RAVENLOFT DIGEST #10: the Month of June '92 From: umcc!console!pro-midnightex.cts.com!tg.exc (Terry Guelfo) Subject: RL-L: Quietness here. Hey! S'bout time I got on the mailing list . I've been eagerly awaiting this. Too bad I don't have FTP to get any of the archives. Ah well, I'll survive. At any rate, I have a question. How the heck to I get my players into a TRUE horrific Ravenloft mood? I've tried just about everything I can think of.. do I just have lousy players or am I not trying hard enough? I'm running "Night of the Walking Dead" right now... and the players just don't understand the gravity of their situation... we're about halfway through and about ONE of my players is really role playing it out.. she's great. The others.. well... -------------------------------------------------------------------- From Z_COOLIDGEJS@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU Fri Jun 5 19:21:15 1992 Subject: RL-L: Song SMELLS LIKE RAVENLOFT To the tune of "Smells like Teen Spirit", by Nirvana Lyrics by Zigon Marovich (Jon Coolidge) (c) Inspired in part by Weird Al Yankovic just don't steal the material. Do you want all of those people mad at you? Didn't think, so. Load up on dice and bring your friends But don't ask why we want to pretend Our sanity should really be scoffed For we are playing Ravenloft Hello, hello, hello, hello? Hello, hello, hello, hello?!? (chorus: And my lifetime's getting shorter And my phobias, I'm getting more I feel stupid, and possessed Here we are now, adventurers A heucuva, a lycanthrope, I'm a spectre, I'm a vampire Yeah! (dunda dunda dunt) {wolf howl} (dunda dunda dunt) {blanch of organ} Our heroes are off to Barovia To get another phobia We failed our fear checks and ran away And we won't come out until we see the day Hello, hello, hello, hello?!? Hello, hello, hello, oh no!!!!! (chorus Yeah! (dunda dunda dunt) {scream} (dunda dunda dunt) {thunder crackle} (organ solo And I fogot just what it takes To kill a vampire, I think its stakes And goodness is so hard to find What's my alignment, oh nevermind... End of song. What did you think? (Aside from 367 ways of killing my bard character.) -------------------------------------------------- From andy@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu Sun Jun 7 19:29:23 1992 Subject: Re: RL-L: Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts Lee asks for comments on RR5, VRGtG. (So I'm lazy.) I enjoyed it; it seemed much clearer to me than RR3, VRGtV, and seemed to concentrate less on game mechanics and more on telling a good story--which is, of course, at the heart of the Ravenloft concept. I need to go back and reread RR3 now, in case I've maligned the poor thing, but in general I was very satisfied with RR5. Now if only the recent modules were this good. --Andrew -------------------------------------------------- From: alvalent@husc.harvard.edu (Alvin Valentine) Subject: RL-L: Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts Sorry for being slow to post. Of course, like every other book that hits the shelf for Ravenloft, like any good Ravenloft guru I have leapt upon this one. WHAT A LEAP IT IS!! Heck of a good source from what I have read thus far. I correct myself: HELUVA GOOD BOOK!! It's extremely interesting. It one ups the Guide to Vampires in giving hints on story writing as well as including a zillion ghosts including names, location, and brief story which are used to aid in explaining points but also function as an entire ghostly Ravenloft rogue's gallery. Sweet stuff indeed (at least thus far). GET IT!! -------------------- Islands of Terror: further commentary on this product. Pretty sharp too. It delves into stranger evils rather than stock evils from gothic novels. If you want to check out what a crocodile's like as a Dark Lord, pick it up. One of my favorites in all of Ravenloft is here, the floating domain known as Scaena. Like the Headless Horseman's road, this theater house can superimpose itself on other domains. A few domains are a little bizarre, but some are just wonderful gothic stuff. Staunton Bluffs and Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts flow together like milk and honey--a tasty mix. ---------------- I am running Night of the Walking Dead for some local elementary school kids before running it for my main group. I like most of the stuff, but of all things, I somehow find being attacked by giant frogs a little hard to use to tingle someone's spine. I did my best with 'leathery lashes' wrapping 'round PCs necks which drag their prey toward 'dark gaping maws,' but somehow I think that it would be a bad scene to die in Ravenloft to a giant frog. Maybe I'm mistaken, though. BTW anyone know of a good source to read on the New Orleans, Louisiana voodoo tradition this stuff is supposed to be based on. I would like to check out the source material for atmosphere. --------------- The next installment of the compiled Ravenloft letters will be availabe oops available soon via FTP. --------------- Out of time. Take care. I'll return to haunt you another day. Spectrally yours, Lee -------------------------------------------------- From alvalent@husc Wed Jun 10 20:16:51 1992 Subject: RL-L: Night of the Walking Dead Nobody knows anything about the voodoo tradition of Louisiana, huh? Bummer. If anybody comes up with any info, give me a holler. What about the Flying Dutchman? Got any ideas for a good source book for that. I like to read the inspirational/background stuff when I can, before playing out something in a given setting/genre. Anyone here on GMAST or ADND-L or the Vampires Mailing List or the Forgotten Realms mailing list. I need to advertise our following to pick up a few evil beings. If you are willing to forward a post, I would greatly appreciate your trouble. I have a wonderful little sub-plot I am running through all my adventures. It's a Jack the Ripper style plot line that ties in well with Jean Tarascon (Night of the Walking Dead) as well as someone who's been lurking around on the streets of Dorvinia these nights. I'll give you the run down when I get a chance, but for now take this information: A third magnitude spirit (an Odem with special ability [magnitude from VRGtoG]). It is anchored through a curse to a nasty little ring. When it inhabits someone, the ring appears on the victim's hand, a la Malice's choker (from the Marauder's if any of you read the X-Men). The Odem was in a former life a thief/madman (a thief who also fits the Madman description from the Ravenloft MC). Anyone it possesses thus shows proficiency in these skills. It's one major ability is to turn the form it's inhabiting into a cloud of mist (sure explains how good ole Jack comes and goes in London now doesn't it, 'specially with all that fog about--strange, I thought I knew of some other horrible place chock full o' mist and fog but ...). The details on this later if anyone is interested. I have a rather complex story line worked up for your playing enjoyment. It is surely good for a running sub-plot and can be adapted to almost any level of play. Well, that's all campers.... Except for one thing: talk it up guys. I know this is the Mailing List of Doom and Death, but this is too much silence for even the grave. Take care Lee -------------------------------------------------- From blackman@acsu.buffalo.edu Wed Jun 10 20:25:32 1992 Subject: Re: RL-L: Night of the Walking Dead A friend of mine suggested that the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner would make a good RL campaign. He is working on the details. I am alos working on some adaptations of the Grimms stuff for RL. My friend, the one with the idea, seems to think that one can properly run an RL campaign and AVIOD all things gothic. I am (luckily) in this campaign and will let y'all (Louisiana humor) know what it was like and how it went. that's enough from this corner of the mists. darkling -------------------------------------------------- From witzki@cs.wmich.edu Fri Jun 12 14:57:16 1992 Subject: RL-L: Islands of Terror In response to alvalent@husc.harvard.edu's message: > Islands of Terror, anyone? Good stuff. Some of it is REAL good. I agree with Lee -- Scaena is a neat one. On the reviewing thing -- is RR2 Book of Crypts worth getting? ============================================================= From Z_COOLIDGEJS@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU Fri Jun 12 18:05:42 1992 Subject: RL-L: Revamped ire First a quick note about the Book of Crypts. Although I have not yet had a chance to use any of the story ideas, I highly recommend the book. It's much cheaper than buying eight or nine modules, and has nearly the same playing value because of the expandibility of its stories. The ideas are in my opinion presented better in BoC than in the Dungeon Mags, and thus a bit easier to work with and expand. Most plots are open enough to be usable at any time within a campaign, whereas most other short plots required a lot of manipulation beforehand. It gives more game night hours worth of stuff than three times its price in conventional modules. All in all I give it two claws up. OK, here is the darker, ulterior purpose of this posting. Ever wonder about Strahd's relatively wimpy stats? I know what you're thinking--wimpy?!? He's a !$@#$@! necromancer! But think about it--other, less significant Ravenloft lords are actually more powerful. Of course Strahd is cunning, intellegent, and so forth, but I think he needs a little stat lift. So, here is what I did with him for my campaign. I must give partial credit to Van Richten (RR3) for his wonderful advice. (I must imagine his anguish to realize that he gave the Dark Powers--the Ravenloft Dungeon Masters of the world --ideas!) I must also give some credit to my mentor DM Tim Leonard, who made his own version of Strahd. This Strahd contains elements from his Strahd as well as some personal ideas. Well, you wanted the best and you got the best; the hottest vampire in the land, Strahd! all rights that are not property of TSR "^" or Tim Leonard belong to Jon Coolidge. Name: Victor Strahd Von Zarovich Player: NPC "The Devil Strahd", "The First Vampyr (incorrect)", "The Creature" Campaign: Ravenloft, Jon Coolidge version Appearance: features are ambiguous and uncertain; for example, his hair seems both black and light blond. His ears seem pointed, but this is an optical illusion. Strahd appears time worn and aged, and gives the appearance of having been burned at one time long ago (that was the Sunsword, as well as times when exposed to sunlight), especially around his neck. He wears the familiar cape and medallion. I cast the actor Richard Lynch (_Invasion USA_, _Bad Dreams_, and a fine TV movie _Vampire_) for the role. Race: Vampire, Eminent (once human) Age: true: unknown Effective: 735 Class: necromancer Level: 16 XP: 2,625,000 XP value: 75,000 to slay him (more difficult than even sum of powers because of symbiosis with Barovia land) STR: 20 DEX:19 CON: 18 INT: 19 WIS: 17 CHA: 18 (COM: 12) all bonuses in PHB apply AC: 1 (-1 with cape of protection +2) THAC0: 11 (8 with weapon) hp: 110 Move: 21 Attacks: with weapon (+3 TH, +8 Dam STR) or fist (D6+8, +2 levels drained) or Spells AL: LE Diety: none RL Powers Stage: 6 Notes: as described in Ravenloft boxed set, but with a few changes in techical details. He became a vampire 735 years ago, and that is when Barovia became Ravenloft. The other lands still come in at the appropriate times, but Strahd is that much older, and the Barovians began their calender the moment the world went to Hell. Strahd knows by now that he cannot have Tatyana, but he still is compelled to try; to defy the fates just once would please him so much. Strahd has feelings of Deja Vu and suspects that he has already lived out his unlife an unknown number of times before. Each time he finally found freedom, the world simply reformed. He has only a few dreamlike flashes of memory, but he feels confident that his suspicions are true. He believes he is in Hell. Strahd has taken an interest in music (notably the organ), magic (necromancy), non-magical tricks/traps/devices, and horsemanship. And he is a philosopher. Strahd is dominating and cruel, but his demands are relatively little compared to some of his rivals. He collects enough taxes to prevent the rise of any rival classes of people, and he periodically asks for beautiful women, whom he can add to his vast collection of slave vammpiresses. Saves: Paralyze/Poison/Death: 8 Petri/Poly: 5 W/S/Rod: 7 Breath: 9 Spell: 6 Modifiers: as undead, CON, WIS, INT, as necromancer Spells: (1) 5 (2) 5 (3) 5 (4) 5 (5) 5 (6) 3 (7) 2 (8) 1 Turning Undead: automatic, anywhere in Barovia Profficiencies: Weapon: any sword, dagger, any crossbow, staff, dart (Look out, it's Strahd with a dart!) Nonweapon: riding (land) +3, musical instrument (organ), engineering +4, hunting, spellcraft, local and ancient history +10, written language, Barovian, Vistani, common Racial/Class skills and powers: AS NECROMANCER: save +1 vs necromantic spells, opponents save -1 AS VAMPIRE: charm person (gaze or voice, save -4) at will, drain D6+8 hp + 2 levels, regenerate 4 hp/round, hit only by +3 or better, summoning: 2-20 bats, 10-20 ravens, 20-120 rats, 3-18 wolves or worgs, transformation: giant bat, wolf (worg size), gaseous cloud UNIQUE: Blood drain--1 bite causes partial vampirism (no game mechanical value), may be completed by 2 more bites from Strahd or by drinking blood. Strahd can also resist sunlight for one hour, and is immune to running water. He can still be turned, but as "special." Holy symbols in the hands of evil characters are useless against him. Strahd can only truely be destroyed by a few legendary means. One of these is by a stake made from the wood of a certain type of tree found in Faulkovnia. Another mean is by way of a "piece of the sun" within his castle. Strahd has the power to possess other beings. He may do so in gaseous form by either being inhaled by the victim or by teleporting into the victim. Those who inhale him suffer a -5 to their saves. Items: anything in Barovia. He also has a sword of wounding +1, a rope of entangling, a cloak of