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Chaosium Digest Volume 30 Number 11
Chaosium Digest Volume 30, Number 11
Date: Saturday, March 25, 2000
Number: 1 of 2
Contents:
* Cat's Claw (CTHULHU)
by Andrew Clements Andy@satanspawn.freeserve.co.uk
Editor's Note:
This week's Digest features the fourth installment of Andrew Clements' series of
Cat/Bast related adventures for Call of Cthulhu. The previous installments were
Cat's Cradle (Chaosium Digest v28.8, 8/15/99), Cat's Eyes (Chaosium Digest
v28.10, 10/3/99) and Cat Song (Chaosium Digest v29.6, 12/15/99) and can be found
in the archive. They're pretty good and worth checking out.
To get previous issues, follow the instructions below.
Send email to majordomo@chaosium.com with the following command in the body of
the message, no subject is necessary.
index chaos-digest
If you see files in which you're interested, you may retrieve them by using the
"get" command and specifying the list name and archive filename. For instance,
to retrieve the files called "profile.form" (presumably a form to fill out with
your profile) and "chaos-digest.9611" (presumably the messages posted to the
list in November 1996), you would put the lines:
get chaos-digest profile.form
get chaos-digest chaos-digest.9611
in your mail to Majordomo@chaosium.com. Note that these file names are just
examples, actual filenames may vary.
As previously noted, all Call of Cthulhu, Elric! and Nephilim articles qualify
for the quarterly Chaosium Contest. Even though they don't count for the
contest, I still gladly accept Pendragon, Delta Green and Glorantha submissions.
The deadline for the next contest will be Friday, March 31st. The winner gets a
copy of the upcoming Call of Cthulhu Keepers Screen
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2387.shtml for their winning Cthulhu, Elric!
or Nephilim submission. So, keep those submissions coming!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
* PAGAN PUBLISHING PERSONAL AD
----------------------------
Quirky, Creepy Game Company Seeks Cheerful, Industrious Playtesters For New Game
Here at the laboratories of Pagan Publishing we're working on a new
beer-and-pretzels humorous strategy game for 2-4 players. We need to find
several groups of people who would be willing to play the game several times and
send us questions and comments, so we can fix problems and get it ready for
release.
If you're interested, you and your friends should be able to meet and play at
least once a week for several weeks, beginning in early April. Each game takes
about 3-4 hours to play with 4 people; 2-player games take about an hour and a
half. We're looking for groups of 2, 3, or 4 people. You must write up notes on
your sessions and send them to us via email.
All Playtesters will be listed in the credits. Each group will also receive one
free copy of the game when it is released.
To apply, send email to rev@tccorp.com with the following information:
Your name
Your email address
Your mailing address
The size of your group
What role-playing or strategy games you regularly play, if any
The last day to apply is Monday, March 27.
Not everyone who applies can be accepted, since we expect to get a lot more
applicants than we need. I will reply to every application after the deadline is
up, however.
Thanks!
John Tynes
editor-in-chief
Pagan Publishing
www.tccorp.com
* Hero Wars from Issaries Inc. is scheduled for release in April. Parts have
gone off to the printers, others are going this week, and despite the whole
office moving between now and then it will be ready to go out in April. The
initial release consists of: Deluxe Hero Wars. boxed set contains Hero Wars,
Narrator's Book, Gloranthan Visions and 52 pages of handouts ($44.95), Hero Wars
and Narrator's Books, available separately ($19.95 each), Glorantha, available
separately only ($19.95)
See the web site at http://www.glorantha.com/products/ for more.
* TENTACLES NEWS POST
Volume 1, Number 3, March 20th, 2000
~~ S L U R P F o l k s ! ~~
Welcome to the Tentacles News Post March, featuring all the latest Tentacles
news and views. Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends, allies and
sworn enemys. If you do not want to receive this
newsletter or have a new email address please send a notification to:
fabian.kuechler@medien.uni-weimar.de
~ N e w s & G o s s i p ~
Tentacles Millennium has all engines under steam and already had a collusion
with a nasty fireberg. Our Tentacle of Honour, Sandy Petersen, sent us this
note:
>Incredibly bad news
>It turns out that I need to undergo foot surgery this summer, and thus will not
be fit to travel
>to Germany. This sucks major league and I am VERY disappointed. I hope maybe to
get
>overseas next year? Or the year after? Ah well, good luck with Tentacles!
>Sandy P.
Gosh, we are disappointed as well! You never know which horrors lash at you
running a Tentacles Con.
~ T e n t a c l e d G u e s t s ~
R o b e r t s o n, Roderick
Hero Wars Line Editor and *official* Glorantha Expert, is attending. He is,
according to Greg Stafford, *the second most informed guy about Hero Wars*.
