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Chaosium Digest Volume 36 Number 04
Chaosium Digest Volume 36, Number 04
Date: Thursday, May 5, 2002
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
* Refugees From the Sunken Land (CTHULHU)
by Jerzy Cichocki
* A Wing and A Prayer (CTHULHU)
by Lawrence Cornford
Editor's Note:
Welcome one and all to the latest issue of the Chaosium Digest! This issue
presents an adventure for Call of Cthulhu, translated by the author from his
own Polish Cthulhu 'zine for then enjoyment of the linguistically impaired
of
us. (Note that I include myself among this group.) We also have another
article of game mastering advise, this time on the fine art of
improvisational game mastering.
I must also note that here ends my backlog of submissions. Now's the time
for those with a creative bent to send in some material for publication here
in the Digest. As always, any articles dealing with currently supported
Chaosium games (Call of Cthulhu, BRP and D20 as the supplements will be
published by Chaosium, and Stormbringer/Dragon Lords of Melnibone) will
qualify for the quarterly Chaosium contest and its $40 gift certificate
prize. I also accept submissions for Nephilim, Delta Green, Pendragon,
Glorantha, Cthulhu Live and similar systems, though they don't qualify for
the contest.
Enjoy!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
* From Issaries, Inc.
To All,
Greetings! We have a couple of announcements to make, so I thought we would
send out a dispatch rather than making you all wait for the newsletter next
month.
Happy Heroquesting!
Stephen Martin
Issaries, Inc.
CONVENTIONS AND EVENTS
The conventions page on the web site has been updated, and also has been
split into two separate pages:
Official events are at www.glorantha.com/tribes/schedule.html
Other events are at www.glorantha.com/tribes/events.html
The "Schedule" page will list conventions and other events at which Issaries
will have an official presence. Coming up in the near future are Tentacles
and Origins. Greg will be hosting the GTA Party at Tentacles, which has a
"Postcards from Glorantha" theme. Greg is a guest of honor at Origins, but
he will still have time to host some events. In fact, if anyone is going to
Origins and can spare an hour or two to help Greg out, let us know by
emailing us at <events@glorantha.com>.
The "Events" page will list conventions and other events at which Issaries
will not have an official presence. If you are going to be running a Hero
Wars, HeroQuest, or other Gloranthan event at a local convention, let us
know at <events@glorantha.com>, and we'll help you find other fans by
putting the information on this page.
ONLINE POLICY
Issaries, Inc. has modified its online policy recently. We want like to
thank everyone for respecting our policies by following the on-line policy
regarding trademark and copyright notices and compliance.
On the trademark front, we are excited to ask everyone to change the notice
on their web site to reflect the following changes:
Glorantha and the Glorantha Trading Association are trademarks of Issaries,
Inc. HeroQuest and Hero Wars are trademarks of Issaries, Inc. Issaries, Inc.
is a registered trademark of Issaries, Inc.
On the copyright front, we recently had requests from people asking if they
could use some of the artwork from www.glorantha.com on their own web site.
We already allow use of the various runes at
http://www.glorantha.com/library/corerunes.html, but have not allowed any
other artwork to be used.
Until now. Although we cannot give blanket approval to use all of the
artwork (in many cases, we do not have the rights to grant this), we are
pleased to make some changes to this policy. As of now, you may use Simon
Bray's wonderful Heortling Art on non-commercial web sites. Use of these
images must be in accordance with the following rules:
1. Only the images on the Heortling Art page at
http://www.herowars.com/new/art/art_heortling.html may be used in this
manner. No other images from this site may be used without express
permission from Issaries, Inc.
2. No more than three of these images may be used on a single web page.
There is no limit to the number that can be used on an individual site as
long as this restriction is followed.
3. Each image must link back to either
www.HeroWars.com/new/art/art_heortling.html or www.HeroWars.com (or
www.glorantha.com or www.issaries.com).
