Chaosium Digest Volume 5, Number 10 Date: Sunday, February 27, 1994 Number: 1 of 2 Contents: Real Occult Books for CoC (Scott Plumer) CALL OF CTHULHU Those Nightmare Wings (Matthew J Ruane) CTHULHU:1889 Three New Spells (Stefan Matthias Aust) ELRIC! Nomads of the Time Stream Update (Shannon Appel) ELRIC! Editor's Note: Newly available for FTP from soda.berkeley.edu is a set of ASCII character sheets for Elric! English and German versions are both archived in /pub/chaosium/elric. Thanks to Stefan Matthias Aust for the upload. Stefan also had a few questions for the Digest. He wanted to know if anyone had done conversions between Space:1889 and the BRP system. Stefan thought that converting the skills would be simple, but wasn't so sure on NPCs and animals. By some strange quirk of fate, there's an adventure seed for Cthulhu:1889 in this issue of the Digest. Any one else have any other 1889 ideas for Stefan? How about for a Traveller BRP system? Shannon -------------------- From: "Scott Plumer" Subject: Real Occult Books for CoC System: Call of Cthulhu This is an annotated bibliography of real occult books for use in Call of Cthulhu. Since the Mythos aren't real (yeah, right, we know better), the descriptions of the books have been spiced up to relate them to the game. All of these books, except the Voynich Manuscript, are currently available (with many, many others) in Cleveland Public Library's John G. White collection. The description of the Voynich Manuscript has not been embellished at all. _Le grande grimoire, avec la grande clavicule de Salomon et la magie noire_; In French, from Hebrew, translator unknown, 1202: The Greater Grimoire of Solomon. Contains many spells of summoning. A very powerful book. SAN 1D6/2D6, Cthulhu Mythos 5%, Spell Multiplier x7. _Magic, divination and demonology among the Hebrews and their neighbors_; In English, by Thomas Davies, 1898: Describes Jewish qabbalic magic and demonology, with many references to Mythos entities, though not by their Mythos names. SAN 1D4/2D4, Cthulhu Mythos 5%, Spell Multiplier x2. _Narratives of sorcery and magic_; In English, by Thomas Wright, 1851: An anthropological study on English witches and witch-like cults from the tenth century. Contains detailed descriptions of rituals. SAN 1/1d4, Cthulhu Mythos, 2% Spell Multiplier x2. _The book of the sacred magic of Abra-Melin the mage_; In Hebrew, by Lamech the Younger, 1458: A document of a Jewish magician, it contains several spells of various kinds. Very powerful. Reprinted in 1900 by the Theosophical Publishing Co. SAN 1D10/2D10, Cthulhu Mythos 8%, Spell Multiplier x10. _The philosophy of natural magic_; In English, from Latin, by Agrippa von Nettesheim, translator unknown, translation pub. 1913: More a work of occult and magical philosophy, it contains no spells, but much information. SAN 1/1D4, Cthulhu Mythos 3%, Spell Multiplier x0. _Secrets merveilleux de la magie naturelle_; In French by Albert Petit, 1815: An account of Petit's magic researches. SAN 1/1D4 Cthulhu Mythos 3%, Spell Multiplier x2 _Tractus de superstitionibus_; In Latin by Arles y Andosilla, 1559: Written by a cardinal excommunicated for being an occultist, all copies were believed destroyed by Rome until about 1900, when this edition was donated to the Cleveland Public Library. SAN 1D3/1D6, Cthulhu Mythos 4%, Spell Multiplier x3. _Egyptian magic_; In English by E.A. Wallis Budge, 1901: A detailed account of Egyptian magic rituals. Also includes some information on embalming. SAN 1/1D4, Cthulhu Mythos 2%, Spell Multiplier x2. _Book four_; In English by Aleister Crowley, 1913: Crowley's books are banned almost everywhere. This contains spells used for increasing perception and making magic items and substances. SAN 1/1D4, Cthluhu Mythos 4%, Spell Multiplier x4. _Clefs majeure et clavicules de Salomon_; In French by Eliphas Levi, 1895: All of Levi's books are banned in France, and in many other nations. This is an examination of the magic rituals of King Solomon; the Greater Key of Solomon. SAN 1/1D4, Cthulhu Mythos 1%, Spell Multiplier x2 _Dogme et rituals de la haute magie_; In French by Eliphas Levi, 1894: Levi's magical philosophy and rituals; essentially a diary of his occult activities. Contains many spells of summoning lesser creatures. SAN 1/1D4, Cthulhu Mythos 3%, Spell Multiplier x6. _The Coming of the fairies_; In English by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1921: Sherlock Holmes' creator was also a proponent of the widely held beliefs in fairies in Victorian England. What he terms "fairies," however, are in fact Mythos creatures. SAN 1/1D4, Cthulhu Mythos 6%, Spell Multiplier x0. _The Magus_; In English by Francis Barrett, 1801: The seminal work of occultism was Barrett's only book, and contained a system for summoning dozens of what he termed "demons." An extremely powerful and extremely rare book. SAN 1D3/2D4, Cthulhu Mythos 5%, Spell Multiplier x10. _The Voynich Manuscript_; Language, author and date unknown, est. 1500: Probably the most mysterious of all occult books, including the Necronomicon. It first appeared in the 16th century and was believed destroyed by the Vatican until it appeared in a private collection early in the 19th century. The name "Voynich" comes from this owner. After his death, Yale University library has owned the book. What makes this book so unique is that it is written in an unknown alphabet which has defied all attempts to translate. Interspersed throughout are many bizaare illustrations of what appear to be impossibly complex works of plumbing, plus drawings of fairy-like creatures. Since the language has yet to be translated, its contents are best left to Keepers. -------------------- From: Matthew J Ruane Subject: Those Nightmare Wings System: Cthulhu:1889 A while ago, I decided to incorporate the Space:1889 universe into the Cthulhu by Gaslight timeline, using the CoC rules. I wrote an article to combine the two systems using some ideas borrowed from Marcus Rowland's article, Cthulhu:1889 (which was published in Challenge #43). Pagan Publishings' John Tynes has agreed to republish my article, so hopefully it will see print soon. The following adventure seed was written for the Cthulhu:1889 universe, but I don't see why it couldn't be modified to use in any CoC campaign. I hope you find it of some use. "Those Nightmare Wings": A Cthulhu:1889 Adventure Seed [This article was originally printed in the Space:1889 fanzine, "Transactions of the Royal Martian Geographical Society" in Late 1992.] The investigators are gathered together at a dinner party being held by a mutual friend, Angus MacTavish, a wealthy merchant who specializes in the spice trade. He is a collector of fine Martian antiquities, and is well known in the art community as a wealthy and liberal patron. MacTavish has invited the investigators to view his latest acquisition, a unique statue brought out of a High Martian kraag. The three foot high statue is made of a dark, glossy, bluish-black stone. It depicts a dark skinned High Martian perched upon a large boulder. The unknown artist has captured the moment before the High Martian leaps off in flight, and in the sputtering gaslight, the statue seems eerily alive with bridled energy. The bluish black stone carving is slightly oily to the touch, and the boulder is a gold nugget the size of a large hen's egg. MacTavish believes the statue to be nearly a thousand years old and probably worth close to five hundred pounds sterling. He acknowledges that he is not sure who or what the statue is suppossed to represent, but it is an excellent addition to his already fabulous collection of objects d'art. MacTavish allows the investigators to examine the object and ask any questions, but he really doesn't know more than he has already stated. Eventually, the statue is placed on a shelf with several other pieces. The guests should eventually head home without incident. That night, any of the investigators who actually touched the statue will have a series of disturbing dreams and dream sequences. The dreams, while not actually nightmares, are nevertheless disturbing. Each of the dreaming investigators will be able to vividly recall their dreams upon waking, and the feelings will remain for several hours before fading away. The dreamers will recall that they seemed to be effortlessly flying over a vast desert at night. The stars were ablaze in the night sky and in the distance was a glittering city, its lights seeming to fill the night sky. The city was filled with Martians going about their daily activities: conducting business, shopping in the marketplace, etc. The dreamer sensed that he/she was a High Martian flying to the city to participate in an attack on the defenseless residents. As the dreamer flew closer to the city, the image abruptly shifted and the city became a flaming ruin. In the center of the burning city was a gigantic copy of the statue the investigators saw earlier that night. Around the gigantic statue, barely able to be percieved through the flames and smoke were hundreds of smaller statues, each roughly identical to the one owned by MacTavish. The dreamer can remember sweeping down