Chaosium Digest Volume 5, Number 3 Date: Sunday, December 19, 1993 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: Review: Keeper's Compendium (Alan Glover) CALL OF CTHULHU Cthulhu Cycle Books (Shannon Appel) CALL OF CTHULHU Plan d'Enfer (Frederic Moll) MISC Editor's Note: Two new Chaosium products have been released in the last week, both for Call of Cthulhu. Just out is the brand new hard cover edition of the Call of Cthulhu rules (Chaosium, $30.00). It's _really_ well bound in an extremely durable manner. I'd suggest it for anyone who makes serious use of their rules. However, it's not available in stores. You can order it from Wizard's Attic by calling 1-800-213-1493 (415-547-2158 for foreign callers). Also out is Sacraments of Evil (Chaosium, $18.95). It's a collection of six adventures set in the 1890s. The authors include Scott David Aniolowski, Fred Behrendt, Penelope Love, Kevin A. Ross and Todd A. Woods. Scanning through this Digest, you'll find that it's mostly informational, containing reviews and previews of various items of interest to Chaosium gamers. I hope you'll find it useful. Shannon -------------------- From: alan@pinesoft.demon.co.uk (Alan Glover) Subject: Review: Keeper's Compendium System: Call of Cthulhu Unlike the Investigator's Companion this book is aimed quite definitely at Keepers only. No peeking by your players! For this reason I've tried to keep the review in fairly general terms to avoid spoilers. It has 78 pages (or 72 actual pages of text) and retails at $12.95. These pages are unequally divided into four sections: Forbidden Books (28 pages), Secret Cults (18 pages), Alien Races (12 pages) and Mysterious Places (10 pages). As you might guess from the number of pages, the section on Forbidden Books goes into far greater detail than the 5th Edition rulebook. The treatment includes details about the author, known translations and their accuracy plus details of the spells likely to be found in the different translations. In some cases alternate names for the spells are given, however it's a good practice to never give a player a spell by its rulebook name. One of my players is still trying to work out what Brandon's Plight does. A useful concept introduced in this section is that certain tomes should grant a skill check on specific skills if the book was studied successfully. An illustration of the thoroughness of this treatment is that the section for the Necronomicon occupies three pages. Within the books section is a double page spread explaining the history of printing - useful if you want to invent a book and have it in appropriate form for its age. There is also a page of new mythos tomes, which are statted for SAN loss and spell multiplier etc, but leave the Keeper to flesh out the contents of the book and which spells (if any!) are contained in its pages. The section on cults goes into detail on a number of renowned cults such as The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, including details of leaders, history and goals. It makes the very important point that most cultists are not robed cackling degenerates (well, not all the time anyway). Remember that having SAN=0 does not mean nutty like a fruitcake. It just means that their grip on human values and morals has been irrevocably destroyed. Various common threads are highlighted which can be easily grown in scenarios, some of which take advantage of Nyarlathotep's 1000 forms. In many respects Nyarlathotep is a lot more important to cultists than Cthulhu. Incidentally, for anyone who's wondering, The Horniman Museum mentioned on page 43 really does exist, though it's a long time since I've been there. The Alien Races section expands on races likely to be found on Earth, including Deep Ones and Mi-Go. The treatment is much more detailed than the rulebook. For example there is a description of a Mi-Go 'book', a three dimensional construct capable of storing information in a form far more efficent than human writing. Finally, the section on Mysterious Places covers many of those names that crop up again and again; including Atlantis, Kadath and R'lyeh amongst others. Descriptions are perhaps a little on the brief side, but there's enough of the flavour of a location to extrapolate the surroundings. When I wrote about the Investigator's Companion [see V4.2] I was quite critical of the proofreading. The Keeper's Compendium is rather better. I only noticed one typo whilst browsing through it to write this review. The Index is worth commenting upon; occupying a full page it looks sufficiently detailed to allow a section to rapidly located in real-time. Is it worth buying? The cheap price and small size help make it appealing. The final decision should rest upon the amount of time you have to build scenarios and flesh out locations and artifacts. If you could use a little help then the Compendium is worth getting. -------------------- From: Shannon Appel Subject: Cthulhu Cycle Books System: Call of Cthulhu A few people have asked about the stories in the Cthulhu Cycle books. Below, I've included the contents of the first four in the series. Books one and two are already out, while three and four are scheduled for next year. Thanks to Lynn Willis for passing on the information about the latter two books. Cthulhu Cycle Book I: The Hastur Cycle This book traces the evolution of several of the concepts found in HP Lovecraft's The Whisperer in Darkness. The stories in this book are all centered around Carcosa, the King in Yellow, Hastur and Yuggoth. Contents: Haita the Shepherd, by Ambrose Bierce An Inhabitant of Carcosa, by Ambrose Bierce The Repairer of Reputations, by Robert W. Chambers The Yellow Sign, by Robert W. Chambers The River of Night's Dreaming, by Karl Edward Wagner More Light, by James Blish The Novel of the Black Seal, by Arthur Machen The