THE CARD FILES: THE GREAT MENAGERIE **
THE CARD
--------
Name: The Great Menagerie
Set: The Dreamlands
Type: Adventure
Subtype: Corrupt
Value: +6
San: +2
Text: It is your goal to gather together a fantastic menagerie of the
most splendid creatures in the world. With the help of your friend
(and _ADVENTURER or EXPLORER_), journey to _THREE different OUTSIDE
LOCATIONS_, and discover _FOUR MONSTERS of different subtypes_. Once
your creatures have been gathered, you will need to find a nice _CITY
LOCATION_ to house your menagerie in.
THE SOURCE
----------
None in particular.
CLARIFICATIONS
--------------
The card listing for this adventure is: Adventurer or Explorer; three
different Outside Locations; four Monsters of different subtypes; and
city Location.
QUESTIONS
---------
Q: Can a single Location be used for both an outside Location and a
city Location?
A: As is noted in the Mythos rules "One card can not meet two
requirements on the same Mythos card... Multiple copies of the same
card may each be used to satisfy different requirements on the same
Adventure card." This means, you must have at least four Locations
in your Story Deck to play this Adventure. If you have two copies
of an Outside City Location in your Story Deck, one may used to
fulfill the Outside requirement, and another to fulfill the City
requirement. This is, in fact, an excellent strategy.
Q: Can I use Monsters in play as Allies to play this Adventure?
A: No. Whenever a card moves from one part of the in-play area to
another, it tends to totally change its card type. A Monster in
play as an Ally is solely of the Ally type, and not of the Monster
type. The card will revert to being a Monster when it goes into
your Story Deck.
STRATEGIES
----------
The best strategy for using an Adventure is to optimize a deck for
it. Here are a few suggestions for optimizing for the Great Menagerie.
* On Where to Set this Adventure - There are five requirements which
may restrict region and dimension choice: adventurer or explorer;
three outside locations; one city location.
The Ally requirement is the tightest, and is met by the following
cards: Etienne-Laurent de Marigny (WW, LC, any City), Laban
Shrewsbury (WW, LC, Arkham), T. E. Lawrence (WW, ME, any Country),
Iranon the Musician (DL, Any Site), and The Hunter (DL, Any
Country).
The Following subregions have at least three Outside Locations and a
City Location: Arkham (WW, LC), Innsmouth (WW, LC), Kingsport (WW,
LC), Providence (WW, LC), and Celephais (DL, East).
Looking at Allies and Locations, Arkham is clearly the winner, but
the Adventure can be played without real problems in: Lovecraft
Country, the Middle East, and all of the Dreamlands. Don't be afraid
to add in nearby Outside Country Locations if required. You should be
rewarded with slightly better cards. If you're in Lovecraft Country,
take advantage of the outside Waterbury State Hospital in Vermont. If
you're in the West of the Dreamlands, the Temple of Bokrug is Outside.
* On the Many Subtypes of Monsters - It is helpful to remember that
there are actually seven subtypes of Monsters. There's the Lesser
and Greater Independents and Servitors which you probably think of
straight off. That's four of the subtypes. There's also Living Dead,
although they haven't been seen since Limited. And, finally we have
#6 and #7: Great Old Ones and Outer Gods. The more subtypes you put
in your deck, the likelier it'll be that you draw at least four
different subtypes. You might want to consider one of the other
Adventures that requires a GOO (Seeking Everlasting Life II or
The Hero's Journey) as a good match for this Adventure.
* On Joining Monsters - One of the problems with multiple subtypes is
that you usually can't play them together, even if you have them all
in your hand. Joining Monsters can get around this. There are a few
Monsters which Join across subtypes. Deep One + Shoggoth + Father
Dagon + Mother Hydra is a pretty good combination, since you'll have
two Lesser Servitors and two Greater Servitors which can all be
played at once. Buopoth and Giant Albino Penguins are also excellent
choices. They are both Lesser Independents that Join with all
Monsters. Another possibility is using Cthulhu. As a Great Old One,
he will count as one of your four subtypes. He will also allow all
the rest of your Monsters to Join.
* On Summoning Monsters - Summoning Monsters has several advantages.
First, it allows Monsters to go straight to the Story Deck, instead
of waiting in the Threat for an entire turn. Second, it allows
Monsters to be brought into play without the use of gates. There are
also disadvantages. It's costly in Sanity, and you can only bring
one Monster into play at a time, but still you should consider
having some Summoning devices in your deck, just in case. As of
Dreamlands, there is a S/C spell for every subtype but GOOs and
Outer Gods. Also, if you play in the Dreamlands, you can take
advantage of a few different Lairs, which allow the Summoning of
Monsters for no extra Sanity.
* On the Power of Thaol - If you have the Circles of Thaol out with
the Star Stone of Mnar, you can Summon both a Lesser Independent and
a Greater Independent. You flip the spell, and then get to Summon
and attack with two different Monsters. This is another tricky way
to play Monsters from two subtypes at once. Consider putting this
potent pair in your deck.
