From: "John & Christy Thompson" To: Subject: [The Chaosium digest] Chaosium Digest v37.09 Date: Thursday, June 12, 2003 8:45 PM Chaosium Digest Volume 37, Number 09 Date: Thursday, June 12, 2003 Number: 1 of 2 Contents: * North Carolina, 1757 (CTHULHU) by Mervyn Boyd jack@ktana.freeserve.co.uk Editor's Note: Sorry about the dearth of issues recently. General chaos at home has kept me from putting the Digest together until now. This issue features numerous announcements and a nice Call of Cthulhu adventure by Mervyn Boyd. Remember that July's the deadline for submissions to qualify for this quarter's Chaosium Contest. Speaking of July, Gen Con is here in Indianapolis this July. Christy and I will definitely be haunting the dealers' room. Feel free to say hi if you spot us. Keep those submissions coming and Enjoy! ANNOUNCEMENTS: * The R'lyeh Report Volume 7, Number 4 May 16, 2003 Transmitted by the Leng Embassy, Silverton Colorado. Howdy Folks! Welcome to the May issue of our R'lyeh Report, featuring the latest news on things Chaosium. Our newest release, Edward Berglund's Disciples of Cthulhu 2 shipped to distributors on May 8th. You should be able to find this book in many local shops by May 23rd. Disciples of Cthulhu 2 Includes 13 works of fiction, most of them new, based upon the beloved Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. This book is yet another addition to our ever expanding Call of Cthulhu fiction series. We hope you enjoy it! Our next release will be The White People and other Tales: The Best Weird Tales of Arthur Machen Volume 2. Edited by S.T. Joshi. This book follows up on the success of The Three Impostors and other Stories (sold out!). The White People and other Tales is currently at the printer and is expected to release either late May or early June. The next three books to release will be H.P. Lovecraft's Kingsport (COC & COC d20), Secrets of Japan (COC modern day), and a reprint of our Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (COC & COC Fiction). The exact order in which these titles release will depend upon how fast we get the last art bits for the new books. > The New Chaosium Catalog is Here Steadfast Cultist Matt Wiseman is hard at work within the guts of our new (and improved) online catalog. The last catalog imploded in a rather spectacular fashion after working intermittently for 2 weeks. The new catalog promises to be much, much cooler. You can view the new catalog at http://www.chaosium.com/catalog/default.php Please note that we are still working on the catalog site. One of our top priorities is to get our United States Postal Service module working so that we can provide you with cheaper shipping options with the USA and especially over seas. We anticipate being able to ship with US mail within a week, perhaps sooner. > Summer Convention Game Masters Needed We're looking for some GM's to run events for us at Origins and Gen Con. If you'll be attending and have some time to spare, drop us a line! (mailto:dustin@chaosium.com) Here's the events we need to cover: Origins: Call of Cthulhu demos: Friday 6pm, Saturday 10 am, Saturday 6pm Origins: Arkham Horror Demos: Thursday 1:00 PM Friday 1:00 PM Saturday 1:00 PM Origins: Unscheduled Cthulhu Demos: Event times dependent upon GM availability. Gen Con:Arkham Horror demos: Thursday 12:30 PM Saturday 7PM We'll be providing copies of Arkham Horror at each show for demo use. Previous experience playing our first edition of Arkham Horror is required. Volunteer GM's get invited to our annual Pizza Gatherings and get some Chaosium swag as well. Thanks for your continued support everyone! Charlie, David, Dustin, Fergie & Lynn. The Chaosium Dudes New Release: Disciples of Cthulhu II Blasphemous Tales of the Followers Horror Anthology CHA 6033 $13.95 240 pages ISBN 1-56882-143-3 Trade Paperback 5.25 X 8.5 inches Call of Cthulhu Fiction Edited and Introduced by Edward P. Berglund For February 2002 Release Bad things tend happen to people who go where they are not wanted, or who over-stay their welcome once they reach their destination. This book contains thirteen personal explorations of the Cthulhu Mythos. As its title suggests, this is a companion volume to Edward P. Berglund's earlier classic Mythos collection, _The Disciples of Cthulhu_. Both books are published by Chaosium, but their contents are entirely different. 