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Chaosium Digest Volume 35 Number 03
Chaosium Digest Volume 35, Number 03
Date: Saturday, November 10, 2001
Number: 2 of 2
* [OFFICIAL SHAMELESS PLUG BEGINS]
- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
When playing MYTHOS CCG (tm), Has THIS ever happened to you?:
- ------------------------------
A darkened figure approaches the window, breathing menace (and GLOWING too!)
"Ruh Roh, Raggy????? Rut's Rat????"
"Zoinks! Like RUN, Scoob!"
Meanwhile, a bespectacled Meddling Ally finds something of extreme
importance to the scene above....
"Jinkies! This looks like a clue!!!"
And in yet another portion of the Abandoned House, where two more meddlers
are secluded away....
"Jeepers, Freddy..."
<ahem> "Looks like this Mystery is getting even MORE Mysterious by the
Minute!!"
- ---------------------------
What's the fuss all about, you ask?
Why not visit "Cthulhu, Where are You?:The Scooby Doo Expansion Set" at
http://www.inzenity.com/sdmythos/ right now and find out for yourself?
That's right! At LONG LAST, Set 3 of the expansion is available for your
enjoyment A Whopping 163 cards to date, now including 11 Adventures!
If you don't think you would normally check it out, would you do it for a
Scooby Snack??? It's +1 Sanity....
Send any comments to
scooby@inzenity.com
- ------------------------------------
[OFFICIAL SHAMELESS PLUG ENDS]
[disclaimer- this is NOT an official Chaosium product! Permission was
granted for use of card borders, however.]
Philip C. Robinson
bedlam@inzenity.org
* From Chaosium
** RUMORS & NEWS **
20th Anniversary Edition Nearly Sold Out.
Our greatly anticipated 20th Anniversary Edition of Call of Cthulhu (Cha
2399 $79.95) has been selling quicker than 25 cent kittens at a Zoog Family
reunion. We still have a few of the books set aside for web sales, but the
books are very nearly gone. For more info check out:
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2399.shtml
Chaosium Boo Boo Books now online!
We're making a variety of out of print books available to you via our web
page. These boo boo books are slightly scuffed, bent, or otherwise show
minor cosmetic blemishes from sitting on shelves, being shipped back and
forth across the county etc. You can view our boo boo offerings at
http://www.chaosium.com/chaosium/booboo.shtml
Gen Con & Origins 2002
While it may seem way to early to even contemplate your July and August 2002
plans, Chaosium will soon be filling out paperwork for Origins and Gen Con
events. So if you plan to attend either convention next summer and would
like to run Chaosium events, let me know! mailto:dustin@chaosium.com
Chaosium Release Schedule through FEB 2002.
We have several D20 books, and a Stormbringer Adventure lined up as well.
But we won't announce them until we have complete manuscripts and art in
house. We should have more details for you in next month's report.
Meanwhile, keep an eye on our webpage!
Just Shipped:
CHA 2399 20th Anniversary Call of Cthulhu (Very Limited!) $79.95
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2399.shtml
CHA 2393 Ramsey Campbell's Goatswood and Less Pleasant Places $27.95
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2393.shtml
Expected November:
CHA 6028 Nameless Cults $15.95 1-56882-130-1
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/fiction/6028.shtml
CHA 2370 1920's Investigators Companion (reprint) $20.95 1-56882-106-9
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2370.shtml
CHA 2375 The Creature Companion (reprint) $21.95 1-56882-133-6
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2375.shtml
Expected December:
CHA 6012 The Necronomicon (reprint) $16.95 1-56882-070-4
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/fiction/6012.shtml
CHA 6022 Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (reprint) $16.95 1-56882-119-0
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/fiction/6022.shtml
Expected December/January:
CHA 6026 Book of Eibon $15.95 1-56882-129-8
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/fiction/6026.shtml
CHA 6033 Disciples of Cthulhu II $13.95 1-56882-143-3
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/fiction/6033.shtml
Expected February:
CHA 2394 H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands $34.95 1-56882-157-3
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2394.shtml
Chaosium Titles Available Now:
Call of Cthulhu Fiction