* On Optimizing your Locations - This Adventure calls for three
Outside Locations and one City Location. You should try and include
as many combined Outside/City Locations as possible, so you can
choose to use them for either requirement, as necessary.
* On Optimizing your Allies - As with any Adventure, it is better to
have two different Allies who meet a specific Ally requirement (in
this case Adventurer or Explorer) then it is two have two copies of
the same Ally. If you had two copies, the second one in your hand is
a wasted card, while if you had two different Allies, you could play
them both.
Once you're actually playing, one of the most important things you can
do is prepare for an adventure before-hand. That is, set yourself up
for it while working on prior adventures. If you follow all the
preparation suggestions below, you can play this new Adventure a
minimum of four cards after your previous Adventure, and the three
cards in between are relatively easy: two Outside Locations and one
City Locations. (Actually, there's likely one more turn required, when
you convert Allies into Monsters, as noted below, but you may be able
to use a "free turn" during combat to do that.)
* On General Preparations - In this case, you can try and get your
adventurer or explorer out, and try to hold on to outside Locations
and rarer Monster subtypes.
* On Preparing Monsters - This takes more work, but can be done. What
you want to do is get a Monster of each subtype into play as an
Ally. The Kitab Al-Azif is the easiest way to do this. There are a
few other methods, such as getting Mi-go into play as Allies using
N'gah-Kthun, but they aren't as convenient. Once your Monsters are
in play as Allies, make sure you have a way to easily convert them
back into Monsters (they're Allies, not Monsters at this point).
Call Power of Nyambe is probably the best method, since it's
relatively subtle until you use it. You could also stock up on
Enchanted Weapons, and use your Monsters to attack when you're ready
to play your Adventure, but not only does this tend to freak out
your opponents and make you a target, but it's also slower.
* On Preparing Locations - You need three Outside Locations for your
deck. Why not be sitting at one when you play your previous
Adventure?
And finally, here's a deck possibility:
* On the Underworld Deck - It turns out that the Underworld in the
Dreamlands is a pretty good place to play The Great Menagerie. There
are lairs for three different subtypes of Monsters. Though there are
only four different Outside Locations, one of them is a City as
well. The Tower of Koth and the Great Abyss should be ignored; the
other five Underworld Locations are all good to use. A few copies of
The Hunter will fill the Adventurer requirement. Since he can be
buried to give you a benefit, having the extra copies won't hurt
you. Use the Kitab Al-Azif and the Brilliant Egyptian Archaeologist
to make the Adventure easier to play. Several GOOs are easily
playable since the Underworld is Underground and has Outside Country
Gates: Ghatanathoa, Hastur, Abhoth, Nodens, Nyarlathotep, and
Tulzscha. Don't forget to use Limited Edition Dholes, which are 5/-1
if you are Underground.
Staging an entire deck in the Underworld is possible, though
difficult. Four-Armed is Forewarned, as well as some of the other
tiny (5 or 6 point) adventures are playable. You'll need to go spell
heavy, and use Call Power of Nyambe, Soul Singing, and Steal Life to
gain Sanity since there are no Underworld Sanitariums. If you're
going spell heavy, consider Nyarlathotep, playable at Outside Gates.
He'll count as a subtype, and make the playing of other spells
free. He won't help with the above three spells, since you can't
gain Sanity, but if you have lots of other spells he'll be
cool... If you do this, you'll need to add the Tower of Koth, since
it's the only Tome Location in the Underworld.
Another possibility is to make the Underworld your primary home, but
have occasional trips to Waking World Sanitariums. This works well
because the Dimension-travelling items (ie, the Silver Key) stay in
play, so you can step back and forth. You could do the same trick
with Dreamlands Sanitariums and Travel Events, but it honestly isn't
as easy.
COUNTER STRATEGIES
------------------
The first step in countering an Adventure is recognizing it is being
played. Here's how to watch for The Great Menagerie. If someone shows
two or three of the following signs, they're probably playing this
Adventure. Here's the signs, in order, from least important to most.
* The Adventurer or Explorer - As of the Dreamlands, there are only
five Allies who match this criteria, all listed above. Having one of
these Allies out is a danger sign.
* The Outside Locations - Outside Locations usually make up 1/3 or
less of most Cities. If someone is playing almost all Outside
Locations, this is a another danger sign.
* The Four Monster Subtypes - This is the giveaway. If an opponent has
lots of Monsters, unrelated by theme, and they span lots of
subtypes, they're probably playing this Adventure. Especially watch
for Buopoth and Giant Albino Penguins, since they're not terribly
common cards.
Once you've recognized an Adventure, you need to defeat it. This is
typically done by discarding required cards or burying cards required
to play other cards. Here's possible ways to do that, in order from
least annoying to most.
* Hide an Ally - A minor annoyance at best. You can slow down your
opponent by putting his Ally into the Threat with Body Warping of
Gorgoroth or Innsmouth Look. Usually, this will make it so he can't
play his Adventure until at least the next Round. You can make this
nastier by then casting Blasphemous Obeisance. You might end up
knocking the Ally back to your opponent's hand. This can be a big
problem if the Ally was brought out by Surprise Meeting, or in a
different subregion.