4. Each page that includes one or more of these images must contain the
trademark notice indicated above as well as the following copyright notice:
"The Orlanthi deity images by Simon Bray used on this page are copyright ©
2000-2002 by Issaries, Inc. and are used with permission." If any of these
images are used on any page on the site, this same notice must also appear
with the trademark notice on the site's main page or main Glorantha page.
5. These images may not be cropped or altered in any way, other than to
resize them as needed.
6. Use of the images must be in accordance with the rest of the online
policy, which can be found at
http://www.glorantha.com/tribes/online-policy.html.
ISSARIES PRESS RELEASE
Oakland CA and Battle Creek, MI
May 3, 2001
DARK AGES MINIATURES RELEASES GLORANTHAN CLASSICS MINIATURES SET TWO
The second set is here!
Dark Ages Miniatures and Issaries, Inc. are pleased to announce this second
set of the Gloranthan Classics Miniatures series. As with the first set,
these miniatures are part of the 25th anniversary re-casting of the first
licensed Gloranthan figures originally produced by Archive Miniatures
between 1976 and 1980.
Originally produced in lead, these new figures will be cast in a lead-free
white metal for a VERY LIMITED time. Issaries, Inc. has licensed Dark Ages
Miniatures (a USA based company) to produce these miniatures through
December 31st, 2003, after which the molds will be destroyed. The second
group is now available, with the third set tentatively scheduled for release
in August.
The second set of the Gloranthan Classics Miniatures contains these figures:
GLO-011 Water Wyrm Dragon $ 20.00
GLO-012 Delecti the Necromancer $ 2.50
GLO-013 Centaur with club $ 5.00
GLO-014 Centaur with bow $ 5.00
GLO-015 Centaur with axe $ 5.00
GLO-016 Jar-Eel the Razoress $ 2.50
GLO-017 Serpent Guardian $ 2.50
GLO-018 Walktapus $ 6.00
GLO-019 Grazelander Shaman $ 2.50
GLO-020 Ironhoof the Centaur $ 5.00
GLORANTHA-SET-TWO
All 10 Figures $46.00 + $10.00 S&H worldwide -- a savings of $10 off the
suggested retail price when purchasing all 10 pieces.
ORDERING
Figures can be ordered individually or as a set, by MAIL, FAX, ONLINE, or
using PAYPAL.
If you have not yet ordered set one and would like to combine set one with
set two, mail or PayPal a payment of $93.50 in U.S. funds; this includes S&H
worldwide.
Here's how to order:
BY MAIL
Full set only.
Send payment in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. Bank payable to:
Discount Hobby, Inc.
2376 W. Michigan Avenue
Batte Creek, Mi. 49017 USA
BY FAX
Full set only.
Include credit card number and expiration date, full order details, billing
address, and shipping address (if different).
FAX orders to 616-969-0064.
ONLINE
Full set or individual figures. Shipping & Handling are calculated per
piece.
Go to www.discounthobby.com or www.dragglestown.com for details.
PAYPAL
Full set only.
Go to www.paypal.com to place the order and make payment, which should be
sent to user <JDLAUCK@aol.com>. In the Subject line or text box, put
"GLORANTHA-SET-TWO".
For more information, or if you have any questions, please contact
<JDLAUCK@aol.com>.
For more information about Glorantha, please contact
<administrator@glorantha.com>.
-------------------
Jerzy Cichocki
Refugees from the sunken land
Based on Jennifer Westwood's THE ATLAS OF MYSTERIOUS PLACES & my article
"Prawda o górze Shasta" published in Polish MAGIA I MIECZ
magazine.
On 22 May, 1932 Edward Lanser published an article in "The Los Angeles Times
Star". He wrote about strange phenomena he had seen a few days earlier
during his train travel to Portland, Oregon. While he was sitting in
his compartment, he observed "mysterious, red and green lights" at the
top of Shasta Mountain, California. He inquired a ticket controller
about these strange things and the answer was, that these were "Lemurians
who chanted their ceremony". Lanser was possessed by the thought to get
to know everything about Shasta Mountain. He went on holiday to
California promising his boss a super article on
the subject. And that is how the story begins...
