From: "John & Christine Thompson" To: Subject: Chaosium Digest v34.03 Date: Saturday, June 30, 2001 4:24 AM Chaosium Digest Volume 34, Number 03 Date: Saturday, June 30, 2001 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: * Revised insanity rules (CTHULHU) by Andrew Hunt (Andrew.hunt@cableinet.co.uk) Editor's Note: Work on the archive continues. As suggested by one of our readers, I've added a Search box to assist users in finding the articles they're looking for. I'm also slowly listing the contents of each issue under the link for that particular issue. I started at the end of the list and have been working my way back. As always, I'm open to additional suggestions for revising the archive. Today is the last day for submissions to qualify for the 2nd quarter Contest. Submissions received after today will be eligible for the 3rd quarter contest. In this issue we have a large announcement from the Glorantha Trading Association and an article that suggests ways to allow your Call of Cthulhu investigators to keep their sanity intact for a longer period of time. Now why would any Keeper want to do that? ;-) Enjoy! ANNOUNCEMENTS * TALES FROM THE GLORANTHA TRADING ASSOCIATION Longest Day (June, 2001) Hail to Thee from the Glorantha Trading Association. You've hopefully noticed that Hero Wars is not only out, but that there are great supplements coming out more and more regularly. You'll really like Thunder Rebels (the Orlanthi source book) and brand new is Storm Tribe (the Orlanthi cult compendium. Both contain lots of brand new information, even for people who actually own a copy of Cults of Prax! Anaxial's Roster is the major bestiary that adds a lot to the Deluxe Hero Wars core rules. And more is on the way. Below you'll find tales about: Best of Glorantha 2000 - Well Done Lunar Lands Mapped! Just Over the Next Rise Issaries Convention Schedule The Masks of Pavis The Glorantha Tribe wants YOU! Glorantha Trading Association News David Hall Apotheosized Gloranthan Releases Available from Wizards Attic Unspoken Words in Print Griffin Mountain Reborn Parting Shot: A Drawing! BEST OF GLORANTHA 2000 - WELL DONE The GTA has voted, and the Best of Glorantha 2000 have been named. Congratulations, may the Tribe remain ascendant. The winners are: King of Dragon Pass, Best of the Best King of Dragon Pass, Best Visual Art King of Dragon Pass, Best Play Aid Jeff Kyer's Chasing Kites, Best Hero Wars Scenario Mark Galeotti's Gagarth's Wolves Heroband, Best Hero Wars Description Wesley Quadros, Best Glorantha Website Tales of the Reaching Moon #18, Best Glorantha in Print Graham Robinson's Extended Contests without AP, Best Hero Wars House Rule John Boyle's Road of Kings, Best Glorantha Short Fiction Introduction to the Hero Wars, Best Issaries Inc Publication Nick Brooke's Songbook, Spirit of Glorantha To my mild surprise, the majority of these champions are not North Americans, despite the GTA center of gravity. Will the Old World dominate next year too? By the way, Graham's House Rules have moved, and been expanded, see With the improvements I see so far, the Best of Glorantha 2001 will be a tough contest, too. So get your stuff ready. LUNAR LANDS MAPPED! I managed to get one of the gorgeous maps of the Lunar Lands, recently revealed by Mark Galeotti. The map by Wesley Quadros and Martin Laurie is much bigger and more precise than their web version of it at Issaries, for which see . This one is printed in color, 59+ x 70 cm on glossy paper. A real value at £17 or $27, says this map lover. Sterling checks payable to `M.Galeotti & S.Bray' sent with a note of your address, to PO Box 278, Crewe CW3 9YY England. Or, you can use Paypal, transferring $27 to . Then, email Mark saying you have done this transfer, and give him a postal address for your map. JUST OVER THE NEXT RISE Issaries has more Hero Wars material coming. Next should be Hero's Book (a new player's guide to Hero Wars) and The Complete Griselda (short fiction set in Pavis, by Oliver Dickinson) in July, followed by Sartar Rising in August. The 2nd edition of Hero Wars should come soon there after, and an Orlanthi Narrator's Kit follows that correction edition. And in the middle distance, I see ... "A Promise of Thunder," Robin D. Laws' full novel of Tarkalor as a young man. A complete novel from a major Gloranthan game designer, the book reveals Tarkalor's early reluctance and the burden of royal blood and divine descent during Sartar's War with the Lunar Empire, before he becomes the greatest king of Sartar. Self contained, there are no hanging endings in this brand