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Chaosium Digest Volume 28 Number 06
Chaosium Digest Volume 28, Number 6
Date: Sunday, July 17, 1999
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
* The Battle of Britain 1919 (CTHULHU) by Philip J Ebbrell
* Another Look At Insanity (CTHULHU) by Eric Yin
eyin@hsc.usc.edu
Editor's Note:
We've got a pair of Cthulhu articles for you this issue.
Philip Ebbrell's Battle of Britain 1919 presents an
alternate world for CoC players that is quite creative. He
leaves plenty of room for development by individual Keepers
so you can adapt it to fit your needs. Then Eric Yin of
USC's Dept. of Pathology gives us Another Look at Insanity.
Two really good articles, enjoy!
One final note. If, by some chance, you want to stop
receiving the Digest then just send an email to
majordomo@chaosium.com with unsubscribe chaos-digest in the
body of the message. If this fails, then send me the full
header of the Digest's you receive and I'll see what I can
do.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
I'd like to make my Arkham Horror expansions available to
subscribers of the Chaosium Digest. There are two
expansions I created, and play-tested at GenCon's 1991-1994.
They are complete games, except for artwork, and were
submitted to both Chaosium and Pagan Publishing, but both
have
shelved them for years. I have gone ahead and put them up
on my own web page for free download, with appropriate
"(TM)"s in place, as per the Chaosium on-line policy.
They are available on my games page at:
http://www.kreative.net/smith/dru/games/games.htm
I'd like to hear your feedback on this.
Thanks,
Dru Smith
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-----------------------------
The Battle of Britain 1919
SETTINGS
Cthuhlu on parallel earths, crossing Moorcock and Talbot
with Lovecraft.
Napoleon's continental system restricts Britain's expansion
and the loss of Canadian colonies produces further rifts
inside the country. A pro-French president in the early
1800's helps France keep hold of Louisiana and the
recognizing of The Black Napoleon leads to a wave of unrest
in British colonies.
Napoleon is successful in the Russia Campaign and agrees the
Treaty of Vienna in 1815. Russia loses its European
dimension and pushed back into Asia. Sweden gains its lost
provinces of Latvia, Finland back. The Confederation of the
Rhine is linked to France with Italy being split between
Austria and France. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies reaches
an accommodation with France. Spain is still war torn and
drains French manpower for most of these years. A truce is
agreed with Spain losing her colonies in the Americas and
Portugal is restored as a Kingdom.
France dominates Europe and has restricted British
development; the period after the Napoleonic Wars is long
and hard. France and the USA experience a faster leap
forward in their industrial bases and allow them to develop
at a similar pace to Britain.
Russia is forced to modernize again by Alexander, who uses
this period to propel the country forward as Peter the Great
did. Russia engages in conquest of the Near East and opens
up Persia and India to its armies by the end of the century.
It starts to turn itself into a modern state along
Bismarckian lines in the 20th century.
Britain has undergone some crises and found itself nearly
losing its Indian Empire in 1857, political crises in 1840s
and 1870s with the country suffering political unrest and
general labor unrest. This led to a coup led by the young
King Edward VII and a counter-coup by the Galdstone-Finn
Alliance. This left the UK split and isolated from the
continent, it caused those colonies that were governed from
Britain to declare themselves in-exile. These countries were
part of a British Empire, not ruled from Britain, but from
India, were the upper classes fled in the turmoil.
The UK declared itself a United Socialist Republics of
Britain and Ireland, and was left to fend for itself by an
enraged continent. What this does is force Britain to turn
inward and create a society that leaps forward in
technological terms. However, the Government is split, about
exporting its ideology as repression in Europe continues.
European intellects look towards Britain as an enlightened
society. 'Terrorist Liberation' groups start to stir on the
Continent and the Confederation states start to flirt with
the Russian Commonwealth and flex their muscles.