CHA 6009 Made in Goatswood $13.95 1-56882-046-1
CHA 6011 Disciples of Cthulhu $13.95 1-56882-054-2
CHA 6014 Singers of Strange Songs $13.95 1-56882-104-2
CHA 6018 Nightmare's Disciple. $14.95 1-56882-118-2
CHA 6021 Ithaqua Cycle $12.95 1-56882-124-7
CHA 6023 Yellow Sign & Other Tales $19.95 1-56882-126-3
CHA 6024 Tales Out of Innsmouth $13.95 1-56882-127-1
CHA 6027 Book of Dyzan $13.95 1-56882-114-x
CHA 6030 Three Imposters $13.95 1-56882-132-8
CHA 6031 Antarktos Cycle $19.95 1-56882-146-8
CHA 6032 Song of Cthulhu $13.95 1-56882-117-4 NEW
CALL OF CTHULHU Chaosium's Classic Lovecraftian Horror RPG
CHA 2342 Adventures in Arkham Country $19.95 1-56882-004-6
CHA 2359 Horror's Heart $12.95 1-56882-068-2
CHA 2360 Utatti Asfet: The Eye of Wicked Sight $20.95 1-56882-056-9
CHA 2361 Masks of Nyarlathotep $25.95 1-56882-069-0
CHA 2362 Compact Trail of Tsathoggua $8.95 1-56882-087-9
CHA 2364 Resection of Time $11.95 1-56882-095-x
CHA 2365 Minions $10.95 1-56882-098-4
CHA 2367 Secrets $8.95 1-56882-100-x
CHA 2368 Dreaming Stone $11.95 1-56882-101-8
CHA 2369 New Orleans Guidebook $16.95 1-56882-089-5
CHA 2371 Escape from Innsmouth $22.95 1-56882-115-8
CHA 2372 Bermuda Triangle $16.95 1-56882-122-0
CHA 2373 Dead Reckonings $14.95 1-56882-123-9
CHA 2374 Day Of The Beast $19.95 1-56882-125-5
CHA 2377 Before the Fall $11.95 1-56882-135-2
CHA 2379 Last Rites $14.95 1-56882-137-9
CHA 2384 Unseen Masters $23.95 1-56882-120-4
CHA 2385 No Man's Land $14.95 1-56882-142-5
CHA 2386 CALL OF CTHULHU RPG Hardback $37.95 1-56882-148-4
CHA 2387 Call of Cthulhu Keepers Screen $14.95 1-56882-149-2
CHA 2388 COC Keeper's Companion $23.95 1-56882-144-1
CHA 2393 Ramsey Campbell's Goatswood $27.95 1-56882-153-0 NEW
CHA 2399 20th Anniversary Edition Call of Cthulhu $79.95 1-56882-151-4
VERY LIMITED!
Chaosium Inc Worlds of the Eternal Champion: A New World for the d20 System
CHA 2017 Dragon Lords of Melnibone D20 worldbook $23.95
Stormbringer 5th edition Michael Moorcock's Dark Fantasy RPG
CHA 2115 Stormbringer 5th Edition DARK FANTASY RPG $29.95
CHA 2902 Elric Gamemaster's Screen $14.95 1-56882-011-9
CHA 2903 Fate of Fools $10.95 1-56882-024-0
CHA 2905 Atlas of the Young Kingdoms $19.95 1-56882-021-6
CHA 2906 Sailing on the Seas of Fate. $12.95 1-56882-022-4
CHA 2907 The Unknown East... $16.95 1-56882-032-1
CHA 2111 Rogue Mistress... $18.95 0-933635-73-7
CHA 2112 Sorcerers of Pan Tang $18.95 0-933635-79-6
CHA 2113 Perils of the Young Kingdoms $18.95 0-933635-82-6
Chaosium Inc: Mythos: Lovecraftian Card Game
CHA 1301 Expeditions of M.U. Booster Display $106.20
CHA 1302 Cthulhu Rising Booster Display $106.20
CHA 1303 Legends of the Necronomicon Booster Display $106.20
CHA 1304 The Art of Playing Mythos $8.95
CHA 1305 Investigator Card Set $5.00
CHA 1307 Dreamlands Starter Display $89.95
--------------------------
Review: A Resection of Time (Call of Cthulhu)
This article reviews the Call of Cthulhu adventure 'A Resection of Time'. It
is intended to support other keepers during preparation of this
mini-campaign, and also to advertise this nice campaign a bit (the summary
at the beginning will help you understand the rest of this article).
Short Summary of this Adventure
'A Resection of Time' is a mini-campaign placed in the nineties. All
investigators studied archaeology and went to the Hughbanks expedition in
1994. At Belize, the expedition found the unknown ruins of El Cacao owned by
Mi-Go. The Mi-Go and a local cult attacked the expedition. Many died, the
rest were captured and their brains were altered: no-one remembers the
Mi-Go, all believe in a drug dealer raid. Memories quickly faded away. Only
one member of the expedition, Woodson made his career in the archaeology
field. On one of his investigations for a new book, he came back to El Cacao
and regained his true memories. He started a broader investigation at the
end of which he is doomed but manages to involve the investigators.
Investigators are hired by an eccentric millionaire (Schwartz) who is
leading a archaeological organization, located at San Francisco. They are
asked to follow up on a missing person (Woodson). Some of the investigators
remember him from their archaeology student times when they all went to an
excavation in Belize (Hughbanks expedition), few years ago. Woodson was
killed in a car accident, but the blood indicates it wasn't him. Woodson had
a house in S.F. but was traveling for most of the time for the AFAR.