This text is a summary of Lenser's discoveries. Game Masters can easily
adapt
it into one-night scenario, where players are involved in action as Edward
Lanser's friends (climbing team, a porters or whoever needed) or as
a rescue team, the police etc, searching for Lenser after his
disappearing. So, dear players, be so kind and do not read on...
During his journey, in the town on Weeds, Edward Lanser meets people who
saw several times the phenomena on the incredible mountain. These people
inform him of the fact, that nobody has ever reached the top of Shasta
Mountain. Lanser hears rumors that strange residents of the mountain
appeared some days in Weed to buy indispensable products and cash in gold
dug up in their mines in Shasta. Thanks to reports from the nearby
villagers, Lanser makes a profile of the - so called - Lemurians. They
appear to be "tall, barefoot, noble looking men in long, white gowns".
Lanser becomes obsessed with the mysterious people to such an extent, that
he forgets about his regular work as a journalist. Day by day he discovers
more and more about Lemurians. One day, it is said, he climbed Shasta
after dark. The day after he was found near Weed unconscious and
wearing a white gown... Nobody knows if he really obtained his new
theories during this trip, or was it just a dream, however he suggests
that the mysterious lights commemorate the Lemurian's lost home -
Lemuria. It is said that their continent cracked into several pieces
during an enormous natural catastrophe between 136 and 60 billion years
ago. Lemuria sank afterwards, but nobody knows when. For thousands of years
the Lemurians lived in some areas in North America, invisible due to the
secret knowledge of their masters, that allows them to merge with
surrounding Nature. Supposedly, their village at the top of Shasta
Mountain is guarded by an invisible barrier.
Lanser discovered a significant part of the mystery of the Shasta
thanks to professor Edgar Lucin Larkin's notes. That outstanding
scientist and occultist was in charge of the astronomical observatory on
the Lowe Mountain. According to Lenser's diary, professor used a big
telescope to observe Lemurian's village and noted his discoveries.
Unfortunately, Larkin died of unknown reasons in 1924 and Lanser
couldn't discuss his observations with him. Professor Larkin however
inspired his friend, Frederick Spancer Oliver, to write an occult novel
"A Dweller on Two Planets" (1924). Apparently, in the late professor's
house Lanser found a manuscript with lots of priceless notes. Thanks to
them he is able to find his way to the hidden village of Lemurians.
Lanser's spectacular reports and his theory of the land of Lemuria
provoked world's scientists a great discussion on the works of Darwin. They
wondered how possibly the animals like lemurs, inhabiting mainly
Madagascar and Africa, could appear also in India and the Malay
Archipelago. This concerned also other species. The most famous and, so
far, the most rational answer is a land pier that must have existed billions
of years ago, before the continents assumed their modern shapes. A
strong argument FOR that theory is the fact, that both in middle India
and South Africa there are rocks and fossils of the same kind. Based on
that theory an English zoologist, Phillip Scalter, made a suggestion
about the existence of a continent that connected Africa with India. This
continent he called Lemuria - after the mammals that used to live
there.
A German naturalist, Ernst Haeckel, thought even that Lemuria could be the
cradle of mankind. Rumors about sunken land reached also Poland. Helena
Blavatsky, the creator of Theosophy, had an isolated opinion on this
matter. Her illegible at times arguments - put in "The Secret Doctrine" -
could originate from the Book of Dzyan, the old Atlantian manuscript, that
was given to her during a spiritual séance. According to Blavatsky's
theory, evolution proceed in seven stages. The third of that stages
should be Lemurians. For unknown reasons Lemuria fell under water, and
only after that Atlantis rose and it was again only afterwards that the
world known to us came into being. Continuators of Blavatsky's theory
specified occupants of the sunken continent in a better way. On a
certain stage of their evolution Lemurians crossed with animals and
that's how apes appeared on the planet (sic!). The gods of Lemurians didn't
like it and they fell into disgrace. In that time Lemurian gods were
changed by the Lords of Fire, newcomers from the Venus planet, who brought
them immortality by reincarnation. When they reached upper level of
civilization and started to resemble humans, Lemuria drowned. Blavatsky's
followers believe that Aborigines, Hottentots and Papuans are the
descendants of Lemurians.