* Get Rid of Summon/Control Spells - This will just slow your opponent
down. Ways to do this include: Wilbur Whately, the Insects of
Shaggai, and Song of Hastur.
* Destroy a Location - The Outside Locations are the most vulnerable
in this Adventure because so many different ones are required.
Discard those via Cthulhu Rising (possibly paired with Hurricane),
Green Mist of Doom (definitely paired with a Night card), and Wave
of Oblivion.
* Destroy an Ally - You can Discard an Adventurer or Explorer via one
of several cards: Command of the Bloody Tongue (paired with
something to bury the Ally), Limited Edition Nightgaunts, and the
Awful Doom of Cerrit. This will work particularly well if your
opponent is playing in the Middle East, where there is just one of
the required Allies.
* Destroy a Monster Subtype - If an opponent has Monsters out as
Allies, use one of the Discard Ally tricks to try and selectively
weed out one of your opponent's subtypes. Blasphemous Obeisance is
another good card, since it returns a Monster to your opponent's
hand.
--------------------
From: bryan.stewart@juno.com (Bryan J Stewart)
Subject: Zombie Variants
System: Call of Cthulhu
Zombies are a good part of Call of Cthulhu for beginners. In a group
of players that is used to hack and slash, a couple of zombies are the
cure.
JU-JU (VOODOO) ZOMBIE
These are Voodoo zombies that are poisoned and die, or seem to, and
wake up a few days later. They truly become zombies when a voodoo
priest calls for them and performs a ritual.
Real life sources say that the voodoo zombie is a person that was
poisoned. As far as we know, one of the main ingredients is poison
from a fish that puts a person into a very deep coma. Doctors think
the victim is dead, so they hold a funeral, and people flip out when
they see the person walking around a week later. They is the same
person, but he can not remember anything about the past week.
In movies, the same thing happens, but then a priest calls to the
victim, usually through some personal item of theirs, kills the
person, and then performs a rite. This usually involves draining the
blood, and always includes sewing the mouth shut. Afterward, the
victim is a true zombie.
LIVING ZOMBIE: a voodoo zombie that has only been poisoned. They seem
to be normal people that a while back lost about a week of memories.
Stats: as a normal human, except for POW, which is drained down to
half. The other half is put by a priest into a personal item.
Weaknesses: these Living Zombies don't like salt. Too much will make
them convulse. A salt packet poured into their drink would make them
seem to have a seizure. They also have an unexplained phobia for
salt. If a salt shaker were knocked over on a table, and salt splashed
toward a Living Zombie, it would jump.
Game Play: a friend may be turned into a zombie. The cure would be to
get back the personal item and kill the voodoo priest.
THE CALLING: The range of this calling is the priest's POW in
miles. When a voodoo priest calls a human with his personal item, the
human can make a resistance roll Pow Vs Pow of the priest.
If the priest succeeds, the human is totally controlled. He can be
commanded to walk and fight anything in his way (only bashing with his
hands). The victim gets glass-eyed, mumbles under his breath, and goes
to the priest as he is commanded to do so. They can be stopped, locked
up, tied up or whatever else, though they will try to get free. The
zombies are unaware of their surroundings, and have almost no care for
their own safety.
If the human succeeds, he feels a little strange, and if he rolls
POWx5, the victim sort of knows where the priest is.
LIVING DEAD ZOMBIE: A sickly-looking human, gaunt and skeletal, with
its mouth sown shut.
Stats: the same as in the rule book execpt for STR, which is 3d6, and
instead of Bite they Punch with hands if they don't have weapons.
Damage is 1d6+db. In large numbers they are very deadly, usually
ripping apart they enemies
Weaknesses: These zombies have a particular weakness for salt. They
can't cross a line of salt, and ingestion of a cup of salt will kill
them.
Game Play: these zombies are to best used in Louisiana/New Orleans or
other voodoo countries, and only with voodoo priests.
GOOD MOVIES: _The Serpent and the Rainbow_ and _Voodoo_.
MESSENGER ZOMBIE
This zombie is very strange, and it is not yet known how they are
made. The zombie is usually left as a warning. It is typically a
person the players knew or have meet. Alternatively, it may be used to
start an adventure.
DESCRIPTION: this is a dead person that is alive and can talk
somewhat. They have been tortured to insanity, and killed, but are
still alive. They usually have a message to say like "bruno says stay
off the east side". Afterward, they will ask for help. The only help
is death. The body is still alive, but can do nothing but lay there
and maybe twitch.
STATS: SAN lost is 2/1d8+1. The description should be very gross, and
the body is always mangled and tortured...
GAME PLAY: This is good for Voodoo Drug Cartels, mobs and others of
power, or a very evil person.
--------------------
The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial electronic 'zine about Chaosium's
Games. In no way should it be considered representative of the views
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