💾 Archived View for spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › rpg › caos1-10.txt captured on 2023-06-16 at 20:14:38.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: : Earth's Dreamlands : Info on: RPG's, :(313)558-5024 : area code : :RPGNet World HQ & Archive: Drugs, Industrial :(313)558-5517 : changes to : : 1000's of text files : music, Fiction, :InterNet : (810) after : : No Elite / No porn : HomeBrew Beer. :rpgnet@aol.com: Dec 1,1993 : :.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: Chaosium Digest Volume 1, Number 10 Date: Monday, March 22, 1993 Number: 1 of 3 Contents: Replies on Sanity (Matt Grossman) CALL OF CTHULHU Queries on Elric! (Anthony Ragan) ELRIC! Pendragon Fanzine (Heidi Kaye) PENDRAGON Hero List (Heidi Kaye) PENDRAGON The Siege of Castle Pennith [Part I] (Fergal Somers) PENDRAGON Editor's Notes: Sorry to take so long to get this set of digests out. My UUCP connection has had continued problems, making it hard to send mail from erzo. Hopefully, those problems should be clearing soon. Tonight's digest is in three parts, mostly consisting of a long PENDRAGON adventure, run at Gaelcon '92. Heidi Kaye, who has some articles a bit further down, asked a few questions concerning PENDRAGON. First, she wondered if anyone could explain how the battle system works, commenting that the original rules made little sense and seemed very impersonal. She went on to say that there was little sense of actual damage to opponents. Heidi said that a flow chart for a round of battle would be helpful, as would any indication of how to make battles more exciting for PCs. If anyone has any suggestions/comments/ideas on the battle system for PENDRAGON, please send them in. I've seen some of the same problems in running PENDRAGON battles (indeed, every time we run one, the rules end up somewhat changed). Heidi also mentioned that it was difficult to run a full length campaign in the pre-Arthurian period of THE BOY KING due to the lack of published adventures. She asks people to post more adventures set in the 490-531 era, in particular 490-510. Heidi is trying to set the tone of Britain as "warring kingdoms, invaded by marauding Saxons, in the dark days after Uther's death." The Siege of Castle Pennith, included in this issue as well as V1.11 and V1.12 will probably help out somewhat. If anyone else has adventures, or even just short ideas for adventures in THE BOY KING era, please send them in. That's about it for this week. Hopefully, my UUCP will have stabilized by next Sunday, so keep those submissions coming. Shannon -------------------- From: <MGROSSMAN@hamp.hampshire.edu> Subject: Sanity Rules In-reply-to: V1.9 Sanity RUles System: Call of Cthulhu Jan Engan made some good points about sanity, but I disagree with the idea that gaining sanity for killing monsters is dumb. It seems to me that it makes sense that, if what causes sanity loss upon seeing a monster is its horrifying alien-ness, then killing the monster, showing that it is, after all, just flesh and blood, should increase the character's self-confidence, and therefore their sanity. Also, characters are generally able to kill only the weakest monsters, so any sanity they gain back will be minimal compared to what they might lose upon, say, seeing Cthulhu. At any rate, I find that this works well in my campaign, where wise players soon learn that outright combat against monsters or cultists is not a good idea. Gaining back three points of sanity for killing a Deep One just isn't worth it if your leg gets ripped off or your friend killed in the process. So far, I haven't had any problems with characters becoming powerful sorcerors; in fact, I sometimes have a real problem keeping them sane and alive long enough to advance the plot! As for characters getting back sanity just by resting, this would work in some circumstances, but not in others. For example, if the characters know that while they are wandering through the peaceful hills, the stars are slowly coming into the proper conjunctions and the Atlantean High Priest Shar-Yugga is roaming the world again, their sanity will probably go down, until they do something about the threat. Generally, I prefer to maintain a very tense, harried campaign enviroment in which stuff is happening all the time and the characters have no time to rest, let alone regain sanity. The caution about characters seeking a reputable psychoanalyst is valid. In my current campaign, the characters are not seeking psychiatric help (although some of them really need it) because they do not think that an analyst would believe them. I have this image of a CoC character going to an analyst: Investigator (on couch): "...so that's when the tentacle came up through the floor and got Bob, and Doc. I just haven't been able to sleep well since then." Analyst: "Really...(picking up phone and calling nearest Mental Hospital)... come round quick...I got a live one here!" Of course, this could lead to an adventure in which the characters have to rescue their friend from the hospital, or an adventure with the committed character discovering horrible goings-on in the insane asylum. Maybe I should persuade them to see an analyst after all... Matt Grossman Hampshire College mgrossman@hamp.hampshire.edu -------------------- From: Anthony Ragan <ECZ5RAR@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU> Subject: Queries on Elric! In-reply-to: V1.8 Elric! and the Books System: Elric! I read Liam Routt's summation of the Elric magic rules with interest, even though I'll admit to being one who's skeptical of a need to do a Stormbringer revision so soon after the 4th appeared. (Or, has it been that long already?) [I don't have the exact date handy, but SB4 has been out for at least 3 years -sda] I do have a couple of questions, though, tied to demon summoning. One of the reasons I bought 4th edition at all was that I had fallen in love with the "chaos value-point" system. The design-a-demon method is a kick, and giving the player and GM a share in its creation is a piece of perverse genius. Is this method going to remain for those few PC sorcerors the new system will allow? I certainly hope