Chaosium Digest Volume 3, Number 6 Date: Sunday, August 15, 1993 Number: 2 of 3 Contents: Cthulhu vs. Stormbringer (Shirley & Brooks) CTHULHU/ELRIC! A Story Idea for the Black Stone (Steve Gill) CALL OF CTHULHU Using Children as Investigators (Renee Dekenah) CALL OF CTHULHU The Cases of Titus Crow (Shannon Appel) CALL OF CTHULHU -------------------- From: chaosium@netcom.com (Sam Shirley & Les Brooks) Subject: Cthulhu vs. Stormbringer System: Call of Cthulhu System: Elric! Recently, a player wanted to know whether Elric's demon blade could be used to destroy great Cthulhu. Les and I discussed it, and determined this ruling: If you refer to pages 117 and 122 of the Elric rulebook, you see that Stormbringer fights with an 880% skill, doing 17d10+1d6 damage per blow. A large amount, one would think, except that the Call of Cthulhu rulebook clearly says "At zero Hit Points, Cthulhu bursts and dissolves into a disgusting, cloying greenish cloud, then immediately starts to reform into his horrible form. He takes 1D10+10 minutes to gain full solidity, and when he does, then he has a full 160 hit points again." Physical damage, obviously, is not effective in destroying Cthulhu. This leaves us relying on Stormbringer's other great power, a 1D100 Drain Soul, which allows it to siphon off 1D100 POW points per combat round. Cthulhu is listed in the rulebook with a mere POW of 42, but then, he is listed as having only 160 Hit Points, and that is shown as no real limit when he is able to reconstitute, fully formed. Hit Points, though, are corporeal, while POW is clearly of the soul. Philosophically, we must ask if Cthulhu is of one essential essence, irreplaceable, or if as a deity, he represents an eternal, supernal principle of a higher level than the sword Stormbringer. Let us consider the origin of Stormbringer. Referring to the upcoming Melnibone sourcebook, we learn that it and Mournblade were created by the older ones," an ancient and inhumanly lawful race of quasi-immortals. They were forged of the stuff of Chaos by Lawful smiths, to aid them in their wars, and placed in the keeping of the proto-Melniboneans. Merely semi-deistic, Cthulhu is not a true god in the sense of Azathoth or Yog-Sothoth, and exhibits only a small subset of their transrational, hyperdimensional nature. He is the supreme example of the race of Star-Spawn, and their high priest. Cthulhu's POW could be drained by Stormbringer, but such an act would undoubtedly gain the attention of Nyarlathotep, and through him Azathoth, "that last, amorphous blight on nethermost confusion, which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity." The outer gods would manifest, jealous to protect their deistic prerogative, a maddened Azathoth included. Cults would view this as a sign of the apocalypse, snow-balling their summonings into this one. Stormbringer may destroy Cthulhu, but in so doing end this world. I say let them have the sword, and go to it! Sam Shirley & Les Brooks -------------------- From: Steve Gill Subject: A Story Idea for the Black Stone System: Call of Cthulhu In-Reply-To: V3.4 The Black Stone Another Story Idea for the Black Stone: One of the stones could be broken. Serpent Men and Deep Ones are trying to get all the fragments to rebuild it. This would recreate the magical symbol formed by the stones with the usual possibilities of Earth shattering results. The investigators must, of course, prevent this. My personal choice of effect would be everyone on the planet suffering nightmares of pain and death until the pattern is disrupted once more. This would give lots of room for further play without the world coming to a total end. Steve Gill, internet: TUK865@maccvm.corp.mot.com -------------------- From: Renee Dekenah Subject: Using Children as Investigators System: Call of Cthulhu I am a relative newcomer to CoC, but I had an idea that might be interesting to play. I would appreciate comments from others. My idea originated from a book by horror novelist Dan Simmons called "Summer of Night". In his book, Simmons uses as protagonists a small group of primary school boys and one girl of similar age. All the children except one are about 11-12 years of age. The other is younger (I think about 8 or 9). The fact that Simmons managed to retain suspense and build some complex characterisation got me thinking. What if one used children as investigators? It has been stated that "investigator" is a term used in place of player-character, so there should be no great problems making the PCs children. It should be quite a challenge to roleplay. Here follow some more specifics: They have no secondary or tertiary education. Any education outside of primary school will have to be gained from extra reading. This is still very much the age of play, so most of the PCs will not have the knowledge, let alone Cthulhu Mythos, to deal with creatures from an intellectual angle. That does not mean they cannot use their wits. Clues could be given in a form that young PCs will be able to understand and act upon. In the Simmons book, there was one child who was quite ahead of his age in reading and he was the one who did book research. So, it is not beyond children to do some reading. Most of the investigation would necessitate physical actions (with preplanning of course). This would require alterations to the character sheet. They are physically small, and do not have much experience. Their size, while making it more difficult to get out of situations requiring strength, also allows them to squirm and wiggle through holes and out of clutching rotting hands. Their acrobatic skills are probably on the whole better than an adult's. In addition, they can hide easily and look innocent and unknowing when required. Their lack of experience is not really a problem, as most adults who investigate Cthulhu mythos are either quite