Roderick will introduce the new game, host panels, teach GM's and present a
bunch of happy scenarios for Hero Wars. He is also editing for the Pendragon RPG
and will be happy to talk about Arthurian Knights and their handicrafts.
W h i t a k e r, Lawrence
A nice man and *Chaosium's Elric! Guy*, is coming again. Lawrence will be happy
to whaffel about Elric!, Hawkmoon and the Unknown East and plays a leading
character in our Elric! freeform. There will also be a Elric! Tournament again.
B r o o k e, Nick
A long time friend and guest of our Convention, is attending as well. Nick will
enlighten us with his radiant presence, entertain us with his exquisite Oratory
skill and will run Chris Gidlow's Tarsh Wars for us.
We are currently spending a lot of Power (TM) in summoning other tentacled
guests as well.
~ H o r r o r s a l i v e a n d f r e e f o r m i n g ~
Here is our pride and joy! Tentacles will feature a hell lot of small freeform
games. The sign up for the listed games will take place at the convention! We
will report about clashes in the programme at the end of April. There will
probably be a small charge for the games, which payable on the spot, to cover
production costs.
O r k a l s B u l l
written by Neil Robinson
A lusty tale of political strife in an isolated barbarian clan. With the death
of Venharl the Powerful and the election of Penorri Venharls-Son, it seemed
that peace had come to the Vostangi at last. But then Vargast, head of the
Varing family, had his prize Bull stolen, while Orkal, a client of Orlalont of
the Orlings, has a new Bull he claims to have bought down in Clearwine. Will the
bloodfeud destroy the clan?
16 Players / Glorantha
O p e r a t i o n S p a n n e r
written by Dan Barker and Bazz Hoftyzer
Progress report on work-shift 320978.5736-A
A secluded group of true, pure of heart and mind Mostali, intent to repair the
World-Machine.They are on strict-deadlines, as all the signs say that something
bad is brewing for Mostali-kind.Everything would be operational if it wasn't for
the arrival of some Mostali at their island-retreat.
Why are they there? Are they true Mostali? Or are they polluted by the world of
Grower? If so can they be brought back to the One-True Way?
20 Players / Glorantha
T a r s h W a r s
written by Chris Gidlow
War-drums are beating along the Bush Range. On the hill-tops blaze the fires of
the Tars Gor, summoning the clans to wash their axes in the blood of enemies.
The natives are restless, and one thing alone stands between civilization and
scalp-taking savagery. A thin red line, a line glimmering with Silver, Bronze
and Steel: the Lunar Army!
Join the serried ranks! Lead the army of the Great Red Queen to the very
foothills of Wintertop! Defend the Pax Lunara in a last-ditch struggle, or plant
the Red Vexillum in the smoking ruins of a Tarsh encampment! Live or die, the
tales of your exploits will stir the Empire!
13 Players / Glorantha
S a c k o f I m r r y r
written by Pummel
Become a member of the final conference planning the"Sack of Imrryr". The most
important diplomats and warriors of the 6 nations will take part and meet in the
privacy at the villa of Filkhars richest Sea-Food producer. They will discuss
the last discrepancies between them. Alliance and intrigue, discussion and duel,
love and hatred, all of this expect the players and much more. Be there as
rivals become allies, enemies turn into friends and start the most important
event in the history of the Young Kingdoms.
21 Players / Elric!
T h o s e W h o F a l t e r a n d T h o s e W h o F a l l
written by Anja Bleicher and Thorsten Grube
Information available soon. There is a pre registration for this event which
will start at the 1st May 2000.
30 Players / Call of Cthulhu
~ H e r o W a r s & J u s t M o r e G a m e s ~
Is our credo this year. We will have less panels and more space for games.
Tentacles will be proud to be the first Glorantha Convention to welcome the
arrival of Hero Wars on the mundane plane. We do our best to suck every drop of
blood and support out of Issaries Inc. for scenarios, tournament games, gifts
and prices. We will even have a small release party for Hero Wars! So sign up,
meet fellow gamers and play the game! Its is going to be an exciting start.
There will be also a Elric! Tournament as well as numerous games for Call of
Cthulhu. We invite everybody to bring his/her home made collection of Glorantha
Board and Card Games and inflatable toys for our wet wild Trollball Show. No
problem if you want to run your own games.
Tentacles features again: the famous castle above the Rhine river, good weather,
special effects, good cheap beer, 2 filling meals a day, a dry comfortable bed,
computer network gaming, the Infoshrine our efficient Convention plant for
information, Alka Seltzer & aspirin and us crazy pals from the Chaos Society
Germany as well as a bag of surprises.