new tale. Robin is known for his fiction such as Pierced Heart and The Rough & the Smooth, as well as roleplaying games like Feng Shui and Hero Wars. Laws comments, "I've always wanted to write fiction set in Glorantha. My Tarkalor novel deals with the nature of heroism, the clash of ideologies, and passionate family conflict; all perfect for good fiction." ISSARIES CONVENTION SCHEDULE Contrary to our practice in previous years, Origins and GenCon are going to be devoid of the presence of Issaries, Inc. in 2001. Wizard's Attic will represent us by selling product. If you need to get an item, please go to them and buy it. GTA members and people wishing to play Hero Wars can also use the Wizard's Attic booth as a meeting place. Normally, we attend these conventions because it is a chance to spend some time face to face with fans, to promote the game in person, and to make business contacts. This year, the value of those activities is outweighed by the expense of going and also by a unique opportunity that Greg has to perform service to extraordinary people. Put another way, "Would I rather go to the 25th convention in a row, or take the time to help out the teacher who saved my life?" No question for me. THE MASKS OF PAVIS Another new item has surfaced. The Masks of Pavis is a Ye Book of Tentacles - produced book of scenarios and other information on Pavis, mostly by Ian Thomson. It was originally called Pavis & Big Rubble Companion part 2 as part 1 was in YBoT 3. Ian has single handedly nearly doubled the number of Hero Wars scenarios, and all of these are integrated with each others and other published material. Masks includes character creation developed for Multisim by Issaries, Inc. This book works for both Runequest and Hero Wars, so Glorantha fans unite! For purchase information, ask Fabian Kuechler . THE GLORANTHA TRIBE WANTS YOU! The Hero Wars are at a critical point. The material is there, the new material keeps coming and it's high quality, but not everyone has heard how the Storm Tribe is rising. You can make a difference to Glorantha if you'll take on a specific or regular responsibility: (1) post a thoughtful online review of each Hero Wars publication, see or Note that the rpg.net database index is quite poor ... at last count I note at least 5 reviews of Hero Wars books that are not shown in the archive, and (when they do show) three publishers appear "Issary", "Issaries,Inc" and "Issaries Inc"! And www.gamingoutpost.com has no Hero Wars reviews at all. Be sure to drop a note to when you post, as we hope to have a Reviews page up on the web site soon. (2) If you like to web surf or follow rpg related news groups, how about periodically checking for new Hero Wars postings, and correcting omissions or adding your own point of view? (3) If you're going to Origins or GenCon, let's get together. Wouldn't it be great if there was 1 or 2 pickup Hero Wars sessions? Are you game enough to be part of it? Who knows, if there's enough interest, we could have a GTA members only game! Since Issaries won't be able to attend, maybe the Wizards Attic booth is the place to leave me a note on how to reach you and what times would be good. (4) The official Glorantha web site is updated regularly with new material. Go to to learn about the Lunar Army, check the errata, read about Tentacles, and look in wonder on brand new maps of Slontos, southern Sartar, and the Shadow Plateau. Coming soon: Hero Wars keywords for the gods of Pavis! GLORANTHA TRADING ASSOCIATION NEWS The Glorantha Trading association now boasts a total of 220 members, including 1 Demi-God, 26 Heroes, 38 Runemasters, and 155 Initiates. We don't know the exact number of Observers, but it is in the neighborhood of 1000! The Glorantha Trading Association is still open to new members! If you want to become an Initiate, Rune Master, or Hero and gain all of their fabulous benefits (including free books and exclusive access to Gloranthan information on-line), go to or email for information! We would love to see you rise in the tribe! DAVID HALL APOTHEOSIZED Issaries Thanks David Hall (Kudos by Greg Stafford, to appear also in Tales of the Reaching Moon 20) After a time of great brilliance, darkness descended upon the realm. Panic, depression and despair marched forward, armed like gladiators and as hungry as emptiness. Darkness descended over all. Glorantha was doomed. A spark endured. Among men a fire burned. The light reached from the ruins and glowed from afar. Unquenchable, its beautiful spark kept the tribe of Glorantha alive. Oh, let us see too that it