Lately, he worked on his new book. Before anything could be done, Woodson
was cremated and all documents vanished from the hospital. A failed break-in
into Woodson's house was enough to indicate a bigger conspiracy. Schwartz
as well as the police trigger serious investigations.
When the investigators check Woodson's house, the robber again tries to
break-in to retrieve Woodson's papers about the Cthulhu Mythos. It is
assumed that investigators catch the robber who dies for unknown reasons.
The forensic pathology expert finds out that the robber died of a brain
embolism The brain also seems to be too big for this skull and some strange
interface tissue connects the brain with the nerves.
The recovered papers contain three trails: The first leads to the Sanbourne
Institute for Pacific Studies, located near L.A. The Institute suffered a
lot
under its mythos items since its creation a hundred years ago. Woodson's
interest were the Zanthu tablets once stored there, which later disappeared
during a fire attack. Still the Institute owns paper copies and translations
which the investigators are also allowed to see. Shortly, the Brotherhood of
Light, a 'good' mythos force is getting foot within the Institute. The
Brotherhood follows the Mi-Go and destroys them. They hope to find new
trails here. They sense the Mi-Go alterations of the investigators' brains
and are glad to trail them from now on.
Second lead brings the investigators to Arkham, where Woodson spent many
months in the restricted books section of the Miskatonic Library.
The Mi-Go are now aware of the investigations, and will arrange a meeting
with a fake Woodson. The Brotherhood steps in quickly and a high-tech weapon
fight begins. Investigators fall unconscious, only to wake up later and find
a warning written on the bathroom mirror.
The third lead from Woodson's papers directly leads back to Belize, to the
infamous El Cacao. At Belize, the investigators are captured by degenerated
cultists who are skilled in playing the good guys. This is the beginning of
the climax. The investigators try to escape, a hunt through the rain-forests
begins. The Mi-Go show up and will try to catch investigators. At this point
the first full memory recoveries happen, reducing investigators' sanity
further. Unconsciously the investigators flee back directly to El Cacao.
There they enter into a Mi-Go station through a gate, and find out the fate
of Woodson: his brain has been removed and is now kept within a jar. His
body was filled with another brain and was sent back to S.F. He talks
bitterly to the investigators before the Mi-Go show up again. A deadly
chase into the breeding ground of the Mi-Go starts. Only lucky investigators
will get away. Cruelty to leave behind fellow investigators for sure helps,
though sanity suffers anyway.
Strong Points
The campaign contains some very intriguing ideas:
1. Investigators themselves have been involved into the Mi-Go attack on the
Hughbanks expedition. Though not all of them remember. Nightmares start
indicating that; the brain transplantation of the robber adds to fears.
Investigators will have growing doubts about their own brains, and past.
Whom of their fellow investigators can they trust? It fits very well to
Lovecraft's stories, where the narrator begins to follow a mythos trail and
slowly recognizes his own involvement in the case which leads to his doom.
2. Many excellent hand-outs that provide a lot of 'real' Cthulhu Mythos;
normally it is hard to find written hand-outs about mythos topics. Most
scenarios just have a summary for the keeper about the topics, so here we
really enjoyed the texts. In addition, many drawings and Mayan hieroglyphs
add to the flair. If your players know some Lovecraft stories they will
certainly like the hand-outs.
3. Investigators are quickly drawn into action. My investigators were
surprised on how much they already learned on the first game session (which
ended with the report from the doctor checking the body of the dead robber).
Main Criticism from Players
1. There is a stronger 'good' force following the players and solving the
problems (the Brotherhood of Light). It was unsatisfying for the players, to
realize that someone else actually destroys the Mi-Go hidings, and wins the
battle. The question arises, why did the investigators go into the hell of
El Cacao at all? See next section for answer.
2. The investigations of Woodson point to the Deep Ones, while actually
Mi-Go stand behind the plot. To my players it seemed to be a trial to put
two different plots together, thus making the adventure look overloaded.
True, here some different mythos leads come together (the Maya have the Deep
Ones as origin and their gods, but also the Mi-Go are involved as their
gods). No way to change this fact, as the whole adventure builds on it. I
think this issue doesn't reduce the overall fun of the adventure, so it
doesn't really matter.
Weak Points
1. The Brotherhood of Light: it makes life for the investigators too easy.
It is by far better if they are responsible for solving the mystery instead
of having someone trail them and handle the problems. I suggest removing
them completely from game play. Then investigators have to handle themselves
the following scenes: the false Woodson at their hotel room; breaking free
from the Mnemonite village; escaping from El Cacao.
