Chaosium Digest Volume 13, Number 6 Date: Sunday, March 11, 1996 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: Full Auto (Eamon Honan) CALL OF CTHULHU New Alchemy Spells (Rick Festa) NEPHILIM Editor's Note: This week, more Nephilim and more Cthulhu. Though some of Syncline's new Alchemy Spells originally appeared over on the Nephilim ML, there are two new ones as well, so make sure you take a look even if they seem familiar at first. Next week, I've already got a article on a CoC artifact lined up, but keep those contributions coming in! Not unexpectedly, last week's Ghostbusters article drew some responses. Eamon Honan said that there is a retrospective of Ghostbusters in Arcanum #4. It's a British magazine, but it is carried in some US (and other) game stores; it's well worth looking at. Jesse Liwag (jesse@tridel.com.ph) said in commentary: "I have always prodded my RPG group to try and use GB mechanics and PCs in a CoC 1990s campaign... It all fits well, especially, if anyone can remember that wonderful Cthulhu episode of the cartoon GB. Using GB makes gaming simple and allows more room for storytelling, particularly because of the very basic stats of GB chars, along with their goals in being GBs. Of course there will be some adjusting to do, but hey, who doesn't want to have a proton pack handy when some ghouls come prancing arounnd the corner? Zzzap! Has anyone done this out there?" Articles on using the GB system to run Mythos-style games would be quite welcome. That's about it for this week, but let me in closing making two requests: Elric! Pendragon! Neither of these games have graced the Digest yet this year, and I would love to see some submissions on them. Shannon NEW (FRENCH) RELEASES * Elric! - The Elric! gamemaster screen, which includes a 16 page scenerio, has now been published by Oriflam. RECENT SIGHTINGS * Call of Cthulhu - "The Sultan's Treasure", an eight page standalone adventure centering around the machinations of the Deep Ones, Adventures Unlimited #5 [Spring, 1996] * Pendragon - "Adventure of the Knight Sinister", a two page encounter involving the forces of Fay, Adventures Unlimited #5 [Spring, 1996] RECENT (FRENCH) SIGHTINGS * Call of Cthulhu - "La Memoire du Monde", a four page scenerio, Casus Belli #92 [March, 1996] * Hawkmoon - "Les Fils de l'Apocalypse", a four page scenerio, Casus Belli #92 [March, 1996] NEW ELECTRONIC RESOURCES Glorantha-Con V Homepage http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha/con5/gcon5.htm You can now visit the official homepage of Glorantha-Con V, which is to be held in Victoria, BC, in the summer of 1997. The sequel to RQ-CON I-II, RQ-CON Down Under, and the forthcoming Glorantha-Con IV, promises to feature Pendragon Pass, Call of Cthulhu, and, yes, RuneQuest events. Take a look at the WWW page for more info. -------------------- From: Eamon Honan Subject: Full Auto System: Call of Cthulhu This article is in fact, an appendix to the CoC rules, to allow them to be used to play one-shot, non-mythos, action movie type games. They are not complete in any way and provide no scope for character development. They are geared towards fast paced, Lethal Weapon style action involving hairs breath escapes, vast amounts of fire power, humour and melodramatic heroics. Don't say I didn't warn you. Note: Any aspect of the rules not changed by this article is used as per normal CoC rules. FULL AUTO Action Movies a la CoC Rules Character Generation Generate characters as normal, however change the following: 1. Roll stats on 4d6, discarding the lowest dice. This will give a higher average, but still allow for lousy scores. 2. Keeper decides incomes on a general basis, giving you a lump sum and a general idea of what you own, rather then working it all out. 3. Decide on background. About ten lines written on personality and background is enough; this isn't about atmosphere and in depth characterisation, it's about guns 'n glory! 4. Determine fate points (these will be explained later): divide POW by four and round up. Actions All actions are played out as normal. However, climactic actions (it's the Keeper's call on what is and what is not climactic) use the resistance table. This can be skipped where it would not help build tension. It should always be used to give the characters a fighting chance. Also, due to the comic book nature of the Full Auto game, actions that would normally take hours need to be be done in minutes. Allow characters to reduce times by fractions, so long as their skill is reduced by the same fraction, ie, to do a job in half the time, a character must roll under half his skill. Combat Combat is the kernel of all action movie style scenarios. The basic structure of CoC combat is unchanged, but there are a few simple changes. 1. Antagonists who have the same DEX roll on the resistance table to see who goes first. 2. A player character who has a lower DEX then a villain can (if the Keeper allows it) declare to be going all out. This means that the two compare DEX on the resistance table. Should the player succeed, he may act first. However, regardless of whether he succeeds or fails, all those acting against him have there skills multiplied by 1.5% (from 50% to 75% or 40% to 60% and so on). 3. Player characters and major villains may dodge bullets. However, they may make only one dodge a round. Characters dodging bursts make one attempt per burst, not per bullet. However, when dodging bursts, the character's skill is reduced by 5% per bullet that "hits" (ie, if 10 bullets are fired, you roll 1d10 to find out how many "hit", that is the number of bullets that count for deduction purposes ). 