so. I'm also concerned about the previously-released supplements for 4th edition Stormbringer. Several of them were of quite high quality and I would hate to think that they will become obsolete upon the publication of Elric (not to mention the money I spent on them). If anyone at Chaosium reads this newsletter, please (!) include some conversion notes. --Anthony ecz5rar@mvs.oac.ucla.edu -------------------- From: Heidi Kaye Subject: Pendragon Fanzine System: Pendragon Gareth Jones is starting a Pendragon zine called BEAUMAINS. Copies are #1.75 and his address is: 69 Atherley Road Shirley Southampton Hampshire SO1 5DT I am sure he would welcome contributions of articles and artwork. -------------------- From: Heidi Kaye Subject: Hero List System: Pendragon List of Pendragon characters' birth and death dates Agravaine -563 Arthur 493-565 Balin 482-515 Elaine -562 Galahad 535-557 Gareth -563 Gawaine 495-564 Griflet 491- Gwenever 497-573 Kay 488-564 Lamorak 494-552 Lancelot 508-573 Lot 470-513 Margawse 487-545 Marhaus 481-529 Merlin 454-522 Mordred 512-565 Morgan le Fay 484- Pellinore 475-522 Sagremor 482- Tristram 501-559 Yvaine 500- -------------------- From: fergal somers <ftsomers@cs.tcd.ie> Subject: The Siege of Castle Pennith [Part I : Background] System: Pendragon Here's the first Pendragon event held at Gaelcon, Ireland's national games convention. It was intended to give new players (about a handful of people in the country had seen the system) an introduction, so the plot is quite linear - the characters are nice though. It was meant to last about three hours. Fergal -- The Siege Of Castle Pennith A Pendragon Event for Gaelcon'92 Copyright Fergal Somers July 1992 Notes I've included relevant rolls where necessary. Feel free to ignore or substitute other rolls as you see fit. This adventure is non-standard for two reasons: (a) it is set before Arthur becomes king, in the dark anarchist times of Saxon raids (b) since it is set before Arthur, the chivalric ideal is not widespread. This adventure is supposed to be dark in style. Britain has fallen into warring factions, saxons are invading and peasants are mistreated. These are the grim and nasty dark ages where power is everything. Mysterious ground fog, unholy dark woods and that sort of thing should set the tone of the adventure, essentially the opposite of the bright coloured tents and pavilions, shining knights and chivalric courtesy that will characterise the reign of Arthur. In addition, the characters are not evenly designed. Good roleplaying opportunities exist between the characters Ieuan and Domicus. Rivalry also exists between Gwair and Robert; Amig and Peter are there to prohibit the party from dividing into factions. Honourable Mentions Pendragon is not a competition game, it is a roleplaying game, thus there are no winners or losers. There will however be honourable mentions for players whose actions during the course of the adventure are memorable. One method of gauging this is the number of traits and passions experience checks. So, during this scenario, we relax the rules on traits and passions. Whenever a character acts spontaneously, tick the relevant guiding trait/passion. These will provide a basis from which to discuss who deserves honourable mentions. Characters: Sir Amig Young knight of Silchester Sir Robert Veteran knight of Silchester Sir Gwair Veteran knight/courtier of Silchester Sir Domicus Exile in service at Windsor Sir Peter Knight of Windsor Sir Ieuan Exile knight errant Background King Uther Pendragon, sick and tethered to his horse, finally defeated the Saxon invaders at the terrible battle of St. Albans; but he's dead now, poisoned some say, and Britain's shores once again are prey to Saxon raids. The country cries out for a King, but no heir comes to claim the throne. Portsmouth was the first to fall, then the Saxon Cedric took all of Wessex. Some say that all of Salisbury will soon fall also. Duke Ulfius, Uther's old friend and advisor rallies men around him to battle the Saxon horde. Knights arrive at Silchester daily to swell the ranks, but never enough; many lords, lacking a King to guide them, look to their own affairs and their own lands. These are bad times for Englishmen: land squabbles set knight against knight, lord against lord; Saxon raiders advance ever inward; and strange tales are heard of terrible faerie powers of Saxon raiders in the South. Character Summaries Sir Domicus and Sir Peter of Windsor have been ordered to offer their aid to Duke Ulfius, by their Lord, Sir Herringdale (a loyal supporter of the Duke). Sir Domicus is an exile, his homeland having been overrun by Saxons. He passionately hates Saxons and sees this as a trip as a possible means to reap revenge. Sir Peter is obsessed with chivalric purity and morality, but his intentions are better than his practice of it. They are joined by Sir Amig, Sir Robert and Sir Gwair all household knights of Duke Ulfius who are being sent to Castle Pennith as reinforcements against expected raids on this clifftop stronghold. Sir Peter and Sir Domicus and have been asked to accompany them. Sir Robert is a veteran old knight who lives somewhat in the past and sees his role as keeping the others in line. Sir Amig is young and recently knighted. He has overdosed on folktales of knightly derring-do, something which is far removed from the gritty reality of an England falling apart. Sir Gwair is the typical court advisor, slimy and underhand with an overriding sense of self-preservation. They are also joined by Sir Ieuan, a knight errant who took-up Duke Ulfius' call to battle, but who tires of the waiting and planning at Silchester and wishes for adventure. Sir Ieuan was kidnapped and brought up as a Saxon until he was allowed to search for his real parents. Though he found his family, he was never fully accepted by them and now works essentially as a mercenary knight, with no particular sentiments or deeply held loyalties. -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is a Discussion Forum for Chaosium Games which do not have another specific area for discussion. To submit an article, mail to: appel@erzo.berkeley.edu