Chaosium Digest Volume 30, Number 11 Date: Saturday, March 25, 2000 Number: 1 of 2 Contents: * Cat's Claw (CTHULHU) by Andrew Clements Andy@satanspawn.freeserve.co.uk Editor's Note: This week's Digest features the fourth installment of Andrew Clements' series of Cat/Bast related adventures for Call of Cthulhu. The previous installments were Cat's Cradle (Chaosium Digest v28.8, 8/15/99), Cat's Eyes (Chaosium Digest v28.10, 10/3/99) and Cat Song (Chaosium Digest v29.6, 12/15/99) and can be found in the archive. They're pretty good and worth checking out. To get previous issues, follow the instructions below. Send email to majordomo@chaosium.com with the following command in the body of the message, no subject is necessary. index chaos-digest If you see files in which you're interested, you may retrieve them by using the "get" command and specifying the list name and archive filename. For instance, to retrieve the files called "profile.form" (presumably a form to fill out with your profile) and "chaos-digest.9611" (presumably the messages posted to the list in November 1996), you would put the lines: get chaos-digest profile.form get chaos-digest chaos-digest.9611 in your mail to Majordomo@chaosium.com. Note that these file names are just examples, actual filenames may vary. As previously noted, all Call of Cthulhu, Elric! and Nephilim articles qualify for the quarterly Chaosium Contest. Even though they don't count for the contest, I still gladly accept Pendragon, Delta Green and Glorantha submissions. The deadline for the next contest will be Friday, March 31st. The winner gets a copy of the upcoming Call of Cthulhu Keepers Screen http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2387.shtml for their winning Cthulhu, Elric! or Nephilim submission. So, keep those submissions coming! ANNOUNCEMENTS * PAGAN PUBLISHING PERSONAL AD ---------------------------- Quirky, Creepy Game Company Seeks Cheerful, Industrious Playtesters For New Game Here at the laboratories of Pagan Publishing we're working on a new beer-and-pretzels humorous strategy game for 2-4 players. We need to find several groups of people who would be willing to play the game several times and send us questions and comments, so we can fix problems and get it ready for release. If you're interested, you and your friends should be able to meet and play at least once a week for several weeks, beginning in early April. Each game takes about 3-4 hours to play with 4 people; 2-player games take about an hour and a half. We're looking for groups of 2, 3, or 4 people. You must write up notes on your sessions and send them to us via email. All Playtesters will be listed in the credits. Each group will also receive one free copy of the game when it is released. To apply, send email to rev@tccorp.com with the following information: Your name Your email address Your mailing address The size of your group What role-playing or strategy games you regularly play, if any The last day to apply is Monday, March 27. Not everyone who applies can be accepted, since we expect to get a lot more applicants than we need. I will reply to every application after the deadline is up, however. Thanks! John Tynes editor-in-chief Pagan Publishing www.tccorp.com * Hero Wars from Issaries Inc. is scheduled for release in April. Parts have gone off to the printers, others are going this week, and despite the whole office moving between now and then it will be ready to go out in April. The initial release consists of: Deluxe Hero Wars. boxed set contains Hero Wars, Narrator's Book, Gloranthan Visions and 52 pages of handouts ($44.95), Hero Wars and Narrator's Books, available separately ($19.95 each), Glorantha, available separately only ($19.95) See the web site at http://www.glorantha.com/products/ for more. * TENTACLES NEWS POST Volume 1, Number 3, March 20th, 2000 ~~ S L U R P F o l k s ! ~~ Welcome to the Tentacles News Post March, featuring all the latest Tentacles news and views. Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends, allies and sworn enemy’s. If you do not want to receive this newsletter or have a new email address please send a notification to: fabian.kuechler@medien.uni-weimar.de ~ N e w s & G o s s i p ~ Tentacles Millennium has all engines under steam and already had a collusion with a nasty fireberg. Our Tentacle of Honour, Sandy Petersen, sent us this note: >Incredibly bad news >It turns out that I need to undergo foot surgery this summer, and thus will not be fit to travel >to Germany. This sucks major league and I am VERY disappointed. I hope maybe to get >overseas next year? Or the year after? Ah well, good luck with Tentacles! >Sandy P. Gosh, we are disappointed as well! You never know which horrors lash at you running a Tentacles Con. ~ T e n t a c l e d G u e s t s ~ R o b e r t s o n, Roderick Hero Wars Line Editor and *official* Glorantha Expert, is attending. He is, according to Greg Stafford, *the second most informed guy about Hero Wars*. Roderick will introduce the new game, host panels, teach GM's and present a bunch of happy scenarios for Hero Wars. He is also editing for the Pendragon RPG and will be happy to talk about Arthurian Knights and their handicrafts. W h i t a k e r, Lawrence A nice man and *Chaosium's Elric! Guy*, is coming again. Lawrence will be happy to whaffel about Elric!, Hawkmoon and the Unknown East and plays a leading character in our Elric! freeform. There will also be a Elric! Tournament again. B r o o k e, Nick A long time friend and guest of our Convention, is attending as well. Nick will enlighten us with his radiant presence, entertain us with his exquisite Oratory skill and will run Chris Gidlow's Tarsh Wars for us. We are currently spending a lot of Power (TM) in summoning other tentacled guests as well. ~ H o r r o r s a l i v e a n d f r e e f o r m i n g ~ Here is our pride and joy! Tentacles will feature a hell lot of small freeform games. The sign up for the listed games will take place at the convention! We will report about clashes in the programme at the end of April. There will probably be a small charge for the games, which payable on the spot, to cover production costs. O r k a l s B u l l written by Neil Robinson A lusty tale of political strife in an isolated barbarian clan. With the death of Venharl the Powerful and the election of Penorri Venharl’s-Son, it seemed that peace had come to the Vostangi at last. But then Vargast, head of the Varing family, had his prize Bull stolen, while Orkal, a client of Orlalont of the Orlings, has a new Bull he claims to have bought down in Clearwine. Will the bloodfeud destroy the clan? 16 Players / Glorantha O p e r a t i o n S p a n n e r written by Dan Barker and Bazz Hoftyzer Progress report on work-shift 320978.5736-A A secluded group of true, pure of heart and mind Mostali, intent to repair the World-Machine.They are on strict-deadlines, as all the signs say that something bad is brewing for Mostali-kind.Everything would be operational if it wasn't for the arrival of some Mostali at their island-retreat. Why are they there? Are they true Mostali? Or are they polluted by the world of Grower? If so can they be brought back to the One-True Way? 20 Players / Glorantha T a r s h W a r s written by Chris Gidlow War-drums are beating along the Bush Range. On the hill-tops blaze the fires of the Tars Gor, summoning the clans to wash their axes in the blood of enemies. The natives are restless, and one thing alone stands between civilization and scalp-taking savagery. A thin red line, a line glimmering with Silver, Bronze and Steel: the Lunar Army! Join the serried ranks! Lead the army of the Great Red Queen to the very foothills of Wintertop! Defend the Pax Lunara in a last-ditch struggle, or plant the Red Vexillum in the smoking ruins of a Tarsh encampment! Live or die, the tales of your exploits will stir the Empire! 13 Players / Glorantha S a c k o f I m r r y r written by Pummel Become a member of the final conference planning the"Sack of Imrryr". The most important diplomats and warriors of the 6 nations will take part and meet in the privacy at the villa of Filkhars richest Sea-Food producer. They will discuss the last discrepancies between them. Alliance and intrigue, discussion and duel, love and hatred, all of this expect the players and much more. Be there as rivals become allies, enemies turn into friends and start the most important event in the history of the Young Kingdoms. 21 Players / Elric! T h o s e W h o F a l t e r a n d T h o s e W h o F a l l written by Anja Bleicher and Thorsten Grube Information available soon. There is a pre registration for this event which will start at the 1st May 2000. 