Whisperer in Darkness, by HP Lovecraft Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley, by Richard A. Lupoff The Mine on Yuggoth, by Ramsey Campbell Planetfall on Yuggoth, by James Wade The Return of Hastur, by August Derleth Tatters of the King*, by Lin Carter * Tatters of the King includes three Lin Carter pieces: Litany to Hastur, Carcosa Story about Hali and a revision of James Blish's rendition of the King in Yellow. Cthulhu Cycle Book II: Mysteries of the Worm, Second Edition Mysteries of the Worm is a collection of stories written by Robert Bloch. This is an expanded version of the edition which was printed in 1981. The three stories: The Brood of Bubastis, The Sorcerer's Jewel and The Creeper in the Crypt have all been added, while three other stories have been slightly revised. Contents: The Secret in the Tomb The Suicide in the Study The Shambler from the Stars The Faceless God The Grinning Ghoul The Dark Demon The Mannikin The Brood of Bubastis The Creeper in the Crypt The Secret of Sebek Fane of the Black Pharaoh The Sorcerer's Jewel The Unspeakable Bethrothal The Shadow from the Steeple Notebook Found in a Deserted House Terror in Cut-Throat Cove Cthulhu Cycle Book III: Cthulhu's Heirs According to Lynn, Cthulhu's Heirs is now at the printers. It contains a good assortment of new material, as well as two rare reprints. Contents: Watch the Whiskers Sprout, by D.F. Lewis The Death Watch, by Hugh B. Cave The Return of the White Ship, by Arthur W.L. Breach Kadath: The Vision and the Journey, by T. Winter-Damon The Franklyn Paragraphs, by Ramsey Campbell Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock, by Robert M. Price 1968 RPI, by Joe Murphy Those of the Air, by Darrell Schweitzer & Jason Van Hollander Mr. Skin, by Victor Milan Just Say No, by Gregory Nicoll The Scourge, by Charles M. Saplak Pickman's Legacy, by Gordon Linzner Of Dark Things & Midnight Places, by David Niall Wilson Likeness, by Dan Perez An Early Frost, by Scott D. Aniolowski Scene: A Room, by Craig Anthony The Seven Cities of Gold, by Crispin Burnham Shadows of Her Dreams, by Cary G. Osborne The Herald, by Daniel M. Burrello Typo, by Michael D. Winkle Star Bright, Star Byte, by Marella Sands Cthulhu Cycle Book IV: The Shub-Niggurath Cycle This book, due out in March or April, contains reprints of various stories, with introductions by Robert Price. Lynn says that this table of contents is not final; one or two stories may yet be added. Contents: The Horn of Vapula, by Lewis Spence The Demoniac Goat, by M.P. Dare The Ghostly Goat of Glaramara, by J.S. Leatherbarrow The Moon-Lens, by Ramsey Campbell Ring of the Hyades, by John S. Glasby A Thousand Young, by Robert M. Price The Seed of the Star-God, by Richard L. Tierney Harold's Blues, by Glen Singer Dreams in the House of Weir, by Lin Carter Visions From Yaddith, by Lin Carter Prey of the Goat, by M.L. Carter Sabbath of the Black Goat, by Stephen Mark Rainey The Curate of Temphill, by Robert M. Price and Peter Cannon Grossie, by David Kaufman -------------------- From: Frederic Moll Subject: Plan d'Enfer System: Misc I've just found a French Fanzine called Plan d'Enfer which is semi- specialized in the Chaosium productions (That's their motto). Here's a summary of their old issues: (notes for issue 1 to 4 may be later when I can put my hands on them) Issue 5 (Jul/Aug 92): Herbes et Poisons, Part 5: herbalism for Stormbringer Silence! on Tourne: a scenario for CoC Issue 6 (Sep/Oct 92): Le Contrat de Fief: a historical article for Pendragon Profession Menestrel and Herbes et Poisons, Part 6: play aids for Stormbringer Visivil la Cape-demon: a mini play aid for Stormbringer Remede Mortel: a scenario for Hawkmoon Loa'n: part 4 of a Stormbringer campaign Issue 7 (Nov/Dec 92) Profession Chevalier: play aid for Stormbringer Les Elementaires du Feu : another play aid for Stormbringer Les Feuilles Mortes..., Part 1: a scenario for Stormbringer Histoire de la Grandbretanne, Part 1: background for Hawkmoon Issue 8 (Jan/Feb 93) Les Guildes d'Assassins: a play aid for Stormbringer Profession Courtisane: a play aid for Stormbringer Elementaires de l'Air, de la Terre...: a play aid for Stormbringer Le Pretre Assassine : a Stormbringer scenario Les Feuilles Mortes..., Part 2: a Stormbringer scenario L'agriculteur : play aid for Hawkmoon Histoire de la Grandbretanne, Part 2: background for Hawkmoon Issue 9 (Mar/Apr 93) Profession Archer: for Stormbringer Patricio don Carlos: An NPC for Hawkmoon Le Faucon Blanc: scenario for Hawkmoon Issue 10 (May/Jun 93) Pendragon: a panorama Le Barde Noir: a scenario for Pendragon The current issue, number 11, contains the following articles: * Le Cor ne sifflera qu'une fois (The Horn will be blown only once): this is a long (19 page) post-apocalyptic scenario for Stormbringer where the players can find the Horn of Fate before Elric calls the White Lords. If they succeed, Stormbringer leaves Elric and Elric will have a slow death without his vampiric sword. But, the task of the players will be to banish all active chaos life from the Young Kingdoms (a hard task). It may be a very surprising scenario for players who have read the Elric Saga... * Aiglions: a novella in the world of Stormbringer describing these strange creatures also known as Griffins in others parts of the Multiverse.. Scheduled for issue 12, there is an article on the history of Hispania (Spain) for Hawkmoon. These are the Chaosium related articles found in this fanzine. There are also others on simulation games (with miniature in the antic/medieval period), reviews of other rpg/supplements, etc. Last, but not least, the address: Plan d'Enfer 103 avenue Gabriel Peri 91700 Sainte Genevieve des bois FRANCE A bientot Frederic -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial 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.