From: "John & Christine Thompson" To: Subject: Chaosium Digest v35.02 Date: Saturday, November 10, 2001 11:19 PM Chaosium Digest Volume 35, Number 03 Date: Saturday, November 10, 2001 Number: 2 of 2 * [OFFICIAL SHAMELESS PLUG BEGINS] - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- When playing MYTHOS CCG (tm), Has THIS ever happened to you?: - ------------------------------ A darkened figure approaches the window, breathing menace (and GLOWING too!) "Ruh Roh, Raggy????? Rut's Rat????" "Zoinks! Like RUN, Scoob!" Meanwhile, a bespectacled Meddling Ally finds something of extreme importance to the scene above.... "Jinkies! This looks like a clue!!!" And in yet another portion of the Abandoned House, where two more meddlers are secluded away.... "Jeepers, Freddy..." "Looks like this Mystery is getting even MORE Mysterious by the Minute!!" - --------------------------- What's the fuss all about, you ask? Why not visit "Cthulhu, Where are You?:The Scooby Doo Expansion Set" at http://www.inzenity.com/sdmythos/ right now and find out for yourself? That's right! At LONG LAST, Set 3 of the expansion is available for your enjoyment A Whopping 163 cards to date, now including 11 Adventures! If you don't think you would normally check it out, would you do it for a Scooby Snack??? It's +1 Sanity.... Send any comments to scooby@inzenity.com - ------------------------------------ [OFFICIAL SHAMELESS PLUG ENDS] [disclaimer- this is NOT an official Chaosium product! Permission was granted for use of card borders, however.] Philip C. Robinson bedlam@inzenity.org * From Chaosium ** RUMORS & NEWS ** 20th Anniversary Edition Nearly Sold Out. Our greatly anticipated 20th Anniversary Edition of Call of Cthulhu (Cha 2399 $79.95) has been selling quicker than 25 cent kittens at a Zoog Family reunion. We still have a few of the books set aside for web sales, but the books are very nearly gone. For more info check out: http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/rpg/2399.shtml Chaosium Boo Boo Books now online! We're making a variety of out of print books available to you via our web page. These boo boo books are slightly scuffed, bent, or otherwise show minor cosmetic blemishes from sitting on shelves, being shipped back and forth across the county etc. You can view our boo boo offerings at http://www.chaosium.com/chaosium/booboo.shtml Gen Con & Origins 2002 While it may seem way to early to even contemplate your July and August 2002 plans, Chaosium will soon be filling out paperwork for Origins and Gen Con events. So if you plan to attend either convention next summer and would like to run Chaosium events, let me know! mailto:dustin@chaosium.com Chaosium Release Schedule through FEB 2002. We have several D20 books, and a Stormbringer Adventure lined up as well. But we won't announce them until we have complete manuscripts and art in house. We should have more details for you in next month's report. Meanwhile, keep an eye on our webpage! 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Chaosium Inc Worlds of the Eternal Champion: A New World for the d20 System CHA 2017 Dragon Lords of Melnibone D20 worldbook $23.95 Stormbringer 5th edition Michael Moorcock's Dark Fantasy RPG CHA 2115 Stormbringer 5th Edition DARK FANTASY RPG $29.95 CHA 2902 Elric Gamemaster's Screen $14.95 1-56882-011-9 CHA 2903 Fate of Fools $10.95 1-56882-024-0 CHA 2905 Atlas of the Young Kingdoms $19.95 1-56882-021-6 CHA 2906 Sailing on the Seas of Fate. $12.95 1-56882-022-4 CHA 2907 The Unknown East... $16.95 1-56882-032-1 CHA 2111 Rogue Mistress... $18.95 0-933635-73-7 CHA 2112 Sorcerers of Pan Tang $18.95 0-933635-79-6 CHA 2113 Perils of the Young Kingdoms $18.95 0-933635-82-6 Chaosium Inc: Mythos: Lovecraftian Card Game CHA 1301 Expeditions of M.U. Booster Display $106.20 CHA 1302 Cthulhu Rising Booster Display $106.20 CHA 1303 Legends of the Necronomicon Booster Display $106.20 CHA 1304 The Art of Playing Mythos $8.95 CHA 1305 Investigator Card Set $5.00 CHA 1307 Dreamlands Starter Display $89.95 -------------------------- Review: A Resection of Time (Call of Cthulhu) This article reviews the Call of Cthulhu adventure 'A Resection of Time'. It is intended to support other keepers during preparation of this mini-campaign, and also to advertise this nice campaign a bit (the summary at the beginning will help you understand the rest of this article). Short Summary of this Adventure 'A Resection of Time' is a mini-campaign placed in the nineties. All investigators studied archaeology and went to the Hughbanks expedition in 1994. At Belize, the expedition found the unknown ruins of El Cacao owned by Mi-Go. The Mi-Go and a local cult attacked the expedition. Many died, the rest were captured and their brains were altered: no-one remembers the Mi-Go, all believe in a drug dealer raid. Memories quickly faded away. Only one member of the expedition, Woodson made his career in the archaeology field. On one of his investigations for a new book, he came back to El Cacao and regained his true memories. He started a broader investigation at the end of which he is doomed but manages to involve the investigators. Investigators are hired by an eccentric millionaire (Schwartz) who is leading a archaeological organization, located at San Francisco. They are asked to follow up on a missing person (Woodson). Some of the investigators remember him from their archaeology student times when they all went to an excavation in Belize (Hughbanks expedition), few years ago. Woodson was killed in a car accident, but the blood