4. In many Full Auto games, there will be large groups of goons (like the gangsters in Dick Tracy or the terrorists in Die Hard) whose only mission in life is to blaze away and fall down in threes whenever a hero fires his gun. They are not known for their shooting skills, so take the type of dice that is most numerous in your collection (d6s in my case) and assume that they only hit on ones. This makes rolling for over 30 or 40 goons a lot easier. Also, they die very easily. If a character hits a goon, unless it is otherwise significant (if the goon was blocking the way from certain death, for example) assume that a goon hit is a goon dead. Fate Points Fate points are the crux of the Full Auto game. They are what separates the man from the boys, the heroes from the men, the real Tabasco from the assorted condiments, the toffee from the tea cake, the kebab from the... you get the idea. Fate points are what allows heroes to do their heroic stuff, to cheat death and so on. Each character starts with a number of fate points equal to their POW divided by four (rounded up). Each fate point allows the character to decide the result of a dice roll. Once spent, they are gone forever, or until the next adventure, if the Keeper decides to run a sequel. The main thing is that a character may spend only one per round and only affect one dice roll. Fate points may be used for two other purposes: healing and heroic acts. Firstly, fate points may be swapped for hitpoints, at a rate of one fate point to three hit points. Secondly, in a situation where the outcome is decided (a villain has a higher DEX and therefore shoots first, for example, and the hero doesn't want to go all out) the hero may call that into question by spending a fate point. This allows him to use the resistance table against whatever would have automatically beaten him. However, the hero may not use a fate point to ensure his success on that roll (since he has already used his fate point for the round). Comments That's about it, the only advice I can give you on using the Full Auto rules is: 1. Make combat fast and furious. Keep the action piling on; never let the players think, just make them react. 2. Plan your action scenes like you were directing a movie: make them as cinematic as possible. Write down a few words to describe each scene, so you don't have to pause to think of them on the spot. 3. Keep the game moving. Never give the players more then five minutes to think or plan. 4. Keep your villains individually evil, making them evil in spades. Think of the villains from Batman: each had his own little type of evil scheme. Make them evil, really, really unrelentingly evil, but most of all make them evil with style. 5. As with villains, make you NPCs (especially sidekicks and love interests) colourful and exciting. 6. Most importantly, always end the adventure with a grand finale: a particularly heroic or memorable scene. 7. Plan out a bad end scene, just in case the heroes stray from the path of rightousness. Make it as gorey, unpleasent, horrible and humiliating as possible. These rules allow characters to be heroes very easily (and live to tell the tale), so do not hesitate to make them feel awful and very ashamed if they do not live up to that ideal. Till R'lyeh rises, Eamon Honan -------------------- From: Subject: New Alchemy Spells System: Nephilim BLACK STONE ----------- The Eternal Flame Circle: Black Stone Threshold: 30% Powder: Fire Area: Target Duration: Special Range: 1 m Description: The alchemist casts the powder upon the target (creature or object). The target monentarily bursts into flame, and then thereafter appears normal. The formula provides up to 10 points of protection against any one type of magical damage, although it will not protect the target from physical damage. Upon receiving a magical blow the target appears to sparkle as the formula activates; then the sparkle fades and the target returns to normal. The formula may be cast multiple times to increase the level of protection, but the formula will only protect the target from a single magical blow. Variations of this formula may be found in the The Forge and the Crucible by Eliade; The Philosopher's Stone by Israel Regardie; and Ein Kosmos im Regenwald by K'ayum. Separation of the Earth from Fire Circle: Black Stone Threshold: 90% Powder: Earth or Fire Area: Varies Duration: Instant Range: 100 m Description: Preparation by the caster can magnify the radius of effect and severity of this formula. If the alchemist has access to the target, and she can gather a sample from the object, the sample becomes the sacrifical focus. The alchemist casts the powder at the target and immediately snaps a rod composed of glass, or the sacrificial focus if it is available. A crystalline tone can be heard by anyone close to the target. Unless magically hardened, the object immediately shatters into pieces no larger than one fifth of the original objects' size. If a glass rod is used, the object can be no bigger than 500 Kg. If a sample of the object can be gathered by the caster, and is homogenous, the object can be up to 5000 Kg in size. Magical foci and Stases get to make a resistance roll using the highest Ka contained by the object as the passive characteristic, and the caster's dominant Ka as the active characteristic. This formula is thus a very real danger to stases, especially to nephilim who use their stases to cast spells frequently, keeping them drained of Ka. Objects hardened by