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Chaosium Digest Volume 32 Number 08
Chaosium Digest Volume 32, Number 8
Date: Tuesday November 07, 2000
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
* Review: Call of Cthulhu ed. 5.6
by John W. Thompson
Editor's Note:
Still no word from Chaosium as to the winner of the 2nd quarter Chaosium
submission contest. In addition, I've received zero submissions. I keep having
more and more people subscribe but no one seems to want to send in anything.
Maybe it's just this time of year that causes people's creativity to dry up.
For the new people, content for the Chaosium Digest comes 100% from subscriber
submissions. I accept articles concerning Call of Cthulhu, Elric! and Nephilim
related themes. In addition, I also accept articles dealing with Pendragon,
Glorantha, Cthulhu Live, Delta Green and most likely, anything else remotely
related to the above subjects. Adventures, NPC write-ups, product reviews and
even fiction pieces are welcome. As the Digest is a volunteer e-zine, we can't
pay for submissions. However, authors retain full rights to their submissions
and you get to have tour work seen by over 1500 subscribers worldwide, including
individuals working in the gaming industry.
Just email your submissions to gobackstage@prodigy.net and note in the subject
line that it's a Digest submission. That's all there is to it.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
* Oriflamme, French publisher of Elric!, has just published "Crises
Vilmiriennes" a 64 pages book containing 3 scenarios for Elric!
RPG and adventures ideas... Of course, it is in French :-(
Amicalement
Frederic Moll
fmoll@geocities.com
* Chaosium D20 News:
DRAGON LORDS OF MELNIBONE
A New World for the d20 System
#2017, ISBN 1-56882-150-6, $23.95
Chaosium Inc. Announces that we will release DRAGON LORDS OF
MELNIBONE during the first quarter of 2001.
The new edition of the d20 rules system is an impressive work, and
Chaosium is well-known for releasing top-quality role-playing
adventures and campaigns during the past 25 years. We hope that by
publishing high-quality supplements for the D20 rules system we can
bring Chaosium titles to the attention of a new market of game
players.
Charlie Krank, Chaosium president explains, "We support storytelling
in all its many forms, and want to stimulate interest in the world of
the Young Kingdoms and the works of fantasy author Michael Moorcock.
We believe that Moorcock's tales of Elric, albino prince of Melniboné
and doomed bearer of the fantastically magical sword Stormbringer,
had great influence in the early development of Dungeons & Dragons.
It seems natural to make this world available in all its wonder and
majesty to players of the new D20 System."
Of course, Chaosium remains committed to supporting our own d100 game
system, and plans to release more supplementary material for
Chaosium's ELRIC! game rules. We are also working with Darcsyde
Productions, an Australian publisher, to help ensure that there is a
better supply of new support material for ELRIC! in the near future;
the first book is projected to be a new sourcebook for the world of Corum.
We look forward to the challenges of this new market, and to making
new friends among the gamers in our industry.
For more information contact chaosium@chaosium.com
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY ONLINE:
Skotos Tech Inc, a manufacturer of online interactive fiction games,
has signed a letter of intent with Chaosium to create games set in
Lovecraft Country. Skotos plans for the launch of their first
Lovecraft Country game in early 2001 and is currently seeking game
designers to create these games. Watch http://www.skotos.net/games/
for more information on the Lovecraft Country games and visit
http://www.skotos.net/storybuilders/ if you'd be interested in
becoming a Skotos games designer.
**Upcoming Releases**
October
At the printer, Expected October
* CALL OF CTHULHU KEEPER'S COMPANION
Blasphemous Knowledge, Forbidden Secrets, and Handy Information for
Call of Cthulhu Role-playing.
CHA 2388 $23.95 (1-56882-144-1) 208 pp.
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2388.shtml
The Call of Cthulhu Keeper's Companion is an invaluable resource for
GM's. New material includes advice for new keepers, a lengthy study
of Mythos artifacts, a learned discussion of many occult books, an
up-to-the-moment description of every facet of forensic medicine, a
thorough revision and expansion of the game skills (including nearly
two dozen new ones), and the augmented text of the Keeper's Compendium,
somewhat updated--forbidden books, secret cults, alien races, and
mysterious places. Additional short essays and features round out
this book-more than 100,000 words! The best-selling Keeper's
Compendium appeared in 1993, but has been out of print for more than
two years.
November:
* Reprint of the Call of Cthulhu Hardcover (5.6)
This book has been doing so well, we're having to reprint it a second
time this year. It sure is good to know there are thousands and
thousands of Call of Cthulhu players out there. Thanks for the
support!
-----------------------------------
Review: Call of Cthulhu Hardcover, ed. 5.6
by John W. Thompson
I must say that this is a great book. Aesthetically, it's got a beautiful cover,
nice artwork inside and stands out a bit on the shelf. Practically, it's got a
sturdy binding that allows the book to lay flat when opened without cracking, is
well organized and nicely indexed. Best of all, it's jam packed with the most
essential information to play the game.
It should be noted that my review is based on my not having purchased a Call of
Cthulhu main rulebook since the third edition soft-cover. The rules cover
1890's, 1920's and contemporary games. The list of skills is quite comprehensive
and the character sheets have been updated to take advantage of them. Numerous
examples and charts should make character creation easier for both newbies and
old hands alike. The only thing I don't like about the character creation rules
are that rolled stats are still used. I and my group prefer a point based
system. However, using 90 points distributed between attributes, keeping them
within the minimum and maximums allowed by rolls should work well for those who
don't like rolling attributes.
The Sanity section is expanded and includes treatment options for all three
eras. Combat seems relatively unchanged but with a nice addition of spot rules
to cover special situations. It's still quite lethal and any smart character
will make heavy use of the Dodge skill and any available cover when combat is
unavoidable.
The magic section has been heavily expanded. There's now a massive list of
spells, nearly five times that of the old third edition book. I was also pleased
to see the idea of non-Mythos magic presented as a possibility, if lacking in
details. To get ideas for details of non-Mythos magic, I suggest checking out
Pagan Publishing's The Golden Dawn and Coming Full Circle, Fantasy Flight's
Cthulhu Live and its Lost Souls, Shades of Gray and Player's Companion
supplements and, for the most detailed system, Chaosium's Nephilim, especially
using the supplemental sorcery system published in Liber Ka.
I was also pleased that two new adventures were included as well as two classic
adventures. Great advise for running games is included as well as timelines of
Mythos and Fortean events. The inclusion of Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu is also
a great touch, especially for newcomers to the game.
Now, the $37.95 price tag seems high, but one should note that with just this
one book comes a complete game system, setting information and four
adventures.Most other systems take at least two books and a cost of $40 to $100
to get the same thing. You also don't need to worry about "beta testing" the
game. Having been around since 1981, and since it's only changes since at least
the second edition (the oldest version I own) have been to add details and
options that don't affect the core game mechanics, Call of Cthulhu is arguably
one of the best games on the market and definitely a cornerstone of the
role-playing industry.
This book deserves a place on every gamer's shelf.
--