Britain has turned to the states for help, who have been
hampered from expanding westwards by Spain, France and
Russia, all who have colonies on the west coat
In Asia, China does not suffer from its lost of prestige as
Japan is late in being opened up and there is more a
collaboration between the three of The British Empire, Japan
and China. China is slowly modernized from its past and the
area is not as disrupted as in OTL, due to Russia turning to
the Near East.
The scramble for Africa is between a revived Spain, France,
The Two Scillies and Brazil, which has been developed in a
stable manner.
SCENARIO
The idea is to have the PCs gently introduced to this
parallel world, by dreams, lapses in sanity (due to rolls)
and gating to the wrong place.
The cultists involved in this world are seeking to cause a
world war, using Britain as starting point. There is to be a
counter-revolution launched by the new Prince of Wales who
is under occult influence, using Ireland as a base. Napoleon
the Seventh is expected to supply troops as well as the
Exiled British Royalists from their Hanoverian base in
Hegoliand.
However, the USR has been funding 'liberation' movements in
the Confederation of the Rhine and who have been backed the
USA. The attempted coup with set Europe ablaze with
terrorist outrages and a declaration of independence by the
states held under Bounpartists' thrall.
Use of French troops; will see the USA declaring war on
France and the invasion of French North American provinces.
It activates the American-Russian (NATO) which Britain is a
junior partner. War will erupt in the Far East in India as
the Imperial British Empire is forced to meet its alliance
commitments.
Spain is allied to France, who has have helped them to keep
the Spanish colonies intact in the Americas, which has led
Brazil to develop its own pact with the USA. The activation
of the each treaty will plunge the whole world in to a
catastrophic war. The dropping of an atomic bomb by German
Revolutionaries on Paris will fuel the war for a lot longer
and allow enough suffering to open the gate to the old ones.
STARTING POINT
The Players arrive at Peterloo (waterloo) Railway Station to
be greeted by Oonagh Pearse, Chief Inspector of Citizens
Office of Protection. PCs have been mistaken for their
alternative selves in the Special Patrol Group, a ruthless
and oppressive arm of the USR Government.
If the players refused or are confused, Oonagh will have
them carted off to the Lambeth Asylum in London. This will
mean a jump top scene three, although they could be asked to
prove their worth to the Royalist movement by the bombing in
Edinburgh, moral dilemma here and they could contact Oonagh
to stop the action and find themselves again, caught up in
the plot.
Scene One Infiltrating Royalist Romantic Movement
PCs are given a mission to locate a royalist sympathizer in
the Red or (Royal) Mile in Edinburgh pub. The contact is
Duncan Dewar, a seedy second hand dealer, who flirts with
the law. He will pass on details to the team about a
royalist terrorist outfit, 'The Defenders of Scone' after
Charles II enthronement there.
They are led by the Charismatic, Roger Macdonald, who will
be suspicious of their actions at first. Therefore the
bombing of Edinburgh will be their test for suitability. The
group acts as a coven with wild 'raves' in the countryside
to bind the members together and sacrifice POW to ???????.
The bombing campaign is to cause hysteria within the USR
that a terrorist group can operate within the secure borders
of the world's first socialist republic. This is part of a
general campaign across the country and this is only one of
many episodes during the period.
Scene Two Direct Action - Bombing Edinburgh
PC are asked to deliver a bomb to particular points in
Edinburgh, which will cause damage and lead a building up of
fear and tension within the country, that will allow the
Royalists the chance to launch their counter coup.
Scene Three Hospital for the Insane/Rescue
PC next mission is to rescue a member of the movement from
a mental institution, where the USR Government has placed
him.
This can also be the institution, where PCs have been put if
they refused to co-operate with Pearse earlier and after
some initial role playing about if they are mad in thinking
they have come from other world. They will be allowing them
to escape and find friends with the Royalists.
Scene Four Gunrunning for the Royalists
The next mission for the PCs is to be asked to go to
Denmark to buy Krupp arms for service in the Easter rising
by the Irish Royal Army in Dublin. This involves carrying
cash to the factory and negotiating a fair price for the
goods. These are to be shipped to southern counties in
trawlers and landed (a la Ryan's Daughter) on a dark and
stormy night.