indicates it wasn't him. Woodson had a house in S.F. but was traveling for most of the time for the AFAR. Lately, he worked on his new book. Before anything could be done, Woodson was cremated and all documents vanished from the hospital. A failed break-in into Woodson's house was enough to indicate a bigger conspiracy. Schwartz as well as the police trigger serious investigations. When the investigators check Woodson's house, the robber again tries to break-in to retrieve Woodson's papers about the Cthulhu Mythos. It is assumed that investigators catch the robber who dies for unknown reasons. The forensic pathology expert finds out that the robber died of a brain embolism The brain also seems to be too big for this skull and some strange interface tissue connects the brain with the nerves. The recovered papers contain three trails: The first leads to the Sanbourne Institute for Pacific Studies, located near L.A. The Institute suffered a lot under its mythos items since its creation a hundred years ago. Woodson's interest were the Zanthu tablets once stored there, which later disappeared during a fire attack. Still the Institute owns paper copies and translations which the investigators are also allowed to see. Shortly, the Brotherhood of Light, a 'good' mythos force is getting foot within the Institute. The Brotherhood follows the Mi-Go and destroys them. They hope to find new trails here. They sense the Mi-Go alterations of the investigators' brains and are glad to trail them from now on. Second lead brings the investigators to Arkham, where Woodson spent many months in the restricted books section of the Miskatonic Library. The Mi-Go are now aware of the investigations, and will arrange a meeting with a fake Woodson. The Brotherhood steps in quickly and a high-tech weapon fight begins. Investigators fall unconscious, only to wake up later and find a warning written on the bathroom mirror. The third lead from Woodson's papers directly leads back to Belize, to the infamous El Cacao. At Belize, the investigators are captured by degenerated cultists who are skilled in playing the good guys. This is the beginning of the climax. The investigators try to escape, a hunt through the rain-forests begins. The Mi-Go show up and will try to catch investigators. At this point the first full memory recoveries happen, reducing investigators' sanity further. Unconsciously the investigators flee back directly to El Cacao. There they enter into a Mi-Go station through a gate, and find out the fate of Woodson: his brain has been removed and is now kept within a jar. His body was filled with another brain and was sent back to S.F. He talks bitterly to the investigators before the Mi-Go show up again. A deadly chase into the breeding ground of the Mi-Go starts. Only lucky investigators will get away. Cruelty to leave behind fellow investigators for sure helps, though sanity suffers anyway. Strong Points The campaign contains some very intriguing ideas: 1. Investigators themselves have been involved into the Mi-Go attack on the Hughbanks expedition. Though not all of them remember. Nightmares start indicating that; the brain transplantation of the robber adds to fears. Investigators will have growing doubts about their own brains, and past. Whom of their fellow investigators can they trust? It fits very well to Lovecraft's stories, where the narrator begins to follow a mythos trail and slowly recognizes his own involvement in the case which leads to his doom. 2. Many excellent hand-outs that provide a lot of 'real' Cthulhu Mythos; normally it is hard to find written hand-outs about mythos topics. Most scenarios just have a summary for the keeper about the topics, so here we really enjoyed the texts. In addition, many drawings and Mayan hieroglyphs add to the flair. If your players know some Lovecraft stories they will certainly like the hand-outs. 3. Investigators are quickly drawn into action. My investigators were surprised on how much they already learned on the first game session (which ended with the report from the doctor checking the body of the dead robber). Main Criticism from Players 1. There is a stronger 'good' force following the players and solving the problems (the Brotherhood of Light). It was unsatisfying for the players, to realize that someone else actually destroys the Mi-Go hidings, and wins the battle. The question arises, why did the investigators go into the hell of El Cacao at all? See next section for answer. 2. The investigations of Woodson point to the Deep Ones, while actually Mi-Go stand behind the plot. To my players it seemed to be a trial to put two different plots together, thus making the adventure look overloaded. True, here some different mythos leads come together (the Maya have the Deep Ones as origin and their gods, but also the Mi-Go are involved as their gods). No way to change this fact, as the whole adventure builds on it. I think this issue doesn't reduce the overall fun of the adventure, so it doesn't really matter. Weak Points 1. The Brotherhood of Light: it makes life for the investigators too easy. It is by far better if they are responsible for solving the mystery instead of having someone trail them and handle the problems. I suggest removing them completely from game play. Then investigators have to handle themselves the following scenes: the false Woodson at their hotel room; breaking free from the Mnemonite village; escaping from El Cacao. 