ignorant or insane. * But what can children ever do? Exactly! That is part of the horror. In the Dan Simmons book the children more or less succeeded, but that need not always be so. Being a child, a PC has less credibility in the adult world, practically no money, and probably no access to a normal weapon (unless it is a street kid). Whatever children do, it will have to be planned by using their wits and what little resources they have and can nick from their parents and others. In addition to the supernatural, they also have local bullies to fend off and other childhood denizens. * How does Sanity work? Well, my theory is that children start with a lower San, but lose it at a slower rate than adults. Children tend to live only partly in the adult world, and have very active imaginations and their own fears (things under the bed, the dark...) which is the reason for the lower San in the beginning. However, whereas an adult may realise the futility of certain actions, and be more affected by things outside of their normal world, children, although being extremely scared by slimy dead things (for instance) may be more inclined to accept them as part of the reality in which they live. To give background to the character, one could add the category "Childhood Fears" to the charcter sheet. * What of the Horror? True, the horror might well be different. But, if the players are interested in roleplaying well, they can create their own brand of horror for their characters. Suicides are most common between the ages of 25 and 45 (I think) although teenage suicides are fairly numerous. Before that, the rate of suicide is fairly low. These PCs will most likely die as a result of their investigations instead of committing suicide at some stage either during or after. It doesn't really seem appropriate for children. There may well be impending doom though; the horror of an increasing evil when you have meagre resources and no one else (except your friends) will believe you. This also means there will be little Treasure and Artifact grabbing. Children will be more concerned with staying alive and keeping their friends alive than picking up items. Greed should not really be a factor. A Keeper could also increase suspense by using the fears of the PCs to his/her advantage. Although the above is fairly glib, I actually have a problem with the horror. I don't think there is any way that it can be the same as that for an adult. The question is IF this is a workable idea, how to create horror. It will be a child's horror, which if you remember being a child, is pretty damn terrifying. It is not something you can shrug off. Maybe all adults become like children in the presence of Lovecraftian horror... * And the Future? After a few scenarios with the children, a Keeper could time lapse to the adult versions of these PCs, who possibly still have nightmares and probably have some Mythos, and carry on from there. The strong bonds formed between characters in childhood could be reforged and new horrifying activities undertaken. So, any comments? Renee -------------------- From: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu (Shannon Appel) Subject: The Cases of Titus Crow System: Call of Cthulhu While it was Lovecraft who crafted the Mythos of Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones, his world is somewhat different from the world of the Call of Cthulhu game. The world of H.P. Lovecraft, full of death, suicide and attempts to escape the horrors of the mythos, can't be fully mapped into a Call of Cthulhu campaign, and thus the game is somewhat different from the original sources [there is some discussion on this in volume one of the Chaosium Digest]. In my recent readings, I've come across the works of Brian Lumley, one of the many writers to continue the chronicling of the Great Old Ones. The thing that struck me the most about his stories was how close in theme they were to the game Call of Cthulhu. His "Titus Crow" stories are about an occult investigator, able to survive his encounters with the Mythos, and then to return, to delve into the deep mysteries again. He seems nearly the archetypical CoC investigator. In this article, I've given synopses of the first five of the Titus Crow short stories, as well as provided some thoughts on how the stories might be molded into good adventures for Call of Cthulhu. I will warn you these synopses do contain spoilers for the Titus Crow short stories. Notes on the last six stories will appear in a future issue of the Digest. If you're interested in reading Lumley's stories of Titus Crow, all of the short stories were published in _The Compleat Crow_ (Ganley, 1987). There are also several Titus Crow novels including _The Burrowers Beneath_, _The Transition of Titus Crow_, _The Clock of Dreams_ and _Elysia_. In the US, Ganley published all of these around 1987 or 1988, while Grafton Books published at least the first two in the UK in 1991. There are some older US printings by DAW, but they're probably pretty rare now. The Cases of Titus Crow: INCEPTION: This story tells the tale of an unfortunate pursued to England by a Priest of the Undying Dead. The pursuit is the result of the theft of an Elixir from black Sanusi wizards, the exact nature of which is an enigma, never revealed. The only hint which is given about the Elixir is that it may only be used by the "utterly pure and completely innocent." In the end, after the thief and the mummy have both gone to their respective ends, the Elixir is mixed into a baptismal font, the font which Titus Crow is christened in several hours later. The immediate applications of this story to CoC seem obvious. A quest to discover the Elixir would make for a good CoC adventure and the "corpse-laden catacombs under the desert" where the Elixir is hidden seem an ideal setting. However, a lot of peripheral