30 Players / Call of Cthulhu ~ H e r o W a r s & J u s t M o r e G a m e s ~ Is our credo this year. We will have less panels and more space for games. Tentacles will be proud to be the first Glorantha Convention to welcome the arrival of Hero Wars on the mundane plane. We do our best to suck every drop of blood and support out of Issaries Inc. for scenarios, tournament games, gifts and prices. We will even have a small release party for Hero Wars! So sign up, meet fellow gamers and play the game! Its is going to be an exciting start. There will be also a Elric! Tournament as well as numerous games for Call of Cthulhu. We invite everybody to bring his/her home made collection of Glorantha Board and Card Games and inflatable toys for our wet wild Trollball Show. No problem if you want to run your own games. Tentacles features again: the famous castle above the Rhine river, good weather, special effects, good cheap beer, 2 filling meals a day, a dry comfortable bed, computer network gaming, the Infoshrine our efficient Convention plant for information, Alka Seltzer & aspirin and us crazy pals from the Chaos Society Germany as well as a bag of surprises. ~ T i m i n g & C o s t s ~ Tentacles Millennium will take place at castle Stahleck in Bacharach, from Friday the 9th to Monday the 12th June 2000. The Convention will open programme Friday evening around 19.00 and end around 11.00 on Monday. The price for 3 nights at the Convention, including breakfast and dinner, is 72 EUR! A common beer at the Con cost around 2 DM which is less than 1 EUR, 1 Dollar or 1/2 British Pound (shameless plug of course). Donations either in games or money are welcome. ~ A u c t i o n ~ Our last auction had too few bidders, too few items and was scheduled at a bad time in the afternoon. Heck, it sounds like we killed this event. But wait! We will try to reanimate. The auction will take place at nice, warm spot at Sunday night. Come along to help and bring old, exotic and precious games, magazines, books etc. for Glorantha, RQ, CoC, Elric!, Pendragon and Schund you would like to turn into cash. The Convention is happy about all the support it can get that helps to hold on to the low membership rates. ~ I f y o u a r e c o m i n g f r o m G r e a t B r i t a i n ~ If you like to fly in from Great Britain check out the Ryan Air Airline (www.ryanair.com). They are flying at very cheap airfares from London Stansted and other places in GB to the Airport Hahn, Germany which is about 20 minutes (!) from the castle Stahleck. You need to use a parachute to get closer to the Convention out of the sky! ~ I f y o u a r e c o m i n g f r o m J a p a n ~ If you are coming from Japan fly to Frankfurt Main Airport. It is located close to the castle and transport to Bacharach is not too difficult and takes around 1 hour. We may even pick you up on the way! ~ L a n g u a g e B a r r i e r ~ Well, there is none as long as you speak and/or understand English. International guests are very welcome! ~ S i g n u p ~ You can sign up for Tentacles online at: www.uni-weimar.de/~kuechle1/regis.htm Membership will close at the 30th April 2000. ~ U s e f u l W e b s i t e s ~ The official Tentacles Convention site: www.uni-weimar.de/~kuechle1/venue.htm where you can find information, pictures of the castle, etc. and: www.uni-weimar.de/~kuechle1/regis.htm to sign up for Tentacles online. Go to: www.members.tripod.de/SnS/Conpics.htm the official website of the German RQ-Gesellschaft and have a look a some pictures of the last Tentacles Convention. Go to: www.ryanair.com to find out about cheap airfares from GB to Germany (Hahn Airport see above) Deutsche Bahn: www.deutschebahn.de here you can find information on how to get to Bacharach by train. Fabian Kuechler -- ~~TENTACLES Convention~~ fabian.kuechler@medien.uni-weimar.de We want YOU for - TENTACLES Millennium! 9th-12th June 2000; Castle Stahleck, Germany Visit our weblair at: www.uni-weimar.de/~kuechle1/next.htm **RECENTLY RELEASED!** Book Of Dzyan 6027 $13.95 ISBN 1-56882-114-X http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/fiction/6027.shtml ** UPCOMING CHAOSIUM RELEASES** CALL OF CTHULHU Keeper's Screen #2387 $14.95 ISBN 1-56882-149-2 http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2387.shtml CALL OF CTHULHU KEEPERS (Keepers of Forbidden Lore) can now keep their secrets in style. This new three panel Keeper's Screen is jam-packed with vital GM information presented in any easy to use at a glance format. The player's side of the screen features awesome Philippe Caza artwork worthy of its own sanity check. This product includes a new introductory scenario perfect for beginning investigators and keepers alike, as well as three 4-page game aids (weapons table with an alien weapons section, a new 4-page summary of rule book spells, and some character sheet masters to jump-start your new Call of Cthulhu game). CALL OF CTHULHU KEEPER'S COMPANION Blasphemous Knowledge, Forbidden Secrets, and Handy Information for Call of Cthulhu Role-playing. CHA 2388 $19.95 (1-56882-144-1) 128 pp. http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2388.shtml The Call of Cthulhu Keeper's Companion is an invaluable resource for GM's. New material includes advice for new keepers, a lengthy study of Mythos artifacts, a learned discussion of many occult books, an up-to-the-moment description of every facet of forensic medicine, a thorough revision and expansion of the game skills (including nearly two dozen new ones), and the augmented text of the Keeper's Compendium, somewhat updated--forbidden books, secret cults, alien races, and mysterious places. Additional short essays and features round out this book-more than 100,000 words! The best-selling Keeper's Compendium appeared in 1993, but has been out of print for more than two years. The Yellow Sign & Other Tales THE COMPLETE WEIRD FICTION OF ROBERT W. CHAMBERS 6023 $19.95 ISBN 1-56882-126-3 by Robert W. Chambers http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/fiction/6023.shtml This massive collection brings together, for the first time ever and with much of the material unprinted since the 1890's, the entire body of Robert W. Chambers' weird fiction work. Chambers is considered a landmark author in the horror field for his _King in Yellow_ collection, but that is just a small part of his weird fiction output. The Yellow Sign & Other Stories brings together tales from five different Chambers collections, and also includes the novel _In Search of the Unknown_ and an excerpt from the novel _The Tracer of Lost Persons_. These stories are also connected to the Cthulhu mythos, for they introduce concepts such as Hali, Hastur, and Carcosa. Selected and edited by S.T. Joshi. CTHULHU FOR PRESIDENT Y2K KIT Why Settle for the Lesser Evil? #5115 $14.95 ISBN 1-56882-103-4 It's Campaign season again! Great Lord Cthulhu, high priest of the Star Spawn and Master of R'lyeh, is once again joining the presidential race to push forward his own agenda of world domination under a new world order. This kit includes a mini-poster, bumper sticker, Elder Party membership card, Cthulhu's complete platform, and more. Y2K: THE STARS ARE RIGHT! ----------------------------- Okay, I admit it, I couldn't leave the Cat series of adventures as they were, which is why I present this (hopefully) final adventure to round them all off. It's an apocalyptic adventure, so it won't be in the style of many Cthulhu Keepers, but hopefully they might get a kick out of running something different from the normal Cthulhu fare. The adventure also makes use of the Dreamlands - where else could you set an apocalypse fantasy? This adventure will also owe a heavy debt to Neil Gaiman, but to explain why would spoil the surprise. Cat Fight Overview: The end of the world is nigh. Well, the end of the world for humans is at any rate. The time prophesied earlier in the cat-series (In Cats Eyes) has come to pass - the cats will rise up and make the humans their slaves, slaying those who resist. Why now? In short, Bast is annoyed. She sees a decaying world, which humans seem bent on killing, and she sees the cruelty done to animals and nature across the world. She's not so worried about nature as much as her children, the cats, but the cats need an ecosystem to support themselves. Bast is raising an army of cats in the Dreamlands, and when the army is complete, the cats shall awaken to slay the humans. The only possible chance that the investigators have of preventing this catastrophe (well...it's nasty from the point of view of the humans, if nothing/no-one else) is to find a powerful ally in the Dreamlands to prevent this from happening. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The setting scene: If the investigators completed the Cat's-Cradle adventure well, they should each own a cat sent by Bast. (If they completed Cat Song well, they'll also own a tacky souvenir.). If they did not take part in this adventure, give the next-door-neighbor a cat, so the investigators can get some of the fore-warning... In either case, the cats of the city seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time asleep. No-one will know this is happening across the city, as it will hardly seem newsworthy. ('Yes, the kids are doing fine,' says Agatha, 26, 'but they've had nothing to do at the weekends since the cat started sleeping so much. I'm thinking of taking him to the vet.'). The players will only be aware of what their own cat is doing, or maybe the cats of friends if it comes up in conversation. When the cats do wake, they never eat, as though they've been having something to eat when the owners weren't looking. (At this point, veteran players of the cat series will start looking for suspicious murders. There are none, the cats are eating in the Dreamlands.). Then, as the winter nights draw near, the investigators suffer a strange dream. They are standing in a beautiful village, with cobbled streets, and a generally comfortable atmosphere, with fluffy white clouds (did they ever look like that in waking?) strewn across the sky. This is the small village of Ulthar. But some of the inhabitants look worried. The innkeeper pours no drinks, the seamstress will mend no clothes, nor will the blacksmith produce lucky horse-shoes. They are clearly worried, it is on their faces, and they will tell their trouble to any investigator who asks. The cats are gone. The cats that once slept contentedly on the cobbles, sunning themselves, playing with mice that never died, and occasionally bringing back something dead from the woods, which looked grotesque and would always be quickly buried by the cabbages, the cats that once graced Ulthar, disappeared. No-one is quite sure when, in that hazy way of dreams, but they surely disappeared. Days pass in Ulthar (in the way that weeks may pass in one night of dream), and there is little to do except relax (this should be a pleasant surprise for the investigators), and maybe swim in the babbling brooks that wind through blissful meadows. After six days, the cats return. Just not in the way anyone expects. They line the hills, dark and furry silhouettes against the sunlight. Forwards they march, covering the forward side of the hills that face Ulthar. Amongst them rise banners, bearing a cat's head in profile, painted on in black, against a red background. These banners are held by kin closer to Bast than the cats. These 'cats' are humanoid beings, with the bodies of humans, yet the heads of cats. Twenty score of these beings ride at the front of the army, with Bast at their head. They wait upon the hill for three hours before they send a messenger forth, one of the kin of Bast, riding upon a black stallion. The kin rides into Ulthar, pausing in the town square, before reading from a scroll. 'The time for subservience is over. No longer shall cats be held prisoner by the humans who kill the Earth. No longer shall the humans be allowed to torture each other and themselves, no longer will their evil be suffered. There shall be no more hate, no more rape, no murder, no theft, no flames, no church. Those humans allowed to live shall be the pure, and the slaves of Bast's children, who shall rule the Earth as was their birthright. We, the children of Bast, declare war upon the humans, and upon all who would side with them.' The kin then rides out of town. If anyone moves to stop her, they will be cut down by the short sword she carries at her side. An hour later, and there is movement across the ranks of the cats. They surge forward, down the hill, across the beautiful meadows, and into the town of Ulthar. Riding at the front are the cat-kin upon their black horses, swinging swords, or impaling villagers upon spears. Bast rides at their front, leaping from her horse to grapple with the head of the village as he draws his sword. Describe this scene as chaotically as possible, so that the investigators are not entirely sure of what is going on, or of who has survived the attack. A cat-kin wielding a spear charges down the investigators, reaching them quickly, and as the spear-head plunges towards their heart, everything blurs, and the characters awaken. Witnessing this scene will have shaken the nerves of the investigators, for deep within them, they recognize some significance in the dream. Thus, upon waking, ask them to roll a sanity check for the loss of 0/1d2 sanity points. If the investigators own cats, mention how peacefully the cat sleeps in its accustomed place, its tail twitching slightly. If an investigator tries to get too close to his/her cat, its eyes will snap open, and the cat will glare balefully at the owner. Try to role-play the mundanity of everyday life, in order to contrast with that which will come ahead. Occasionally throw in a flash-back of some villager being leapt upon and borne down by cats when the investigator goes for a morning stroll and sees a kitten at sleep upon a sunny wall. If any investigator goes back to their bed, they will see that part of the bed clothes are torn, and that an ornate spear head, broken from it's shaft, lies half-tucked under a pillow. Ask the investigator to make an Idea roll, to recognize that the spear head was present in the dream, plunging towards the investigator. Of course, most players will have worked this out already, so you may not wish to bother with the roll. The realization of this will provoke a mild shock, costing 0/1 sanity points. (this is only the mild terror of suspicion, not yet the gut wrenching horror of presence). (cont.) --