Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Chaosium Digest Volume 22 Number 10
Chaosium Digest Volume 22, Number 10
Date: Sunday, December 7, 1997
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
The Devil Arcanum (Peter Larsen) NEPHILIM
Days of Wine and Roses: A Mythos Deck (Cedric Chin) MYTHOS
Knee Deep in Leng: A Mythos Deck (Cedric Chin) MYTHOS
Announcement: Convulsion 4 (Lewis Jardin) MISC
Editor's Note:
This week in the Chaosium digest: an alternate take on the Devil
Arcanum for Nephilim, two Mythos deck outlines, and the announcment of
next year's British Glorantha and Cthulhu convention.
I'd like to get one last set of digests out this year, so send in
those articles.
Shannon
NEW RELEASES:
* Call of Cthulhu - _Scroll of Thoth_ (Chaosium, 400 pp., $12.95) by
Richard L. Tierney is the complete set of Richard Tierney's
sole-authored short stories about Simon of Gitta. There are lots of
hard to find Mythos stories collected in this book of swords,
sorcery, and horror. All the stories are placed in chronological
order with lots of introductory material setting up the first
century background.
(FRENCH) RELEASES:
* Hawkmoon - _Les Seigneurs des Sans-Masques_ (Oriflam, 144 pg.) is a
new sourcebook complete with 4 scenarios.
French Pendragon fans should watch for _Noblesse Oblige_, the
translation of _Lordly Domains_, due out in January, also from
Oriflam. As always, thanks to Frederic Moll for various French
sightings.
RECENT BOOKS OF NOTE:
* Elric! - _The War Amongst the Angels_ (Avon, $24.00), Michael
Moorcock's conclusion to his "Second Ether Trilogy", is finally
available in the United States. Together with _Blood_, and _Fabulous
Harbours_, _The War Amongst the Angels_ provides a new look at
Michael Moorcock's Multiverse. (Also of note is the _Michael
Moorcock's Multiverse_ comic still being published by DC, presenting
a new view of the "Second Ether Trilogy".)
(FRENCH) MAGAZINE SIGHTINGS:
* Call of Cthulhu - "Bon Sang Ne Saurait Mentir", an eight page
scenario set in Paris of 1922, Casus Belli #111 [Dec, 1997]
NEW ELECTRONIC RESOURCES:
The Delta Green Web Site
http://www.delta-green.com
Those with proper security clearance are invited to browse the data
herein.
The Shub Niggurath Web Site
http://www.missouri.edu/~c638625
Mythos fiction, soundbites, screenshots, a photo gallery and more,
much of it dedicated to Shub-Niggurath him-her-itself.
The Civ2 Glorantha Site
http://members.aol.com/~thecam/
Mods for Civ2 so you can play Gloranthan peoples, and more.
French Chaosium Scenarios
http://www.virandia.org/Jeux/Scenariotheque/Material/JeuTempo.html
Scenarios for Cthulu, Elric, Nephilim, Pendragon, and Stormbringer.
All in French.
Call of Cthulhu MiniMux
telnet://highfiber.com:6666
A miniMux about Call of Cthulhu.
Nightscapes #5
http://www.toddalan/~berglund/
The newest issue of the online Nightscapes 'zine, with new fiction, a
Bob Price essay on Brian Lumley's Mythos work, an essay on the Mythos
in comics, poetic parodies, poetry, and a reprinted review of
H.P. Lovecraft: A Life.
--------------------
From: Peter Larsen <plarsen@visi.com>
Subject: The Devil Arcanum
System: Nephilim
Major Arcana is a fine addition to the Nephilim game, answering many
questions and inspiring many plots. However, I am dissatisfied with
the rational behind some of the Arcana. For the Arcana to work, they
all need to have access to "The Truth," whatever that is. The Devil
Arcanum as written seems to be more of a thuggish social club than an
organization of immortal spirits dedicated to occult exploration and
trancendance. What follows is my attempt to reconcile Mr. Hite's work
with my own vision of the Devil Arcanum.
The Devil was once a very different group of nephilim. Dedicated to
the absolute denial of the Golden Path and human nature, they lacked
the qualities necessary to organize and defend themselves. As their
fortunes waned (see the "Secret History" below), some Devils made
compromises and slowly changed into the less cosmology-driven, more
malicious, Shab Devils of the Major Arcana write-up.
For the readers who haven't seen Major Arcana yet, I include a small
section of notes explaining the new terms. If this seems interesting,
I highly recommend picking up the book itself.
