Chaosium Digest Volume 5, Number 1 Date: Sunday, December 5, 1993 Number: 1 of 2 Contents: The Castle Wakely (Eric Rowe) PENDRAGON More Thoughts on Cthulhu Literature (Simon Hibbs) CALL OF CTHULHU Book Reviews (John Breakwall) CALL OF CTHULHU Editor's Note: Several new things out from Chaosium this week. First is Credo!, the game of Dueling Dogmas (Chaosium, $14.95). It's a fun card game where you determine the doctine of the early church. The author of the game (Chris Gidlow) is considering writing up some errata, answers and expansions to Credo! for the Chaosium Digest. If you have any questions or suggestions on the game, please send them to me, and I'll forward them on. Also out are the first two Cthulhu Cycle Books, The Hastur Cycle and Mysteries of the Worm (Chaosium, $9.95 each). These are books of Cthulhu fiction containing lots of out of print stories. The Hastur Cycle contains stories by Bierce, Chambers, Wagner, Blish, Machen, Lovecraft, Lupoff, Campbell, Wade, Derleth and Carter, while Mysteries of the Worm is full of fiction by Robert Bloch. Lynn Willis sent a question to me a bit ago. He said: "as the Lovecraft Country books sell out, we can reprint all the background material in a single fat, relatively expensive (about $30) book with the foldout maps as they currently exist, OR do each town separately, in 48-64 pages, at $8.95-$10.95 each, fold-out maps reduced or redrawn. We would probably re-illustrate the interiors in either case. Should we keep this material in print? In which form?" Again, feel free to send comments to me, and I'll forward them on. Finally, some random administrative notes. The Chaosium Digest is now up to 325 subscribers, which is an increase of 76 members in the last couple of months. Also, I'd like to remind everyone about the Chaosium Information List, which is a distribution point for press releases, promotional mailings and other information maintained by Chaosium. If you'd like to be added, send the command: subscribe chaos-info to: majordomo@erzo.berkeley.edu Shannon -------------------- From: Eric Rowe Subject: The Castle Wakely System: Pendragon This ancient decaying castle sits restlessly between two large hillocks that stand guard to a large, fertile but untended valley. It was abandoned years ago when the last lord of the castle threw himself off its great battlements. Now, the current lord of the entire region has for some reason bequeathed it to a player knight. Perhaps it is an older knight reaping his long deserved reward, or a younger knight who has done some great worthy deed. For a more mundane reason, it may be simply that the lord needs it manned by trusted stewards to bar the way from increasingly violent raids from that direction. Whatever the reason involved, it is possible for the players to find themselves with the daunting task of refortifying the castle and re-establishing the local community. This castle can be used to base a campaign out of or as a short run of adventures, in setting up the area for habitation. All the usual politics of a normal campaign should continue, with the players being asked to support various local factions and power plays. In addition, the players are now responsible for stopping raids upon their lord's lands as well as their own, not to mention providing funds and men when they are requested. The castle's vast empty halls should echo menacingly when players first arrive. Let them know this will not be a simple task. All they have is the shell of the ancient castle, a supply train and a group of peasants. They must set up to survive a possibly devastating winter. All the details will be under their control, from perimeter defenses to choosing the priest for the new church. This is a lot of work; make the players do it for you. Lastly, in addition to normal campaign activity, they have the castle itself to deal with. THE HAUNTING OF CASTLE WAKELY The problem, to put it simply, is that the castle is haunted. The spirits of those who once ruled this castle are not at rest and have no intention of letting the players have any either. There are three ghosts who remain imprisoned within the castle walls. Each is a past head of the Wakely family who died unhappy and unfulfilled. John is the eldest and was undone by his gluttony. Sigmund, his son, was lost before God and William, Sigmund's offspring, fell prey to jealousy. Since their deaths, these traits have magnified and festered within their tortured souls. The ghosts will try to corrupt any new residents to the sins that destroyed them. The methods of each differ and will be detailed in their descriptions. John Wakely, son of the castle's builder, was raised spoiled and pampered. At a very young age, he grew obese and only his wealth secured him a bride. This wealth was squandered not only on women, but also on fancy food and drink from far off lands. Years later, there was a great famine in the land and the people were hungry. John cared not though and continued his gluttonous excesses. The starving people of the nearby lands took offense and soon his fat head stood atop a pike. The haunting of John Wakely will take the form of his spirit appearing during mealtimes. He will complain bitterly about the quality of the food and service, while encouraging the players to upgrade their standard of living. Over time, players must resist several times using their Indulgent/Temperate. Each Indulgent success should add to the financial burden of the castle. When several Temperate rolls have been made, John will give up on convincing the players to follow his manner, but will often taint and ruin their food until either they are driven away or he is. Sigmund Wakely was understandably affected by the death of his father. All his beliefs were shaken and his outlook upon the world grew dim. His rule was benevolent, but firm. He cared little for the church, the opinions of the clergy or the beliefs of the people. In the end, his sense of good fiscal management even brought about the forclosure of the local church. This did not please the peasants, but as their life was good, they complained little. God, however, was not as forgiving. Sigmund was plagued by many illnesses over the years and eventually succumbed to high fever. Sigmund only appears on Sundays. When he decides to appear, it is only to harass those who are actively worshipping. He likes to set small fires, knock over objects and disturb prayers. First, he will try to convince player's of the worthlessness of religion. As with John, the personality trait (Worldy/Pious) should be checked several times. The more wordly checks there are made, the more the influence of the local clergy upon the castle should decrease. Once several Pious checks are successful he too will simply give up and become a tremendous annoyance. William, last lord of the castle, was