ideas could also be drawn from this story. What precisely is the Cult of the Undying Dead and what are its goals? What are the true powers of the Elixir and why does the Priest of the Undying Dead guard it? One final question is this: do any of the investigators have some event in their past which irrevocably tied them to the world of the Mythos? Is it an event that they know of, or some deep secret? How could this event of the past rise to haunt them again in the modern day? LORD OF THE WORMS: Like "Inception", this story too tells of a very long lived villain. In it, Julian Carstairs employs Crow to catalog his occult library. However, the job is a ruse. Carstairs has examined Crow's numbers (his birthday, the letters of his name, etc), and determined that he is the appropriate victim for a certain ritual. On Candelmas Eve (Feb. 1), Julian Carstairs, a worm-wizard, plans to take over the body of Titus Crow, replacing Crow's mind and will with his own. The maggots that invest Carstair's body are to enter Crow's, in a ritual that has been repeated many times in the last centuries. A worm-wizard would seem to be an ideal villain for Call of Cthulhu. A man whose body is filled with maggots is quite horrifying. What will the investigators think when a grave-worm in occasionally found in the fellow's wake? Carstairs himself exhibited a powerful hypnosis. A worm-wizard in CoC might have this power or many others. And then, there is the question of the power behind the worms themselves. Were the maggots sentient, or empowered by the dark magics or was Carstairs the avatar of some previously unknown Great Old One? By reading De Vermiis Mysteriis (see CoC5, pg 59), an investigator might learn the mysteries of the worm, and accidently become embroiled in them. The most appealing story idea for "Lord of the Worms" would involve an old associate of the players (perhaps a patron, an old friend or a former investigator) being taken over by a worm-wizard. What will happen as the investigators slowly realize that their colleague is not as he once was? THE CALLER OF THE BLACK: One of the Crow short stories most tightly connected to the Mythos, this tells of Gedney, a master of the occult who has learned the secret of calling the Black (see CoC5, pg 125). He uses it to murder several who threaten to reveal his occult secrets before he finally falls victim to it himself. Victims dying of suffocations upon dry land, victims of the Black, could prove a useful enigma to start off an adventure, ultimately leading to an encounter with a sorcerer who controls the blood of Yibb-Tstll. Also, there is the suggestion of a story where the victims of some supernatural force are cultists themselves. How would the investigators react to the task of saving evil occultists from the occult? THE VIKING'S STONE: In brief, this story tells of Benjamin Sorlson, an archaelogist who plunders the tomb of Ragnor Gory-Axe, an ancient Viking warrior. The ghost of Ragnor, still aboard his ancient Viking dragonship slays Sorlson, and returns his lost treasures to his tomb. I'm brief in my description in this story, mainly because I'm wary in its actual application to the Cthulhu mythos. Well Lovecraft does tell stories of the dead returning to regain their stolen treasures (notably "The Hound), these are usually corporeal revenants, not spectral shades. The item which best suggests a CoC adventure in "The Viking's Stone" is the tomb itself. The tomb lies near Scarborough in Allerston Forest. It is marked by a menhir (a several ton stone upon which the spirit of the deceased was thought to perch). Nearby is a cleft which contains the actual tomb, housing the bones, armor and weapons of Ragnor. Perhaps the tomb might be a place of power, meeting place of some modern cult. Another idea could involve the recovering of some ancient item from Ragnor's Tomb. What might the item be, and why must it be recovered? Who or what might try to prevent the recovery of the item? What might the consequences of stealing the item from the tomb of Ragnor Gory-Axe be? THE MIRROR OF NITOCRIS: A story of Titus Crow's apprentice, Henri-Laurent de Marigny, this tells of an auction of items of the occult, and the mirror that de Marigny buys there. Nitocris' Mirror, artifact of an ancient Egyptian queen, was said to provide glimpses of realms where Shoggoths and other aberrant creatures lived. Shortly after, de Marigny buys the mirror, he destroys it, when a creature trys to crawl from its depths to drag him inside. One of the most appealing CoC ideas from this story concerns the possibility of an auction of the Occult. Not only is it an excellent place to introduce new stories, as strange items fall into the hands of the investigators, but it also a good locale for introducing NPCs. These might be patrons (see V3.2 for two good ones), famous occultists, cultists or even authorities looking into certain suspicious persons (maybe even the investigators). Stories of intrigue, involving the theft or recovery of occult objects, and deceit, involving, perhaps, the sale of fraudulent items, might both come from such an auction. These might have nothing to do with the Cthulhu Mythos, and thus provide a good change of place. The Mirror of Nitocris, described in this story, could also be the source of a CoC adventure, if the investigators or some associate came into possession of the item. Alternatively, cultists might gain the item, and learn to focus its scrying powers. I'll continue the stories of Titus Crow, detailing his cases, and providing CoC adventure ideas concerning them in a future issue of the digest. Shannon -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is a Discussion Forum for Chaosium Games which do not have another specific area for discussion. To submit an article, mail to: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu