Chaosium Digest Volume 18, Number 11 Date: Monday, March 31, 1997 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: The Care and Feeding of Sanitariums (Cedric Chin) MYTHOS New Mi-Go Technology (Arthur Boff) CALL OF CTHULHU Keyboard Music: A Tale of Terror (Arthur Boff) CALL OF CTHULHU Editor's Note: Welcome to another issue of the Chaosium Digest. Submissions have been light lately, no doubt due to Spring Break, Easter, and other vacations, so if you've been thinking about sending in an article, please do! Shannon RECENT MAGAZINE SIGHTINGS: * Pendragon - "Adventure of the Knight Sinister", by Allen Varney, a two page mini-adventure set in Camelot and western Cumbria, Pyramid #24 [March/April 1997] -------------------- From: Cedric Chin Subject: The Care and Feeding of Sanitariums System: Mythos The Care and Feeding of Sanitariums Sanitariums are one of the trickier cards to play. Because the Mythos system forces players to attack with Monsters, and Phobias are easy cards to play, Investigators with high Sanity are easy targets of these attacks. This pretty much makes Sanitariums less attractive than they may first seem. (Players in games where Investigators with low Sanity are regularly targets are welcome to ignore the disadvantages of Sanitariums, and jump to how to play them...!) DECKBUILDING Disadvantages The more Sanitariums you travel to, the more likely you will be attacked (whenever Adventure points do not make a difference). Furthermore, Sanitariums typically cost three turns of game play (one turn to walk, one turn to arrive, and one turn to walk away), preventing you the opportunity to play cards, and effectively giving your opponents two free turns each. Alternatives To Sanitariums 1. Using Allies to Deal with Phobias In certain regions, Phobias can just as easily be removed with Allies. The disadvantage is that the Ally can die, but the advantage is that you will not have to travel to a new Location, where you may lose the opportunity to play Tomes, Artifacts, and Allies, if you were at a "good" Location. 2. Using Locations to Deal with Phobias Some Locations remove Phobias. These locations are typically easier to travel to, and attract less attention, than Sanitariums, and thus prevent the loss of game turns and other costs Sanitariums have. 3. Sanity-Gaining Artifacts and Allies Because they typically only give you one Sanity, Sanity-gaining Artifacts and Allies pose less of a "magnet" for Monsters and Phobias than Sanitariums do. They should only be played if they count toward Adventures or have other benefits. How Many Sanitariums in a Deck? Two per deck per region is a useful number, depending on how offensive your opponents are, and how much Sanity your deck will cost. Add another Sanitarium for decks that cost sanity, or if you have opponents who play Monsters. Sanitarium Costs The worst fate for a card is the Discard Pile. Here's a ranking of best-to-worst Sanitarium costs, based only on my play style: 1. Skip a turn 2. Put a card in play into your Story Deck 3. Discard a card from your Mythos Deck 4. Discard a card from your Story Deck 5. Discard a card from your hand Sanitarium Benefits Here's a ranking of the best-to-worst Sanitarium benefits: 1. Tome attribute 2. City Location in same sub-region as the rest of your deck 3. Qualification of the Sanitarium towards an Adventure What often happens is that a Sanitarium with a good benefit may have a bad cost. The rest of this article includes tips and tricks for playing Sanitariums. PLAYING A SANITARIUM Avoid Walking to a Sanitarium Most Sanitariums are in Country locations, requiring that the Investigator walk to the Sanitarium. Because Sanitariums are obviously beneficial cards, opponents will be happy to prevent your Investigator from arriving. Earthquake and Town Folk Riot are examples of anti-Location cards that may be used. Travel cards prevent giving opponents an opportunity to play such cards, although anti-Location cards will prevent removing phobias, of course. Walk to a Sanitarium as a "feint" Conversely, walking to a Sanitarium and being "attacked" by an anti-Location card gives one less anti-Location card for your opponents to play. Thus, if you must stay at, or walk to, a Location that is vulnerable to an anti-Location card, you may wish to sacrifice a Sanitarium to play the other Location. Staying at a Sanitarium vs. Shuffling it Back into Your Draw Pile Obviously, it's a good idea to have the Sanitarium buried in your Story Deck before scoring an Adventure -- especially if your opponents have Monsters in their decks, and don't mind ending the game quickly. However, there are a few reasons to stay at a Sanitarium. * Less likelihood of being targeted for Phobias * Ability to play Tomes at Sanitariums with the Tome Attribute * Ability to play Allies at certain Sanitariums * Ability to play Events In addition, you're a target for a phobia when you're leaving a Sanitarium. Playing a Phobia on someone leaving a Sanitarium (by Walking with the new location oriented crosswise) will cost the player a minimum of three turns (one to arrive at the new Location, one to play a new Sanitarium crosswise, and one to arrive). Minimizing Sanitarium Costs The following are some comments and tips about the costs of Sanitariums. 1. Skip a turn If you skip a turn, it's possible that there will be two passes, especially if you have many opponents. 