Chaosium Digest Volume 22, Number 11 Date: Sunday, December 28, 1997 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: Hunting Pink: A Tale of Terror (Peter Devlin) CALL OF CTHULHU The Cylinder: A Tale of Terror (Andrew D. Gable) CALL OF CTHULHU Sphere: A Tale of Terror (Andrew D. Gable) CALL OF CTHULHU Anarchy's Call of Cthulhu Handbook (Anarchy) CALL OF CTHULHU Editor's Note: Welcome to the last Chaosium Digest of 1997, this time around featuring a bundle of articles for Call of Cthulhu. As always, thanks for all the support that everyone has provided this year. I look forward to 1998: keep those articles coming! Shannon NEW RELEASES * Call of Cthulhu - _Adventures in Arkham Country_ (Chaosium, 128 pg., $19.95) is a reprint of the Lovecraft Country scenario book. This tome contains five adventures, set in Arkham, Bolton, Dunwich, Falcon Point, and Kingsport. A perfect companion to the recent _Escape from Innsmouth_ and the upcoming _Dead Reckonings_. Also features a short visit to the Dreamlands. _Nocturnum: Long Shades_ (Fantasy Flight Games, 120 pg. $19.95) is the first Call of Cthulhu book from a brand new licensee, Fantasy Flight Games. It's set in a modern world of conspiracies and corporate intrigue. This book, the first in a series of three, includes three adventures as well as background material on a new Mythos threat. * Mythos - _New Aeon_ (Chaosium, $8.95 Starters or $2.95 Boosters) is the newest release for the Mythos CCG. This new 200-card set delves into the mysteries of the modern day and the future. Greys and Men in Black slug it out with Mi-Go and Serpent People in this new vision of a dark and conspiratorial future. * Pendragon - _The Boy King_ (Chaosium, 144 pg., $20.95) is a reprint of the classic Pendragon supplement, detailing the 80-year Pendragon campaign. Also included in this new edition are 8 new pages, featuring Fourth Edition conversions, a graphical timeline, and a stable of horses. Note: _The Boy King_ and _Adventures in Arkham Country_ are still in the process of shipping due to the vagaries of the holidays. They should show up in most stores the week of the fifth. _New Aeon_ and _Nocturnum_ have already appeared in stores and should be on sale. NEW ELECTRONIC RESOURCES Peter Worthy's Mythos Online http://www.geocities.com/Atens/Forum/4162 The November/December issue of Mythos Online is now available, featuring stories by Pugmire, Berglund, Sargent, Searight, and others. Xtulu MUX telnet://kami.keble.ox.ac.uk 2104 http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/7170/ The Cthulhu Mythos meets the X-Men. Really. -------------------- From: Peter Devlin Subject: Hunting Pink: A Tale of Terror System: Call of Cthulhu Hunting Pink Peter Devlin copyright (c) 1997 A Rolls Royce Silver Lady is parked at the side of the road. An elderly chauffeur, uniform jacket removed, struggles to change a flat tyre. A little way along the road stands a well dressed gentleman, hoping to secure assistance. Simon Beaumains (Bart) of Clovenford is the epitome of English nobility; intelligent, educated, charming, and handsome. His ancestors may be traced back to Norman times. He is a staunch Conservative and a defender of law, order, King, and country. Beaumains is very grateful to anyone who helps the elderly Grimes to change the tyre on his Rolls. Good samaritans (and their friends) receive an invitation to spend a weekend as guests of the Clovenfords. It is impossible to refuse without causing offence. Astarte Hall is an impressive English manor set amid immaculate gardens and rolling wooded English countryside. The nearest civilisation is the small village of Clovenford five miles from the Hall. Once the investigators are settled at the Hall, the elderly and very infirm Baron Clovenford is "wheeled" in to thank the good samaritans for assisting his son. He invites them to take part in a weekend of hunting and shooting activities, then retires. Guests arriving for the weekend include a selection of famous socialites, wealthy businessmen, artistes and politicians. As the weather worsens the enormous fireplaces are banked with logs and brandy is served. The after-dinner party ends in the wee small hours with everyone in a fair state of inebriation. Next morning there is commotion at (late) breakfast. The Baron has been found dead near the enormous outdoor maze. His body appears to have been torn apart by a wild animals and there appear to be cloven hoof footprints around the body. The Baron is laid in state in the cold of the family crypt. The telephone lines are down due to the still-raging storm. The chauffeur returns with the news that the main road bridge at Clovenford has been swept away during the night. The area is cut off until the storm abates. There is no need to worry as there are supplies aplenty in the cellar and a backup generator in case the electricty lines are knocked out. "Honest, guvnor". Possibilities: 1.) The Clovenford Hunt (of which many of the guests are members) is an archetypal English tradition, hunting foxes on horseback, accompanied by hounds. It provides a convenient cover for the cult activities of the Beaumains family, who have been associated with The Black Goat of the Woods for hundreds of years. Their favourite sport is hunting a human. The Beaumains horses are an unusually robust and temperamental breed as they are fed on human flesh in classical Greek tradition. The hounds are likewise barely domesticated wolves. Last night the old Baron was forcibly removed as Master of the Hunt by his son. The new Baron immediately takes charge of the situation and organises a rather unseemly wake to commemorate his father's passing. The wake becomes a drunken orgy and soon the Hunt members get into