Chaosium Digest Volume 3, Number 12 Date: Sunday, September 12, 1993 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: Announcement: Convulsion '94 (David Scott) MISC Knightly Orders (Heidi Kaye) PENDRAGON Book Reviews (John Breakwall) CALL OF CTHULHU Editor's Note: In reference to my article in the last issue on "The Further Cases of Titus Crow", Chris Jarocha-Ernst mentioned that Yegg-Ha, the creature from AN ITEM OF SUPPORTING EVIDENCE, was later discovered by Lin Carter to be the chief of the night-gaunts. Lovecraft enthusiasts might be interested in picking up a comic magazine called "Rich Corben's Den Saga." The first three issues of this magazine have all contained adaptations of Clark Ashton Smith stories. I'm not particularly found of Corben's art, but the adaption that I read (Return of the Sorcerer, in issue three), was at least OK. Unfortunately, the Smith stories only make up about 25% of the magazines (RotS was 10 pages). Shannon Recent Sightings: * Pendragon - "The Treasure of Galilee", a seven page adventure, White Wolf #37 [Septemberish, 1993] -------------------- From: David Scott Subject: Announcement: Convulsion '94 System: Misc CONVULSION OF THE WRITING REVENANTS The Unrepeatable Experience Returns College Hall, Leicester, England, 22nd - 24th July 1994 Convulsion is back! They said it would never happen, but once again, you too can convulse with excitement, convulse with terror or convulse to the power of myth. Our Guests of Honour are Greg Stafford, the President of Chaosium Inc, Sandy Petersen and Ken Rolston, who between them are responsible for such groundbreaking games as RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu and ... Here are just some of the things which we have planned for Convulsion in 94 : Become part of Gloranthan history in our giant free-form game, HOW THE WEST WAS ONE. Play for honour, glory and ludicrous prizes in our Pendragon and RuneQuest tourneys. Die horribly in our Australian rules Call of Cthulhu tournament. Pig out to your heart's content (if not your stomach's) at the Eat at Geos party. We have also made sure there will be plenty of space for you to play your own games, or just to convulse quietly in the corner. Of course, we will also have Exciting Talks, Interesting Seminars, Informative Panels, an Auction of Rare and Exotic games and much more, for those of you that dont want to convulse all of the time! So join now - theres never been a Convulsion like it! (At least, not since the last one...) Residential membership is 18 UK Pounds plus a room deposit of 10 UK Pounds (rooms will be no more that 20 UK Pounds per night, including breakfast). Non-residential membership is 25 UK Pounds. There will also be a nominal charge for the free-form game HOW THE WEST WAS ONE (to cover printing costs, etc). In order to sponsor the trip for Greg, Sandy & Ken, we have created the Spare Grain Fund, for which we will gratefully accept any donations (money or games for auction). You must be aged 18 or over at the time of the convention. Please book as soon as possible to guarantee your place. To do so, simply send a cheque or postal order made payable to CONVULSION to DAVID HALL, CONVULSION, 21 STEPHENSON COURT, OSBORNE STREET, SLOUGH, BERKS. SL1 1TN. UNITED KINGDOM. For further details, email: Membership and payments- David Hall - 100116.2616@compuserve.com Programme and events - David Scott - DScott@Snail.demon.co.uk See you in Leicester! Sandwiches on the edge of time DScott@Snail.demon.co.uk 158.152.16.30 -------------------- From: Heidi Kaye [via P A Snow ] Subject: Knightly Orders System: Pendragon Knights Adventurous already includes some other knightly orders besides the Round Table, such as the Queen's Knights, the Knights of the Grail Temple, the Order of the Golden Apple and the King of Malahaut's order of One Hundred Knights. In this article, several more knightly orders are provided, for use with Pendragon. Medieval monarchs copied the legendary Arthur's Round Table with such honours as the Edward III's Order of the Garter and King John of France's Order of the Star in order to inspire knightly deeds and loyalty to the ruler who bestowed the honour. The following order of knights is loosely based on the Teutonic Knights of the middle ages, centered in Germany, who waged a long-term crusade against the pagan Lithuanians. So eager were they for battle and glory that the crusade continued even after the Lithuanians had converted to Christianity. THE ORDER OF ST. ALBAN Origins Duke Hervis, ruler of Anglia and hero of the Saxon wars, set up this order to encourage knights to help fight the rebellious Angles in his land. He sees this order as something of a crusading one, and yearly sends out raiding parties to put down troublesome Angle peasants. It is named after the first Christian martyr in Britain. Their badge is a vertical sword, point down, forming a cross. Beliefs Anglia may be named for