protection +2 (the cape), a medallion of protection from good, and a ring of detecting good (which does work, if the DM lets it) Spellbook (tentative, until the official one in the forthcomming second boxed set comes out): 1: burniing hands, cantrip, chill touch, comprehend languages, detect undead, hold portal, mmagic missile, protection from good, shocking grasp, sleep, taunt 2: invisibility, locate objects, mirror image (slightly different form to fit different schools--alteration and evokation), ESP, spectral hand, stinking cloud, vocalize 3: feign death, fireball, gust of wind, suggestion, hold person, hold undead, lightning bolt, vampiric touch (ha ha ha) 4: contagion, dimention door, emotion, enervation (why bother), polymorph other, polymorph self 5: animate dead, distance distortion, magic jar, summon shadow, sending (used with suggestion), teleport 6: control weather, death fog, death spell, enchant an item, guards and wards, reincarnation 7: control undead, finger of death, limited wish, teleport without error 8: clone, maze, permanancy, trap the soul -------------------------------------------------- From alvalent@husc Sat Jun 13 12:10:56 1992 Subject: Re: RL-L: Revamped ire The stats were not a blunder on the part of Nesmith and the boys at TSR. According to what it says in the boxed set, they wanted Strahd to be less powerful (in game mechanics) than other lords, but the most powerful all around due to his godlike cunning, spies, and the fact that he's Ravenloft's favorite plaything. I must say I like your twist on him. Good stuff. When questioning his power level, don't forget that he's a 16th level Necromancer. All of his Necromancy spells are doubled in power by Ravenloft without penalty (he's darn sure not gonna be frightened by a Ravenloft powers check that might turn him into a Dark Lord, he's already there and cursed). Compound those abilities with a Sentinal Bat, control over every bloody animal in Barovia, the ability to walk into any house in Barovia without the tenant's permission (being the heriditary heir, he owns EVERYTHING in Barovia and has been known to give himself permission to walk into the houses that he owns), his powers as a really old vampire, etc., and you have a guy who could literally eat a 20th level party for lunch if you play him right. Again, though, your interpretation is neat stuff. Lee -------------------------------------------------- From alvalent@husc Sat Jun 13 15:30:19 1992 Subject: RL-L: Jack the Ripper Here's a long boring bit about my Ripper saga. If anyone wants to know about what happened to Lady Blackheart, Ivan Dilysnia, Falstaff's daughter, the Jean Tarascon tie-in (though this should be REALLY obvious), or anything else about my game, ask and ye shall receive in due time. I did not due any professional writing job on this, but it should get the message across. Khelvis' thief abilities can vary from 1st to 20th as can Blackheart's wizardly talents. If you want, Black heart can be a level drainer instead of a Nosferatu. All these things allow for this story line to be played out with characters of any level. The following is a story line and a character sketch. Exact events possible with these characters will be made available if enough people to find this stuff too useless. Best of luck. Knock your players dead with my version of Jack the Ripper: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Lord Blackheart was a mage of some reknown in the land of Dorvinia when Ivan Dilysnia took power. He through means of his black arts and another, a jeweler named Falstaff, were the only ones that Ivan Dilysnia could not sway easily. Falstaff had no magic secret, he only had power and money, lots of money, together with his contacts, his wealth and his power meant he could balk Lord Dilysnia when he had a mind to do so. Ivan had not yet his huge staff of "loyal" poisoned retainers, and his power did not reach the darkest corners of Dorvinia as did Falstaff. He despised Falstaff and feared Blackheart, who interfered little with the affairs of normal men, but who might well strike at Ivan should he forsee him up to dangerous things. He made uneasy pacts with both men, and kept them at bay for a time. Still, Ivan always was one to plan ahead, prepared always for the treason of others, and decided it was best to "get them before they get you." He invited the Lord Blackheart and his wife over to an exquisite dinner at his estate, Degravo. He succeeded in poisoning the wizard's wife, and told him, but kept the secret away from the man's wife. He knew well how the mage loved that woman, and knew that even this powerful man could be made a pawn. He judged correctly, and soon Blackheart was at Ivan's command, perfor- ming services from him outside Dorvinia. His blood was not tainted, but to keep his wife alive, he would have to obey Dilysnia's will. Ivan kept his part of the bargain, inviting the lady to dinner time and again, often when her husband was away on a mission stuffing more of his infamous poison/antidote down her gullet. He found out from her during these dinners, that she was very lonely when her husband went away on business for such long times. She had clearly not been told of her plight by her hubby so that she would not die of sheer fright at the knowledge of her plight. Only Blackheart's love kept her alive. Falstaff, however, had remained a thorn in Dilysnia's side, but a thorn whose bite was growing weaker with every passing day. Ivan thought it would be too costly to bring the man to his knees, and so put up with his opposition for a time. One day, Ivan's spies overheard of a ring that the Vistani had bestowed upon his nemesis, the jeweler. The ring was not meant to be worn about the finger, but rather placed over the end of a spoon or a broom. This ring of stirring would cause its resting place to spin around, slowly, indefinitely. Ivan had been working on his masterpiece, the poison to end all poisons, but was unable to finish his work--the poison had to be stirred non-stop, without a change of pace, for a week. One second's hesitation would nullify all previous hours of stirring. He had never found a man capable of keeping the pace. To change men in mid creation was also unacceptale, as the few seconds of changing the speed of stirring would render the concoction inert. Ivan needed a potent magical aid, and Ravenloft had intervened upon his behalf, although with designs to tempt him with the ring for a time before letting him get his hands upon it. Ivan scrounged up all of his wealth in order to buy the ring from Falstaff, but the inscrupulous jeweler asked too high a price. Finally, Ivan sent Blackheart, with cash in hand, to make a final offer to Falstaff. The jeweler not only turned him down (under the assumption that Ivan would bid even higher), but mockingly threw Blackheart out of his shop. That night, while his son and several of his best men (read "toughest thugs") watched, Falstaff was torn limb from limb by some unseen force. The same force, ripped the ring off of the jeweler's dead hand (he had been wearing it for safe keeping) and sped back to its master, the Lord Blackheart. Now Blackheart had what Ivan wanted, and now he decided to use it as a bit of leverage. He knew how important he was to Ivan, how powerful he was, and now with Ivan's precious ring in hand, he strode off to Degravo to make demands on Dilysnia. Ivan only smiled when he heard the pompous ass shout his demands. He assented, and told him it would take him a week to raise the funds necessary for the purchase of the ring, and to create a potent enough antidote to drive his poison from Lady Evilynne Blackheart's veins. During that time, though, he would ask that business go along as usual, and so he sent Blackheart off on business to Barovia. The mage, agreed, thinking Ivan would not dare cross him. He was quite wrong. Ivan took great pains to cause Blackheart the maximum pain. He knew how lonely Blackheart's wife was, and knew that Khelvis Falstaff, the jeweler's son was a handsome, lusty young man, who would be more than glad to help him. He offered Khelvis a chance at vengeance--the seduction of Lady Blackheart. He made short work of the seduction, for the lonely lady who felt she was perpetually ignored by her husband (a man who she thought was consumed by his desire to serve Lord Dilysnia), lept at the chance to brighten the young man's nights and her own as well. By the end of a couple weeks, he had even convinced her to help him bait and kill her husband so that they could get his estate and avoid his vengeance. She agreed. It was a dark night when Lord Blackheart strode into Blackheart manor. He noted a twisted grin on his wife's face, and did not see his assailant who crept up behind him, and plunged a poisoned blade (courtesy of Ivan Dilysnia) deep into his back. As the poison and the pain o'erwhelmed him, Blackheart staggered back against the wall, unable to defend himself against Falstaff's son, who was all to prepared to strike again. It took only a second for him to recognize the all too familiar handiwork of one very treacherous Ivan Dilysnia behind all of this. Hatred overcame him: hatred of Dilysnia for his evil (though he now blamed himself as well for his own stupidity in betraying Ivan), hatred for the lad who had usurped his place in his own manor, but greatest of all was his hatred for his wife. He had put up with lowering himself to being Ivan Dilysnia's #1 lap dog for years in order to keep her safe from the poison in her veins, now she slept with the enemy, plotted her husbands death, and watched the affair with a mocking grin. She would pay. A knife plunged into his chest again. Why, oh, why had he played games with Ivan's precious ring. He looked down upon his hand and looked painfully upon two gold rings that he now was loath to gaze upon: the ring of stirring, and his wedding band (a wedding band crafted by his murderer's father). His wife wore a similar ring, which now caught his eye as a knife plunged again into his chest. Khelvis stepped back and stood aside his lovely lady, and admired his handiwork. A lover's triangle and three rings ... As he faded into oblivion, he summoned all his hate and passion into words that choked Khelvis' mocking laughter: "Curse you, villain, curse you all to hell!! May your days be e'er filled with thoughts of death, and you're nights filled with hatred of this wench and all like her! My vengeance upon you both will never end." As his life faded from his body, Ravenloft answered his unholy prayer, reading not only his words, but his heart's desires as well. The two men vanished, the sorcerer in a mocking laugh, the assassin in a fit of fear and pain. Their souls trapped in two perfect bands: Blackheart, into his wife's wedding ring, Khelvis in the Lord's ring. With the disappearance of the Lord, two distinct objects fell from the hand that once had borne them. The two rings which Blackheart had worn fell to the ground, rolled into a crack in the floorboards, and were carried by the Mists to the farthest reaches of Ravenloft. The Lady Blackheart left the manor screaming and it is said that she has never returned to the city of Lechburg since. The townsfolk never enter the place. The feel it is haunted by the ghost of Lord Blackheart and fear to tread in that evil abode. Legend has it that should Lady Blackheart return to the manor some day, the spirit of her once and future Lord shall enact his vengeance upon her. In Blackheart's many journey's away from home he had attended many a sabbath. At one of those unholy outings, the witch in question had not purged herself of his seed properly, and a son, Talorin, had been born to carry on his title, he at first had been angered over the incident, but had since grown fond of the boy, sending him to the care of his brother in Barovia. He was proud to call Talorin his own, because Evilynne had proven barren, and thus he had no heir by her. The spirit of Blackheart bent his wife's will and forced her to carry the ring to a town she had never seen, to give the ring to a boy she had never known. The ring possesses the spirit of Lord Blackheart, but in addition is a thing of greater evil. Blackheart hungers for vengeance, his hate is such that Ravenloft would make it eternal. His evil heart is such that it burns away at any mortal who would bear the ring. So, when he reached manhood, Talorin's life energies were long gone: he was a vampire (a Nosferatu in my game). He felt drawn from a great distance and so sought to follow his desire to go to a place he had never seen, but would some day call home: Blackheart manor. His attacks upon the townsfolk had finally attracted the attention of several Barovian vampire hunters, and now was a good time to leave town and start his quest. His uncle was unwilling to accompany him, and Talorin sought to make the man his slave, but after many feedings upon him, he realized as he had before in the past, that he was not like other vampires: he could not reproduce his kind. It was then he placed the ring on his uncle Khardov's hand, starting him down the dark road of vampirism. Khardov is not yet a vampire, but he believes himself to be one. The ring grants him the ability to shift his form, but in other aspects he is a normal human, obsessed with the belief that he is a vampire. To feed he resorts to slashing the throats of his victims and lapping up their blood. He believes that he is Talorin's lord, but in reality, the ring, possessing the spirit of Blackheart, bends the old man to do the boy's bidding. As such, Khardov functions as an overt, very expendable front, which draws the attention of those who would otherwise hunt Talorin. Meanwhile, the young man surrepti- tiously feeds and gets closer to Blackheart manor avoiding the hunters who pursue his uncle and indirectly him. Should the boy ever reclaim the ring in Blackheart manor, his soul will be devoured by his father's, who will then claim Talorin's form wholly: a powerful, undead monster, whose blood no longer flows, and who is therefore immune to the poisons of Ivan Dilysnia. Blackheart's wedding band, if you will