2. Put a card in play into your Story Deck or Skip a Turn If you choose to put the card into your Story Deck, make sure it's not needed to score the Adventure after the one you're working on. 3. Discard a card from your Deck If you've built your deck with the "Two of a Card" rule, make sure you haven't already discarded a card you need to satisfy the Adventure you're working on. 4. Discard a card from your Story Deck Such Sanitariums are easiest to play after you've just scored an Adventure. Of course, this doesn't apply if you've set yourself up so that the first Location of your Story Deck is required to play the Adventure you're working on. 5. Discard a card from your hand This has the same problems as 3. Myself, I tend to work on Adventures that are in my hand, and only have one of an Adventure in a deck. If your decks have two of an Adventure in a deck, such Sanitariums are not as bad. PLAYING AGAINST A DECK FULL OF SANITARIUMS Your best strategy is to call attention to an opponent Walking to a Sanitarium, and let your opponents deal with it. Another option, as mentioned above, is to play a Phobia whenever an opponent is leaving a Sanitarium. Iatrophobia (Fear of Sanitariums) is less subtle, but also works, as do Monsters, and anti-Location Events (Earthquakes, Townsfolk Riot, etc.). In general, though, work on your Adventure and only worry about an opponent if the game is close to ending. If player A uses Sanitariums and player B spends his turns attacking player A, player C will spend the game working on his Adventure and winning. -------------------- Sender: theboffs@dircon.co.uk (Arthur Boff) Subject: New Mi-Go Technology System: Call of Cthulhu Prodigious Surgical, Biological, Chemical, and Mechanical Skills - Creating New Technology for the Fungi from Yuggoth - We are often told that the Mi-Go have technology vastly superior to our own. But, how do you go about making suitably advanced and alien technology, without your game losing the Lovecraftian atmosphere, taking on the atmosphere of a BLOOD BROTHERS-style game? The guidelines below can help you create the sort of devices you want your Investigators to run from, steal, or wonder at in your Call of Cthulhu game. GUIDELINES FOR CREATING MI-GO TECHNOLOGY 1: No Mi-Go Should Be Without One No intelligent life form would make something it couldn't use unless it was part of a trade agreement. For example, since the Fungi can fly through space, they don't need to build a rocket. And, since they don't build rockets, they need a way to take entities back through space with them, hence the brain-cylinders. 2: Anything Earth Can Do Yuggoth Can Do Better Since the Fungi's technology is much more advanced than our own, we can assume that they invented all the things we have now long ago (within the bounds of guideline 1, of course). The "speech machine" and the machine used to give "tubed" brains sight that appear near the end of "The Whisperer in Darkness" are obviously adapted loud speakers and video cameras, for example. Many examples of Mi-Go technology can be created by improving our own. 3: Make Sure That the Mi-Go Can Use It Take a look at the picture of the Mi-Go in the _Call of Cthulhu_ rulebook. How will something like that use machinery? Buttons can be used, and levers, but dials will be harder unless they're of the type found on old telephones. It probably won't be able to push something along using a bar like on a supermarket trolley, but with proper grips on the top a Mi-Go could fly about with it. TWO EXAMPLES Here are two examples of Mi-Go technology, created using these guidelines. The Spellcaster Sold to cultists who can't properly pronounce such mouthfuls as "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn". The cultists simply give a sample of how their species speak, type in the spell, and then start the spellcaster. Whilst they do the actions, the spellcaster intones the incantations. (Note: No Outer God will ever let itself be Called or Contacted by a machine. Minor Great Old Ones might if the spell was cast for a sufficiently good reason.) The Educator This looks like a small box with sticky pads on it. Whenever a baby Mi-Go is born, the pads are stuck to its sensory feelers. This fills the young Fungi with all the knowledge known to the Mi-Go, giving it the equivalent of an EDU of 25. This means that baby Mi-Go can live independently from a few minutes after birth, so "nurseries" are not needed. Because of this, there are no Mi-Go teachers. But then again, you can imagine a classroom full of Fungi, with an adult at the front. The adult pushes a button, projecting onto a nearby screen a picture that would drive most humans mad. It speaks, in a buzzing voice... "And this Great Old One's name is Cthulhu. Can you say kuh-THOO-loo?" Copyright Arthur Boff 1997 Writing from Ulthar, beyond the River Skai. -------------------- Sender: theboffs@dircon.co.uk (Arthur Boff) Subject: Keyboard Music: A Tale of Terror System: Call of Cthulhu Keyboard Music: A Tale of Terror The radio was jealous of the computer keyboard, the writer could see that now. He had written his radio scripts with the keyboard, and they had been played on radios across the world. Except his own. He didn't want to hear his own plays; they were so much better in his imagination. But, the radio was fed up at not even being able to be a part of its master's success. The writer realized that as soon as the keyboard started playing music. Possibilities: 1.) The writer has been doing a lot of work recently, and is just tired. What actually happened was that he left the keyboard by the radio, and due to a trick of acoustics the music seemed to originate from the keyboard. 2.) It's true. The radio has developed an evil intelligence. 3.) The writer recently was asked to write a censored, non-SAN threatening version of _The King in Yellow_. This is Hastur's vengance. It is just part of a long campaign to drive the writer insane. Copyright Arthur Boff 1997 Writing from the Masonic Hall, Innsmouth -------------------- 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.