Scene Five The Easter Rising
PC is now in Ireland and is expected to take part in the
Easter Rising, by now they should be suspicious of the mad
German and his cohorts in building the rebellion. They
should also know that the British Government is aware of the
actions and is waiting for the plan to be hatched. The
initial landing on the south coast will come as a surprise,
but the Airship Armanda will be seen off by heavier than
aircraft.
PCs are caught in the crossfire and be given command of the
escape root for the cultists, allowing them to escape with
the cultists' agents out of Dublin.
The PCs should escape the carnage and realizes that a world
war is starting.
Scene Six German Black Forest Castle
The war is now starting to engulf as the Confederation
states start to declare independence from France and ask for
Russia protection. Austria, France's ally demands they
withdraw their action and threaten invasion. Russia agrees
to the Confederation plans as it allows a corridor to
support USRB as a NATO ally. The PCs will now find
themselves travelling through a divided Europe towards the
small principally of ???????????. Here, the ?????? cult are
preparing their coup de grace for the final act of war. The
atomic bombing of Paris.
Finale Paris - Eiffel Tower
The airship???????, is carrying the NFB project to bomb
Paris. The PCs can make the decision to stop it. This could
see them trying to siege the airship and taking it elsewhere
to be destroyed. It is up to the GM to decide where the PCs
are going to be in the future, if they are not dead.
Aftermath
The NFB will blow the PCs by to their own world and they
should experience it as a dream, they could be pushed into
another alternative world like sliders or they could made to
stay in a world where the Old Ones are let loose.
Sources
The adventure is a cross between Lovecraft and Michael
Morocco universes, it is also linked to ideas of Bryan
Talbot and other cross-time worlds stories as well as
linking to the early twentieth century scientific romances
of
H G Wells and the like. GMs are encouraged to show the
belief in a utopian future, which is clear cut and
initially better than their world, however, the romantic
streak suggested by the Royalists is the counter weigh,
which the PCs must make a decision of which side they are
on.
--------------------------
Another Look At Insanity
In everyday life, there are insane persons who go about life
relatively unimpaired, and completely recognized as such.
Others exist who should be institutionalized, but are not.
Because of this, I had made up these rules for playing
insane characters in Call of Cthulhu back in my
undergraduate days. It is a set of guidelines that add
game mechanics to help the role-player simulate the
uncontrollable nature of insanity and put some checks on
what he may do while insane. Of course, there are certain
liabilities to playing an insane character, since continued
exposure to trauma and lack of competent care results in
further deterioration of the character's condition.
An Overhaul of Indefinite Insanity
Under the Sanity rules used in 5th edition Call of Cthulhu,
a character losing 20% or more of his SAN in an hour goes
indefinitely insane, and the player loses control of his
character to the Keeper. However, unless the Keeper has
specific plans for that character, it seems quite reasonable
to allow the player to continue playing the character until
it becomes obvious that he need to be institutionalized or
incarcerated. In the meantime, if the authorities are
unaware that the character has gone mad, or his colleagues
have nowhere to hospitalized him at the moment, there should
be no reason that the insane character should be discarded.
While in certain cases insanity results in extreme behavior
that would be difficult to role-play for most, there are
other cases in which the symptoms that are more subtle, and
leave the character with many of his faculties unimpaired.
In such cases, a few appropriate guidelines should be enough
to allow the player to continue controlling his character.
Sanity (SAN) is a representation of the character's mental
stability, and should reflect his state of mind. Thus, a
person who suffers a breakdown, but has SAN 70 is in much
better shape than a person with SAN 30. The degree to which
the beliefs, behavior, and perceptions of the character with
the higher SAN is altered should not be as drastic as the
character with a lower SAN.
