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Chaosium Digest Volume 25 Number 06
Chaosium Digest Volume 25, Number 6
Date: Sunday, March 8, 1998
Number: 1 of 2
Contents:
Fire Bombs: A Delta Green Plot (Paul Williams) CTHULHU NOW
SIZ Chart (B. Byars) MISC
Announcement: GloranthaCon VII (Janice Sellers) MISC
Editor's Note:
This week a digest in two parts. In V25.6 you'll find a potpourri of
cool stuff: a short plot outline for Delta Green; a chart of heights
and weights for various BRP SIZes; and a final announcement for
GloranthaCon VII (just a month away!). Over in V25.7 you'll find a
long article on Fir Bolg in Pendragon.
For next issue I have a few long Mythos pieces lined up. See you in
two weeks!
Shannon
NEW RELEASES:
* Call of Cthulhu - _Day of the Beast_ (Chaosium, 128 pg., $19.95), by
Keith Herber, et al., is a revision of the classic _Fungi from
Yuggoth_ campaign. This is an episodic campaign set in the 1920s
involving the machinations of a global cult and encounters with
half-a-dozen Mythos races. This new edition features three totally
new adventures to set up the campaign, as well as expanded Celaeno
and Dreamer sections, and lots of revisions. ISBN 1-56882-125-5.
BOOKS OF NOTE:
* Nephilim - _On Crusade: More Tales of the Knights Templar_ (Warner /
Aspect, 246 pg., $11.99) is an anthology of short stories about the
Templars, and a sequel to an earlier anthology, _Tales of the
Knights Templar_, which was published in 1995. Like the earlier book
it is edited by Katherine Kurtz and contains interesting bridging
text on Templar history. Authors are Duane, Harris, Honigsberg,
Woods, Reginald, Norton, Sinor, Kurtz, Doyle, MacDonald, and
Spangler. ISBN 0-446-67339-0.
* Pendragon - _The Wolf and the Crown_ (Harper Prism, 326 pg., $14.00),
by A. A. Attanasio, is the third book in Attanasio's series about
Arthor, Eagle of Thor. The first two books are _The Dragon and the
Unicorn_ and _The Eagle and the Sword_. This third book concerns
Arthor's first year as monarch. ISBN 0-06-105370-8.
NEW ELECTRONIC RESOURCES:
The Mana Brothers Cthulhu Page
http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/zenith/134/cthulhu.htm
A new site still under construction. It currently features "The Book
of Characters"--professions and background for PCs and NPCs in the
'20s--plus the first two installments of The Turin Guidebook--a
timeline for Italy and an extended Tale of Terror set in Turin between
1918 and 1938.
The Byakhee Character Generator
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Haven/4173/byakhee.html
A new CoC investigator sheet editor for Windows 95. Freeware that can
print out every character sheet from the CoC 5 rules.
--------------------
From: Paul Williams <paulw@betanet.co.uk>
Subject: Fire Bombs: A Delta Green Plot
System: Cthulhu: Delta Green
Here is a plotline for Delta Green, set just after the Gulf War
(although in theory it could be set anytime between then and
yesterday). The adventure does not mention politics, nor the
righteousness of the war; it is just a roleplaying adventure set
around a situation many of us know about. I was heavily influenced by
a recent _2000AD_ story which used djinns instead of fire vampires--I
have merely adapted it for CoC.
FIRE BOMBS: A DELTA GREEN PLOT
The players are summoned by their superiors and shown a bunch of
aerial photographs of burnt out apartments and shops. The pictures are
in black and white but it is clear that fire caused much of the
damage, rather than an explosion. There is an initial impact point
clearly marked on the photos but there is no crater. The PCs' superior
informs them that these are pictures of Tel Aviv after a SCUD missile
hit during the war and have just been "made available" by Mossad. If
the players do not comment on the damage, he will, stating that the
SCUD hit the ground but there was no explosion, rather a firestorm
swept out of the warhead. If the Iraqis were using conventional
chemical warfare there would be chemical traces--the Israeli found
none. They are directed towards a civilian in Tel Aviv who claims to
have seen one of the warheads explode but is too afraid to talk to
Mossad. In return for information the PCs are to grant him a visa to
enter the States (other country as appropriate to the setting).
On arriving in Tel Aviv the PCs are immediately followed by Mossad
agents who discovered the security leak that allowed the PCs to gain
access to the photos and are now trying to clean up any loose ends.
The witness can be found easily enough and he is badly burned. He
insists on having the visa first. He tells the PCs that when the
warhead hit he ducked, waiting for the explosion, but nothing seemed
to happen. He came out from behind the wall he was sheltering behind
and saw a firestorm. Not a normal firestorm he adds, but one made up
of millions of small globes of fire which seemed to move randomly. He
was hit by three of them. He also has a fragment of the warhead case,
which he recovered later. Inside is a partial Elder Sign. The PCs are
to escort the witness to the airport and put him on a plane to
America. As the PCs leave the witness' house Mossad turn up and
attempt to gun them down, as well as the witness. Eventually the PCs
escape (I hope).
Returning home they can hypothesise about the meaning of the Elder
Sign. Research reveals that Hitler used a similar sign inside
incendiary versions of his V2 rocket. A team of DG agents eventually
found and destroyed his research base in the Bavarian Alps. The only
surviving member mentioned something about a star gate before he died.
