Chaosium Digest Volume 14, Number 11 Date: Sunday, June 2, 1996 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: Pagan Publishing Update (John Tynes) CALL OF CTHULHU New Cthulhu Rising Adventures (Shannon Appel) MYTHOS Mythos Book Reviews (Shannon Appel) CALL OF CTHULHU Editor's Note: A pretty small digest this week. Within, you'll find a mishmash of articles that will be of interest to Call of Cthulhu and Mythos players. Shannon RECENT BOOKS OF NOTE: * Ringworld - _The Ringworld Throne_ (Del Rey, $23.00) is now out. I just picked it up this afternoon, and can't say much more about it, but I'm sure those list members interested in Known Space will want to get the first new novel written in over a decade. NEW ELECTRONIC RESOURCES Lovecraft Draft Homepage http://www.lovecraft.com/ Last time around (in V14.10), I mentioned Lovecraft Draft Cider. It turns out that they actually have a home page on the internet. Check it out for more information. Thanks to bedlam@interserv.com. -------------------- From: rev@halcyon.com (John Tynes) Subject: Pagan Publishing Update System: Call of Cthulhu Pagan Publishing Update, 6/96 Things have been busy here at Pagan Publishing Global Domination HQ. We've just added a new member to our staff: Bob Kruger, who joins us as an associate editor. He'll be taking the editorial reigns for several project that have been languishing for too long, including GLIMPSES OF THE END TIME, our anthology of apocalyptic adventures for near-future Call of Cthulhu. Speaking of END TIME, our vaporware post-humanity RPG is still in a vaporous state. I want to do the game, but I don't know when it'll happen. We are moving ahead on getting the GLIMPSES anthology out, however, since it was always meant to stand on its own anyway. In other news, our latest CoC book -- the 1890s sourcebook/campaign THE GOLDEN DAWN -- is in stores, as is our GREAT CTHULHU POSTER, in eye-popping color. Our next project is the three-years-in-the-making sourcebook DELTA GREEN, for 1990s CoC. The manuscript has gone through numerous drafts and expansions, and the book now looks to be about 240 pages. A preview of the book is available on the web at . We're shooting for a late summer/early fall release, but will not set a month until we're as certain as possible. Other projects that are in active development at present include THE CULT OF TRANSCENDANCE, a modern-day sourcebook on a nasty global cult intended as a companion book of sorts to DELTA GREEN; MORTAL COILS, an anthology of unconnected scenarios; MYSTERIES OF NEW ENGLAND, a sourcebook/scenario anthology on (you guessed it) the mysteries of New England folklore and history; MYSTERIES OF MESOAMERICA, which does the same for that region; and an as-yet untitled anthology of unconnected, non-mythos scenarios. A new edition of THE WEAPONS COMPENDIUM is also in preparation. In the not-active-but-pending category you'll find our long out-of-print card game CREATURES & CULTISTS coming your way sooner or later. Finally, it looks like we're making another format change to our CoC magazine, THE UNSPEAKABLE OATH. The next edition will be a double issue (TUO14/15) that will be 128 pages long and retail for $12. Chances are good we'll continue with that double-issue format for a while (doing them twice a year), as the current single-issue incarnation continues to lose money despite our cover price increase, owing to rising paper costs and an unexpected change in the way we have to ship the magazine. Our subscription rate and policy may change as well, but we're still considering how that will shake out. If you have questions, you're always welcome to drop me a line at paganpub@aol.com (the official address) or rev@halcyon.com (the one I prefer 'cuz I dislike AOL's mail capabilities). Also check out our web pages at and the pages for our Mythos mail order catalog, The Outsider, at where you'll find the infamous Plush Cthulhu Dolls. John Tynes rev@halcyon.com -------------------- From: appel@erzo.org (Shannon Appel) Subject: New Cthulhu Rising Adventures System: Mythos The following adventures are all based upon the new Cthulhu Rising Mythos cards. If you'd like to get a better feel for the adventures, you may want to read the stories which helped to generate the ideas. THE HOUSE ON CURWEN STREET comes from the August Derleth short story of the same name, which can be found in _The Trail of Cthulhu_ (due back in print soon). THE HYPERBOREAN AGE comes from Clark Ashton Smith's "The Seven Gaeses", currently available in _A Rendezvous in Averoigne_ and _Tales of the Lovecraft Mythos_. TELL ME, HAVE YOU SEEN THE YELLOW SIGN? is roughly based on RW Chambers' _The King in Yellow_ (recently available from Dedalus). As usual, thanks to Eric Rowe for double-checking values and offering suggestions on the adventures. THE HOUSE ON CURWEN STREET Mythos Experience +10 Points, +3 San You have come to regret your HEROIC ADVENTURE with the STEADFAST PROFESSOR. Because of it, the Mythos horrors are seeking active revenge. By returning to the HOME OF LABAN SHREWSBURY, and finding the Professor's SPACE MEAD and ANGLES OF TAGH CLATUR SPELL, you can summon a bat-winged BYAKHEE, and escape to faraway CELAENO. However, Celaeno is not the haven it was meant to be, for it is too near dreaded Carcosa. When ALDEBARAN MOVES IN THE SKY, HASTUR will rise from the Lake of Hali and try to claim you for his own. If you escape with only a case of ASTROPHOBIA, you are fortunate. THE HYPERBOREAN AGE Heroic Adventure +8 Points, +3 San Battling the SERPENT PEOPLE, you chance upon a HYPERBOREAN TOME which tells of an ancient source of uncleanness. Your CORRUPT ALLY is entranced and flees, forcing you to scour the catacombs of the world for him (visit any TWO different UNDERGROUND LOCATIONS). You find him during an ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, but are too late. He has summoned ABHOTH. But, all is not lost. With the help of a STEADFAST ADVENTURER or SOLDIER, you use the magic of the ELDER SIGN, and banish Abhoth to his fetid home. Unfortunately, the cost of victory is great, and both allies are lost (the two required allies must be in your story deck). TELL ME, HAVE YOU SEEN THE YELLOW SIGN? Mythos Experience +6 Points, +2 San You have become suspicious of ROBERT W. CHAMBERS, author of a certain blasphemous tome, and have decided to investigate him further. Start out by finding his masterpiece, THE KING IN YELLOW, in TWO different translations. Verify that these books contain at least TWO different SPELLS. TRAVEL BY AIR or BY SEA to a PARIS LOCATION, and talk to a EUROPEAN ALLY about Mr. Chambers. Your worst fears will be confirmed when you confront Robert W. Chambers, and he reveals a corrupting ARTIFACT (any artifact which makes its wielder corrupt). -------------------- From: appel@erzo.org (Shannon Appel) Subject: Mythos Books Reviews System: Call of Cthulhu In ages past, the Chaosium Digest has contained reviews of various Mythos related books (see V3.12, V5.1 and V7.7). I've been doing a bit of Mythos reading lately, mainly to come up with ideas for Mythos adventures and such, and I thought I'd take the chance to resurrect this old feature. Before I get going, one quick note. _Dagon_, by Fred Chappell, was reviewed way back in V5.1. It turns out that it's currently available in _The Fred Chappell Reader_ (St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-05092-5). The following reviews are of books that should all be currently in print. I think. Resume With Monsters William Browning-Spencer White Wolf Publishing ISBN #1-56504-913-6 There is a certain genre of modern mythos tales which postulate a world where HP Lovecraft wrote tales of a Mythos which really existed, but in a form slightly different from what is found on the written page. In V7.7, I discussed _The Colour Out of Time_, and _The Philospher's Stone_, which both are stories of this sort. _Resume With Monsters_ is too, and it's a particularly good example. _Resume With Monsters_ hits the reader from two sides. On the one hand, it's a story of man obsessed by Lovecraft's writings, trying to follow in his footsteps, but at the same time discovering the Mythos in his very real world. On the other hand, it's about the modern bureaucratic office, and the horrors which must underly such an irrational construct. The beauty of _Resume With Monsters_ is the center question of the book: whether the