and picking up a copy of the statue before flying off into the night sky. The dream abruptly ended there. In the morning, one of the investigators will come across a late breaking story concerning the mysterious death of Angus MacTavish. If the investigators go to MacTavish's home, or make inquiries among their contacts on the police force or with reporters, they will discover that MacTavish apparently burned to death, yet the carpet his body was discovered sprawled upon was not even singed. If the investigators inquire about motive, or ask directly about the statue, they will be told that the statue is apparently missing, but it appears to have been the only thing removed. Clues among MacTavish's belongings state that he purchased the statue only two days ago, from a merchant in the city's bazaar. Searching the bazaar will reveal that the merchant left early this morning, murmuring that the curse has returned. A description is provided of the Martian merchant now gone missing and this is apparently the only clue the investigators have to the mystery of MacTavish's death. Matthew Ruane -------------------- From: Stefan Matthias Aust Subject: Three New Spells System: Elric! This time I plundered the german role playing game MIDGARD for some interesting spell ideas... Shadow Fighter (2-6) [Spell of War] "Rhowan and Fenshia could retreat no further. Just behind them were the cliffs. Far below, the ocean smashed into the beach caves. The hostile warriors approached. 'I'll stop them. Use your rope,' Fenshia shouted. Then, she cast a spell. While Rhowan tied his rope around a rotten stump, the noises of ancient battles became audible - the combat cries, the clash of swords, the groans of fighting and dying men. The attackers froze, confused. As they watched, four shadowlike forms grew out of the ground, black shapes of fighters, armed and prepared." Range is sight. Chaotic. Calls 1D6 shadows of warriors and controls them as long the sorcerer concentrates. The number of magic points spent determines the HP of each of the ghostly images. Damage done by the shadow fighters isn't real unless they kill someone. All other damage will vanish together with the shadows. Shadow Fighter statistics STR - - CON - - SIZ 2D6+8 15 POW - - DEX 3D6+6 16-17 MOV run-6 Has HP equal to MP spent. Attacks with hand-to-hand weapon at DEXx3% (or 50%) with 1D8+1D4 damage. Armor absorbs 1D6+3 points. (Optional: Normal weapons only inflict half damage) Spell of Pain (2) [Spell of War] "'You can't escape! Stand and fight!' Rhowan shouted as he rushed towards the mage he had searched for so long. The mage pointed at Rhowan, weaving a magic spell. Crying in pain, Rhowan dropped." Range is sight. Chaotic. The victim is attacked by stunning pain if a POW:POW roll on the resistance table is successful. He loses 1 HP. All of the target's skills, his damage bonus and his MOV are halved for the duration of the spell. Nameless Dread (2) [Spell of Being] "The night is dark. Clouds hide the stars. Dull moonlight throws dark shadows. Fenshia is on her way home when suddenly two thugs block her way. They try to grab her. Then, one of them yells, turns, and runs away, an insane look upon his face, not stopping until he breaks down from exhaustion. Fenshia draws her dagger, and rams it into the other before he can move. That's Fenshia." Range is touch. Chaotic. If a POW:POW resistance roll is successful, the victim is frightened like never before. It is a terror the victim will never be able to describe, nor even remember. When horror and fear seize the victim, he... 1D6 1 - runs and runs, as never before 2 - drops, crying, yelling, creeping, hiding 3 - stands, laughing insanely, noticing nothing 4 - curls up into a fetal position 5 - attacks all near objects berzerkly 6 - falls down, unconscious (Optional: If the victim succeeds at an idea roll, he will remember both the caster and the horror. Surely, he will hate the caster for his nightmares.) --Stefan Matthias Aust -------------------- From: Shannon Appel Subject: Nomads of the Time Stream Update System: Elric! I just received some updated addresses for Nomads of the Time Stream. The new internet contact address is: "Paul W. Cashman" The new postal address is: NTS/IMMAS c/o D J Rowe 18 Laurel Bank, Truss Hill Road, S.Ascot, ASCOT., BERKS. SL5 9AL ENGLAND (which seems to me a minor variation of the one I noted before). Refer to V5.6 for full information on Nomads of the Time Streams, the International Michael Moorcock Appreciate Society. Shannon -------------------- 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.