12 of the stories in _Cthulhu II_ are original and have never been published before. All the stories record the dire fates of people whose destinies intertwine with the Mythos. This book is part of an expanding collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction and related topics. Call of Cthulhu fiction focuses on single entities, concepts, or authors significant to readers and fans of H.P. Lovecraft. Sales Points: Long awaited by Call of Cthulhu players and weird Fiction readers alike. Cross over sales with Call of Cthulhu RPG. Includes 12 new works of fiction based upon the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. Part of our ever expanding Call of Cthulhu fiction series. Contents Editor's Preface -- Edward P. Berglund The Bookseller's Second Wife -- Walter C. DeBill, Jr. Eldritch -- Brad Linaweaver and Fred Olen Ray The Web -- Gary Myers Passing Through -- Robert Weinberg The Idol -- Scott David Aniolowski (Previously published in Tales Out of Innsmouth) Time in the Hourless House -- A. A. Attanasio Special Order -- Henry Lee Forrest Lujan's Trunk -- Donald R. Burleson The San Francisco Treat -- C. J. Henderson Acute Spiritual Fear -- Robert M. Price The Eldridge Collection -- Will Murray An Arkham Home Companion -- Brad Strickland The Last Temptation of Ricky Perez -- Benjamin Adams Late May or Early June Release The White People & Other Tales The Best Weird Tales of Arthur Machen Volume 2 by Arthur Machen Edited by S.T. Joshi CHA 6035 $14.95 312 Pages Trade Paperback OLD ISBN 1-56882-147-6 NEW ISBN 1-56882-172-7 Call of Cthulhu Fiction Series. Born in Wales in 1863, Machen was a London journalist for much of his life.Among his fiction, he may be best known for the allusive, haunting title story of this book, "The White People", which H.P. Lovecraft thought to be the second greatest horror story ever written (after Blackwood's "The Willows"). This wide ranging collection also includes the crystalline novelette "A Fragment of Life", "The Angel of Mons", (a story so widely reported that it was imagined true by millions in the grim initial days of the Great War), and "The Great Return", telling of the stately visions which graced the Welsh village of Llantristant for a time. Four more tales and the poetical "Ornaments in Jade" are all finely told. This is the second Machen volume edited by S. T. Joshi and published by Chaosium. The first volume was The Three Impostors. This book is part of an expanding collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction and related topics. Call of Cthulhu fiction focuses on single entities, concepts, or authors significant to readers and fans of H.P. Lovecraft. For more information contact Dustin Wright mailto:dustin@frontier.net -- Dustin Wright- Chaosium Colorado "Leng Embassy" /|\_(@jjjj@)_/|\ http://www.chaosium.com 27 Years of Quality Mayhem and still counting Support your local game shop! * Greetings to the Tribe! I apologize for the uncharacteristic silence and delays, but we have been hard at work moving the Issaries office, dealing with our new business arrangement with Steve Jackson Games, and (most of all) getting HeroQuest ready for its release this summer. (For more information on some of the above, see the Glorantha Reborn article from Game Trade Magazine at http://www.alliance-games.com/gametrademagazine/PDFs/GTM_39_PDFS/GloranthaReborn.pdf) Gloranthan Times are coming! In the meantime, we wanted to share the results of our most recent contest with you. There were some problems with the polling (which has led our webmaster, Nils Weinander, to upgrade the relevant utility on the site), but from start to finish one title was the clear favorite. We wanted to see what you, the Tribe, thought of the submissions. And you spoke in great numbers! We do want to thank the almost 40 people who sent in over 100 suggested titles. After looking at all of them, we selected MASTERS OF LUCK AND DEATH as the title for this first book in the Hero Bands series. It has the benefit of sounding interesting to newcomers while still having a lot of meaning for older fans. Masters of Luck and Death was suggested in-house, and did not come from one of the submissions, none of which felt right for this book. We are sorry that we cannot award the prize for this contest to anyone. But we are keeping some of the suggestions for future use. So if you submitted a title, keep your contact information current! On a related note, we want to announce that we have also changed the title of Kerofinela to the more approachable Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder. We feel that Dragon Pass has a nostalgic value in the gaming community that will make it more recognizable than Kerofinela. Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder is scheduled for an October 2003 release. Masters of Luck and Death: Hero Bands, Volume 1 is scheduled for a December 2003 release. Cheers, Stephen Stephen Martin Issaries, Inc., publisher of HeroQuest, Roleplaying in Glorantha P.O. Box 272914 Concord, CA 94527 Phone: (925) 680-8897 See our extensive web site at * ISSARIES, INC. PRESS RELEASE Concord, CA May 29, 2003 Issaries, Inc. today announced that Steve Jackson Games' online store, Warehouse 23, will be the exclusive source of a limited edition hardcover of HeroQuest, their new roleplaying game. The special edition will be part of SJ Games' line of signed, limited edition hardcover titles. The HeroQuest Limited Edition Hardcover will include the same content as the regular softcover version, but with a custom binding, exclusive blessing, and extra features that include: glossy, heavy-weight paper bound-in satin bookmark an original signature by Greg Stafford customer-selected rune printed on the front cover This special edition is priced at $100, and will only be printed to pre-order. Preorders will be accepted until June 14, and then the books will be printed. Glorantha has long been known for its use of runes, and HeroQuest continues this tradition, with lavish use of runes throughout the new rules. In keeping with that tradition, each copy of the limited edition hardcover will have a rune of the customer's choice printed on the cover. More than 400 runes are available, some of them never before revealed to the public. The HeroQuest Rune PDF contains the names, images, and meanings of each of the runes. Both the softcover and limited edition hardcover of HeroQuest have an expected ship date of July 14. The game uses Robin D. Laws' innovative core rules from Hero Wars, but have been completely streamlined and rewritten, newly and fully edited to ensure that they are clear, complete and correct.. New artwork and rules examples illustrate the game and the world of Glorantha. The layout, contents, and presentation encourage players to discover the world of Glorantha through play, not by reading several books. Only the information in this core rules book is required, but deeper exploration is encouraged online and in our supplements. This is a Limited Edition offer - preorders will only be accepted until June 14! Order Now! HeroQuest Limited Edition Hardcover Stock #ISS1001H Price: $100.00 288 pages, standard format Available from Warehouse 23 through June 14, 2003 Stephen Martin Issaries, Inc., publisher of HeroQuest, Roleplaying in Glorantha P.O. Box 272914 Concord, CA 94527 Phone: (925) 680-8897 See our extensive web site at _______________________________________________ Issaries-press mailing list Issaries-press@rpglist.org http://www.rpglist.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/issaries-press * Hello All, I just wanted to add a quick note to yesterday's announcement of the Limited Edition Hardcover of HeroQuest available by pre-order through June 14th. One observer emailed asking about the cost of shipping, rightly concerned that it would be higher for overseas shipping of the book than it would be for domestic orders. Here is what Warehouse 23 told me when I asked about this: >In the US and to Canada, standard shipping is free. Everywhere else in the >world, it's only $10.66 with an average delivery time of one week. We use a >private mail service that is faster, cheaper, and more reliable than >standard postal shipping. Because many places base the shipping charge on >item price (instead of weight), the fan in question is probably expecting a >much higher shipping charge. So, while shipping will be a factor for overseas orders, we hope that it will not be a barrier to orders by our many fans overseas who might be interested in the limited edition. I also had one member ask whether the hardcover will be glued or sewn. We actually cannot answer that question right now, but I have been told it will probably be sewn for such a small print run. I should know for certain sometime next week. If you have any other questions about the limited edition, please don't hesitate to contact me. Cheers, Stephen Stephen Martin Issaries, Inc., publisher of HeroQuest, Roleplaying in Glorantha P.O. Box 272914 Concord, CA 94527 Phone: (925) 680-8897 See our extensive web site at * ISSARIES, INC. PRESS RELEASE Concord, CA June 9, 2003 HeroQuest Voices A Game Aid For HeroQuest The rich cultural backdrop of the world of Glorantha has always been one of its greatest strengths, keeping gamers fascinated for over twenty-five years. One of the many ways in which this was explored in the former RuneQuest game was through short narratives detailing "What My Father Told Me" and "What the Priest Says" for major cultures and races. Pithy, often witty, and always insightful, these narratives were a