** THE DEVIL
General Philosophy
The Devil is the Arcanum of reverse and negation. It seeks to destroy
the Human "taint" in the Nephilim and rejects the Golden Path. It
seeks the KaIm state instead of Agartha, preferring Elemental Chaos to
Solar-Ka and Material Order. The conscious human mind of the Simulacra
is a distraction and a fraud and must be subdued and destroyed. Khaiba
is the state of KaIm thought and should be prized and cultivated, not
cured. Agartha is a lie; order, Solar-Ka, and progress are tricks by
nephilim deluded by human thought. "The Gate is open behind us."
Enemies and Allies
Only the Moon, the Hanged Man, the Selenim, and some Hermits
understand the failures of the Golden Path. Some Lovers are willing to
offer aid, although they enjoy the human world too much to be
trusted. All other Arcana are hostile, especially Strength, the
Magician, and the Sun. The Empress is especially horrified by the
Devil's reaction to the human mind.
The Devil rarely interacts with human groups of any kind. Only the
most debased and insane humans are tolerated for long, and the Devil's
hatred for the human heirs of Prometheus/Logos is nearly equal to the
Tower's.
Simulacrum
Destroy the mind completely and accelerate Metamorphosis as much as
possible. Devils who have completely dominated their simulacrum leave
a much greater mark on the physical body than other nephilim: the dead
simulacrum often shows severe physical distortion including bizarre
bone and tissue growth, odd skin texture, malformed internal organs,
and so on. These alterations, when discovered by humans, are usually
attributed to strange diseases (Elephant Man's Disease, Elephantitis,
etc) or birth defects.
The Mundane
The Devil has little or no contact with humans. Sometimes a "pure"
Devil will interact with Devils in Shabs for a specific end but they
are by nature loners, associating only for specific purposes.
ARCANE SECRETS
Initiation
For the last 1500 years or so the dificulty of true Devil initiation
is finding a teacher and getting it to teach. The mentor sets whatever
tests it feels necessary. These are usually degrading and occasionally
fatal. The inconstant nature of the Devil also makes life hard on the
prospective initiate. This is another reason why the Shabs have become
more powerful. As a rule of thumb, however, true Devil initiation
requires a Ka of 35, 50 Khaiba, Arcanum Lore (Devil) at 50%, Survival
and two other physical skills (Climb, Bite, Listen, etc) at 70%. At
that time, the Initiate will be taught the following spell. Once the
spell has been used to break the simulacrum's mind, the Initiation is
complete and the Initiate gains 20% (to a maximum of 70%) in Arcanum
Lore (Devil).
Break the Monkey Mind
Circle: Initiate Spell (Devil)
Ka-Element: Moon
Threshold: Arcanum Lore (Devil) 50%, Ritual Magic, Khaiba 20
Range: Caster
Area: Caster
Duration: Permanent
Common Components: Mirrors, treasured posessions from the
simulacrum's life.
Description: A lengthy (3hr +) ritual which must be cast on a night
with a positive Moon-Ka modifier. The nephilim accesses the
simulacrum's mind and, by pitting its Moon-Ka against the
simulacrum's Solar-Ka, attempts to destroy the simulacrum's
personality and consciousness. Each successful casting destroys 1d3
INT and CHA, 1 Solar-Ka, 1d10% Life Experience, and 1d10% from 1d3
unassimilated skills (intellectual and social skills are destroyed
by preference). If the casting fails, the nephilim loses a point of
Dominant Ka. Once INT=0, the simulacrum's identity is destroyed and
all unassimilated sills lose 2d10%. If the simulacrum's Solar-Ka
drops to 0, the simulacrum dies. If Solar-Ka drops below 6, the body
may suffer health problems.
Secret History
The Devil was once a considerably more prosperous and unified Arcanum,
the most numerous and powerful opponents to the Golden Path outside of
the Selenim. However, the Age of Heroes saw the destruction of many
great Devils. The defeat of the Titans in Greece, the Jotuns in
Scandinavia, and the Formors in Ireland are some of their more noted
failures. The deeds of "heroic" Devils, like Seth's defeat of Apep,
were later discounted or attributed to other, more human-friendly,
figures. Devil-Selenim cooperation was common during the Age of Heroes
and, as the Selenim were defeated, the Devils were decimated.