The degree of seriousness to the character's insanity is
determined by his SAN score. Those characters with SAN 48
or less, are severely disturbed personalities, and must make
a successful SAN roll to overcome his irrational impulses
for a short period of time. Characters who have Minor or
Moderate disorders will only succumb to the irrational if
they fail a SAN roll. The duration of the temporary
lucidity, or irrationality could be determined using the
Temporary Insanity Table. When to make rolls is up to the
Keeper, who should take into account whether the character's
actions would be consistent with his insanity.
Indefinite Insanity Table
SAN Disability Notes
64-79 Minor Relatively unimpaired
49-63 Moderate Considered eccentric
32-48 Serious Considered strange
16-31 Debilitating A probable danger to self and others
0-15 Incapacitating Must be institutionalized
Using this system, each class of insanity should be broken
down into five degrees of Disability, each with its own
characteristic symptoms. Thus, Paranoia could be described
in this manner:
Paranoia
SAN Disability Symptoms
64-79 Minor The character exhibits
hypervigilance, and
is suspicious of those with whom he is
unfamiliar.
49-63 Moderate As above, but the character may
entertain
the idea that there may be someone or
something out to get him.
32-48 Serious As above, but even more so. The
character
may become compulsive about safety
precautions or protective rituals.
16-31 Debilitating The character becomes
delusional. All his
beliefs and perceptions become focused on
a conspiracy directed specifically against
him.
0-15 Incapacitating The character becomes unhinged
and maniacal.
He is a very dangerous person to be around.
He may see hallucinations.
Phobia can be described like this:
Phobia
SAN Disability Symptoms
64-79 Minor The character is frightened by the
object of
his phobia. He will cower and maybe run
whenever this object is encountered.
49-63 Moderate As above, but the character becomes
panic-stricken by the object, and perhaps
even representations or things that are
similar to the object. He may even lose
SAN if the object is encountered.
32-48 Serious As above, but his reactions are even
stronger
when the object of his fear is encountered.
He may start developing paranoia with regard
to the object of fear. He may develop a
split personality to deal with his fear.
16-31 Debilitating The character has delusions
regarding the
object of fear, and hallucinations where he
sees the object of his fear. He becomes
more and more irrational.
0-15 Incapacitating The character is so enthralled
by his phobia,
that he is completely unable to function.
He may have locked himself in a fortress
against the object of fear, or may have gone
catatonic.
Insanity is a complex disease, and symptoms manifest
themselves differently in different people. The tables give
a general guideline on how the player should play the
character, but the Keeper can be as specific as he likes.
Keepers should tailor each character's insanity and its
progression based on the cause of the trauma, and the
character's personality (Originally, I had a large list of
symptoms gleaned from abnormal psychology class, with
descriptions, and how they could be interpreted in game
terms, but I think that it is very similar to material in
The Taint of Madness, so I left it out. Besides which, it
was too much to retype).
An Overhaul of Temporary Insanity
Temporary insanity should result in short term symptoms that
will go away at the end of the period for which the
character is insane. Thus, phobias, schizophrenia, and the
like would be inappropriate. The following table lists some
immediate symptoms that could afflict the character
following a crisis, and some residual symptoms that could
follow.
Temporary Insanity Table
roll duration symptoms
1-4 1-10 rounds immediate
5-7 14-20 rounds immediate
8-9 ~1 day immediate + residual
10 1-10 days immediate + residual
Immediate Symptoms
Flee from scene of SAN loss.
Become helpless with hysteria.
Nausea, vomiting, dry heaves.
Frozen, loss of involuntary muscle control.
Paralyzed with fear.
Pass out.
Physical symptom (e.g. stroke, heart attack).
Psychological symptom (e.g. trigger split personality).
Perform reckless act of heroism.
Residual Symptoms
Suffer from flashbacks to SAN loss event.
Suffer from bouts of headache.
Undergo change in personality (e.g. exhibit fits of rage,
depression, hedonism).
Suffer sleep disorders (e.g. nightmares, insomnia).
Go into denial, accompanied by partial amnesia or detachment
from reality.
Suffer amnesia, fugue.
Psychological incapacitation (e.g. enter state of delirium,
senility, or delusion).
Enter state of shock or catatonia.
--