a sporting mood. Tonight is again the dark of the moon and the Master of the Hunt must organise a special feast to celebrate his ascension. This celebration will climax with the summoning of a Dark Young to assist the Hunt in pursuing their prey. Guess who is to be the prey? 2.) The Beaumains bloodline has been contaminated ever since the British campaigns against Napoleon in Egypt; there is a ghoulish ancestor somewhere down the family tree. It is a matter of historical record that the Beaumains usually pass quitely with only an obituary in The Times, all the better to cover up their degeneration into ghouls. It is a family duty to take care of the Beaumains ghouls (the elders) who live in the extensive family crypts, obtaining a steady supply of recently buried corpses. The new Baron has been properly schooled by his late father in his duties, but the lessons did not take. His studies in the extensive Beaumains occult library have prompted him to an alternative course of action. The new Baron intends to make use of this family curse by offering immortality to many of the influential guests (who are confidantes of his). The first step for them is to become cannibals, a well-documented method of greatly extending the human lifespan. The elder Baron refused to accept this idea and so was lured outdoors and killed by his son. The guests in the know all participated in a sorcerous quickening ceremony and had a taste of the Baron. They were scared off by the elders, prowling out of the crypt, who become restless around the time of their regular feeding. Using their own magical means the elders will soon know of the new Baron's plans and they will not approve. One of the guests disappears later that day, kidnapped by the elders. The Baron realises what is happening and looks for suitable volunteers to descend into the crypt to deal with the family legacy. He makes a private faux confession of the family legacy in the hope of gaining sympathy and assistance. If the brave volunteers survive the ghouls then the cannibals may have fresh meat that night. 3.) For untold years the area known as Clovenford has sheltered a large coven of witches. The witches were persecuted by the Beaumains in the years following the Norman conquest, and since then the coven has been very secretive. Many of the Beaumains males have died by violent means, attributed to a non-existent curse laid by the innocent coven. The new Baron is in considerable debt due to poor play at the bridge table. Angered by his father's recent refusal to cover his debts, Simon has taken violent action. The previous evening Simon killed his father using a rather blunt dagger from the Great Hall, spirited the body out side via the hidden stairway in the master bedroom, then faked the animal attack. The cloven hoofprints were made with a family heirloom; a plaster casting of "The Devil's Footprint" which sits beneath glass in the study, a curio dated 1867. Simon plays upon the idea of the Curse of the Beaumains, telling many old family tales to back up his story. He even shows off the curio in the study. Unfortunately he was seen returning last night by one of the guests, the actress Mary Bartlett, his fiancee. She confronts Simon later that morning within sight of one of our heroes, then an hour later accidentally falls to her death from the second floor balcony. Simon again speaks of the Curse but this time he is watching carefully. Cheers :-) --> :-0 Peter Devlin. pdevlin@scotsys.co.uk -------------------- From: Andrew D. Gable Subject: The Cylinder: A Tale of Terror System: Call of Cthulhu THE CYLINDER By Andrew D. Gable Here's the first in my planned series of Tales of Terror based on strange events of the past and present. The following account appeared in a Reuters dispatch on May 27 of this year; I found it chiefly eerie because it mirrors almost exactly the opening scenes of "Tunguska," a fourth season X-Files episode. This Tale of Terror was originally written for use in Pagan Publishing's Delta Green setting, but should prove easy enough tho convert to Cthulhu Now. This story probably wouldn't work in "traditional" 1920s CoC. ** MILITARY TO INSPECT "MYSTERY CANISTER" FOUND AT NEW ORLEANS AIRPORT May 27, 1997 The Army Chemical Biological Defense Command will inspect a foot-long pressurized stainless steel canister seized on May 22 by security personnel at New Orleans International Airport. An unidentified man attempted to pass the "mystery canister" through the X-ray machine on his way to the airport concourse, according to a Reuters report. Security officers asked the man to open the container, but he refused, saying that "it would release a noxious odor." When officers questioned him, the man fled the scene, according to airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc. The Army's Technical Escort Detachment at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, dispatched a three-man team to transport the canister to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for analysis. Police have not released a description of the man who tried to sneak the canister into the airport concourse. Possibilities: 1.) The man was a cultist. The Mi-Go taught him some of their surgical techniques, and the man is more than familiar with the removal of brains into brain-canisters. The cylinder in the above story was one such canister. It was a Delta Green (or MJ-12, take your pick) team that retrieved the cylinder. Now that the Army has it, though, the Mi-Go may try to retrieve the canister. 2.) The cylinder is empty. The man was delusional, and believed himself to be an international terrorist. 