By the time of Anhkenaton, the Devil Arcanum was willing to be part of
his new plan, despite their continued opposition to the Solar
teachings. It was at this time that the "true" Devils began to lose
ground to the Shabs, who picked up ideas from the Hierophant, the
Lovers, and the Tower. As the most powerful old Devils were defeated
or, possibly, attained the KaIm state (or Agartha or whatever), fewer
teachers were available. The Shabs, with their limited understanding
and their confusion of Elemental Freedom with malice, became the
dominant expression of the Devil. A significant number of Shabs turned
to worship of "The Dragon" and other spirit beings, reversing the
usual role of Nephilim dominance of the elemental world. By 500 AD,
with the rise of Christianity in Europe and the identification of the
Devil with Satan, the modern Devil world-view was pretty much in
place. A few pockets of organized old Devils still existed in the far
west, north, and east, but they would collapse under pressure from
other nephilim and the new religion.
Secret Places
The disorganized nature of the old Devils did not allow for many
"Arcanum Sites." Most of those (like the Brocken in Germany) were
taken over by the Shabs. Individual old Devils may claim territory
including Nexi, Plexi, and areas of occult interest, but these claims
only last as long as the nephilim has use of or interest in them and
usually attain no lasting significance.
Arcane Techniques
The old Devils developed the techniques of Nesheni and 'Ari-Kheperu
used by the Shabs. After the simulacrum's mind is destroyed, the
nephilim's body becomes much more sensitive to the elements. All
Metamorphoses act as if they were 3 points higher. The body also heals
more quickly, tripling recovery times and allowing the nephilim to
recover from any wound that is not immediately fatal. Some old Devils
are able to exchange passions, changing their Metamorphosis over time
and picking up different traits and abilities.
Notes
The Shabs are groups of "modern" Devils, often associated with human
"Satan" groups. They are generally hostile to humans but more
malicious than philosophical about it. Nesheni is a nephilim technique
that creates panic in humans (Pan was, I suppose, a Devil Satyr).
'Ari-Kheperu is a set of techniques that allow a nephilim to manifest
Khaiba. There are seperate versions for Gigantism, Elementalism,
Dwarfism, and Etherialism. Various Shabs have access to some of these
techniques but usually not all. Shabs also have access to a lot of
strange summonings that are not used by old Devils.
Obviously, my conception of the Devil is not really suitable for
players. I just feel that they didn't make much sense in Major
Arcana. I mean, why would Anhkenaton want to include a gang of
malicious hooligans in his New World Order?
Peter Larsen
--------------------
From: cchin@frk.com (Chin, Cedric)
Subject: Days of Wine and Roses: A Mythos Deck
System: Mythos
Days of Wine and Roses
Introduction: Days of Wine and Roses, Come Sail Away, and Perchance*
have a high overlap of cards, making it rather difficult not to have
these three Adventures in the same deck. The deck is an
interdimensional deck between Kingsport and Celephais.
Sets: Dreamlands, MSGS optional.
Summary: Interdimensional deck between Kingsport and
Celephais. Artifact / Tome deck.
Munchkin cards: None.
Investigator: Any.
Adventures:
* Days of Wine and Roses
* Come Sail Away
* Perchance
* The Interesting Shop (optional)
Cards for Days of Wine and Roses:
- House Location in Kingsport: Any such cards, including those from MSGS.
- Sun Spots: Sun Spots, Event, Day (x2).
- Harbor of Celephais: Harbor of Celephais, Celephais (x2)
- Lute of Oonai: Lute of Oonai, Artifact, Unique.
- Wine of Pnoth: Wine of Pnoth, Artifact (x2). This Artifact is
assigned to an Ally.
- Evening: Evening, Event, Day (DL version). Or Evening, Event, Night
(MSGS version). (x2) The MSGS version is slightly better since it
allows you to discard a card and draw a new one.
- Steadfast Ally: Captain of the White Ship, Any Water (x2). Ibbix the
Harbormaster, Celephais. See Come Sail Away's Seaman requirement.
- Awful Doom of Cerrit: Awful Doom of Cerrit, Yellow Sign-icon card.
Other cards:
- Tome with the Yellow Sign-icon: Such a Tome is needed to hold the
Awful Doom of Cerrit Spell.
- Gate of Oneirology, Diamond-icon Spell (and a Tome to hold this
Spell): This Spell is used for interdimensional travel between the
Waking World and the Dreamlands.
- Silver Key, Artifact: This Artifact allows you to use a Gate for
interdimensional travel between the Waking World and the Dreamlands.
Cards for Come Sail Away:
- Kingsport Location: [Any House Location in Kingsport]
- Seaman: [Captain of the White Ship, Any Water (x2). Ibbix the
Harbormaster, Celephais.] The Terrible Old Man, Kingsport, Unique
(MSGS).
- Travel by Sea: The White Ship (x2), Event, Travel by Sea. With the
Captain of the White Ship, you may use this Event for
interdimensional travel.