2. Schwartz is a member of the Brotherhood, he displays his 'ring' at the
final scene. If that would be the case, why are the investigators followed
only after asking too many questions at the Sunbourne Institute in L.A., why
not immediately, or why at all (Schwartz could forward the investigators
reports)? Or was Schwartz converted/replaced by the Brotherhood? Well, I
suggest to remove this detail.
3. The investigators might wonder, why all of them (e.g. also the ones who
could not remember the Hughbanks expedition) were asked to join the AFAR
team - the chance that they are involved by accident is too small and not
sufficient. Schwartz can tell them that Woodson asked him to contact these
investigators for help shortly before he came back to S.F. (at that point in
time, Woodson had regained his complete memories).
Details on some Scenes
Some ideas how to make more fun out of some scenes:
1. San Francisco: if investigators are smart, they can win Detective
Rolston's trust - why not. In most scenarios, it is hard to win the trust of
the police, so here you can surprise your investigators, and even make them
suspicious ('isn't that a little bit too easy?').
2. Sunbourne Institute: as explained above, I recommend not using the
Brotherhood of Light at all. Still you can keep the Institute as a place to
be checked out by the investigators.
3. At Belize, if investigators don't go to the PFB camp directly, but first
to Orange town, that is ok. They will be captured the following day by
Anderson and his fellows.
4. Christian Anderson: make sure that your investigators really DO trust
him - their surprise will be even greater soon! How? Anderson is smart and
will play his role well. First he appears very cautious, shotgun aimed at
them. Later he will let the shotgun down and ask for excuse for threatening
them. This seems to be a good guy, after all. At the village let him be open
to them and warn them about some neighbours. Piece by piece your
investigators will get rid of their protection: first the car with most of
the weapons, then the backpacks and jackets (they don't eat dinner with gun
at hand, do they?). Fleeing will be somewhat tricky, but if they are smart
and lucky, they can break out through the back of the hut. The small window
only lets the smallest investigator through. The rest follows later. The
party probably is split.
5. Escaping from the Mnemonite village: don't let the escape through the
woods last for too long (except you have some good scenes in mind).
Otherwise it gets too boring quickly (e.g. avoid random encounters)
6. Station: investigators should not be able to flee back to El Cacao. Let
the Mi-Go chase them to Xibalba. If some wounded investigators have to stay
back, it will add a lot of drama. Or maybe, the freezer-weapon of the Mi-Go
attached someone to a wall? Do the other investigators risk their own lives
for their fellows? Let them make rolls on the resistance table, STR versus
SIZ if they try to help. If some investigators run and leave their friend
behind, they will remember his fate for the rest of their lives.
7. Xibalba: an unlucky investigator will step into one of the black Mi-Go
cadavers and awaken all of the larvae. This will add some time pressure and
chase the investigators out of the breeding hall. Maybe too many try to
climb up the roots at a time (evil grin)?
Players' and Investigators' Motivation
During the adventure you should make sure that the players motivation (why
do they risk the lives of their investigators) slowly changes, the focus
moving more and more to the investigators themselves. This adds tension and
adds a lot of fun (for the players, not for the investigators of course):
1. Uncover Woodson's fate. This is the starting point, mainly an external
motivation, coming from Schwartz/AFAR.
2. Uncover what Woodson found out and what other parties are being
actively(!) involved. This starts with the robber at Woodson's house, then
being trailed in L.A, then the attack of the false Woodson at a hotel.
3. Find out about their own past; this motivation will arise later, when
understanding and nightmares increase. It has to grow that strong, that in
the final, investigators WANT to go to El Cacao (again) and find out about
their past.
Timeline of Woodson's Actions
1994, late summer: Hughbanks expedition, University of Pennsylvania; Woodson
and the investigators all participate and meet their fate in the Mi-Go
1995: Woodson starts career at AFAR, writes books on Maya
1997, January: Woodson investigates the Zanthu Tables, arrives at Sunbourne
Institute; Brotherhood of Light trails him
1997. 5.February: Woodson flies to Arkham, Miskatonic Hotel. Reads mythos
tomes at Miskatonic University, stays for 4 months
1997, 2.June: Woodson back to Belize and finds El Cacao and his lost
memories; he calls Schwartz and speaks of 'extra-terrestrials'
1997, 12.June: Woodson sends fax to AFAR that he would soon return home. He
also asks Schwartz to contact the investigators for help (see comments
above).
1997, 14.June: Woodson is captured in Belize by Mi-Go agents and brought to
the Mi-Go Station. There, his brain is removed and a replacement body is
prepared.
1997, 16.June: The Mi-Go-Woodson arrives at S.F. airport and hit by car
1997, 16.June: The Mi-Go-Woodson dies in hospital; his body and documents
are removed;
--
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