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Chaosium Digest Volume 28 Number 11
Chaosium Digest Volume 28, Number 11
Date: Monday, October 18, 1999
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
* Halloween 1923 (CTHULHU) by Geoff, Susan, Alex & Isaac
check us out at
http://www.geocities.com/area51/dimension/1125
Editor's Note:
I don't know about the rest of you, but it's definitely
beginning to feel like Autumn here. I'm hoping that the
change in weather might inspire some more of you to submit
articles for the Halloween issue. Since last issue, I've
only received the Halloween 1923 article in this issue and
one reader's list of favorite Halloween films. Considering
that we have about 1500 subscribers, the response rate has
been abysmal.
However, I still have hope that the Halloween issue will be
the best of the entire year. I will be sending out the next
issue, Vol. 28.12 on Saturday October 30th so as to ensure
that it arrives in your mailboxes on Halloween. In it I will
include every good Halloween submission I've received.
Hopefully, I'll need more than a one part issue. Also, I'd
like to include the Chaosium Digest Top 10 Favorite
Halloween Movies list. However, I'll only include it if I
get enough responses to provide a decent representation of
the Digest subscribers.
That's my goal. It can only happen with your help.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
* Folks--
Please pardon the form letter. This is going out to well
over a hundred people of my acquaintance who I think might
be interested by the following news.
Penguin Books has just released a collection of H.P.
Lovecraft stories as part of their Classics series--a series
of more than 1600 titles including the likes of
Machiavelli's THE PRINCE and Darwin's THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.
The anthology is assembled by Lovecraft scholar and
biographer S.T. Joshi. It features the corrected texts Joshi
has assembled from Lovecraft's original manuscripts, and
includes an intro by Joshi as well as extensive endnotes.
It's also filed under "Literature" rather than "Horror" or
what have you.
In short, this is a quiet but very, very major
milestone--the culmination of a quest begun more than sixty
years ago by admirers of HPL, and one that portends an
ever-brighter future for this very worthy author. I'd like
to encourage every one of you to keep an eye out for this
book, as it's the perfect thing to hand to a friend or just
enjoy for yourself. The Amazon.com link for this title
appears below. (Note that it's a paperback, not a hardcover,
as Amazon's page suggests.)
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141182342/>
Although I am obviously somewhat prejudiced in this matter,
I have to say that I quite literally jumped up and down with
joy when I stumbled across this new release in a bookstore
today. It's something I've been hoping for throughout my
adult life, and while HPL's work is memorable even written
in sand, it's nice to see what could be termed "the
establishment" giving the man his long-overdue due. And it's
a very welcome portent for the future.
Anyway, I just wanted to share this (personally) very
exciting moment with people who I thought might relate. Best
wishes to you all, and may life find you as happily as it
has found me of late.
<- John Tynes - rev@tccorp.com -
http://www.John.Tynes.com/ ->
The journey from outsider to romantic is a short one, and
mostly consists of gaining hope.
-----------------------------
Halloween 1923
One of the investigators receives the following invitation a
week or two before Halloween.
You are cordially invited to experience the wonders of
Professor Lee de Forest's incredible Audion and the
unveiling of his newest invention PhonoFilm. The theme of
this year's Halloween Ball is the Ancient Pharaohs of Egypt,
our guest of honor will be the famed Egyptologist Howard
Carter. Dr Carter is just back from the sands of mysterious
Egypt where he along with the 5 Earl of Carnarvon discovered
the remains of Tutankhamen greatest pharaoh ever to reign in
the land of Cleopatra. October 31st 1923. Festivities
begin at 8:00 PhonoFilm at Midnight! 1302 149th Street.
RSVP with number attending.
Have each investigator decide what they will wear to the
party. Many costumes will not allow them to tote weapons
along. Guns are of course discouraged among high society
gatherings.
