Chaosium Digest Volume 3, Number 5 Date: Sunday, August 15, 1993 Number: 1 of 3 Contents: How to Marry Up in Pendragon (Eric Rowe) PENDRAGON Chaosium Games and Comics (Kaid Ramdani) MISC Upcoming Chaosium Releases (Sam Shirley) MISC Editor's Note: Lots of _great_ stuff for the Digest this week. Thanks to everyone who contributed. Besides this issue, you should receive a volume of Cthulhu arcana and a terrific Pendragon adventure. And then, of course, there's the question of a confrontation between Stormbringer and Cthulhu himself. Shannon -------------------- From: Eric Rowe Subject: How to Marry Up in Pendragon System: Pendragon The Pendragon game system allows easy marriage at or below a player's own social level. However, it notes that to marry above one's station requires game play, not random die-rolling. The following are a few ideas for game reasons to marry higher than your station and a few story ideas to go along with them. For those of you who wish to defy Chaosium's dictates, feel free to roll a d6 to determine method required to marry into a higher station. Random Marrying Above Station Table: 1: Creature Quest 2: Castle Recovery 3: Item Retrieval 4: Withstand Trials 5: Rescue Woman 6: Remove Curse In each of these examples GMs should keep in mind three important things. First, how much higher in social level is the expected marriage? The tasks required to marry at the level of a Duke should be much harder than those required to marry at the level of a Count. The knight's Glory and Appearance should be taken into account as well. Second, who is the woman involved? Is she a widow? an eldest daughter? This should be vital in determining the type of method needed. For example, a widow would be more likely to assign some quest or trial to a suitor, while a daughter may be in need of rescue. Lastly, who else is involved? This is where rival suitors and political intrigues come in. Several of the possible methods are enhanced by the arrival of other suitors that make the quest/trial more competitive and interesting. Also, consider the politics of the local area. Will the local higher authority approve? What is involved in terms of land, and who is affected adversely? What will they do about it? Once these are decided wish the player good luck, they will need it. 1: The standard quest for powerful creatures. "Bring me the head of the evil giant Goruntal and the tail of the serpent of Bryant Abbey." This should be appropriate to the region's needs as well as the goals of those involved. While whimsical quests are possible, they are not as appropriate. Example: An extremely wealthy Countess has just been widowed. As she does not like living alone, she has immediately begun accepting new suitors. All she really wants is someone to show off at social functions. To this end, they must be both handsome and heroic. Any knight with above a 14 APP qualifies. To prove their heroism, as well as add to their presentability, they must complete her mission. The first to return to her the toe of a giant, the tail of a dragon, and the nose of an evil witch will win her hand. There are 1d6 other suitors currently interested in her hand (money) and looks (23). 2: Recover the family castle. Someone has usurped one or more castles from a powerful family and possibly slain some important members. The reward for recovery is marriage into the family. Example: After the death of a local Baron, several of his illegitimate sons banded together and seized the main castle from the Baron's son, killing him in the process. The Baron's remaining child, a daughter, is willing to marry one who will restore her to her home and slay her evil siblings. The local count doesn't really care who runs the place, as long as the money comes in uninterrupted. This is a good chance for player knights to gather their armies to aid one of their fellows in retaking the castle. 3: Retrieve this heirloom/item. Not unlike the seek and kill a creature quest. This one simply involves recovery of an important item to the powerful family. There should be many hurdles to its easy return, incuding the item's location. Is it held by an immense giant, or perhaps an evil knight, well fortified within his large castle? Example: The duke's children were robbed by bandits on the road back to the castle. Among the items taken was the ring passed on from mother to daughter for generations. The Duke is offering the reward of the hand of one of his younger daughters if the ring is returned and all the bandits brought to justice. The hard part of this is that the bandits work for an enemy noble and hide out in his castle. The recovery of the ring may prove more difficult than the knights had originally thought. While the Duke is willing to part with a younger daughter, he is not willing to go to war. He would like the ring recovered without his name being associated with its recovery and anything that may happen during it. He does not think his land is currently able to defend itself well enough. This is another reason he is willing to marry off a few daughters to able-bodied knights. 