even more irrational. He saw plots for his life and his wealth behind every bush. When he married, he was greatly in love, but his paranoia spelled an end to his happiness. His wife had many friends, some male. These quickly became rivals and plotters in Williams twisted reality. In a fit of Jealousy he had his wife and several male friends slain for infidelity. However, he later discovered the letters of his wife which revealed her faithfulness and love for him. In perhaps the most rational decision of his life he then leapt from the battlements. With no heir and a history of trouble, the knights and peasants of the land soon departed. As a ghost, William encourages Suspicion and Vengeance among the players. He will appear any time one of these traits is expressed and try to build on it. He especially thrives on fomenting his traits between the player knights. Successful Suspicious checks are their own reward and as with the other spirits, several Trusting and Forgiving checks will drive him to simple yet tedious haunting. BANISHING THE GHOSTS It should be quite apparent that the players need to remove the ghosts. They scare the staff and the animals. Unfortunately, they would not want to go even if they could leave. In fact, it is not their own actions which keep them bound to this place, but the memories of the land. Until such acts take place which restore the land the traits it has lost, the ghost will be bound to the castle. Each ghost will flee the earth forever when a deed of value to the land is done which reflects most the traits of which the previous lords were incapable. Feel free to use your own ideas to come up with appropriate actions. The following are just three obvious possibilities. Getting rid of John. During a famine or food shortage, the keepers of the castle show great sacrifice, sharing in the hardships of the people. Getting rid of Sigmund. The church is destroyed in a fire. Players go to great lengths to rebuild it a soon as possible, despite great financial and logistical problems. Getting rid of William. The wife of a player character has come under suspicion of infidelity. Despite much circumstatial evidence, she is trusted. Or, if she has strayed, she is forgiven. Until they are rid of, the ghosts should be played with relish and enjoyment. They do after all enjoy this. The actual method of removing the ghosts should not be divulged either. Only the true expression of the needed traits will cause them to be expunged and the castle to be freed of their curse. -------------------- From: yfcw29@castle.ed.ac.uk (Simon Hibbs) Subject: More Thoughts on Cthulhu Literature System: Call of Cthulhu In-Reply-To: V4.12 Cthulhu Literature Within CoC In fact, there is one alternative which Alquier has missed and which I feel would be the most appropriate. All of H.P.L.'s material is presented in the form of first-hand accounts, ie journals and memoirs of the people who actually experienced the events of the stories. The obvious deduction is that H.P.L. never existed in the "True" CoC universe; he becomes an unnecessary intermediary. Everything described in the journals actually happened and the journals really were written by the people that experienced them. If you realy wanted to, you could present H.P.L. as a dedicated collector and publisher of other people's reportage. This could be quite interesting; he would effectively be a passive investigator and could pass useful information on to the players. As I understand it, the proposition that all the events described in the stories actualy happened is the premise behind the whole game, and particularly the Lovecraft Country series. Presenting H.P.L. as an original author in a CoC campaign seems to me to miss the point. In the CoC game these things REALLY HAPPENED. Simon Hibbs (Please mention my name in the subject line of all e-mail) -------------------- From: John Breakwell Subject: Book Reviews System: Call of Cthulhu [this article is excerpted from The Green Goblin. also see V3.12 for more Cthulhu book reviews] Dagon Fred Chappell St Martins Press 1968 - 181pp I picked up this book from a bargain bin because of the title and its obvious Cthulhu connections. This volume certainly backs up my policy that you can get some gems there (and even if you don't, you haven't splashed out a fortune). Like most Mythos books, the emphasis is on atmosphere and there is definitely tonnes of the stuff here. Maybe too much, as the author seems to spend 90% of the book describing the slow destruction of the main character's persona without too much actually happening. Chappell's descriptive powers are quite good and you can almost feel the heat of the deep south where the story is set, the alienness of Mina's personality and the horrible inevitability of Peter Leland's "demise". In conclusion, not a "source book" but a good read in its own right. Don't take the title as meaning Dagon is centre-stage as he isn't, but then the omnipotent god is probably there all the time and you just don't notice... Carrion Comfort Dan Simmons Headline Book Publishing 1990 - 992pp A Christmas present from the wife, if I remember rightly, because I happened to like Dan's later book, Summer of Night, so much. The cover relates a lot of the story so I won't give anything away if I tell you the book is about humans with psychic ability using normal people for their own selfish uses. Thinking about it, ALL the "Mind Vampires", as they were termed, were pretty nasty pieces of work. ("Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely", John Acton 1887.) The book follows the efforts of three weak humans to track down and destroy these vampires and their plans, which on the face of it seems next to impossible. As in Summer of Night, don't expect lead characters to make the epilogue! I was impressed by how well Dan explained the mechanisms of mind control and to what uses it could be put. With nearly 1,000 pages he certainly has the space! Equally enjoyable were the ingenuity and inventiveness of both sides in their long-term plans and reactions to unexpected situations. On the downside, sometimes the vampires had to let the heroes "escape" to let them play a part in their devious plans which came across once or twice as a bit contrived. This book is basically a thriller with some horrific bits in it. How the Israeli family was killed, for example, had me squirming whenever I thought about it for weeks afterwards. From a gaming perspective, it gives a very good overview for any mind control scenarios. Highy recommended. -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial discussion forum for Chaosium's Games. To submit an article, mail to: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu. All articles submitted to the Digest remain copyright their respective authors, unless noted otherwise.