recall, also houses a spirit, the spirit of Khelvis Falstaff. His spirit is now bound forever to this ring, much in the way that Blackheart's soul is bound to the ring his wife once wore. Khelvis is an odem, and a cursed one at that. By day, he finds himself wracked with self-pity and fear, replaying the tragic murder of Lord Blackheart in his mind time and again. By night, he searches for Evilynne Blackheart, thinking that should he ever find her and kill her, his curse will be lifted. Unfortunately, all women appear to him at night with Evilynne's face, and when he finds one alone, he revels in causing women fear, and then slaying them. He blames all women, especially Evilynne for his plight. He does not slay every woman he sees, but is compelled to stalk the night and hunt down lonely prey. As Blackheart feeds upon life force to sustain himself, by drinking blood, Falstaff feeds upon the fear he causes and thence washes that fear down with the life he draws forth from his prey with the blade he strikes with. Notes: Talorin Blackheart: I use the stats for a Nosferatu Vampire, with all of the appropriate abilities, except that he cannot make more vampires, except by transferring the ring to someone else. He plays the part of Khardov's nephew and man-servant, a man who thinks uncle Khardov has some strange disease which makes his eyes sensitive to sunlight or some such gibberish. He himself has taken to living by night in order to better care for his uncle. Lady Blackheart's Ring: when placed upon the finger, the wearer is automatically charmed by Talorin Blackheart. In addition, the wearer will over time be turned into a vampire, but will believe that he/she already is one, and a powerful one at that. Until the transformation is complete (which will take a good bit of time), the wearer is not really a vampire. The ring DOES grant the wearer the ability to shape shift into a bat, a dire wolf, and a mist, although because the wearer is not a vampire, when he/she dies, the wearer is quite dead, not forced into mist form. Talorin has discovered that his normal range of mental command is unlimited with regards to the wearer of the ring, and in fact, he may communicate telepathically with the ring wearer over any distance. As noted earlier, Blackheart will totally dominate Talorin's form should the boy ever reclaim the ring inside the walls of Blackheart manor. Lord Blackheart's Ring: Khelvis Falstaff is a third magnitude spirit (an Odem with special ability [magnitude from VRGtoG]). His spirit is anchored through a curse to this ring. When he inhabits someone, the ring appears on the victim's hand, a la Malice's choker (from the Marauder's if any of you read the X-Men). Khelvis was in a former life a thief/madman (a thief who also fits the Madman description from the Ravenloft MC). Anyone he possesses thus shows proficiency in these skills. His one major ability is to turn the form he's inhabiting into a cloud of mist (sure explains how good ole Jack comes and goes in London now doesn't it, 'specially with all that fog about--strange, I thought I knew of some other horrible place chock full o' mist and fog but ...). He can through force of will cause the ring to vanish from the wearer's hand, and then exit from the person's body. His weakness lies in that he is linked with the ring. If he cannot force the ring to vanish, he cannot leave. Should someone think of it, a dispel magic or any similar magic that can render the power of the ring inert for a round will trap Khelvis in his host body. Should the host be slain, so will Khelvis' spirit be destroyed. Another method of possible destruction lies in his fear of the power of Lord Blackheart. He saw his father torn apart by some invisible force of Blackheart's creation. Should he be attacked by an invisible target which does not instantly present itself (i.e. someone cloaked by improved invisibility rather than the 2nd level version) when it attacks, Khelvis will be so afraid that he will be unable to concentrate enough to will the ring away. Again, if the host body can be slain under these conditions, Khelvis' spirit will die with the host. A strange side effect of the ring revolves around a dagger motif. Khelvis will always acquire a dagger for his host form. When drawn, even the dullest blade will take the form of the keen blade Khelvis used on the night he murdered Blackheart, so long as it is wielded in melee or left in the body of its victim. When wielded by Khelvis, all such knives are to be treated as +3 magic weapons. He will strike dangerous opponents from the rear, but prefers to calmly introduce him- self and chat with his opponent for a bit and then stabbing his victim (using his special abilities as a Madman). Lee Valentine alvalent@husc.harvard.edu -------------------------------------------------- From Sylvain_Robert@UQTR.UQuebec.CA Tue Jun 16 08:38:04 1992 Subject: RL-Dark Powers Hi everybody I am currently translating (from French) and completing the Book of Ages. In sn short it will link AD&D, Star Trek and other game systems. It include the creation of the multiverses. However, since this mailig list just got started, and since I'm about to reach the Ravenloft's chapter, anyone's idea regarding the dark powers will be welcome. I will summarize the best inputs and include te them in the appropriate chapter. You may email directly to me, but I prefer you use this mailing list in order to let other share your ideas. Thanks to all Gothicly your The Wanderer, sylvain_robert@uqtr.uquebec.ca -------------------------------------------------- From Z_COOLIDGEJS@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU Tue Jun 16 16:00:37 1992 Subject: RL-L: Dark Powers and the universes The Wanderer sends: >I am currently translating (from French) and completing the Book of Ages. In >short it will link AD&D, Star Trek and other game systems. It include the >creation of the multiverses. Interesting. A friend of mine came up with the idea of "Crossover"; the power to enter alternate worlds that exist because of one's imagination. By the crossover laws, anything conceivable is happening somewhere. I independently of her came up with precicely the same idea, and even gave it the same name. Neither of us, however, used the idea of an ultimate beginning. Everything was always there. I'm interested in reading your interpretation when it is done. >...since I'm about to reach the Ravenloft's chapter, anyone's idea regarding >the dark powers will be welcome.... Ravenloft is clearly no typical AD&D campaign. In fact in conversation I tend to speak of it as a game of its own. Here is my interpretation of the demi-plane itself. It all began centuries ago when a certain Strahd von Zarovich sold his soul in exchange for eternal life, so he could have the woman Tatyana. The being that took his soul double-crossed him and made him into a vampire; he became thus all the less attractive to Tatyana, so she fled over the walls of the Castle Ravenloft and to what should have been her death. The being who made Strahd what he is discovered that Strahd was an interesting experiment. It enjoyed continually tormenting Strahd and inviting his "friends" to do likewise. The "friends" are the Dark Powers, a collective entity of which the one who made Strahd a vampire is a member. The Dark Powers decided to expand their collection of evil beings, and reached out of nearby existances to capture evil beings. The name Ravenloft comes from the castle that would have been the heart of the Barovian Empire if Strahd and the dark powers not intervined. The Dark Powers also kidnap and entrap innocent people within the plane of Ravenloft, for they enjoy observing their futile attempts at either escape or at killing the evil beings. Particularly attention-getting evil beings are isolated within their own domains (made lords), thus made even more entrapped and even easier to observe. The Dark Powers can reshape history, erase and "reprogram" memories, and do anything else it has to in order to carry out their experiments. Strahd is still the central focus. Should the entire demi-plane be destroyed and all the souls but one freed, Strahd will be the one enslaved. In my version of Ravenloft, many past efforts to destroy Ravenloft have been successful, but always the villains and some of the heroes find themselves back again. Ravenloft maintains its hold over its victims by a nearly inescapable time loop. I have not yet come up with an ultimate end for Ravenloft, though such would require defeating the Dark Powers--the Ravenloft Entity itself. -------------------------------------------------- From a_kirschbaum@avian.enet.dec.com Tue Jun 16 22:09:38 1992 Subject: RL-L: General Comments, and a big scary hello... Hi Fright-fans. I'm most pleased that this list has come into being. As I see it, the essential problem of horror roleplaying is to get the players with their character sheets, and pretty dice, and pizza slices, to actually feel the horror/terror/disgust that their characters *should* be experiencing. There are lots of thoughts on how to do this, low lighting, spooky music, theatric sound effects from the DM, etc. Does anyone have any really exciting methods? How about success stories? Or dismall failure stories? :-( One list question, just so this can spawn into millions of unrelation topics... Who out there uses exclusively TSR material? Exclusively your own? What kind of mixes? Do you run "exactly" according to TSR rules? If not what changes have you made? That's all for now. Here's to fear, fun, and fatalities ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From Z_COOLIDGEJS@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU Wed Jun 17 18:24:02 1992 Subject: RL-L: Response to Andrew, Raven, Dr. Z... From: Twenty-Three Skidoo < Welcome to our nightmare, to paraphrase Alice Cooper> >...As I see it, the essential problem of horror roleplaying is to get >the players with their character sheets, and pretty dice, and pizza >slices, to actually feel the horror/terror/disgust that their characters >*should* be experiencing. Ah, yes. That is indeed a problem for ALL of us. >Does anyone have any really exciting methods? How about success stories? >Or dismall failure stories? :-( I've got a long list of dismall failures. The problems I have encountered have mainly been 1. number of players and 2. environment. One. I would highly recommend that no DM attempt to handle more gamers than the quantity with which he or she feels confident. I was handling six players--my absolute limit unless I prepare a specially designed, months planned game for the otherwise. I made the mistake of allowing two more to walk in, and the whole game fell into chaos. I was running the original module Ravenloft (I6) over the course of two nights, and the extra people came on the second night. The first night went wonderfully. The role-playing and feeling peaked shortly after one of the players had to leave. As much as I hate to say it, his departure did help the game. (I might note that that player was a Monty Haul hack-and-slash type.) I did not send him away (his mother took him--he was a younger player) nor did I particularly desire his going, but the game flowed more quickly without him. The second night by comparison bombed. The hack-and-slash guy returned, and the two other players joined in for a moment, only to walk out again in the middle of the game. Another player was too busy reading a book to bother with the game. The four concious players and the hack-and-slash guy were too busy back biting each other and wandering off on wanna be solo adventures to finish the quest at hand. I finally had to use fog to teleport the party to the climatic location. Point of all of this twisting grammar? Handle only the party you feel comfortable handling. Two. Environment is an equally difficult problem if none of the gamers including yourself can provide a place to game that is reasonably game-worthy. I cannot have games at my place because I live with my parents, who have a low noise tolerance and a dislike of company. (I cannot afford an apartment, either, or I would certainly get one.) Many of the players have similar problems, so our resources are limited. The places that we do find tend to be too "bright and shiny" for the proper mood, plus they tend to have many distractions. Advice from all this? I have none to offer. I need some myself! >Who out there uses exclusively TSR material? Exclusively your own? What kind >of mixes? Do you run "exactly" according to TSR rules? If not what changes >have you made? I do mixes. I save T$R material for the special nights, because those modules cost money--I don't want to blow them. I also used the original Ravenloft (I6) twice with different groups, and plan to use Rav. II, The House on Gryphon Hill (I10) some time late this summer. I change a lot of things. In my first experiences with Ravenloft (when I was a player, not a DM) My DM made plenty of changes in the material. His ideas were very inspiring, so I used some of them and was encouraged to put some imagination into my games. I wanted my own version (or versions) of Ravenloft. My DM has not gamed in 11 months, so I've been left to my own devices and have improvised plenty of stuff. One reason why I limit my use of T$R modules and stuff is this damn recession. I can't afford much. -------------------------------------------------------- From a_kirschbaum@avian.enet.dec.com Wed Jun 17 19:37:52 1992 Subject: RL-L: Specifics? Zigon says: > I change a lot of things. In my first experiences with Ravenloft (when >I was a player, not a DM) My DM made plenty of changes in the material. His >ideas were very inspiring, so I used some of them and was encouraged to put >some imagination into my games. I wanted my own version (or versions) of >Ravenloft. > My DM has not gamed in 11 months, so I've been left to my own devices >and have improvised plenty of stuff. One reason why I limit my use of T$R >modules and stuff is this damn recession. I can't afford much. Well, if none of you players are reading this, would you mind sharing your revisions? My first maxim as a DM is "Why