4: Pass this test/trial. Often, seemingly impossible tasks are required of suitors by over-protective fathers. Or, possibly the woman involved just likes to watch men fail. Example: A local Baron's daughter is of age, but he wants only the best for her. So, he has arranged a series of extremely difficult tests for any suitors. To succeed in the test, one must simply remain in one's room in the Baron's castle all night long. If the knight leaves the room, he fails the test and loses his chance. As can be expected, the night does not pass uneventfully. The first test is a court functionary who offers a large sum of money for the knight to simply leave. The second test is a woman screaming for her life in the hallway. If the knight emerges there will be a large rat menacing her. Once she is saved, she will thank the knight and swear not to say he left the room. The third test involves a beautiful woman offering her services to the knight if he will accompany her to her room. The fourth test occurs when a messenger arrives saying the player's lord is besieged and in terrible danger, so he has sent for all his men. If the knight leaves the room to go to his lord's aid, the messenger will stop him and say he came to the wrong castle by mistake and ride off allowing the knight to return unseen to the room. The last test involves three large knights that come in and threaten the life of the knight and pummel him senseless if necessary to try to convince him to leave. If the player left the room for any odd numbered test, the Baron will emerge and toss him out of the castle. If he did not leave the room for the even numbered tests the Baron will also toss out the knight. The truly final test will be when the Baron asks a successful knight if he left the room. If he lies and says he never left, he loses. However, if he admits he left to aid a lady and to aid his lord the Baron will be overjoyed and congratulate his new son-in-law. 5: Rescue the daughter. An old standard is for the desperate father of a missing child to offer the hand in marriage to the rescuer. This can be especially interesting if missing daughter does not wish to return. Example: A massive Saxon raid has left a Baron bereft of his eldest daughter as well as many of his villagers. If she is returned safely, the knight who does so will get her hand in marriage. The dowry size will increase with the number of Saxons killed, and there are LOTS of Saxons. 6: Remove a curse. Either the land, the lord or the lady are under a curse. The curse can be lifted only by completing a certain task, killing a certain evil Sorcerer, etc... Example: The count's lands are not producing enough to feed his people. He suspects that a certain Druid he offended has placed a curse upon the land in retaliation. The only problem is that the Druid can not be found. The Count has offered his daughter's hand in return for lifting the curse. The players may accomplish it by finding the Druid and convincing him to remove the curse (perhaps by completing some quest for him) or by finding another as powerful who would be willing to do the task. There is always a high cost for the services of a magician. -------------------- From: NUMERIK1@ze8.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de (Kaid Ramdani) Subject: Chaosium Games and Comics System: Misc Beside being a full-time role-playing addict, I also collect comics. They are a good source for scenarios, so I have listed some of my favorites below: H.P.LOVECRAFT'S CTHULHU by Millenium. These are heavily based on Chaosium's CoC. The protagonists are a typical CoC-player group. In the first episode, they free a professor of Miskatonic University from the grasp of cultist, who are going to sacrifice him to Cthulhu. He later tells them his connection to the mythos, which leads to a comic version of "The Whisperer in the Darkness". A nice gimmick is the hand-out section, where you can find letters, which fit perfectly into an adventure session. H.P.LOVECRAFT by Adventure comics (4 issue series). A further try to convert Lovecraft stories to comic. They made a fair adaption of "The Lurking Fear" and "The Tomb" but set the stories in the 90s. I don't know why. THE WORLDS OF H.P.LOVECRAFT by Caliber Press. I only read "The Picture in the House" adaption of this series and I liked it. Also set in 1993, it has a nice storyframe about a businesswoman with quite a sanity problem. The ads for further releases raised my interest. ELRIC by Pacific Comics. Quite old (printed in 1983) these comics catch Moorcock's spirit the most. I especially like the colours and the weird perspectives of the art. Above all, it clings to the original Elric. Afterwards, First Comics produced adaptations of the next four Elric books (Sailor on the Sea of Fates, The Weird of the White Wolf, The Vanishing Tower and The Bane of the Black Sword). In The Weird of the White Wolf, the short story "The Dreaming City" is covered in only a few pages, probably because Marvel Comics produced a graphic novel of The Dreaming City a few years earlier. CORUM by First Comics, HAWKMOON by First Comics. Shortly after picking up the ELRIC comics, First Comics also started printing HAWKMOON and CORUM comics. They got through the first four books of each series before quitting. The quality of these books were slightly more varied than the ELRIC books, but still quite good. Now for comics which, by my opinion, can help gamemasters to liven up their CoC or Stormbringer games, by introducing good ideas: THE ELSEWHERE PRINCE by Epic Comics. A vivid fantasy-science fiction story with strange monsters, gruesome battles and a storyboard worthy an eternal champion. Read them and you will understand. Fitting espacially to Hawkmoon and Stormbringer. BLANCHE GOES TO NEW YORK by Dark Horse Comics. Young female musician goes to 1907 New York to take piano lessons. Her Professor and two other students are quite strange, so is the house they live in. Put it all together and add a Cthonion (I beg it is) and you have Blanche... I like it. Dark Horse also prints Indiana Jones and so did Marvel. INDIANA JONES by Marvel Comics. Ok. No great art, but to get ideas for a CoC scenario, it is enough. Full of archaeologists, cultists, murder and fast-paced action. And finally: THE SANDMAN by DC. Neil Gaiman is the Author of the Sandman stories, and while it is not based on Lovecraft or Moorcock, you