There were also other occultists that thought that Lemuria should be
connected with legendary Mu, proposed by American James Churchward. He
believed that Mu has the answer for the mystery of the statues from the
Easter Islands. However there is no good evidence for existence of that
continent or its residents. Shasta Mountain still conceals mystery...
Who were the Lemurians observed by Lenser then? I don't know, feel free
to make any suggestions in your scenario. Maybe it was a Mi-go base and
their "ceremony with lights" was performed to commemorate their destroyed
home planet far behind Yuggoth...?
Take care,
Jerzy (cierzy@mag.com.pl)
I'd like to thank my sister Paula for help in translation.
Dear sister, thank you very much :)
---------------------
A Wing and A Prayer
Geoff Smith's article "The Basics of Being a Keeper" (issue v35.12 - editor)
was full of sensible advice. In fact there are only two things I'd seriously
disagree with him about. The first is about new players rolling-up their own
characters. In my long experience spending hours rolling-up a character and
learning complex game systems is a serious turn-off for many newcomers. Give
them a character, explain the what the stats represent ("Your character has
high INT and DEX so she's is clever and nibble but her closeted upbringing
hasn't made her particularly strong"), tell them role playing is like acting
without a script and then talk them through things like combat when they
arise in game. This may detract from the atmosphere at first, but learning
the rules by example is so much easier.
The other disagreement, and main subject of this article, concerns the need
to always have an adventure all plotted out and studied in advance. If
you're new then by all means use an existing adventure, but even Geoff
acknowledges that there will be times when you will need to fill in a scene
or "wing it". And if you can wing a scene or two then you can wing a whole
adventure too without your players noticing. I know because I've done it.
The most important part of winging an adventure is to know where you are
going. In other words you need a final scene or enemy's goal. This will give
you three vital things: a villain, the villain's goal and a location. Let's
take an example - how about a human cultist who's read a book and found the
location of a Deep One city. He contacts the Deep Ones and gets them to take
over the local fishing village. In two weeks time a powerful politician will
visit the village on a tour. The cultist plans to swap minds with the
politician and use his new position of power to take over the government,
while his old body, containing the politician's mind, is
disposed of by the Deep Ones.
Once you've got your goal you'll need a starting point. How about the
players are out for a drive in their new car and they run a man down. The
man dashes out from some bushes and under their wheels. He lives long enough
to whisper that the politician is in danger, or when the adventurers try to
drive him to the nearest doctor (in the fishing village, of course) he
mutters "Don't take me back! Don't take me back!" and struggles to escape
again. Either way he dies soon after.
This is the start of our adventure (obviously you would tailor the start to
your adventurers). So now all we need to do is know who our villain is and
who the man is. The man is the reporter on the local weekly paper who has
discovered the scheme and was chased out of town by the villain's henchmen
(maybe a Spot Hidden noticed them lurking in the nearby field). The villain
could be the town mayor (after all he needs to know something of politics),
but, you could throw in a twist and have the REAL villain shown to be an old
sailor or the local librarian? Let's go with the librarian, who's an amateur
magician. He found the book in the library archives and has hypnotized those
people who haven't been replaced by the Deep Ones. You can use pretty much
standard stats for these people and monsters.