its foreign invaders, but is now once again part of Logres. It is the knights' duty to maintain this possession and to convert the Angles to Christianity and to Cymric culture. This is also, as time goes on, an opportunity for a knight to prove his valour and his commitment to his religion. In later years it becomes like a sport in itself, a chance to find adventures and battles in which to win Glory. Requirements Members must generate a Loyalty of 2D6 (Order of St. Alban). They must be Christian. They must have a Hate (Saxons) Passion of at least 10. Members need not be very religious or Pious, but must be valourous and seek reknown by their deeds. Benefits Knights earn 50 Glory upon induction and thereafter 10 Glory a year. They win the loyalty and support of Duke Hervis. Duties Members must obey the Duke of Anglia's call to arms whenever he needs them to fight the Angles, which need not be every year. They must support and defend each other. Members meet once a year on the feast day of St. Alban, June 22, where they are treated to an abundant meal and copious drinking. This is not a religious event so much as a festival of rowdy knights. Primary Adherents Sir Sanam of Bedegraine Sir Falmore the Fearless Sir Gryllus of the Open Hand Knights Adventurous also has its share of orders of bad knights, like the Red Knights. Sir Turquine of the Tower would be a good robber knight to lead such an order; this would give player knights a group of enemies to combat. Here is a robber knight order to use: KNIGHTS OF THE WOLF Origins Sir Turquine set up this band of knights originally as a group of mercenaries who would fight for any ruler who would hire them, their pay being the traditional booty of war. Now they go about ravaging the countryside and stealing whatever they can, which is much easier than fighting battles for spoils. They operate like bandits, pillaging, raping women and robbing passing knights errant. They demand protection money from villages; if not paid, they burn the village. Beliefs They believe most strongly in their independence from all the laws of the land. What they want, they take. They know no honour, and value only fighting skill. They prefer cruelty and vengeance to the chivalric virtues, since they pay better. The only reason they offer mercy to knights is to extort ransoms. Those unable to pay tend to be killed. Requirements Members must have a Passion of Loyalty (any lord) at no more than 5. Members must generate a Passion of Hate (Round Table) of 3D6. Members must generate a Passion of Loyalty (Sir Turquine) of 3D6. Members must not be merciful or forgiving. Benefits Members benefit by the strength of the group of outlaws. They can act however they want, without worrying about complying with the law. Duties Members support each other in a fight, but will not pay each other's ransoms. Obediance is given to the strongest of the order, its leader, Sir Turquine. Temporary fellowships of knights are also mentioned in Knights Adventurous. These were often set up by medieval knights for specific purposes, and lasted until that purpose was achieved. Often the purpose was to prove the knights' valour and thus they might be very showy in nature. Two examples follow, the second based on a real vow sworn by a medieval knight: The Order of the Devoted Heart Origin This order was set up to prove the knights' qualities as courtly lovers. A knight's love demands that he undertake some test in order to be worthy of her. The members' badge is a red heart worn on a red ribbon. Requirements Members must have an Amor or Love Members must swear to honour all women Duties Member knights must seek a maiden in distress and save her from her danger. This act must be their own, although fellow knights may help them along the way. Benefits The knight who succeeds in his quest immediately gains 1 point in his Passion for his lady love. His lady should lose at least one point of resistance to him. KNIGHTS OF THE CYCLOPS Origins This order started as a kind of boast between a group of knights. They pledge to wear a patch over one eye until they have killed a dragon, wyvern, or giant. Knights so encumbered should lose 3 points from all visual skills, such as Heraldry, including combat skills. Requirements Knights should generate a Passion of Loyalty (Knights of the Cyclops) of 3D6 Duties Knights should help each other and must pool their winnings in jousts and tournaments until the quest is fulfilled. In a group fight against one of the target monster, whoever makes the killing blow is credited with the deed. Benefits Knights join such an order for the sake of the adventure and glory it brings. -------------------- From: John Breakwell Subject: Book Reviews System: Call of Cthulhu [this article is excerpted from The Green Goblin -sda] New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (edited by Ramsey Campbell) Grafton Books (33.50) 1988 This is a compilation