~ T i m i n g & C o s t s ~
Tentacles Millennium will take place at castle Stahleck in Bacharach, from
Friday the 9th to Monday the 12th June 2000. The Convention will open programme
Friday evening around 19.00 and end
around 11.00 on Monday.
The price for 3 nights at the Convention, including breakfast and dinner, is 72
EUR! A common beer at the Con cost around 2 DM which is less than 1 EUR, 1
Dollar or 1/2 British Pound (shameless plug of
course). Donations either in games or money are welcome.
~ A u c t i o n ~
Our last auction had too few bidders, too few items and was scheduled at a bad
time in the afternoon. Heck, it sounds like we killed this event. But wait! We
will try to reanimate. The auction will take place at nice, warm spot at Sunday
night. Come along to help and bring old, exotic and precious games, magazines,
books etc. for Glorantha, RQ, CoC, Elric!, Pendragon and Schund you would like
to turn into cash. The Convention is happy about all the support it can get that
helps to hold on to the low
membership rates.
~ I f y o u a r e c o m i n g f r o m G r e a t B r i t a i n ~
If you like to fly in from Great Britain check out the Ryan Air Airline
(www.ryanair.com). They are flying at very cheap airfares from London Stansted
and other places in GB to the Airport Hahn, Germany which is about 20 minutes
(!) from the castle Stahleck. You need to use a parachute to get closer to
the Convention out of the sky!
~ I f y o u a r e c o m i n g f r o m J a p a n ~
If you are coming from Japan fly to Frankfurt Main Airport. It is located close
to the castle and transport to Bacharach is not too difficult and takes around 1
hour. We may even pick you up on the way!
~ L a n g u a g e B a r r i e r ~
Well, there is none as long as you speak and/or understand English.
International guests are very welcome!
~ S i g n u p ~
You can sign up for Tentacles online at: www.uni-weimar.de/~kuechle1/regis.htm
Membership will close at the 30th April 2000.
~ U s e f u l W e b s i t e s ~
The official Tentacles Convention site: www.uni-weimar.de/~kuechle1/venue.htm
where you can find information, pictures of the castle, etc.
and:
www.uni-weimar.de/~kuechle1/regis.htm to sign up for Tentacles online.
Go to:
www.members.tripod.de/SnS/Conpics.htm the official website of the German
RQ-Gesellschaft and have a look a some pictures of the last Tentacles
Convention.
Go to:
www.ryanair.com to find out about cheap airfares from GB to Germany (Hahn
Airport see above)
Deutsche Bahn:
www.deutschebahn.de here you can find information on how to get to Bacharach by
train.
Fabian Kuechler
--
~~TENTACLES Convention~~
fabian.kuechler@medien.uni-weimar.de
We want YOU for - TENTACLES Millennium!
9th-12th June 2000; Castle Stahleck, Germany
Visit our weblair at:
www.uni-weimar.de/~kuechle1/next.htm
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This massive collection brings together, for the first time ever and with much
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Tracer of Lost Persons_. These stories are also connected to the Cthulhu mythos,
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-----------------------------
Okay, I admit it, I couldn't leave the Cat series of adventures as they were,
which is why I present this (hopefully) final adventure to round them all off.
It's an apocalyptic adventure, so it won't be in the style of many Cthulhu
Keepers, but hopefully they might get a kick out of running something different
from the normal Cthulhu fare. The adventure also makes use of the Dreamlands -
where else could you set an apocalypse fantasy? This adventure will also owe a
heavy debt to Neil Gaiman, but to explain why
would spoil the surprise.
Cat Fight
Overview:
The end of the world is nigh. Well, the end of the world for humans is at any
rate. The time prophesied earlier in the cat-series (In Cats Eyes) has come to
pass - the cats will rise up and make the humans their slaves, slaying those who
resist.
Why now? In short, Bast is annoyed. She sees a decaying world, which humans
seem bent on killing, and she sees the cruelty done to animals and nature across
the world. She's not so worried about nature as much as her children, the cats,
but the cats need an ecosystem to support themselves.
Bast is raising an army of cats in the Dreamlands, and when the army is
complete, the cats shall awaken to slay the humans.
The only possible chance that the investigators have of preventing this
catastrophe (well...it's nasty from the point of view of the humans, if
nothing/no-one else) is to find a powerful ally in the Dreamlands to prevent
this from happening.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The setting scene:
If the investigators completed the Cat's-Cradle adventure well, they should each
own a cat sent by Bast. (If they completed Cat Song well, they'll also own a
tacky souvenir.). If they did not take part in this adventure, give the
next-door-neighbor a cat, so the investigators can get some of the
fore-warning...