What you WILL need are names. The trick I learned a long time ago was to
make up a page of names. Try flicking through a telephone directory and
choosing names. Write down the initials and surnames on one side of the
paper. Choose a range of names so they appear natural. You can get several
hundred on a page with care. Don't indicate sex - the initials will suggest
the NPC's first name, which you tailor depending on the NPC's sex. I advise
you to carry such a list anyway, even with pre-written adventures, as
players often seem to want to know the name of the second under-butler or
the bellboy which is exactly the sort of information most writers leave out
of adventures. Once you've used a name cross it through or otherwise mark
that you've used it so that you don't use it again. Lastly, when
players ask for a name don't take time pondering over the list, just pick
one and say it. That way it looks like you're not just making it up as you
go along, but are maybe reading it from a printed adventure.
You might also want a map of the fishing village and its surrounding
location. This can simply be done with a road atlas or "street-finder" book.
Re-using a real map will also automatically give you features like
government buildings, libraries, police stations, fire stations, doctors and
graveyards. Even a modern map can be simplified into a 1920s map (downgrade
roads, remove motels, shopping malls, etc). A map of the villain's "lair"
might also be useful (in this case the Deep One city?).
Think through the villain's plan to see if there are obvious holes and once
you are happy with it you can begin the adventure. If you are not happy, and
want more information, certainly work it out. A bullet point list of "clue
points" may help. For example:
* Papers on the man say he was a reporter.
* the local doctor says the man had suffered a breakdown which made him
irrational;
* searching the newspaper office finds a half-written article about
personality changes in the village, Critical Library Use role notices
article about the politician;
* a visit to the library reveals the legend of the singing cliffs - a set of
rocks where mermaids were said to dwell;
* The local sheriff seems uninterested in the crash or the man's death, he
seems more interested in convincing the players to go home;
* Going to the coast the players find a curious piece of what looks like
gold jewelry.
Now once you're ready to go run the first scene with the car crash and then
follow through whatever your players choose to do. Your players may do
unexpected things, but that's fine, go with the flow. All you have to do is
keep asking yourself the question "Does this effect the villain's plans?" If
the answer is yes (for example the villain should eventually realize that
the adventurers are investigating the case) then ask "How does the villain
need to change his plan to insure success?" (Kill the adventurers or lay a
false trail?). If there's one piece of advice I would emphasize it is to
understand your villain and his plan. He is the driving force of the
adventure - if you understand what he's doing the rest will fall into place.
This is true of professional adventures too, but because you've invented the
plot of your adventure you won't need to study it to understand what's going
on like you will with adventures by others, even "sinister seed" type plots.
The other thing is to try a compartmentalize your NPCs. If the local sheriff
becomes suspicious of the players the mayor won't also be suspicious unless
the sheriff has had time to contact him or they have a telepathic link. The
villain can be as misinformed as the players. Several sessions I've played
have been ruined by omnipotent police officers and villains anticipating the
player's every move. Also because you are winging characters there will be a
tendency to use stereotypes. However you should take the opportunity to act
against this. Try to give people some quirk which sets them apart from the
average.
If the players go completely off track you may have to do something to get
them back on course. Maybe a fisherman could drown off the coast (an
accident?)... That's something to decide at the moment you think they've
floundered about too much.
You should plan for one "incident" per game session. In our example the
first session is about the car crash; the second session should tell the
players the village is suspicious; the third session might reveal the plan
itself; and session four is the countdown to the politician arriving...
that's four weeks game play out of a page of
text, a few names and a lot of imagination!
One thing you might not have is a load of player handouts. Things like
handouts is one of the things which will alert your players that this is not
a published adventure, so be careful. On the other hand because you're not
bothering about details you might actually find you have more time to write
handouts.
Short story plots can also be easily adapted using this method - this source
already gives you names and motivations, but requires you to study the story
more and you run the risk that your players have read the story too. Plots
from television programs can also be adapted (usually by changing genre)
and winged with considerable success.
The minimum you need is the villain's goal, a list of names and a location
for the adventure. You will also need the rule books (keep the pre-generated
stats to hand) and I strongly advise a screen so the players can't see that
you're winging it. The rest are extras - helpful, but not vital.
If you feel comfortable give it a go. You'll be surprised how often the play
sessions go well.
--
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