the use of formulae like the Essence of the Heart of Stone (see below) and/or the Eternal Flame (see above) are immune to this effect, as well as objects under the effect of the various Shoal spells (Nephilim pg. 147-150) and the spell Skin of the Titan. There are several powerful but little known uses of this formula, but I will list only the single variation of the Separation contained in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. It is unrelated to the other material there, and is thus rarely recognized for the powerful instruction it is. This formula can be used to create an earthquake, the severity depending on the focus used. If a glass rod is used, the quake covers a 50 m radius, with a magnitude of 6 to 8 on the Richter scale. This is enough to topple most buildings, injure anyone in the area, etc. If the caster uses a clod of dirt or rock from the area to be struck by the spell, the effect covers a 500 m radius, with a magnitude of 9 to 9.5 or the Richter scale, with nearly total destruction of anything in the area, and varying damage to the surrounding areas. An earth plexus is fifty percent likely to manifest during such an earthquake, but it will be difficult to reach, for the obvious reasons. Other versions can be found in the Lithica, the Turba Philosophorum, and The Alchemist's Handbook of Frater Albertus. WHITE STONE ----------- The Annealing of Thought through the Dissolution of Distance Circle: White Stone Threshold: 20% Powder: Air or Moon Area: Target Duration: Special Range: Unlimited Description: Using this formula, the alchemist may contact a specific individual at will, at any distance, for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, the user must speak aloud when talking to that individual, which may cause both of them some problems. To utilize this ancient formula, the alchemist must first find a source of the rare herb the Zoroastrians called Haoma (also known to the Vedics as Soma); if the caster cannot find a source of the herb she may substitute a mixture of lesser plants at her own risk. One substitute consists of a mixture of Hemp (C. sativa), Fly Agaric (A. muscaria), and Henbane (H. niger). Another substitute uses Hellebore (V. album) or Ephedra (E. sinica), and Fly Agaric (A. muscaria). Known side effects from these substitutes include severe cramping, blackouts, hallucinations and seizures. Some users may even transfer these effects to the individual they have contacted through the telepathic link, causing both individuals considerable difficulties. The caster ingests the herb(s), and after waiting an appropriate time then casts the powder upon her forehead. The caster must then seek out the mental image of the individual to be contacted. After several minutes spent addressing the air, or no one in particular, the caster will hear a response from their chosen target; observers present at either location will not notice any voices or unusual sounds. The formula lasts as long as the caster chooses to maintain it; but once the herb is digested or if the caster sleeps or goes unconscious, she must make a Ka x 2 roll to keep the spell up. Haoma is nearly extinct in its' original range, but some nephilim grow it in secret. Aquiring a source of the herb will not come easy. Versions of this spell can be found in: Herbs in Magic and Alchemy by C.L. Zalewski; Turba Philosophorum by Gerber; The Magical and Ritual Use of Herbs by R.A. Miller; and Frosch und Krote in Mythos und Brauch by Hirschberg. The Essence of the Heart of Stone Circle: White Stone Threshold: 60% Powder: Earth Area: 1 m radius Duration: Permanent Range: Touch Description: This spell can be cast upon any non-living object, even a stasis object, but is intended for the construction of specialized golems. The alchemist places the target of the spell on top of a plate of metal or stone, and casts her powder onto the object. The plate of material beneath the object dissappears in a flash of Ka, imbuing the target with a toughness and durability equivalent to the plate used. If the object's flexibility, flash point or melting point is lower than the metal/stone, it is also improved. The material of choice for the plate has varied throughout history, but is now commonly Iron, Wolfram (Tungsten), or Titanium. Objects that were evidently altered using Damascus steel or Jade have been found in the Orient, but the method of construction may have been different. The target object gains a slight increase in mass, and darkens slightly, but otherwise appears normal. The object may gain patterning similar to the plate material, but this is rare. There are rumors of improved versions of this formula, versions which use man-made minerals and mineral-like substances such as Boron Carbide, Aluminium Nitride, and sintered Silicon Polycarbide. Versions of this spell can be found in The Book of the Composition of Alchemy, in A Lexicon of Alchemy, and in The Collected Works of C.G. Jung Volume 13: Alchemical studies, but some versions may require modification for modern use. Syncline -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial discussion forum for Chaosium's Games. To submit an article, subscribe, or unsubscribe, mail to: appel@erzo.org. All articles submitted to the Digest remain copyright their respective authors, unless noted otherwise. If you are interested in subscribing to the Nephilim Mailing List, a discussion forum dedicated solely to the Nephilim role-playing game, send a piece of mail to majordomo@erzo.org, with the command "subscribe nephilim-digest" in the body of the message.