- Basil Elton: Basil Elton, Kingsport (x2).
- Lighthouse: North Point Lighthouse, Kingsport (x2).
- Port: [Harbor of Celephais, Celephais (x2)]
- Dreamlands Location: Any such Location. This deck should have enough
Dreamlands Locations that this requirement isn't important to
consider for deck construction.
Cards for Perchance*:
- Day: [Evening, Event, Day. Sun Spots, Event, Day]
- Wine of Pnoth: [Wine of Pnoth, Artifact (x2)]
- Twister: Twister, Event, Storm (x2).
- House: [Any House Location in Kingsport (x2)]
- Palace: The Palace of Seventy Delights, Celephais (x2).
- Monster: Any such card (x2).
- Event: Any such card. This deck should have enough Events that this
requirement isn't important to consider for deck construction.
Cards for The Interesting Shop (Optional):
- Four different Locations with the Tome and / or Artifact Attribute:
[Harbor of Celephais, Celephais.] Many Locations from the MSGS set
satisfy this Attribute, as do Celephais Locations.
- Any Artifact or Tome costing at least one Sanity: [Lute of Oonai,
Artifact, Unique] Any such Tome or Artifact.
--------------------
From: cchin@frk.com (Chin, Cedric)
Subject: Knee Deep in Leng: A Mythos Deck
System: Mythos
Knee Deep in Leng
Introduction: This is the only deck that uses a Location in the North
(in the Dreamlands), namely the Plateau of Leng. This Location's
Special Effect is that its Gate is reusable for one Sanity, or for
free if a Star is in play. Obviously, this is a Location usable with
Knee Deep in Doom (+5). Pair this up with the best reusable Gate in
the game, 197 Pickman Street, Arkham, and you now have two Locations
in different Regions. This is the most difficult requirement for The
Strange Case of Charles Fort (+11). Since 197 Pickman Street is in
Arkham, it's easy to add The Interesting Shop (+5). The Strange Case
has a Star, Aldebaran Moves in the Sky, which allows you to reuse the
Plateau of Leng Gate with no Sanity loss, and which adds two to the
value of Byhakees, a 4-point Monster useful for Knee Deep in Doom.
Start playing in Arkham, where you can bring out the Allies, Tomes,
and Artifacts you need for the deck. You may wish to try the Pragmatic
Hobo or Homeless Waif with this deck. These Investigators have the
advantage of the widest range of Minimum and Maximum cards (0 to 7),
and draws a card every turn. But they have a hand size of only seven
cards. Thus, they work best with decks in which you can play nearly
any card in the deck easily, like this one: The Strange Case of
Charles Fort requires mostly Events. Knee Deep in Doom requires
Monsters and you should find plenty of Gates in this Arkham deck. The
Interesting Shop requires four City Locations with the Tome and / or
Artifact Attribute, which should be easy to play in this Arkham deck.
Sets: Dreamlands, Limited Edition.
Summary: Dreamlands / Limited Edition deck. Tome / Artifact
deck. Arkham, The North.
Investigator: Any. Try the Pragmatic Hobo or Homeless Waif with this
deck!
Munchkin cards:
- Aldebaran Moves in the Sky, Event: This Event, required in The
Strange Case of Charles Fort, removes all non-Travel Events in
play. It's most useful to remove Phobias on your Investigator,
without having to arrive at a Sanitarium, or rely upon an Ally. It's
also useful to remove Events that hamper your movement (e.g.
Powerful Storms, which prevent your playing a Travel by Air card).
Adventures:
* The Strange Case of Charles Fort (+11) (Moderate - Easy)
* Knee Deep in Doom (+5) (Moderate)
* The Interesting Shop (+5) (Moderate - Easy)
Cards for The Strange Case of Charles Fort:
- Professor or Inventor: Any such Professors, Arkham.
- Aldeberan Moves in the Sky: Aldeberan Moves in the Sky, Event (x2)
- Full Moon: Full Moon, Event, Night (x2)
- Eclipse: Eclipse, Event, Day (x2)
- Earthquake: Earthquake, Event (x2)
- Storm: Any Storm, Event, Storm (x2)
- Drought: Drought, Event (x2)
- Two Locations in different Regions: Any Arkham Location. Plateau of
Leng, The North, Dreamlands (x2).
Recommended cards:
- Gate of Oneirology, Spell, Diamond icon: This Spell allows you to
play a non-Exotic Location in another dimension.
- Create Time Warp, Spell, Eye icon: This Spell allows you to return
to a Location in your Story Deck. This is useful to return to a
Location in another Region or Dimension if you have no other means.