2. Schwartz is a member of the Brotherhood, he displays his 'ring' at the final scene. If that would be the case, why are the investigators followed only after asking too many questions at the Sunbourne Institute in L.A., why not immediately, or why at all (Schwartz could forward the investigators reports)? Or was Schwartz converted/replaced by the Brotherhood? Well, I suggest to remove this detail. 3. The investigators might wonder, why all of them (e.g. also the ones who could not remember the Hughbanks expedition) were asked to join the AFAR team - the chance that they are involved by accident is too small and not sufficient. Schwartz can tell them that Woodson asked him to contact these investigators for help shortly before he came back to S.F. (at that point in time, Woodson had regained his complete memories). Details on some Scenes Some ideas how to make more fun out of some scenes: 1. San Francisco: if investigators are smart, they can win Detective Rolston's trust - why not. In most scenarios, it is hard to win the trust of the police, so here you can surprise your investigators, and even make them suspicious ('isn't that a little bit too easy?'). 2. Sunbourne Institute: as explained above, I recommend not using the Brotherhood of Light at all. Still you can keep the Institute as a place to be checked out by the investigators. 3. At Belize, if investigators don't go to the PFB camp directly, but first to Orange town, that is ok. They will be captured the following day by Anderson and his fellows. 4. Christian Anderson: make sure that your investigators really DO trust him - their surprise will be even greater soon! How? Anderson is smart and will play his role well. First he appears very cautious, shotgun aimed at them. Later he will let the shotgun down and ask for excuse for threatening them. This seems to be a good guy, after all. At the village let him be open to them and warn them about some neighbours. Piece by piece your investigators will get rid of their protection: first the car with most of the weapons, then the backpacks and jackets (they don't eat dinner with gun at hand, do they?). Fleeing will be somewhat tricky, but if they are smart and lucky, they can break out through the back of the hut. The small window only lets the smallest investigator through. The rest follows later. The party probably is split. 5. Escaping from the Mnemonite village: don't let the escape through the woods last for too long (except you have some good scenes in mind). Otherwise it gets too boring quickly (e.g. avoid random encounters) 6. Station: investigators should not be able to flee back to El Cacao. Let the Mi-Go chase them to Xibalba. If some wounded investigators have to stay back, it will add a lot of drama. Or maybe, the freezer-weapon of the Mi-Go attached someone to a wall? Do the other investigators risk their own lives for their fellows? Let them make rolls on the resistance table, STR versus SIZ if they try to help. If some investigators run and leave their friend behind, they will remember his fate for the rest of their lives. 7. Xibalba: an unlucky investigator will step into one of the black Mi-Go cadavers and awaken all of the larvae. This will add some time pressure and chase the investigators out of the breeding hall. Maybe too many try to climb up the roots at a time (evil grin)? Players' and Investigators' Motivation During the adventure you should make sure that the players motivation (why do they risk the lives of their investigators) slowly changes, the focus moving more and more to the investigators themselves. This adds tension and adds a lot of fun (for the players, not for the investigators of course): 1. Uncover Woodson's fate. This is the starting point, mainly an external motivation, coming from Schwartz/AFAR. 2. Uncover what Woodson found out and what other parties are being actively(!) involved. This starts with the robber at Woodson's house, then being trailed in L.A, then the attack of the false Woodson at a hotel. 3. Find out about their own past; this motivation will arise later, when understanding and nightmares increase. It has to grow that strong, that in the final, investigators WANT to go to El Cacao (again) and find out about their past. Timeline of Woodson's Actions 1994, late summer: Hughbanks expedition, University of Pennsylvania; Woodson and the investigators all participate and meet their fate in the Mi-Go 1995: Woodson starts career at AFAR, writes books on Maya 1997, January: Woodson investigates the Zanthu Tables, arrives at Sunbourne Institute; Brotherhood of Light trails him 1997. 5.February: Woodson flies to Arkham, Miskatonic Hotel. Reads mythos tomes at Miskatonic University, stays for 4 months 1997, 2.June: Woodson back to Belize and finds El Cacao and his lost memories; he calls Schwartz and speaks of 'extra-terrestrials' 1997, 12.June: Woodson sends fax to AFAR that he would soon return home. He also asks Schwartz to contact the investigators for help (see comments above). 1997, 14.June: Woodson is captured in Belize by Mi-Go agents and brought to the Mi-Go Station. There, his brain is removed and a replacement body is prepared. 1997, 16.June: The Mi-Go-Woodson arrives at S.F. airport and hit by car 1997, 16.June: The Mi-Go-Woodson dies in hospital; his body and documents are removed; -- To unsubscribe from the chaos-digest ML, send an "unsubscribe" command to chaos-digest-request@chaosium.com. Chaosium Inc., Call of Cthulhu, and Nephilim are Registered Trademarks of Chaosium Inc. Elric! and Pendragon are Trademarks of Chaosium Inc. All articles remain copyright their original authors unless otherwise noted.