create good stuff when you can steal better?" The more ideas we can get flying on this list, the more synapses will spark and everyone will benefit. The main change I make is to the Vampires. I have never seen a T$R (neat, Zigon, I have just stolen an idea :-) vampire that I thought was even half way decent. The personalities are fine, but this level sucking business has always struck me as stupid. Vampire suck blood...they use their teeth, end of story, beginning of fear. Later... -------------------------------------------------------- From Z_COOLIDGEJS@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU Thu Jun 18 18:15:44 1992 Subject: RL-L: some ideas to steal The words of Raven, Random, and others: >Well, if none of you players are reading this, would you mind sharing your >revisions? My first maxim as a DM is "Why create good stuff when you can >steal better?" The more ideas we can get flying on this list, the more >synapses will spark and everyone will benefit. Does anyone have a copy of my version of Strahd? If not I believe Listlord Valentine has it entombed somewhere in the Ravenloft archives. If all else fails I guess I can retype it. >The main change I make is to the Vampires. I have never seen a T$R (neat, >Zigon, I have just stolen an idea :-) vampire that I thought was even >half way decent. The personalities are fine, but this level sucking >business has always struck me as stupid. Vampire suck blood...they use >their teeth, end of story, beginning of fear. I must agree. Though in my version of Strahd I had him as a level drainer, I also gave him the "three bites and your it," as well as the "one bite plus one drink of blood" and your it" powers. OK, you want to hear something else new and different. Maybe a new idea. OK, here goes. An adventuring party was out, not minding its own business. The various party members decided how neat it would be to play evil characters. They knew about Ravenloft Powers, but didn't quite seem to GET IT. So, They GOT IT. Some new ideas for PCs noticed by Ravenloft Powers: Stage I: 1. Character's blood turns purple (like a Klingon) or green (like a Romulan) Stage II: 1. Character gets an eye on the back of his head (usable but gross) Stage III: 1. Character becomes extremely beautiful (+4 CHA) by day, but looks like a lich or zombie at night Stage IV: 1. Character looks like a humanoid monster (imagine something as obscure and innocent as say, a wemic (MC 3), in Ravenloft Stage V: 1. Lycanthropy (true in nature, but seems like the disease to the player) 2. Become a vampire or nosferatu 3. Custom make a creature that fits the character Stage VI: Get some graph paper and start mapping. The party has a new adventure comming up... I have something special in mind for a player who really wanted to be evil. His character (who, by the way, is female) is a seducer who has a fondness for cats. She joined the party feigning a (role-played) schizophrenic. She has the rest of the party trusting at least some of her personalities completely. But, her evil acts are numerous enough to attract the attention of Ravenloft, even when the party doesn't figure her out. So far she has gained an incredible agility but is cursed with slitted eyes and with clawed hands. She is not aware fully that it is a curse--in fact she thinks it's neat. But she is complaining to the Dark Powers about having difficulty with her disguises. She is currently stage II. When she goes on to stage III, she will become very animalistic in appearance--like an unfriendly, female Vincent (does anyone watch the series Beauty and the Beast?). She will most likely continue to be evil, and probably wants to be able to seduce anybody. By stage VI she will be transformed into a black cat. She will rule her own domain (a nice big mansion with some appropriate encounters) and will have just about anything a cat could want. But she will be unable to do what she wants to do most--seduce. One can like a cat, pet a cat, and even love a cat. But a cat cannot have intercourse with a human, nor can a cat appeal to a human male's lust. This limitation will forever taunt the cat character, or at least until the cat's former player's new character can destroy her. One can make use of a long list of Ravenloft Powers curses and benefits when making NPCs. Players should be encouraged to take steps to keep the list from being used on them, naturally. But the list is handy not only when they do decide to be evil, but also when making NPCs who decided to yield to temptation. Anyone else have any Ravenloft Powers Domination effects to share? -------------------------------------------------------- From Z_COOLIDGEJS@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU Mon Jun 22 15:13:21 1992 Subject: RL-L: RE:, well, RE a lot of things The Master of the Dark Powers Sends: ...(wonderful bibliography stuff) >For those interested in a good vampire film, check out the Frank >Langella version of Dracula as well as the ever campy Fright Night. >Both are excellent examples of how to play off a vampire showing >absolute disdain to mortal men. If any of you can find the TV movie _Vampire_, starring Richard Lynch, you will understand why I cast Lynch as Strahd in my version of Ravenloft. He is truely frightening and yet subtle. He doesn't turn into a bat or even show fangs. But he is truely scary! OK, so there is the occasional campyness (Person 1: "His place is somewhere in this grave yard, maybe a shack." Person 2:"Or a crypt?" Audience:"Brilliant thinking!"). But all in all it is wonderful, and contains very memorable dialog. ("For God's sake give me my cross!", "Do you hear it, the sound of blood, beating in your heart....") I am looking forward to the latest Dracula remake. I hope the makers go for Gothic instead of gore. >I'm big on researching plots, and story telling technique. Getting back >to the basics. How about you guys? Yes, Quite. But with a few modifications. People now days are accustomed to faster paced action. It may be necessary to "break in" new players using the more dungeon-rompy modules first, then proceed to the ones that are "slower" but more true to the genre. For example, the I6 Classic _Ravenloft_ is a bit of a dungeon romp, as is FoG, though they both have their share of terror. But I10 _Rav II...Gryphon Hill_ and _Ship of Horror_ are more eirie and intellectual. Save those guys for when the party is most ready, and they will be more effective. Ultimately, I do agree that a return to the classical days is necessary, for blood and guts is secondary to the true terrors: nightmares with a strange, twisted meaning and even a grotesque beauty. >I know some read the literature and the history texts, but every time >I've mentioned this in the past--preparing a reading list to scan over >for certain types of adventures/Dark Lords-- I have been soundly >slam dunked. Is the new blood interested in this stuff, or is research >not something for the faint of heart. The big problem is finding time. Time is both the greatest enemy and the strongest ally of any entity. It turns against us every turn in matters of gameing, however. >Someone on rec.games.frp a while ago (I believe he's a subscriber) >offered tapes with sound effects on them (no, I don't think it was the >famous Zigon Ravenloft music tapes, but those are undoubtedly cool too-- >it was Zigon, right?). Is that guy still out there. Does anyone know >of how to get some good sound effects to set the tone? It was me, Zigon, who posted a "Ravenloft" soundtrack for previous games, and it indeed wasn't me who had sound effects. One discovery I made is that some of the best games go without much music. Also, the DM must have control over the music choices or the atmosphere can easily get lost. Sound effect tapes should be easy to find. I could be mistaken, however. >Anybody else start your Ravenloft game with 1-2 level characters. >That's what I do right now. They have to walk a fine line, though, or >characters can go REAL fast. No Strahd von Zarovich for them, that's >for sure. Well, were I a second level mage, and were I to see Strahd, I would be VERY AFRAID! However, players tend to be wreckless. (I'll attack. Heck, if I die, I'll just roll up a new character.) Actually, low level characters in Ravenloft sounds like a good idea. They would seek to avoid combat with anything unless they were absolutely sure they could defeat it. Lycanthropes would be more likely to kill than spread their disease. Even low level undead could spread their curses. Of course, one would have to make more custom adventures and rely less on T$R. Low level characters would avoid Hack and Slash Syndrome and would make small gains all the more rewarding. Gaining a level of experience would take on a whole new meaning. >Does anyone know of any work that's been done of any quality in the RPG >industry on lycanthropes? It might be helpful when running von Kharkov [sic] >and his domain or else Feast of Goblyns, should I run that one. I don't know about you, but I think a lot of the werewolf material for all RPGs stink. I think that werewolves are all the more effective when they are based more on the original legends. I don't mind the bipedial form so long as the werewolf can still transform all the way into a wolf. (In fact I do it all the time.) But so much werewolf stuff is Hollywood amplification of obscure myths. Some things are even reversed from the true legends. For example, belladonna is not a cure for lycanthropy; it helps them change. The two most common things associated with werewolves are silver and full moons. Silver is an obscure myth; many legendary werewolves have died by other means. The full moon is practically bogus. Most werewolves just need a good night or a bad mood to change. Not all werewolves are even evil or cursed. Those that are evil are so not because they are part wolf, but because they are part human. Of course, things work differently in Ravenloft; I just said a lot of the above to make a point. >Are NPCs used as cannon fodder in your games, or do you "make your point" using >PCs. The House of Lament requires that somebody die in order that others >escape. How would you play that? If an NPC dies who hasn't been in the game >very long it loses a lot of its edge. If a PC dies--argh--well a PC has to die >for effect, and that's not always such a hot idea.... I've been creaming NPCs when I don't need them any more. So far no player has died, but that may change. I have not had much of a chance to game. I plan on running a game in about a month; a big one with more than twice the normal amount of players I would normally allow. In this game I'm pulling the death stops out; if anyone dies he's gone. I'll see how it goes. The game is not AD&D, much less Ravenloft, but it is intended as omenous horror. -------------------------------------------------------------- From alvalent@husc Mon Jun 22 13:28:03 1992 Subject: RL-L: Mail Volume Some who are new to the list may think we have an abnormally low load. This is surely a fallacy. I assure you it is a summertime phenomenon. Check out our archives if you doubt. We started over spring break. For those worried about low volume--POST, POST, POST. Unfortunately many of my posts have to do a) with list operation and are not fun to read b) are immense and take some time to come up with But indeed, our posting has bought it for the summer, eh? So, here goes: -------------------------------- I have compiled a bibliography with the help of others of suggested reading material and possible research contacts if you would like to delve into the Louisiana Voodun tradition presented in Night of the Walking Dead. I could suggest some reading on Cesare Borgia and the rest of his clan as well as post some info on him if you are interested in the poisonous treachery of Boritsi and Dilysnia. For those interested in checking out some info on vampires and werewolves, I point you to books by Nancy Garden. They are well researched and excellent reading. For those interested in tales of general strangeness, especially ghosts, I point you toward the works of Daniel Cohen, although admittedly, his point of view is sometimes biased toward his personal perceptions on the supernatural. For those interested in a good vampire film, check out the Frank Langella version of Dracula as well as the ever campy Fright Night. Both are excellent examples of how to play off a vampire showing absolute disdain to mortal men. For good gothic plots cheap, rent some of the assorted E. A. Poe tales acted out by Peter Lorre and Vincent Price and then read the original texts. The movies give you the feel, the text the vocabulary to use in descriptions. On that note: the first edition DMG had a variety of synonyms for colors so you didn't fall into you're in a red room with a blue rug, but could instead say that they pass into a crimson cubicle filled with azure carpeting. I suggest preparing a list of key adjectives and catch\ phrases from gothic novels. It would greatly add to the telling of the tale. Also, if we divide our list by author, we could say "OK, I'm running a ghost tale based on Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. My descriptions should sound like this, my vocabulary like that, if I want to set the appropriate tone." I'm big on researching plots, and story telling technique. Getting back to the basics. How about you guys? I know some read the literature and the history texts, but every time I've mentioned this in the past--preparing a reading list to scan over for certain types of adventures/Dark Lords-- I have been soundly slam dunked. Is the new blood interested in this stuff, or is research not something for the faint of heart. Someone on rec.games.frp a while ago (I believe he's a subscriber) offered tapes with sound effects on them (no, I don't think it was the famous Zigon Ravenloft music tapes, but those are undoubtedly cool too-- it was Zigon, right?). Is that guy still out there. Does anyone know of how to get some good sound effects to set the tone? Anyone have any good sound effects albums? I have one of thunderstorms that's absolutely oppressive and will surely fill my players