- Silver Key, Artifact: This Artifact allows you to use a Gate to play
a non-Exotic Location in another dimension.
Cards for Knee Deep in Doom:
- 20 points of Monsters: 40 points of Monsters, including Byhakee,
Dimensional Shamblers, and Shantaks (Limited Edition). These cards
provide the most points of Monsters for the least Sanity cost.
Recommended Cards:
- 197 E. Pickman, Arkham: This Location has a reusable Gate, for one
Sanity.
- Create Gate, Spell, Eye icon: This Spell allows you to play Monsters
to your Threat, for one Sanity, without needing to use a Gate. This
Spell may be cast during Combat, after Defending Allies have been
assigned. Thus, after you cast this Spell and play a Monster(s),
your opponent will not be able to use his Allies against your
Threat.
Cards for The Interesting Shop:
- Four different City Locations with the Tome or Artifact Attribute:
Any such Locations, Arkham.
- A Tome or Artifact costing at least one Sanity: Any such Tomes and /
or Artifacts.
--------------------
From: Lewis Jardine <jardine@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk>
Subject: Announcement: Convulsion 4
System: Misc
Hi All
To dispel any confusion caused by the incorrect email address for me
on the Convivium Website and to also allow any interested parties to
sign on now.
Here is the long awaited Convulsion 4 flier in emailable form.
The return form is in simple space formatted ASCII text so this
should print out properly and be easy to fill in and return.
By all means send me email returns, but please note that our
bank does not accept email cheques...
Cheers
Lewis
**
Convulsion
The Next Generation
College Hall, Leicester
24th to 26th July, 1998
England, the final gaming frontier.
This is the continuing Convention that boldly
goes where no convention has gone before.
This episode features:
Greg Stafford
as the legendary Glorathan commander
(with all his own hair)
Sandy Petersen
as the Cthuloid Science Officer
(with none of his own hair)
Michael O'Brien
as the MGF lovable tribble
(hairsuit or hirsute, that is the question)
****
Gasp at the decadent splendour of
The Life of Moonson Gloranthan freeform.
How many Quatloos will the gamesters bet
on the winner of the Mythos tournament?
Find out which of the security team will not return
from the next mission to the Cthulhu homeworld.
Find out all the latest gossip from planet Chaosium.
********
Book now to avoid disappointment!
This is an action-packed and fully interactive programme with:
freeforms, seminars, panels, free gaming, tournaments, singing,
eating, drinking, the Auction, and every other decadent pleasure
your mind can imagine (and your body can perform), all packed
into a tense and fast-paced weekend. Events commence on Friday
evening, and the Con formally closes on Sunday evening (though
there are "informal" last-night social events afterwards).
What the critics said:
"I've never had a Convulsion like it" - Sad Trekkie Monthly
"Makes Voyager look like an epic" - The Lonely Lozenge
The Convention is limited to 250 places.
Rooms at the Convention will cost:
* 20 ukp for 1 night
* 36 ukp for 2 nights
* 50 ukp for 3 nights
and include a hearty English breakfast with that special regional
delicacy - fried bread. However, we only require a 10 ukp (non-
refundable) deposit now.
There will be a nominal charge for the larger freeform games, to
to cover the printing costs, graft and suchlike.
In order to sponsor the trip for Greg, Sandy and MOB we have created
the Teelo Norri Poor Box, for which we will gratefully accept any
donations (either money or games to be sold at the auction).
Because of licensing laws, attendance is limited to those who will
be 18 or over at the time of the Convention. There is no admission
on the door, so please book as soon as possible to guarantee your
place. Return the form below to:
Lewis Jardine
CONVULSION
43 Windermere
Liden
Swindon
WILTS
SN3 6JZ
United Kingdom
email: jardine@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk
____________________________________________________________________
Name: ___________________________ Membership Information:
Badge Name: _____________________ Residential [ ] (20 ukp)
Address: ________________________ Non-Residential [ ] (30 ukp)
_________________________________ Room Deposit [ ] (10 ukp)
_________________________________ (non refundable)
Postcode: _______________________ Teelo Norri Poor Box:
Telephone: ______________________ ________________________ ukp
Email: __________________________ (thank you kindly Guv'nor)
I would like to run the following I enclose a cheque/PO for:
game/event: _____________________ ________________________ ukp
_________________________________ Made payable to "Convulsion"
_________________________________
Special Requirements (food etc.): I will be over 18
_________________________________ on the 24th July 1998.
_________________________________ I agree to have my membership
Signature: ______________________ information stored on a
Date:____________________________ computer database.
____________________________________________________________________
--