3.) The cylinder contains a genetic sample of a Shoggoth. The man is identified as Dr. Peter Grundy, who travelled to Antarctica on a scientific expedition to study polar fauna. In a replay of "At the Mountains of Madness," Dr. Grundy's team found the lost Elder Thing city, and the remains of a dead Shoggoth. The team was, indeed, from MJ-12, and now that the Army has the genetic sample they can rebuild the Shoggoth race. Andrew D. Gable -------------------- From: Andrew D. Gable Subject: Sphere: A Tale of Terror System: Call of Cthulhu SPHERE by Andrew D. Gable **** THE BETZ "MYSTERY SPHERE" The Mystery Sphere, found on March 26, 1974, shortly after a brush fire, on Ft. George Island, near Jacksonville. It is about eight inches in diameter. Terry Betz, who found the sphere, noted certain acoustic anomalies--the sphere, at times, vibrated "like a tuning fork," made noises "like a motor was running inside," and Betz's dog seemed to avoid the sphere. Also, it had a habit of moving of its own accord. Metallurgists at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station declared that the sphere's outer shell, which was approximately half an inch thick, was of stainless steel. When the sphere was taken to New Orleans for examination, APRO scientist Dr. James A. Harder took X-rays which revealed that the sphere was constructed of some far denser material, and that the majority of its weight was due to the inner material. Dr. Harder has also speculated that the sphere's interior could be composed of some atomic metal, similar to uranium. Possibilities: 1.) The orb was simply some sort of Naval contrivance; possibly a sort of sea-bottom marker, meant to give submarines a stable reference point in the launching of ballistic missiles. If this is the case, the orb should have an audio-emitting mechanism. 2.) It is one of the Great Race of Yith's spherical grenades (as mentioned in the scenario "Bad Moon Rising"). The items are magical weapons, so mere immunity to physical weapons does not protect one from one of these devices. This could lead into a plot where the sphere is stolen by government agents in attempt to replicate the weapon and possibly triumph in their shadow-war against Cthulhu. 3.) There was a meteor shower a few days before the brush fire, which was purely coincidental: a normal fire. The sphere Betz found was a Traveler spacecraft. The Traveler parasitized Betz shortly after his discovery of it. As it was living in Betz, it felt no need to destroy its craft while the scientists were analyzing it. The creature, which by now is a full adult, needs nourishment. Possibly the investigators become involved after a series of murders in which the victims are left bloodless and cannibalized. Andrew D. Gable agable@falcon.lhup.edu (for text) gable@redrose.net (for attachments) The CryptoWeb: www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/7270/ Nyogtha's Cthulhu Now Resources: members.tripod.com/~nyogtha/ -------------------- From: Anarchy Subject: Anarchy's Call of Cthulhu Handbook System: Call of Cthulhu Anarchy's Call Of Cthulhu Handbook - A handbook for players SKILLS Contrary to what most GMs say, there are some skills which are more important than others. Here they are (In my opinion): * Firearm - You'll need a damn good weapon for defense * Spot Hidden - You'll constantly roll this to see if you notice important things * Dodge - Used constantly in battle * First Aid - Some of you will be injured, a lot. Get this and use it. * Library Use - You'll need to research clues, etc. A must. * Listen - Used half as often as Spot Hidden, but still important * Knife/Punch/Kick - When your GM takes away your gun... There are also a few skills which SOMEONE in your party should have. These are: * Fast Talk - You'll need to bypass hazardous situations quickly. * Medicine - First Aid can only do so much. * Mechanical Repair - For fixin' guns. * Locksmith - Gotta have this, at least when in a place with locks. * Sneak - Don't let those cultists hear you. * Climb - Gotta sneak into some places. * Throw - For grappling hooks, knives, etc. This goes with climb. * Photography - Otherwise no one will believe you. * Law - Jail sucks. * Coneal - Hide your stuff when you don't want it found. * Psychoanalysis - If you have it, it can slowly get back sanity. GAMING TIPS If you all choose "shotgun" as your firearm skill, you get three advantages: * You can use each other's weapon, should you need to. * You do a lot of damage. * You begin with 30% skill Sleep in shifts, with one investigator, or two if possible, watching over everything. Get equal amounts of sleep. Keep your backs covered. In battle, always fight back-to-back if possible, and never assume that the enemies being fought will be the only enemies. Others may join. If possible, kill everyone you fight. Extract information first, if needed, and then kill them. EQUIPMENT If possible, carry two of each weapon, at all times. Try to enhance hand attacks with sap-gloves/brass-knuckles and your kick attacks with steel-toe boots. Get rope, handcuffs, etc. for capture of enemies. A magnifying glass is a good tool to have, for fire creation. Disfigure your character somehow, or give the police, etc., some way to identify your body should you be injured or murdered. Read every Mythos-related book you get your hands on, no matter the cost. Put out rewards in local newspapers if useful. To raise money, become P.I.'s ANARCHY'S BIGGEST TIP Once you begin the campaign, any characters that are made while the campaign is already in session, should be shaped TO the campaign. If all you do is fight, pick a character who can. If the party badly needs a doctor, be one! This is usually allowed/unobserved by the GM, so do it! Anarchy - Agentsofchaos@geocities.com http://www.disembodied.com/agentsofchaos/ --