will find reminescences to both of them. The stories are always dreamlike and are full of strange characters and stranger happenings. I quite enjoyed the collection called "The Doll's House". You could play it as a crossover of Dreamlands and Cthulhu Now. It's about a young woman who goes to Florida to find her younger brother to get her family back together. The story features a house full of queer people, a man, who had a date every hundred years, a convention of Psycho-killers and ends in an unknown part of the dreamland. Highly Recommended! This is the end of the list. I know it is really unfinished, so, if you have more comics to add or want to give your opinion, feel free to email. KAID -------------------- From: chaosium@netcom.com (Sam Shirley) Subject: Upcoming Chaosium Releases System: Misc This is a list of new and upcoming releases from Chaosium. Chaosium's complete catalog is available for FTP from soda.berkeley.edu. COMPUTER GAME OCTOBER. The first Call of Cthulhu computer game is The Shadow of the Comet, from Infogames. It will be available for MS-DOS machines in October. ELRIC! $19.95 -- AVAILABLE NOW. This is a new roleplaying game set in the world of the Young Kingdoms, as described by British fiction author Michael Moorcock. INVESTIGATORS' COMPANION, Vol 1 $10.95 -- AUGUST. Fifth ed. Call of Cthulhu dropped a bit of the Roaring Twenties background. To make up for it, here's a heap of information on the Klan, Prohibition and gangsters, a chronology of the decade, how to obtain public records, newspapers here and abroad, libraries and museums of natural history, consultants such as Nikola Tesla, Edgar Cayce, and Charles Fort, 16 pages of automobiles, planes, boats, and motorcycles, and a similar amount of guns, unusual weapons, and gear. For every 1920s investigator. By Keith Herber, John Crowe, and friends. 64 pages. KEEPER'S COMPENDIUM $12.95 -- SEPTEMBER. New Mythos lore concerning Call of Cthulhu's background concepts in print, thoroughly integrated into the game. Every keeper needs this book. Keith and friends annotate and analyze every important Mythos tome; secret cults (Starry Wisdom cult, the Nestarian Cult of Cthugha, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, etc.); deep ones, serpent men, and a dozen more alien races; mysterious places (Atlantis, G'harne, Hyperborea, Shamballah, etc.); and about two dozen new creatures. The chapter concerning forbidden books is alone worth this book's price, for the first time giving chapter-by-chapter summaries and indicating what spells are in particular books! Brilliant work by Keith Herber and friends. About 80 pages. SACRAMENTS OF EVIL $18.95 -- NOVEMBER. 1890s scenarios strange and terrifying. Edited by and with two scenarios by Kevin A. Ross, plus three outstanding scenarios by other authors. 128 pages. INVESTIGATORS' COMPANION, Vol. 2 $10.95 -- DECEMBER. More exciting data on the Roaring Twenties from Keith Herber and friends, systematized and ready to put into play. With this and Companion I you'll have everything you'll ever need concerning game background, prices, and the era's history, technology, etc. About 64 pages. CALL OF CTHULHU HARDBACK $29.95 -- SEPTEMBER. Everybody asks for it, so now one version of Cthulhu 5.1.1 is coming in hard covers! This is the same version you're reading from, with a few exceptions a new page 324, printed end-papers, and yes the hard-cover binding. The cover is the same, except for the price. BUT THIS BINDING IS BUILT TO LAST! Smythe-sewn, and rock-solid (so strong it's suitable for home defense!). IT LAYS VERY FLAT. 240 pages. COMING FOR _CALL OF CTHULHU_ IN 1994: Technology and weapons for today and tomorrow ... city guidebooks for London, New Orleans, etc. ... the magical traditions of the Old World ... Aniolowski's creatures ... the Mountains of Madness (maybe) ... and much more. A fine year for Call of Cthulhu is shaping up. MELNIBONE $20.95 -- AUGUST. Home of Elric, hero of Michael Moorcock's novels, the Melniboneans are Dragon Lords and mighty sorcerers with ancient pacts with the Lords of Chaos. Includes background, new magic, and adventures for use with the ELRIC! roleplaying game. PENDRAGON 4th edition $26.95 -- AUGUST. This new edition of our popular PENDRAGON roleplaying game features our new Celtic Magic system. CREDO! $14.95 -- AUGUST. CREDO! is a new cardgame from Chaosium which combines history with hilarity for two or more players. Each player represents a faction of the early Christian Church during the Nicene Council, where current Church dogma was agreed upon. Compete for flock and connive to have your doctrine accepted as the belief of the One Church. GAMEMASTER SCREEN FOR ELRIC! 14.95 -- SEPTEMBER. This essential play-aid for ELRIC! gamemasters features two three-section panels containing important tables and rules from the ELRIC! roleplaying game. It also contains a small booklet of character-sheet masters, monster forms, and other items. UPCOMING FICTION THE HASTUR CYCLE $9.95 -- OCTOBER. The original tales involving dread Hastur, the King in Yellow, and the Yellow Sign. Authors include Bierce, Machen, Ramsey Campbell, Carl Edward Wagner, and more. Many tales now otherwise impossible to find! Almost a history of these important myths in horror. About 192 pages. MYSTERIES OF THE WORM $9.95 -- OCTOBER. This classic collection has long been out of print and unavailable. In it is much of Robert Bloch's work concerning the Cthulhu Mythos, written while part of Lovecraft's circle. About 192 pages. CTHULHU'S HEIRS $9.95 -- JANUARY. All-new tales of horror from the finest young writers, and including one by the master, Ramsey Campbell. About 192 pages. -------------------- 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