Professor Lee de Forest is an inventor with a knack for
coming up with great ideas, starting a business around them
and then having that business fail. He is now trying to
raise money to build a company around this newest invention,
which makes talking movies possible. This time around he's
brought in the aid of a promoter Harold McIntyre to help him
raise the money. McIntyre is an extraordinarily outgoing
fellow who insists that everyone call him "Mac". Anyone who
has or may know someone with money has been invited,
including the investigators. Although, they had only the
smallest of commitments from Howard Carter to be at the
party Mac thought it would be a fantastic idea to tag along
on Carter's fame to raise attendance.
The main goal of the party is to raise money. De Forest
(dressed as Anubis) talks up his invention and all the
interest he's gotten from Hollywood, but never raises the
topic of money. Mac (dressed as the Sphinx) pumps anyone
and everyone for money. No amount is too small. He
constantly refers to de Forest as "The father of radio" and
talks about the opportunity for getting in on the ground
floor. He is the consummate salesman and flatters
constantly. He plays on people's vanities promising acting
opportunities to some or the chance to own a piece of
Hollywood.
Carter may or may not show up. If you prefer, replace any
references to Carter with Dr. David Pierce a colleague of
Carter's, who was hoping to see the more famous archeologist
here tonight. Pierce was one of the lucky ones who was able
to go inside Tutankhamen's tomb after it was opened.
If Carter does show up (dressed in full archeologist gear),
admirers almost always surround him. At some point he (or
Pierce) will have a coughing fit and later one of the
investigators or someone else that was near Carter at the
time will start to develop a cough. This is nothing but a
red herring, but feel free to hint at the Curse of the
Mummy.
Professor de Forest mentions at some point when talking with
the group that the "screening" will take place in the room
behind the black curtains. Of course, he says, they must
promise not to go poking about in there until Midnight.
The investigators get a chance for action when at about
10:30 anyone who makes a Spot Hidden notices a figure
wrapped up like a mummy (one of eight mummies at the party)
slip behind the black curtain. If they take no action a
smashing sound comes from the room as an enraged John
Detweiller
smashes the PhonoFilm projector to pieces. Prompt action
will get them there in time to stop him. Lethal force
should be discouraged and will result in the investigators
being jailed for murder. Detweiller was a partner in one of
de Forest's earlier ventures and lost everything he had.
After he's smashed the machine he won't put up much of a
fight, but will scream and swear at de Forest until dragged
out by force. If asked de Forest will say that the man is
insane and stole from de Forest when they were partners.
If the PhonoFilm projector is smashed de Forest brings out
an earlier prototype which while cruder in design, functions
identically to the other.
When midnight comes everyone is ushered into a large sitting
room with a white sheet hanging on one wall.
The PhonoFilm runs for about four minutes. Starting with a
barber's quartet singing on stage at Coney Island and ending
with various shots of the rides at the amusement park.
People on rides scream as they whirl and tumble about. The
whole thing is amazing up until now there have been only
silent pictures. However, the sensitive investigators also
find the film somewhat curiously disturbing. There are
moments when the screams seem horrible, not the delighted
screams of thrill seekers, but the damned and terrifying
screams of insanity. Carter (or Pierce) turns ashen after
watching for a short time and runs from the room with the
film still going.
If an investigator follows, they find the badly shaken
Carter out on the front steps smoking a cigarette. Carter
seems to have heard something that no one else did. If
asked to describe it he says it sounded like the dead
screaming for revenge. He remains agitated and intent on
leaving, welcomes any offer for a ride home.
Does the PhonoFilm pick up sounds that normally go unheard?
Is Carter (Pierce) under the Curse of the Mummy or is he
just exhausted from his travels? Perhaps the investigators
befriend Carter (Pierce) and he later asks them to accompany
him on a dig in South America or Egypt. Or maybe the
investigators
By the way any money invested in The De Forest Phonofilm
Corporation is lost when it folds in 1925.
(Note: de Forest and Carter were actual people and although
such a party never took place, if you're willing to be
within a couple months of reality, it could have)
Resources
- Picture of de Forest at
http://www.invent.org/book/book-text/30.html
- Various de Forest bios at
http://www.cinemedia.com.au/SFCV-RMIT-Annex/rnaughton/DEFORE
ST_BIO.html
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