flickers, troubled by cold winds, misunderstood communiqués, and bad magics sent from the gods far away in the Underworld. Truly, it seems alone in the world. It burns, and by its light, we look at all these pretty pictures, facts and insights. I cannot ever forget the day I met David in person. My wife and I were wearing our motorcycle jackets and were ending our travels that day as guests at Conjunction, toting our luggage and pretty tired after cruising those English "roads" all day to get to Cambridge. Mr. Hall was not host that day, just another guest and frankly, I was a bit nervous to meet him. He had already published a bunch of great magazines during a time when I had been unable to do much myself for Glorantha. I was aware of the flame borne by him, and frankly had not yet figured the way to communicate my appreciation. At first we were each, -- um, shocked? Or just shy shall we say? Me in leathers, David in his most casual dress-down for the convention, which to me still looked like formal accounting fashion. Nonetheless, barriers broke when we spoke, and the common ground of Glorantha opened before us. Although I have sometimes stumbled in my dialogue, the Tales of the Reaching Moon have not. For years David has guided Tales to provide information through a drought in my own output. Thanks in part to David the spark is a fire again and with the new Hero Wars game it is as if the very cosmos around Glorantha has changed. The fire is different, and although I look upon the movement of David and Tales to a different place, it is for happy personal reasons and in a good way. I am happy to have this opportunity in the last issue of Tales to personally thank you David, for the loyalty, creativity and good work you have done for Glorantha, Issaries and me. In recognition of this service, which truly cannot be measured, Issaries is honored to grant to you the most esteemed status in our GTA tribe. We are proud to announce this here, for all of the best to see. David Hall is a Demi-God of the Glorantha Tribe With all honors and privileges granted therefore. GLORANTHA PRODUCTS AVAILABLE FROM WIZARDS ATTIC Wizard's Attic carries all kinds of Glorantha stuff. In addition to the forthcoming Griffin Mountain reprint (and additional copies of the Pavis & Big Rubble reprint), they offer The Masks of Pavis, Tradetalk 8, and Tales of the Reaching Moon 19. Check out http://www.wizards-attic.com /IssariesSoon.html> and http://www.wizards-attic.com/ NewReleases.html> UNSPOKEN WORDS IN PRINT If you like the Lunar Map offered for sale by Mark Galeotti, you'll be interested in his new Glorantha publication too. The 68 page Unspoken Word is now out, by subscription from the UK. It will also be carried by Wizard's Attic. UW #1 includes the official Cult of Maran, including Greg's narrative of a pilgrim's progress to the temple. UW1 also has Greg's unpublished notes on Tarsh history, with Shaun Appleby's maps showing its evolution from its scouring during the Dragonkill to the late fifteenth century, plus a full-color map by Wesley Quadros (Arim's Footsteps to the Warnstone, with an illustrated gazetteer). He also promises detail on Furthest (complete with street map), Talfort and Copper Town. Simon Bray's illustrations accompany Tarshite NPC summaries. Peter Metcalfe and David Dunham contribute too. Martin Laurie describes the Army of Tarsh, Shieldwall Regiments to the Kingslayers. Single issues cost £7 (cheque)or $11 through the PayPal service, one-year subscription (3 issues) costs £20/$30. For orders to the rest of the world, the rates are £8/$11 and £22/$33, respectively. Prices include P&P (airmail printed rate for overseas orders). Mark says you can send cheques in UK sterling at the sterling rates above, payable to `M Galeotti & S Bray' to The Unspoken Word, PO Box 278, Crewe CW3 9YY, UK. Alternatively, transfers sent to , through the Paypal system . GRIFFIN MOUNTAIN REBORN With the efforts of Rick Meints and Moon Design Productions, Griffin Mountain has been reprinted along with new material. It will have all 256 pages of the original plus magazine articles about Balazaring clans, a section on running Gloranthan campaigns by Greg Stafford, and several pages of designer's notes. He says he's added in new bits that were in Griffin Island, like Granny Keeneye, the maps of the major Inns in the three Citadels, and some of the player handouts. Hurrah! Hardcover UK £40 (US $60), Softcover UK £25 (US $40), prices include international shipping. It can be advance ordered, for expected shipping on June 24 (just after midsummer). You can