In either case, the cats of the city seem to be spending an inordinate amount of
time asleep. No-one will know this is happening across the city, as it will
hardly seem newsworthy. ('Yes, the kids are doing fine,' says Agatha, 26, 'but
they've had nothing to do at the weekends since the cat started sleeping so
much. I'm thinking of taking him to the vet.'). The players will only be aware
of what their own cat is doing, or maybe the cats of friends if it comes up in
conversation. When the cats do wake, they never eat, as though they've been
having something to eat when the owners weren't looking. (At this point,
veteran players of the cat series will start looking for suspicious murders.
There are none, the cats are eating in the Dreamlands.).
Then, as the winter nights draw near, the investigators suffer a strange dream.
They are standing in a beautiful village, with cobbled streets, and a generally
comfortable atmosphere, with fluffy white clouds (did they ever look like that
in waking?) strewn across the sky. This is the small village of Ulthar. But
some of the inhabitants look worried. The innkeeper pours no drinks, the
seamstress will mend no clothes, nor will the blacksmith produce lucky
horse-shoes. They are clearly worried, it is on their faces, and they will tell
their trouble to any investigator who asks.
The cats are gone.
The cats that once slept contentedly on the cobbles, sunning themselves, playing
with mice that never died, and occasionally bringing back something dead from
the woods, which looked grotesque and would always be quickly buried by the
cabbages, the cats that once graced Ulthar, disappeared. No-one is quite sure
when, in that hazy way of dreams, but they surely disappeared.
Days pass in Ulthar (in the way that weeks may pass in one night of dream), and
there is little to do except relax (this should be a pleasant surprise for the
investigators), and maybe swim in the babbling brooks that wind through blissful
meadows. After six days, the cats return.
Just not in the way anyone expects.
They line the hills, dark and furry silhouettes against the sunlight. Forwards
they march, covering the forward side of the hills that face Ulthar. Amongst
them rise banners, bearing a cat's head in profile, painted on in black, against
a red background. These banners are held by kin closer to Bast than the cats.
These 'cats' are humanoid beings, with the bodies of humans, yet the heads of
cats. Twenty score of these beings ride at the front of the army, with Bast at
their head. They wait upon the hill for three hours before they send a messenger
forth, one of the kin of Bast, riding upon a black stallion.
The kin rides into Ulthar, pausing in the town square, before reading from a
scroll.
'The time for subservience is over. No longer shall cats be held prisoner by
the humans who kill the Earth. No longer shall the humans be allowed to torture
each other and themselves, no longer will their evil be suffered. There shall be
no more hate, no more rape, no murder, no theft, no flames, no church. Those
humans allowed to live shall be the pure, and the slaves of Bast's children, who
shall rule the Earth as was their birthright. We, the children of Bast, declare
war upon the humans, and upon all who would side with them.'
The kin then rides out of town. If anyone moves to stop her, they will be cut
down by the short sword she carries at her side.
An hour later, and there is movement across the ranks of the cats. They surge
forward, down the hill, across the beautiful meadows, and into the town of
Ulthar. Riding at the front are the cat-kin upon their black horses, swinging
swords, or impaling villagers upon spears. Bast rides at their front, leaping
from her horse to grapple with the head of the village as he draws his sword.
Describe this scene as chaotically as possible, so that the investigators are
not entirely sure of what is going on, or of who
has survived the attack. A cat-kin wielding a spear charges down the
investigators, reaching them quickly, and as the spear-head plunges towards
their heart, everything blurs, and the characters awaken.
Witnessing this scene will have shaken the nerves of the investigators, for deep
within them, they recognize some significance in the dream. Thus, upon waking,
ask them to roll a sanity check for the loss of 0/1d2 sanity points.
If the investigators own cats, mention how peacefully the cat sleeps in its
accustomed place, its tail twitching slightly. If an investigator tries to get
too close to his/her cat, its eyes will snap open, and the cat will glare
balefully at the owner. Try to role-play the mundanity of everyday life, in
order
to contrast with that
which will come ahead. Occasionally throw in a flash-back of some villager
being leapt upon and borne down by cats when the investigator goes for a morning
stroll and sees a kitten at sleep upon a sunny wall.
If any investigator goes back to their bed, they will see that part of the bed
clothes are torn, and that an ornate spear head, broken from it's shaft, lies
half-tucked under a pillow. Ask the investigator to make an Idea roll, to
recognize that the spear head was present in the dream, plunging towards the
investigator. Of course, most players will have worked this out already, so you
may not wish to bother with the roll. The realization of this will provoke a
mild shock, costing 0/1 sanity points. (this is only the mild terror of
suspicion, not yet the gut wrenching horror of presence).
(cont.)
--