of stories brought together by Ramsey Campbell, from a wide variety of authors including old HP himself. The range of writing styles is interesting but not as enlightening as the different backgrounds and plotlines used for the stories. A lot of people assume Cthulhu is always Gothic 1920s but these authors prove them wrong. Stephen King writes about the goings on in modern day Crouch End, London; AA Attanasio uses a voodoo manifestation of the mythos in a Caribbean setting; and Brian Copper draws upon an austere, futuristic underground world which I found particularly chilling. The story that left the greatest impression on me was that by T.E.D. Klein, whose powers of description was at times quite unsettling. All in all, a collection of very well written stories that should inspire Keepers and interested non-gamers. Cthulhu - The Mythos and Kindred Horrors Robert E Howard, edited by David Drake Baen Fantasy 1987 In contrast are these 13 stories and poems from the famous pen of Robert E. Howard, which are more in line with what people generally expect. They include the lonely house where unspeakable deeds were done, the isolated pillar erected by a race long-gone, a legendary lost city in the sands and so on. It should be borne in mind, though, that Howard only lived from 1906 until his suicide in 1936, so these stories would be hot stuff for their day. Some are still good quality, but you do get the feeling that this is a book you might find in a trunk in the attic, something left there long ago. [also see vol.3.4 and vol.3.6 of the Digest for some story ideas drawn from this book, as well as the out of print Chaosium supplement, Shadows of Yog-Sothoth -sda] Summer of Night Dan Simmons Headline Books (34.99) 1991 - 634pp This is a book you won't be able to put down, as the action is fast and the plot gripping. The book is set in a small mid-west American town of 12,000 people in the summer of 1960. School has finished for the holidays and the schoolkids are free again for another few months. I don't think I can spoil the plot too much, as the blurb on the back of the book does that adequately for me. The Borgia Bell has been hanging in the old school bell tower for many years and has now started to exert its power. Strange things are starting to happen and evil creatures tunnel secretly under the ground. Summer of Night reads just like the script for a film and you can almost visualise the storyboard for it. This isn't really a bad point, but I do feel Simmons maybe could have avoided describing things in such a structured way. It also reminded me of children's films, where a handful of teenagers save the day after taking on the baddies because none of the grown-ups would believe them. In Summer of Night, all of the adult population are either evil minions or support for the children (around whom the book is based, though everything is not as cozy as in the Famous Five films). People die here...messily. I couldn't believe it when I read that one of the main characters got taken out just when I was getting to like the guy. It was a good shock to the system, as too many books have everybody somehow surviving to a happy ending. The book follows the standard flow, from unexplainable things happening, through everything being revealed, to the edge-of-seat climax, but that does oversimplify things. In over 600 pages, there is a lot that goes on, especially as there are several main characters with their own storylines. I must admit that some bits scared me and that I was wary of dark shadows for literally WEEKS afterwards, which also poses a problem for the plot. Is it realistic to assume that a handful of kids in their early teens could handle the full horror of what is going on in the town? Now, I'm well past that age and find it difficult to remember how mentally tough I was at the time so I'll give that the benefit of the doubt. Another possible stumbling block is that no adult finds out what happened! Well, excepting the bad guys, of course. Is that likely either? In the book, Simmons gets round that by killing off any adult that get's a whiff of what's going on, but lets most of the children live on to battle the source of evil and so save the world. Hmmm. In his book it works, but in real life I wouldn't be too sure. If you want to be scared or need some ideas, pick this book up. The plot can be directly lifted into a CoC game as everything is supplied: the buildings are well described, the plot has a timescale that fits all the characters together and the town is well-populated with characters. [also see vol.3.6 for more ideas derived from this book -sda] -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is a Discussion Forum for Chaosium's Games. To submit an article, mail to: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu. The old digests are archived on soda.berkeley.edu in the directory /pub/chaosium, and may be retrieved via FTP.