with dread. I have an excellent classical CD by CBS records, called FRIGHT NIGHT which has all those great haunting things on it, the Tocata and Fugue in D Minor, the Danse Macabre, Halls of the Mountain King, etc. Great stuff. Anybody else start your Ravenloft game with 1-2 level characters. That's what I do right now. They have to walk a fine line, though, or characters can go REAL fast. No Strahd von Zarovich for them, that's for sure. Has anyone thought of running one of the ghostly darklords yet? Are you gonna incorporate anything in from VRGtoG? Anyone else have Lords of Darkness? It's a FR undead supplement. Really nifty stuff. A spotlight on every major type of undead. Well worth getting. Does anyone know of any work that's been done of any quality in the RPG industry on lycanthropes? It might be helpful when running von Kharkov [sic] and his domain or else Feast of Goblyns, should I run that one. BTW does anyone else think that FoG looks like a big dungeon crawl. Maybe it's just my perceptions from having read it, but not yet having run it. Did anyone make use of that necromancer's spell list, or the write-up on Jack the Ripper, or anything else? I hope so. They add lots of evil to my games. The Jack the Ripper plot, when tied in with my Dorvinian plot lines looks like a soap opera, which, of course, looks like many gothics. Have you had trouble making your players believe that not everyone in Ravenloft is out to get them? My guys have dealt only with Ivan Dilysnia and his men, and have a skewed perception of the world--a very paranoid one. Are NPCs used as cannon fodder in your games, or do you "make your point" using PCs. The House of Lament requires that somebody die in order that others escape. How would you play that? If an NPC dies who hasn't been in the game very long it loses a lot of its edge. If a PC dies--argh--well a PC has to die for effect, and that's not always such a hot idea.... Enough bantering. Flame, respond, compliment, destroy, anything, just POST, POST, POST Take care, friends Yours doomfully, Lee -------------------------------------------------------------- From bdj@engr.uark.edu Mon Jun 22 13:34:14 1992 Subject: RL-L FoG I bought this one. It has some interesting Ideas on things that you can use and do to your players. But as an adventure I wouldn't run it. I think Lee stated it perfectly by calling it a "dungeon crawl" -------------------------------------------------------------- From DPETITE@ATRGMO.AGR.CA Mon Jun 22 13:59:07 1992 Subject: RL-L: Low Level Characters 'Lo, In Lee's begging for postings (sorry lee) he mentioned the use of Low Level characters in RL. I was ecstatic about the system when it first appeared but have slowly become disallusioned. The major factor is that I do not have a group of regular players (you may have seen this lament on other lists) and end up doing a solo game with my SO only. Her Forgotten Realms character is about 5th level and in my opinion not suited to RL. I have tried one mini module dealing with an intruder from Boritsia's Realm. She had to follow the Ermordenung into RL after he caused trouble in WaterDeep. Now other then short little intros to the place, I could not consider giving her the full effect of the world with out killing her off. If anybody has any ideas about how to handle Low Level characters in RL. Any introductions from the FRs would help too. Please Send ! David C Petite (No Cute Footer) -------------------------------------------------------------- From hcraig@mischief.ksc.nasa.gov Mon Jun 22 15:39:02 1992 Subject: RL-L Low level Characters This is how I started out my low level Ravenloft campaighn. I would like to hear some more ideas for Dorvinia adventures. I am trying to work in the jack the ripper plot somtime soon it's a good story. I have started out my Ravenloft game with 1st level characters. I Started out the players as prominent sons and daughters of the local ruling class and let them enjoy a taste of the good life before I put them in Ravenloft after about a half hour of play time. Suddenly they discovered that one of the characters sisters had just been kidnaped by some goblins and they set out to rescue her. To their supprise they ran into a very foggy valley and when they came out the other side of it they found themselves lost in a land they had never seen before (Ravenloft). I placed them in Dorvinia because I felt this area was well suited for low level characters. They ran across an inn run by a man named Kopek who is a servent for Ivan Dylisnia. This inn is located in Vor Ziyden which I developed to be a farming community devoted to providing exotic foods for Ivans Table. Under orders to recruit anybody that looked like they could handle a sword, Kopek poisoned them with a poison that requires a weekly antidote. Now the players are on a leash to this town. They are the guardians of Vor Ziyden and its highly prized produce. Using this method I can keep them out of lands where otherwise they would end up in big trouble until they have gained higher levels. They have also heard rumors that the characters sister who was kidnaped is being held prisoner by someone in Borovia because she looks like someones long lost love. They will proably run into her as a vampire around 5th or 6th level. Anybody else have any good ideas along this line. Hal hcraig@mischief.ksc.nasa.gov -------------------------------------------------------------- From hcraig@mischief.ksc.nasa.gov Thu Jun 25 08:41:02 1992 Subject: RL-L non-undead. Is anyone using non-undead monsters to strike fear into the hearts of their players. Feast of Goblins is a good example of this. Anybody have any good plots along these lines. Hal hcraig@mischief.ksc.nasa.gov -------------------------------------------------------------- From robillar@iro.umontreal.ca Thu Jun 25 10:11:54 1992 Subject: RL-L: Re: non-undead monsters Is anyone using non-undead monsters to strike fear into the hearts of >their players. Feast of Goblins is a good example of this. Anybody have any >good plts along these lines. > >Hal >hcraig@mischief.ksc.nasa.gov Well there is a little something I recall, but it was "ages ago" when I use to be DM. I'm writing this from memory and as you can imagine I don't have my AD&D stuff with me in the lab... At one time I decided to create a one night adventure for halloween (wich I think is really underated compared to the big X-MAS thing, anyway...). It turned out that children were vanishing and after some investigation the clues pointed toward an old abandonned house on a lonely hill with all the gothique decore. The children were indeed in the house but they weren't alone... I won't go in to all the details but here are two of the encounters wich kind of confused the party: - note: the aura of the house prevents detect evil and know alignment etc... (it always read evil anyway) #1 at one time the party encountered two "children", a young boy and a young girl playing with a large ball. they turned out to be two boggarts (immature form of the will-o-the-wisp who as the ability to take the form of any small humanoid) and BTW the big ball turned out to be a gas spore with an illusion cast on it to ressemble a big("beach") ball and it was a real DM pleasure to see the reaction of the party when Mr. big fighter "pushed" the ball aside when it was innocently thrown at him by the kids.(Mr. fighter had his also big magic sword in hand at the time...) #2 another of the encounters was with a teenage girl who was locked, weeping, in a bedroom filled with teedy bears, rabbits and all kind of small furry friends... she was a .. humm... i don't recall the name but it is the offspring of a succubus and a man or something like that (it's in MM2 of AD&D v1) they are not necessarily evil and in this case she was CN and a MU of course. it was the first time I used minimals (MM2 again) wich were the stuffed animals. BTW at one point as the party was not doing everything the little lady wanted she threatened them with her teedy wich kind of made Mr fighter in particular (yes him again he never learns...) laugh until she put her teedy down(a cave bear minimal) and cast an enlarge spell on it... But mostly the children were all normal and from the village, only some of them weren't "real" children but all were kind of little pest cause they all wanted to stay since the house was so much fun for them (not as much for the party). I can asure you that this particular party is not all that eager to have children of there own because even regular children in this adventure were a real challenge(Mr big fighter first of all). The big thing in this adventure is to make the real children seem like monsters and the monters to be .. well little monsters. And remember to keep them on the edge(remember monsters will infiltrate the party and not attack right away to confuse them and mixt with the real children again..) P.S. I don't really remember the context of the adventure to "logicaly" explained why these monsters were there but I think you get the picture... Have a "ball" Chris -------------------------------------------------------------- From Z_COOLIDGEJS@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU Thu Jun 25 14:14:55 1992 Subject: RL-L: Non Undead in the realm of FoG Hal asks: > Is anyone using non-undead monsters to strike fear into the hearts of >their players. Feast of Goblins is a good example of this. Anybody have any >good plts along these lines. And Andy asks: >Have any reviews of the Official Ravenloft products been posted >to this list? > >I am particularly interested in the modules, such as Feast of Goblyns. >Are they well done, or am I better off creating my own. Opinions >greedily accepted and thankfully responded to. What luck, I have a copy of Feast of Goblyns in front of me. Werewolves and other lycanthropes, as well as wolfweres, make wonderful non-undead encounters. Of course you know that took a lot of imagination. (Sarcasm towards self) Some good non-undead monsters to try would be various molds and fungi (including the ever loved geletanous cube), cats, rats, lycanthropes of any sort, anything in the Monsterous Compendia that look weird, bats, golems (Resemble the classic Dr. Frankenstein's monster), and things that could possibly have a horror element if one simply uses a little imagination. On the list of creatures that fit the theme of Ravenloft on the Boxed set panels, even unicorns and pegasi are listed. How they fit into horror seems illusive. I guess they were ment to appear in Sithicus, with all of those elves whose very presence torments both Lord Soth and my friend Brandon Cope. (He hates elves because of their use in Monty Haul gaming). About Feast of Goblyns: The first few pages worth are stuff that enhances the Boxed set--advice and tips on how to make an encounter felt. However, the rhetoric is pretty much the same stuff said on the list. On page 5 is a wonderful table of non-physical encounters, which I keep handy for any game. It is mainly useful for inspiration, because only ten encounters are listed. Feast of Goblyns explains a lot about Karkatas and presents a new domain that will appear on the mainland (in the notch on the bottom of the map) if the players can't stop it. It gives the floor plans for the Old Karkatan Inn and gives a lot of vital information for any campaigning in the area. It includes maps of Harmonia and Daglan (the new domain), and presents some interesting NPCs; not all of whom have to die. And then there is the crown of souls, a nifty device that turns a person into one of those things on the left side of the cover of the module. FoG includes a poster that I am sure nearly every list member has on his or her wall, and a speciallized Ravenloft character sheet on the inside of a two page cardboard panels--it is difficult to photocopy in its full beauty, but it is nice. In short, Feast of Goblyns is a module, a suppliment on Karkatas, and an issue of Dragon Magazine all rolled into one. As for the module itself, IT IS AN EPIC! It has about 80 pages worth of adventure, plus about ten more pages of NPCs, things, and background on the land. Don't get FoG if you want a one shot, one night adventure. If you have a full week of free time, go for it! So far all I have done is praised it. (No, T$R did not bribe me.) But it is not quite perfect. First, it is assumed that the PCs enter Harmonia. The DM must find a way to get them there. The module was the first after The Box came out, so it assumes that the PCs are not even in Ravenloft. This is but a minor problem, however. It just means that the DM must get the party around. The main complaint I have is that though the module starts off as a great story, it turns into Ravenloft Jones and the Temple of Doom. One day of real time the party is dealing with wolfweres, strange killings, and spooky land scapes. But then the adventure leads into a temple of skeletons, little guys, and other I-Wish-I-could-afford-the-Battlesystem-rules-because-you-see-100-of-them type encounters. The DM has to fudge some dice and let single slashes kill, otherwise he will have to keep track of too much information. This tends to promote hack-and-slash gaming, which is just the thing I am trying to cure. When there isn't a mass production of monsters there is an assembly line of one encounter after another. Has any of you seen the cover to Dio's album The Last in Line? Imagine the big guy on the cover without skin, muscles, organs, or anything for that matter except bones. That gives you an idea of how the place is decorated. Once the players go through that place (To get the crown of souls) the rest of the story is a big AAARRRRGGGGG!!!!!!! as the party learns that they did just what the enemy wanted them to do. This shock will probably help the party recover from the hack and slash feel; it may in fact cure some hack and slash people altogether. Afterwards, the adventure really begins where any other module would have run out of pages. The party tracks down the vampire guy who pulled the fast one, and end up having to enter Daglan, the new domain that they helped make. Too many beasts to count, Three new monsters (greater wolfwere, goblyn, and carnivorous plant), a price relatively cheap for all the stuff included, and some good moments at both ends of the module for some real scares. I give it two paws up, check it out. Did I mention that it also included a DM's screen suppliment on the inside cover? -------------------------------------------------------------- TAKE NOTE: THIS IS A LONG POST. IT IS THE LAST OF THE DIGEST. IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN IT STOP HERE FOR THERE IS NOTHING AFTER IT. From alvalent@husc Sun Jun 21 01:45:11 1992 Subject: RL-L: maybe you're interested >From rec.games.frp I have the "Keepers' Notes" for how to run Call of Cthulhu. How everyone on the net says to scare people and such. Perhaps you are interested and may find some things related material. Perhaps not. I include this not to change the subject to CoC on the Ravenloft list, but rather because many of the bits are generic "horror genre" how-tos. Also, a bit of CoC flavor wouldn't be bad for the Bluetspur module with the mind flayers due to fill in the gap in the Hyskosan prophecy. Take care lee ------------- Hello Cthulhu Keepers, what follows is a summary of all email I received in return to my question about how an intense atmosphere is generated during a Call of Cthulhu session. Thanks a LOT to all people who wrote me. Your hints and examples helped me a lot. Due to a problem with international mail I had, I could not thank you for your letters via email. Sorry. bye ... Oliver (special thanks to Jennifer and The Secret Man for their very long letters) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Wendy Well, I've been playing Cthulhu for a while. The thing our keeper tries to do is to encourage the fear of unknow. He let us know a little bit of what's going on. And then the party starting digging for more info, as the more we dig, some Npcs, contacts starting dying. On one hand, we are scared, on the other, we want to find out what's going on. This goes in cycles. -- Wendy Knight wliaw@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Mark Kampe (1) dim light (2) music (Dias Eree, Carmina Burana, Der Kunst der Fuege, ...) (3) invest the time to provide descriptions with the proper over-used adjective style (read some Lovecraft and Derlith until you understand the Genre) (4) use timing, inflection and speak slowly to add dramatic emphasis (5) make creepy things happen even when the party is walking down the street (shadows, sounds, smells, feelings) (6) one CofC GM used to wear a tuxedo and come to the door carrying an old candelabra ... milk it for all its worth in summary, keep the players paranoid and the PCs are sure to follow ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Michael P Collins On your Cthulhu Question #1)VERY LITTLE COMBAT. CoC characters die at an absurdly fast rate anyway and it's not exactly a quick generation system. If the characters die too fast, the players'll leave real fast. #2)Read Lovecraft. This can't be understated, the entire game takes its flavor from H.P. #3)One of the overwhelming moods of CoC is the whole...futility...of the character's actions. Characters might be able to take care of cultists, maybe high priests, even take out a few of the lesser races, but to the Great Old Ones, they're just petty annoyances. The spells do more harm then good, to even garner the attention of one of the GOO's, you need to be wholly, completely, darkly and utterly insane. The overlying theme is that all the virtues we aspire to, love, compassion, justice, are just pitiful illusions, the Great Old Ones, Nyarlathotep they're all evil, immoral and depraved beyond mortal comprehension, but they're RIGHT. If a character leaves a campaign, he should either die horribly or go insane. Any characters who go completely insane should be horribly lucid, disturbingly so. Villains should be in power in every situation. "All you Earthlings are idiots!"-Eros, Plan 9 From Outer Space ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: walder@rzmain.rz.uni-ulm.de Hallo Oliver, Du schriebst: [stuff del.] >But let's get serious. I would like to ask if anyone of the Cthulhu freaks >reading this newsgroup may have some hints for me how I can produce a real >intense atmosphere when mastering this game or some other advises because >this system differs a bit from the standard type of RPG and this is new for >me. [stuff del.] Also dann, erst mal willkommen in der Cthulhu-Mythos-Welt. Ich spiele seit ca. einem 3/4 Jahr Cthulhu und habe seit dem mit meiner 4-Mann(und Frau)-Truppe folgende Abenteuer 'ueberlebt' :-) - Jenseits von Kalkamal - Tempel des Mondes - Wiener Blut - Weisse Spuren Was fuer eine Version von CoC hast Du denn? Die amerikanische Originalausgabe oder das deutsche Laurin-Buch? Wir spielen hier mit der dt. Version... Also: was wirkt bei Spielern ??? Die ungeschriebenen Regeln: 1. BESCHREIBE GUT: kein noch so gutes Adventure taugt etwas, wenn der Spielleiter die Stimmung durch Witze oder unnoetige Kommentare zerreist. Auch die Spieler zur Disziplin erziehen: 'was gesagt wird, gilt' - kennst Du ja... 2. ZEIGE GUT: Sind Handouts da, nutze sie! Ich habe von Gruppen gehoert, die trotz diverser Photos und Plaenen nichts verwendet haben. Sehen heisst glauben... 3. ENTWERFE SELBST: Wird z.B. in einer Spielsituation der Fund eines Tagebuchs beschrieben, schreib die Zeilen ab. Es ist schoen, wenn man als Spieler ploetzlich etwas 'handfestes' erhaelt... 4. STIMME GUT - ALLES GUT: unter Umstaenden musst Du mal einen Dialekt improvisieren... sei bei Cthulhu auf alles gefasst... ;-) Ansonsten - einfach so realistisch wie moeglich sein... Schreib mir ein paar Zeilen, wenn Du willst, o.k.? Wuerde mich interessieren, wo Du sitzt.... Moegen Dich die Grossen Alten ignorieren :-) Gruss.. Matthias (a.k.a. Ray Bryant, Private Investigator) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Viktor Haag In article you write: >Hello Call Of Cthulhu keepers ! > >I bought the rules of CoC a few days ago and while reading through them I >recognized that this is the system for me: from now on I can make my players >share my nightmares !! >But let's get serious. I would like to ask if anyone of the Cthulhu freaks >reading this newsgroup may have some hints for me how I can produce a real >intense atmosphere when mastering this game or some other advises because >this system differs a bit from the standard type of RPG and this is new for >me. I can think of one cardinal rule that has always worked well for me in CoC playing and running. Never use excess. I find that the best mood generated by CoC is best served by understatement and the gradual building of terror over a nice long period of time. Avoid the temptation to go for the grossout -- describe violence and beasties in a calm and erudite manner, but avoid gore. Don't use too many gimmicks, facts or player handouts. They distract from the mood. Use handouts for those things which you know the players will want to refer to many times (handing out books of matches and such things can be cute, but hardly ever works well). Don't try and recreate the period exactly -- depend on mood and theme, not historical fact to represent the period. I usually try to figure out where in the scenario the period facts will have the most effect on the player's grasp of the period and exploit two or three of these points per adventure -- the difficulty of long distance telephone, the lack of instant information, the great power of the police, the different treatment of the sexes can all be used as 'genre placers' to great effect but should not be over used. One thing that works well, is to have one of these 'genre placing' items as the 'theme' for that night's session -- build the play around it. This concentrates focus and helps the players to believe that they are in the 1920s -- details about what tech was available, the speeds of the cars of the period, how many napkins were placed at the dinner table and so forth are interesting trivia, but only distract attention from the real differences. Don't rely on surfaces, try and concentrate on basic social phenomena. Lighting and theme music are good but be careful -- I have found that the most effective for me is dim lighting, but not candles -- one lamp placed right behind the Keeper works really well ( i have a floor lamp that illuminates my papers, keeps the players in the dim light, and does not glare when they look at me, but still keeps me as the focal point of the session; it's perfect). Lot's of people like dismal music, but I find that this distracts, an quite often people use music inappropriate to the time period. I like using either classical music for the sessions where things will be dark and dirty, or pre-bebop jazz for the average session (Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Glen Miller, the Dorseys, and so on). This helps to cement and focus the mood, and genre again -- an essential part of the genre is the playoff of terror on the frivolity of the Roaring Twenties; use that contrast to the greatest effect by having Bright Young Things background to your terror. Play some early 20th century stage tunes, if you can find 'em. I have foun that anything up to the late forties works with most players, but if you have a discerning music listner in the group, draw on his/her expertise. All these are not hard and fast rules, but my own observations. Do what is most comfortable with you and yours. -- Viktor Haag ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn Hello... Here's what I usually try to do when Keeping a CoC session: 1) Dim the lights, add candles...play after dark ONLY, basements are good 2) Read plenty (LOTS) of stories by Lovecraft, that really helps to capture mood 3) When a player gets hit by a creature, don't kill him...just scratch him, one or two maybe three hps gone...that makes a character feel less helpless, but have a feeling of impending doom 4) Try, REALLY try, to freak the characters out...toss in red herrings, and other stuff that makes no sense...the adventures, if we can call them that, should make no sense...you're dealing with alien creatures... Whatever, The Yellow King. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Paul Peterson In article you write: >Hello Call Of Cthulhu keepers ! > >I bought the rules of CoC a few days ago and while reading through them I >recognized that this is the system for me: from now on I can make my players >share my nightmares !! >But let's get serious. I would like to ask if anyone of the Cthulhu freaks >reading this newsgroup may have some hints for me how I can produce a real >intense atmosphere when mastering this game or some other advises because >this system differs a bit from the standard type of RPG and this is new for >me. > >Thanks a lot in advance. > >Please note: send answers via email to reduce traffic on this group. After > two weeks or so I will post a summary of all contributions > together with a list of your names. Thank you ! > >bye, Oliver > >--- >root@bridge.rni.sub.org (Oliver Reiser) Hi, My experiences with CoC is that it's best enjoyed when played in 'unusual' places -- in the utility room of the basement is nice, as is the attic (especially if both are unfinished)! But then again, an open meadow on a sunny day can also add to the mood. Generally speaking, however, darker places seem to be the best -- but only with gamers you've known for a while! I've played CoC or other macabre RPGs in a variety of places -- from conference rooms at work to the kitchen table at home to friend's basements to the great outdoors. The more memorable games have been played in the customary dark places (basements/attics), with the least memorable being in the more conventional places (kitchen table/conference rooms). But then, it may simply have been the abilities of the different Keepers which made the game more memorable. Is there a connection between darker places and Keeper's abilities? Who knows! Of course, when one plays this game, one expects truely macabre events to take place. Where one may be squeemish to describe in detail the gory details of battle in AD&D (for instance), doing so in CoC will add to the game (my experiences). Also, for some reason, short yet extremely violent and intense episodes within the game make the game more fun and memorable. Of course, most everyone's idea of violence/intensity differs, so if either you or your players aren't used to such activity, then by all means, hold back for a while anyway! As with most games, a creative and descriptive Keeper will really make the game. Don't simply throw monsters at the players -- make them realize the full horror of the damned things! [pun intended] That's about all the advise I can give. Don't bother with decorating the place with macabre paintings or playing new-age music or any of that -- horrible events in semi-dark-yet-fairly-normal places is about all the 'atmosphere' you need! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Jennifer Lynn Piatek In rec.games.frp you write: >Hello Call Of Cthulhu keepers ! >I bought the rules of CoC a few days ago and while reading through them I >recognized that this is the system for me: from now on I can make my players >share my nightmares !! >But let's get serious. I would like to ask if anyone of the Cthulhu freaks >reading this newsgroup may have some hints for me how I can produce a real >intense atmosphere when mastering this game or some other advises because >this system differs a bit from the standard type of RPG and this is new for >me. Hi, Here's a few hints, some may be similar to the book, others are from some experience (I've been running a CoC campaign for about a year, playing around one a month). First, and most important of all, read some Lovecraft. No, wait, read ALL the Lovecraft you can get your hands on -- Ballantine Books publishs several compilations of his stories, including a "Best of" trade paperback -- you can find these occasionally in a B.Dalton or Waldenbooks. Also, read any Mythos books you can read -- August Derleth, Robert E. Howard wrote a few (somewhere on the net someone did a "Mythos Bibliography" -- ask in alt.horror for it, maybe they still have it). Notice that in these stories that it isn't the gore or the hideous violent deaths of the characters that makes the story scary, its the description and the language (i.e. you're not scared because Jason is hacking up the heroine, but because what the words make you visualize is horrible). Try and fit this into the descriptions you are going to give your players. If the room is black, don't say it is black, say it is "the color of the deepest, darkest, starless night." or something similar. And try to use the tone of your voice to get a message across. If something is happening while the players can't do anything, ignore them. Keep describin what is going on and let them keep pestering you (this may piss some of them off a bit, but if they are suppsoed to be helpless, this works better than just saying "you can't do anything"). Don't say "you see a ghoul", say "you see a human figure creeping towards you. but, wait a minute, its no the right color, its an icky grey color, and as you stare at it, it reaches for your with extended, clawlike hands. what's your sanity?" its scarier, the players don't know what they are dealing with and the unknown is always scariest. As for a place to play, try and use a large area -- preerably a table where you can sit at one end and they can sit on the sides and at the otehr end. Turn the lights down, but not too much (you still need to see). Try and get any rules questions or module reading out of the way ahead of time -- it breaks up play. Also, when you are playing, instead of letting the players always make their skill rolls -- "gee, i made my library use roll, what do I find?..or "shit, i blew my speak french roll" -- roll for them (helps if you have a chart of their percentages in front of you). This way, if they fail their roll, or if you fudge it a little (if a clue is really important and the scenario will halt dead if they don't find it -- fudge rarely though), you can just tell them what they find, and if they blow it badly, you can give them something wrong or opposite what they know (i had a player identify a really old Tarot deck as deck of cards used to play a game called Wendigo -- scared him a bit and was a running joke for awhile). When you are playing, try and keep things moving, but let the players bullshit if they want (in character, of course). This way they get to know each other and things will seem even wrose if one of them dies (even non-hideously) and makes them work together better. And try and keep them in the dark. I've noticed that the better scenarios I've run kept the players clueless as to what the bad guys were doing (usually the bad guys make themselves obvious, but not what they are doing). When they suddenly have the knowledge to try and stop the bad guy, it intensifies the mood (rather than "we have three days to complete the ritual. no sweat" we have "oh no! we have to complete the spell in three minutes or the icky dead things will beat down the door and kill us!") Also, it helps to play mood music. Something dark, something nasty. Bach tends to work rather well, as does Wagner or the soundtrack from Fantasia (Night on Bald Mountain -- Moussorgsky is good as well). If you havve to, make up your own tape of good songs to play by -- try and stay away from lyrics if you can though. they are very distracting. Another good album, if you ignore the lyrics, is "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" by the Alan Parons Project -- based on stories by Poe. Most of the adventures Choaosium publishes (I haven't written my own adventure yet, but I have written a "lead-in" red herring that got the players a little too paranoid and wasted time..) have the players pretty much getting lead arond by the nose, so to speak. Not that this is bad, though, as long as the players don't know what is happening. Usually there is only one course of action they can take, or only a few places they can go (i.e. the new Horror on the Orient Express campaign. The players have no choice but to follow the Express route, and in other adventures things are similar at times). Just don't let them figure out that the bad guys are manipulating them, or that they are walking in a trap (good players will realize this is happening, but won't care). I've noticed my players are getting seriously paranoid as well -- the first thing they tend to ask when they meet someone is "does he blink?" and more than once they've checked out someone just to make sure they are for real -- a nobleman being listed in a ?Peerage? somewhere, or finding birth and death certificates to see if this person really existed, or died of natural causes. Paranoia makes things scarier, even if they aren't scary at all. Let your players read Lovecraft (not lots, just some :)) and make sure they know the rules (arguing that Linguistics is the study of written words and not spoken words like the rules say will destroy the mood). BUT, never run a scenario that one of them knows. Its like reading a mystery if you already know who the killer is. Ruins the mood. Completely. Let the player go on hiatus for a while, or get anotehr adventure. And don't forget that the rules are merely a guideline -- you don't always have to follow them to the letter, but if you stop following them things could fall apart. Just for incidentals, as I close this rambling piece of (), you can always use random props for effect. Make them check that blob of wax for a signet imprint -- if they eagerly grab the envelope and break it, they don't get that clue. If a letter is written in blood on parchment, get some parchment (or put some paper in the oven, or stain it with coffee) and then write on it in a red-brown paint or ink. The handouts in published adventures are a wonderful touch by Chaosium, and you can always imporve on them. Make everything more real and the horror will seem more real, too. Dressing in black, using good facial expressions (ever seen an actor in a movie and just *known* their character was looney toons because of the expression?) and playing at night can help too -- especially on Friday the 13th. But that is incidental. Just get the mood and keep i there! Good luck, and may Cthulhu always loathe you :) Jen Piatek (piatej@rpi.edu) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Mark Reimers I suggest candlelight myself. Make it bright enough that people can see their character sheets, but dim enough for the corners to be full of shadows. -M ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: The Secret Man Atmospheric tips for choosing CofC players: 1. First, kill all the lawyers. Or just ban them from the game, unless they get down and beg to be allowed in. Tell them that they don't get any second chances; the first time they say "But that's not possible!" out of character, remove them from play. I REALLY got tired of certain players stamping their little foot(s) and saying, "THAT'S not how XXXX works, *I* know, because I was an XXXX major in college." I embarrassed myself once on a bit of (Roman) Catholic "mythology", once, but that's because I was lazy; examples of what I despise: having people complain that their characters should "get used" to seeing monsters, so they don't lose SAN for things they've seen before... bah!! being told that ANY given thing, situation or action is "impossible"... this is especially revolting if the player *insists* on "proving" that something is "impossible" in character. The first time it happens, it could be fun... I had a fine time when the biologist took the samples of ghul tissue into the hospital to study them, got good slides, did chemistries and checked genetic structures (this is Cthulhu Later - in 2020, after an abortive WWIII a la Tw:2000), and found out that the tissues was dead. D-E-A-D dead. Not living. DEAD. For months, at least, and possibly for years... the 8th or 9th time you have to go through this (in more than cursory detail), you really begin to wonder if the player in question is *really* happy playing CofC. Perhaps a straightforward warning to your players will be sufficient. If you have a group with whom you've played before, from whose numbers you'll populate your campaign, you should know them well enough to gauge who'll be a problem and who won't. 2. Second, kill all the laugh-a-minute players. The ones for whom almost any sequence of words act as a trigger for some automatic response in the form of a joke or humorous outburst, or who are really bored when they aren't the center of attention, and who make snide remarks or funny jokes to *become* the center of attention. Humor is a natural part of life. Humor happens all the time, even in bizarre or horrifying circumstances. When a character observes something funny, it is natural (and appropriate) for them to respond accordingly. Sometimes a person will respond humorously to non-humorous things, in an attempt to cope with the situation. This is good, and fits well, if it is done *naturally* within the scope of the campaign. A humorous moment can add tremendously to a CofC campaign. The problem is that inappropriate humor (mostly and most especially out-of- character wise-cracking) ruins the atmosphere of a CofC game. Two examples from "life": In the campaign with the aforementioned biologist, one character (a recently retired Army captain) and said biologist were headed to a local asylum, where they hoped to interview a man who had been the victim of a strange attack, which had driven him insane. They happened to arrive early in the morning (just after dawn - they had an acquaintance in the asylum who was going to let them see the patient before the daytime staff came on duty), in time to find the police investigating the scene of a murder. An employee of the asylum (NOT the character's friend) had failed to report for work, and when another employee went outside to leave for the morning, they found parts of his remains... he had been "strained" through a wrought iron fence... After it was established that the characters were honest citizens, and that one of them was even a respected biologist (there was some bizarre evidence which the police might want to consult him about), one of the investigating police detectives explained the situation to the characters. As they examined the remains (which the police were still photographing, and getting samples from), the ex-Army captain (a combat veteran) looked up at the police detective and said, "Obviously suicide." We howled for almost five minutes. The build-up of the scene - spooky asylum, early hours, grisly crime - had gotten people a little wound up, and even the guy who told the joke couldn't stop laughing. This was a perfect example of an "appropriate" humorous moment. The inappropriate humorous moment is frequently in the form of a standing joke. The same Army captain was once trapped (with a squad of soldiers) in a town full of Deep Ones, and had to shoot his way out, at least part of the way. He lost about a quarter of his people but managed to survive until his team oould be dusted off via helicopter. Now, whenever the player is bored, he interjects some remark such as "fucker better not look like Peter Lorre" (usually about some NPC a party member is about to meet). While it IS humorous, and while it might be appropriate for his character to feel that way, it can really kill an atmosphere to have the omnipresent peanut gallery cracking wise while other people are playing. And yet I don't want for people to wander off and not BE there if they're not playing at the moment; CofC is a *role-playing* game, and I feel that (except for things which the other players shouldn't know, so their actions won't be prejudiced) people should have an audience to play to aside from myself. One can enjoy playing for the pure sake of playing, but it's a crime if no one but me *sees* a brilliantly played scene. Anyway, be careful about your choice of players in this aspect, too. Quiet, thoughtful players (who also enjoy watching others play as much as they enjoy playing themselves) make the best CofC players, if you want a Lovecraftian atmosphere in the campaign. 