Lovecraftian horrors are real or in the mind of the protanganist. Overall, the book is well-written, and although it strays from the Lovecraft-Derleth interpretation of the Mythos, it still treats the Mythos with respect and dignity. The Mask of Cthulhu August Derleth Carroll & Graf This is an old collection of Derleth short stories which was originally printed back in the 1960s by Arkham House, but has been unavailable for something like twenty years. It has just recently been put back into print by Carroll & Graf. It contains six stories: "The Return of Hastur", "The Whippoorwills in the Hills", "Something in Wood", "The Sandwin Compact", "The House in the Valley" and "The Seal of R'Lyeh". Have no doubt, every one of these stories is solid Mythos, through and through. However, they're also Derlethian stories, and that tends to turn some people off. Most people consider Derleth to have committed two great heresies: he spoke of a great battle between the good Mythos forces and the evil Mythos forces, and he also slotted all the Great Old Ones into elemental niches. Cthulhu, for example, is a water elemental. There is, however, another element of Derleth's writing which I find more distressing. They're mostly too "important". Great Old Ones lurk around every corner in Derlethian stories, constantly working to invade the world. It'd be like every Lovecraftian story being a "Call of Cthulhu" or a "Dunwich Horror". I tend to find Derleth perfectly acceptable in moderation, because his stories do consider the seeds of interesting adventures, but the buyer should beware. "The Return of Hastur" tells of a conflict between Hastur and Cthulhu. It's also available in _The Hastur Cycle_. "The Whippoorwills in the Hills" is about ancestral sin and Yog-Sothoth. "Something in the Wood" is another Cthulhu story, involving the effects of his powerful artifacts. "The Sandwin Compact" is about compacts made, and Lloigor. "The House in the Valley" is about the evil dreams that Cthulhu sends. "The Seal of R'Lyeh" tells of a search for Cthulhu and his ancient city. Return of the Deep Ones and Other Mythos Tales Brian Lumley ROC UK ISBN 0-14-017303-X Like Derleth, Lumley is another author that gets some flak in the Mythos community. Many of his books, particular the later Titus Crow books, his Dreamlands books, and his Primal Land books do vary widely from Lovecraft, so this is somewhat understandable (ironically, the last two series are closer to Howard's conception of the Mythos than anything else). However, Lumley has also written some good, solid, Lovecraftian mythos stories. This book contains a number of them. All included, there are four tales. "Inception" and "Lord of the Worms" are both faintly Mythos stories revolving around the very earliest adventures of Titus Crow. The first is about the Cult of the Undying Dead, and the second about a strange worm-wizard. Check out V3.6 for some discussion of these specific stories. They'd each make terrific CoC adventures. "Beneath the Moors" was Lumley's first Mythos novel, originally published by Arkham House in 1974. It's a vaguely Dreamlandish novel, that was clearly inspired by "The Doom That Came to Sarnath" and "The Nameless City". "Beneath the Moors" takes some minor elements from Lovecraft's mythology, builds them up, and does a wonderful job of it. Definitely one of Lumley's best Mythos works. "Return of the Deep Ones", the title story, is one of Lumley's more recent novel-length Mythos works. It centers around the Deep Ones' presence near Britain, and the trouble that this brings. It's another good novel, small in scope, and bearing none of the heroic hallmarks which turn many off of Lumley's other Mythos works. This particular book is only available in a UK printing, so it might be a little harder for some of you to get ahold of right now. -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial electronic 'zine about Chaosium's Games. In no way should it be considered representative of the views or beliefs of Chaosium Inc. To submit an article, subscribe or unsubscribe, mail to: appel@erzo.org. The old digests are archived on ftp.csua.berkeley.edu in the directory /pub/chaosium, and may be retrieved via FTP.