pay in UK pounds by check or postal money order, in US dollars by money orders or Paypal to . Orders and attaboys go to: Rick Meints, 22 Foxglove Road, Rush Green, Romford RM7 0YQ, UK Issaries will also offer GM through Wizards Attic in mid July, which might save US buyers some postage. Future reprints are planned, including Cults of Prax, Cults of Terror, Borderlands, and Plunder! PARTING SHOT A Drawing! As originally promised, Issaries will hold its first general GTA drawing! On July 2nd, Issaries will select two non-paid GTA members at random to receive a gift copy of Storm Tribe autographed by Greg Stafford! To be eligible for this drawing, we must receive an email message from you by July 1st to by July 1st. To ensure that we do not overlook your message, ensure that you put GTA STORM TRIBE DRAWING in the subject line of the message. HawkBear aka Mark Leymaster RELEASES * Chaosium June/July CHA 2018 Slaves of Fate (D20 Dragon Lords of Melniboné Adventure) $8.95 http://www.chaosium.com/woec/2018.shtml CHA 5115 Stormbringer 5th Edition RPG $29.95 http://www.chaosium.com/elric/2115.shtml JULY: CHA 2399 20th Anniversary Call of Cthulhu (Very Limited!) $79.95 http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2399.shtml CHA 2019 Straits of Chaos (D20 Dragon Lords of Melniboné Adventure) $8.95 http://www.chaosium.com/woec/2019.shtml CHA 6032 Song of Cthulhu $12.95 http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/fiction/6032.shtml -------------------- Revised insanity rules by Andrew Hunt (Andrew.hunt@cableinet.co.uk) Introduction My players have often complained about the fact that Call of Cthulhu characters just don't last too long. It doesn't take many adventures before their hero has a low sanity and any and all threats they meet turn their characters into insane wrecks. To counter this I propose the following amendments to the sanity rules. Temporary Insanity This is rated from +6 to -6 and covers all those more mundane events such as creepy woods and weird noises. It includes reading of mythos books but specifically excludes any sanity loss from exposure to mythos creatures. Sanity checks should be made with reference to the characters background. For instance characters heaving served in WW1 Would be much less likely to baulk at dead bodies. Each character starts of with a rating of 0. As events progress this rating will vary and fluctuate. For example, creeping though a wood (lose 1 sanity), hear an odd noise (lose 1 sanity), think something is creeping up on you (lose 1 sanity), oh its only a dog (gain 2 sanity). Cumulative temporary sanity -1. Obviously the number of rolls and effect on temporary sanity of the roles are up to the keeper. Each test would be made as normal and adds to sanity would result from such activities as having a nice cup of tea in front of a fire with friends. However if a character accumulates -6 points of sanity that is when the normal temporary insanity rules come into force. In addition the character will lose 1D6 points of normal sanity. Normal Sanity Normally in Call of Cthulhu a failed sanity roll occurs once you've rolled over your current sanity. Under this system the reverse is true, you fail a sanity check if you roll under your current sanity as your mind realizes the implications of what you have learnt. For instance Dread Cthulhu rises in front of a cultist (sanity 10) and a character (sanity 80). The cultist has seen it all before so should have less chance of losing more sanity, the poor character however. Sanity checks made this way should only be made when character interacts with obvious physical representations of the mythos. Low Sanity For every 10 points of permanent lost sanity characters should start adding some kind of quirk to their character reflecting the characters fragile mental state. The nearer to zero sanity points the more series the quirk should be. Quirks could be anything related to the episode which last caused them to lose significant amounts of sanity. Conclusion The effect of these rules should be to slow down the rate of sanity loss while still enforcing the inevitableness of characters insanity as they become aware of more of the Cthulhu mythos. Please feel free to e-mail me any comments or observations. -- To unsubscribe from the chaos-digest ML, send an "unsubscribe" command to chaos-digest-request@chaosium.com. Chaosium Inc., Call of Cthulhu, and Nephilim are Registered Trademarks of Chaosium Inc. Elric! and Pendragon are Trademarks of Chaosium Inc. All articles remain copyright their original authors unless otherwise noted.