3. Third, gently remove any players who you know from experience hate playing in scenarios which they can't WIN; by "WIN", I mean kick butt and win, or solve the puzzle and win, or find a permanent solution to the problem and win. Call of Cthulhu should be (if you reach a grand-scale level) about a group of people fighting a rear-guard action which is designed to give humanity a little more time - a year, or a decade. Maybe a century (at most). Real, permanent solutions must be denied the characters if you want a proper CofC atmosphere. I have had one player - who is an excellent player, in some ways - who just wasn't happy playing, because of his damned engineer's problem-solving approach to role-playing games. He tries to reduce the scenario to a set of problems that can be tackled individually, so that once one has solved each part of the problem, on puts it all together and says, "Voila! No more problem!" As you can imagine, CofC proved frustrating to him; they almost NEVER find good, solid, physical evidence. When they do, problems usually ensue. The biologist, after discovering that the ghul tissues were DEAD, disposed of all his samples in an autoclave, so no one else could duplicate his work. I DID NOT HAVE TO SUGGEST THIS - the player reasoned that the character, although dedicated to truth and scientific advance, also had other responsibilities to consider; he's a Jesuit. Thus, he is biding his time, until he can find out if anyone in the church will take him seriously... Another time, the characters were sharing a remote house (being used as a barracks) with a bunch of mercenaries, who were working for someone the party had been following, but friendly with; the combined groups were attacked by a BIG pack of ghuls that night, and a LOT of people died (mostly NPCs, due to relatively lower combat skills; the PCs did well partly because there were so many cannon fodder for the ghuls to work on...). Even though the party now had over sixteen ghul bodies in their possession, they had to bury them; the surviving mercenaries pointed out that it was illegal for them to operate as a mercenary military unit inside of the U.S., and they wouldn't like to spend the next couple of years in prison. Neither would the characters, who would implicated... I'm sure you can get the drift, here. No matter how he tries, and EVEN THOUGH he *believes* in the horrors he is fighting, the character has been unable to build that nice, clear-cut case with the pretty bow on top, suitable for giving to the "top men", and bowing out of the picture. Another problem is the player who gets upset when the NPCs get axed. I tend to provide sacrificial NPCs for those scenarios that are guaranteed to kill; I don't believe in running the characters into situations that they absolutely cannot escape from, unless they adamantly insist on doing everything in the most hazardous way, and ignore every warning (which by now they have reason to heed), and, in essence, sign their own death warrants. In spite of this, there are situations when someone *IS* going to die, because the scenario is made that way. If that death is not avoidable (i.e., it HAS to happen, and it is an essentially arbitrary death), I set up NPC's (usually far in advance) to take the fall. As a case in point, in the scenario that had the Army captain trapped in a town full of Deep Ones, his squad had strangely familiar names and personae; Drake and Vasquez, Hicks and Hudson, Fero and Wierzbowski, Frost, Crow, Sgt. Apone, and Dietrich (the medic), and I think one or two others whose names I've forgotten. If these names are NOT familiar to you, they *are* the Marines from the movie ALIENS, and they were so named for what I hope is the *obvious* reason that they were *FATED* to die. In spite of this, the player (not just the character, the *player*) was upset that he lost so many of them, probably because he thought it reflected on his leadership ability... Sheesh. You can't win. See? 4. KEEP THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS (and characters) DOWN! I cannot emphasize this enough. For a special, mega-huge fight scene, with lots of lead-slinging cultists, a couple of monsters, and rare high adventure, you might have over a large group of people. Whatever you think you can do. For regular, week to week (or month to month in the case of my campaign) play, DON'T have more than 5 players. Less than 3 would probably be a bit boring on the character interaction side (less characters, less possible interactions), but more than 5 (or even 5) can have some nasty effects on your atmosphere. By its nature, CofC is a game where characters will HAVE to split up and work alone on some tasks (they won't live too long if they don't figure out WHICH tasks are usually safe to work on alone, of course). The reporter can't have three or four people traipsing around with them while they're doing the "Oh, I'd like to do an article about Mr. Thorne's well-known collection of antique serving silver" bit in order to get inside of the strange eccentric's house. Similarly, the P.I. will not have a lot of success contacting street sources of information if he has two unknown people in tow. This means that sometimes people will NECESSARILY have to sit and wait while the other players do their playing. The more people you have waiting their turn, the higher the "fidget quotient" will be. People who are friends can always find something to talk about if their minds begin to wander... so the fewer players you have, the lower the volume of background chatter will be. Even GOOD roleplayers will chat amongst each other while play is going on, and keep an ear bent toward the action for interesting stuff; if two people are talking, it might be distracting, but it might also be quiet and unobtrusive. A six-way conversation (or two three-way conversations) are NEVER quiet and unobtrusive. Really Atmospheric stuff: if the room is quiet enough, always speak in low tones, quietly, so they have to keep quiet to hear you. get a mechanical clock; that quiet "tock tock tock tock", if you get a GOOD one, can really set people on edge, especially as counterpoint to your understated, moody description of the situation. if you like to play atmospheric music from time to time, listen carefully to what you're going to play and cut down a "CofC atmosphere" version of the music onto tape. AVOID AT ALL COST vocal popular music; the lyrics will catch the attention of the players, which means they won't be paying attention to the game. Things like various Gregorian chants are usually acceptable, because very few players know the Latin - it's just voice sounds, not words. build atmospheric scenarios. My favorite one to date was in a house based on a house in a story by Brian Lumley ("The Running Man", having nothing to do with Steven King's R. Bachman novel of the same name). The party was on a trip through England, collecting certain things under the direction of some people they were working for. They had to stop to dicker with the owner of a pub over some panelling and trim (wainscoting) that the employer wanted, but which the owner of the pub didn't really want to sell. Since they had to stay for a couple of nights while the employer sent out a representative to talk with the pub owner, the party rented an empty house to stay in (it was quite a large party at this point, and there wasn't an inn or hotel in town). I put a lot of time into describing the layout of the house, with its staircase serving three floors and an attic (and a basement). I made sure that they ran into a strangely behaved local who intimated that it wasn't safe for them to be in *that house*. He was rather belligerent and paranoid, though, and didn't stay to elucidate. When, on the second night, some of the characters heard odd noises on the staircase, they were rather non-plussed to discover that it was now possible to ascend from the second floor to the second floor - sometimes; it was also possible to ascend from the second to the third, and the third to the third, and from the third to the attic. Descent was similarly problematical. Only the attic and the ground floor were "safe" points, firmly "rooted" (the cellar had not existed in the *original* house...). What really hammered them hard was when they started to leave the staircase on some of those "other" second and third floors... and found out that it was summer outside (it was February). Or that it was raining outside (it was bone dry), or snowbound (no snow on the ground at all...). And that there was no sign of their presence - no personal items, bedrolls, clothing, bags, etc. - on any of the "alternate" floors. One player finally had the presence of mind to begin to explore the time- paradox possibilities, and scratched a distinctive mark on the floor next to the second floor staircase on one of the "alternate" levels. That's when I rolled them all up for that night, because I *didn't* want them to cause any real time paradoxes; once they were all safely ensconced in their subjective "now", they found the mark on the floor - faded and scuffed, and obviously decades old. Needless to say, they hadn't noticed it on the way in, because they weren't looking for it :-), but it WAS there all along... (evil chuckle). The last night there was even weirder, but all the action happened while most of the group were working overtime at the pub, trying to get everything removed and loaded into the truck (the owner's problems having been solved). It ended with the house burning down, but all the PC's got out; some of the characters still hate places without elevators.... Otherwise, try to keep the monster appearances infrequent. Introduce them to at least one good, hideous monster that they *just can't kill*, no matter what they do, because *they aren't equipped to handle it*. It should be something which has good reason to either ignore them, or just beat them around a bit without killing all of them. The characters (and some players, come to think of it) MUST get the message that some things just CAN'T be blown up, shot or otherwise disposed of in mundane fashion. This will help in two ways; they might live longer (as a result of an opportunely timed wise decision to sneak or run away from something), and they might not be as likely to start blasting away at things that they really CAN kill with guns, unless forced to it. When people get into that "it's just a monster" mind-set, think of alternative ways to explain things to them... "Well, Bob, think of it this way. A Ghast is NOT just a big ghul. It's over three meters tall, verging on four; weighs more than the largest bear you ever saw, and has about two meters worth or reach. If Ghasts really existed, one could break in your second-floor bedroom window while standing outside, reach in, and strangle you while you tried to get out from under all that broken glass." Good luck. -- The Secret Man ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Jonas Mellin Welcome to the real world. I like storytelling more than problem solving. Here are a few hints, which I use: * Use candles * Play only when it is dark * Use background music like Brian Eno's Apollo (Fields of The Nephilim is a bit to heavy as mood music) * Keep the players in the dark. Do not let them get to much information. Especially not of the Cthulhu Deities. * Describe the horrific situtions with care. Lower your voice. Never ever tell the players directly what they have seen or experienced. Give them a few hints, maybe. * If the players fail, let a few of them live and remember the horrors. If failing means that the doom of mankind is near, just change it so that the doom never occurs, but do not tell your players that. Let them live in doubt and fear of what is to come. * Do not kill the characters to often. Let them go mad instead 8-). I kill characters approximately every 3rd to 10th session depending on the kind of scenario. * I have always found that players with the same interrest in horror are better than others. * Ultimately, but not recommended: Play a scenario outdoors in a dark cold place, with some friendly wolves howling somewhere. * ETC alias Xin alias Emilia von Sachsen(R.I.P) alias Dandy Badger alias Pau de Vin alias Howard McFurrough alias Rebecca Hayase ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Bronson D. James" In rec.games.frp article you wrote: > Hello Call Of Cthulhu keepers ! > > I bought the rules of CoC a few days ago and while reading through them I > recognized that this is the system for me: from now on I can make my players > share my nightmares !! > But let's get serious. I would like to ask if anyone of the Cthulhu freaks > reading this newsgroup may have some hints for me how I can produce a real > intense atmosphere when mastering this game or some other advises because > this system differs a bit from the standard type of RPG and this is new for > me. > root@bridge.rni.sub.org (Oliver Reiser) Just a few ideas I've used: Have your players play a somewhat renown, yet not to famous person. I ran a one-shot game with a group like this and it was great ! Have yor players play their own (made-up) ancestors. Encourage the bizzare in your character's histories, the weirder the better and give all the character's a unique past, goal, motive, etc... Use EVERY opportunity to scare the players. NEVER let them anticipate you. If the know when you ask them to make a roll there is "something up" the suspense is lost. Include lots of red herrings. Make good use of dreams, the can provide clues and scare the players silly. Utilize private conferences with the players don't let everyone know what only one player has found out. Make sure they need to pool together to survive. Be stingy with magic and tomes. When everyone in the group knows spells it's time to make new characters because the fun is over. Don't have a bunch a supermen/women running around. The fun is in the fact that here are a bunch of totally normal people who ARE GOING TO DIE. The fun is that they don't know where or when or how. When a character does go down make it a good death. If you have to bend the rules or slightly rework something do, so that the death is personalized. bjames@reed.edu Bronson D. James ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: "John W. Marvin" I ran a CoC campaign for about five years. Good fun (I now run Stormbringer, I'm into happy games! :-). 1. It's real easy to kill all players every game. I found it best for the heavy monsters to be more interested in something else besides the party. That way, when the survivors run away, they get away (most of the time). 2. That brings in NPC cannon fodder. Dispatch them in awful ways, and your players will get the hint that this is not a nice place to be in. 3. And sometimes, the NPC cannon fodder is working against the party! This is good when they get used to #2... 4. Possession by Great Old Ones! 5. Jail. They'll get so paranoid they'll blow away innocents. Use those nightmares! I did, and it works nice. Nhoj ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Steven Henry Weidner on GM'ing Call of Cthulhu... I've found that the most undesirable thing in running this (or any other grim horror game) is outside opportunities for levity. In particular, I once ran a GURPS Horror scenario (that I feel I must now adapt to Cthulhu, it went that well) where those who paid attention had a blast, whether they were "good" role-players or not, while those who decided to play pinball (my parents own a few such games. VERY bad when hosting a game) thought it was a wasted evening. Their own damn fault, IMHO. In particular, try to avoid the following gaming locations: public lounges or rooms (like one often finds on a college campus), and truly bright rooms. I love the den at my parents' house because when we play at the pool table, there is plenty of space for everyone, the table is well lit, and nobody can get _perfectly_ settled (useful at times), but most of all, the walls are dark wood paneling... perfect for sucking up that excess light... Steve Weidner ------------------------------------------------------------------------------