popular feature of the game and were a quick and easy way to introduce new players to peoples and beliefs of this game world. Now Glorantha is being brought to a new generation of players with the impending release of HeroQuest. To accompany the launch, Issaries, Inc., is bringing out a range of game aids. The most substantial of these is HeroQuest Voices, a free PDF book containing introductory narratives for all ten homelands described in the rules, as well as for seven other peoples and races. This 64-page book will be laid out using the same format and double-page spreads as HeroQuest and other recent releases from Issaries, Inc. Although some of these narratives have appeared before, they have been updated to reflect development of the world over the last fifteen years. Additionally, project coordinator Nick Brooke has assembled many new pieces written by some of the key Gloranthan authors, including Greg Stafford, David Dunham (co-creator of the King of Dragon Pass computer game), and Mark Galeotti. They are accompanied by more than two dozen illustrations from Gloranthan artists old and new. For more information, see . The homelands given voice in HeroQuest Voices are the nomadic Bison People, noble Dara Happans, matriarchal Esrolians, optimistic Esvulari, haughty Grazers, rebellious Heortlings, wandering Puma People, chivalrous Seshnegi, proud Tarshites, and easy-going Teshnans. There are also three exotic human cultures (the inscrutable Kralori from the far east, primitive Rathori bear-people from the northwest, and shamanic Doraddi from the southern continent), as well as four non-human races: the mechanistic Dwarves, vegetable Elves, fatalistic Ludoch mermen, and hungry Trolls. HeroQuest Voices will be a free book in PDF format, available for download from the Issaries website , Warehouse 23 , and other on-line sources, to coincide with the release of HeroQuest, the new game of mythic roleplaying in Glorantha. HeroQuest Voices ISS 3001 Price: Free! Available: July 2003 Stephen Martin Issaries, Inc., publisher of HeroQuest, Roleplaying in Glorantha P.O. Box 272914 Concord, CA 94527 Phone: (925) 680-8897 See our extensive web site at _______________________________________________ Issaries-press mailing list Issaries-press@rpglist.org http://www.rpglist.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/issaries-press * Greetings to the Tribe! We are pleased with the excitement that the limited edition of HeroQuest, Roleplaying in Glorantha, has created among Glorantha fans. But time is running out on your chance to put the rune of your choice on this unique book. If you have been thinking about purchasing one of these limited editions signed by Greg Stafford, you only have a few days left. See the HeroQuest Rune PDF for a list of the names, images, and meanings of each of the runes that is available for your copy of HeroQuest. Due to technical issues, we are able to extend the original deadline. Orders for the limited edition will be accepted through Wednesday, June 18th--after that, you will never again have an opportunity to own one of these special copies of the role-playing game that has been 25 years in the making. Don't miss out on your chance! Go to Warehouse 23 or our press release for full details. HeroQuest Limited Edition Hardcover Stock #ISS1001H Price: $100.00 288 pages, standard format Available from Warehouse 23 through June 18, 2003 REGISTER YOUR COPY OF HEROQUEST! We at Issaries would like to keep track of who purchased each copy of the limited edition, but unfortunately Steve Jackson Games' and Warehouse 23's excellent privacy policy prohibits them from releasing that information to us! We therefore ask that each person who purchases a copy email us at and let us know what rune you selected. We will not make this information public, and the process is entirely voluntary. As an incentive, we are offering to give each person who registers their copy early access to HeroQuest Voices, a free PDF book that will be available soon after HeroQuest ships. Each person who registers their copy with Issaries will be provided the URL and a password to download this book before it is made available to the general public. We may make additional special offers available to this group of supporters in the future. Thanks for your support. Stephen Martin Issaries, Inc., publisher of HeroQuest, Roleplaying in Glorantha P.O. Box 272914 Concord, CA 94527 Phone: (925) 680-8897 See our extensive web site at ------------- cont. _______________________________________________ Chaos-digest mailing list Chaos-digest@chaosium.com http://www.chaosium.com/mailman/listinfo/chaos-digest