Checking satellite photos of Iraq shows unusual heat sources around a
disused army base in central Iraq. If the team have friends in any
special forces group currently in the group they can do some scouting
for them, otherwise its down to the library. Whatever way the
information is gained, the team learns that the base is supposedly
disused after intensive Allied bombing during the war, but was
supposed to be a research base of some kind.
The team is volunteered to enter the base, find out what is going on,
and stop it by any means possible. The getting to the base, the base's
layout and the defenses are up to the individual GM. Make it hard, but
don't go overboard. The Iraqis aren't expecting much trouble.
Inside the base the Iraqis have opened a permanent gate to Fomalhaut
and are sucking fire vampires through into the world, for use in their
specially prepared warheads. Anyone looking in the gate sees Cthugha,
surrounded by fire vampires (SAN loss). The team is to blow the gate
up, as this will seal it forever. As the gate explodes a huge fiery
tendril (Cthugha) shoots through and ignites the laboratory. Within
minutes the whole base is alight and eventually explodes. Before it
does so, the PCs get a chance to grab research papers.
How the PCs get home past the increased Iraqi army activity is up to
the individual GM.
Research Notes: +2% Mythos, 1d4/1d8 SAN loss, written in Arabic, 199?
Contain: Summon/Bind Fire Vampire, Summon/Bind Cthugha, Create Gate,
Create Permanent Gate (don't know the name of this spell)
Please excuse any incorrect spells in the research notes, my rules are
not readily available.
Regards,
Wiggy
a.k.a. Paul Williams
--------------------
From: <bbyars@bju.edu>
Subject: SIZ Chart
System: Misc
I designed this chart specifically for Pendragon, but it could be
useful in other fantasy rpgs as well. Since the SIZ statistic reflects
a character's physical structure, I choose to use it as a point of
reference in choosing the heights and weights of my characters.
Height (in.) Weight (lbs.)
SIZ Male Female Male Female
5 61 59 121 109
6 62 60 125 112
7 63 61 129 116
8 64 62 134 120
9 65 63 138 124
10 66 64 142 128
11 67 65 146 132
12 68 66 151 136
13 69 67 155 140
14 70 68 160 144
15 71 69 164 148
16 72 70 169 153
17 73 71 174 157
18 74 72 178 162
19 75 73 183 166
20 76 74 188 171
Note: Feel free to make adjustments as necessary. For example, I have
a SIZ 10 female NPC. According to the chart, she would be 5' 4" (64
in.) and 128 lbs. However, she has a very high APP statistic, so I
slimmed her down to 5' 4" 108 lbs. Also, I have a heroicly STR knight,
so instead of keeping him at 6' 2" 178 lbs., I bulked him up to 240
lbs. Use your own judgment in making the adjustments. If you are
familiar with BMIs (body mass indices) and technically minded (like
me), you may wish to develop your own BMI spreadsheet based on APP or
CON to help you adjust the weight.
--------------------
From: <janice@chaosium.com>
Subject: Announcement: GloranthaCon VII
System: Misc
ANNOUNCEMENT:
GloranthaCon VII
May 22-25, 1998
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.
Everything and everyone are coming together for GloranthaCon VII,
which will take place in conjunction with the Gamex Convention at the
LAX Wyndham Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
FEATURED GUESTS
Greg Stafford, the creator of Glorantha, and Robin Laws, the author of
the new Glorantha RPG, will be Guests of Honor. Guests of Distinction
will include Sandy Peterson, Michael O'Brien (MOB), Larry DiTillio,
David Hall, David Cheng, David Dunham, and Stephen Martin.
HOTEL
The convention will take place at the LAX Wyndham Hotel, 6225
W. Century Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045; (310) 670-9000. Room
reservations must be made directly with the Wyndham. The convention
room rate is $84 (plus taxes)/night for a single, double, triple, or
quad. The cut-off date for this rate is May 8, 1998.
The Wyndham runs a free shuttle between the hotel and
L.A. International Airport.
For those driving, parking at the hotel is $6/day ($9 for valet
parking) with convention validation, and free (but still $9/day for
valet parking) for hotel guests.
EVENTS
Regular GloranthaCon events will include Stafford Reads, Trollball,
Gloranthan Storytelling, and the Glorantha Auction.
NEW GLORANTHA RPG DEMONSTRATIONS
Our featured game will be the demos of the Glorantha RPG, the new game
coming from Issaries, Inc. Robin Laws and a specially trained demo
team will run and teach the game on Saturday and Sunday.
Additional events already scheduled are Once Upon a Time in Glorantha
(Gloranthan version of the storytelling card game); Three Heads are
Better than One (a freeform LARP); two Gloranthan miniatures games;
and seminars on Mythology of the Red Moon, Glorantha RPG, History of
the Orlanthi, The Seattle Farmer's Collective Cultural Exchange,
Secret History of Sun County Seminar, and the First Age.
There is still some room for additional events. Anyone interested in
running an event should contact Roderick Robertson at
<Roderick_J_Robertson@ccm.sc.intel.com>.
REGISTRATION
Please register through us for GloranthaCon. Preregistration is $27.50
through May 1, 1998. After that date registration is $33.00. Checks and
money orders must be in U.S. funds and should be made out to
"Strategicon." Please mail them to:
GloranthaCon c/o Janice Sellers
Chaosium, Inc.
950-A 56th St.
Oakland, CA 94608
Preregistration materials will then be mailed to you.
For further information, please contact Janice Sellers at
<janice@chaosium.com>.
--
