seneschal

I ordered BRP Mecha and Operation Ulysses from the blow-out sale and am supposed to be receiving Mission to Epsilon as well. I'll let you know what I think once I have a chance to peruse them. I already own Outpost 19. It is a logical expansion of the Futureworld premise and provides a tantalizing array of background bits that a GM could easily use to create a campaign. The scenario itself (without giving away any spoilers) is pretty harsh. After reading it through a couple times, I couldn't see any group I've gamed with figuring out the mystery and coming out ahead. So ... well worth it for the background material, especially if you've already got your hands on Futureworld (which you can find free to download online). The adventure could be an enjoyable one if you've got really clever players or they've got really tough characters.

I noticed that wording in the sale announcement, too, and was similarly concerned. I thought going generic with BRP was a good decision that helped Chaosium get away from being "all Cthulhu, all the time." Venerable Call of Cthulhu isn't the only Lovecraftian game in town anymore; while it is still the flagship product, more flexibility in the company's offerings couldn't hurt. The monographs were a low-cost, low-risk method of exploring new genres while giving free-lance authors a chance to try their wings and demonstrate what they could do. If the BRP Big Gold Book line of stuff is now "non-standard," that pretty much wipes out what fans at BRP Central have been working toward for the past eight or nine years. I hope that if my fears prove true that at least the new/old team will make BRP material available via print-on-demand and PDF. I mean, the product is already published and paid for; the only thing left is to let the profits trickle in. The main problem I've had with monographs -- for both BRP and Call of Cthulhu -- is that they haven't been advertised and haven't been available outside of Chaosium's website. You can't sell stuff if people don't know it exists and have extremely limited options for getting their hands on it. It would be ironic if Chaosium ditched monographs because they "weren't profitable" when the company has done little or nothing to promote or distribute them.

Hmmm, my author copy supposedly shipped late last week or early this week. I haven't yet seen it. I'll give it another week before I get concerned, but its total disappearance from the website after the splashy announcement is strange. P.S. -- Checked the Chaosium website. Mission to Epsilon is still advertised on the main page but has vanished from the alphabetical listing of BRP product where one would actually order it. Not sure what to make of that. Deemed a lackluster effort and cancelled? Overwhelmed by orders and temporarily removed until they can restock it?

There's some truth to that. When you were in high school in the 1970s, you didn't have much money, certainly not enough to buy laptop computers, which at the time cost thousands of dollars. In 2015, sophisticated electronics cost only hundreds of dollars. But now you've got your kids in high school -- and as a result you still don't have much money. Corner copy machine and softback rulebook is still the affordable way to go. What? You want the core rulebook in hardback? Good luck sliding that $50-$100 non-essential purchase past the wife, bunkie! (The kids meanwhile roll their eyes, go back to fiddling with their X-Box or Nintendo DS.)

Purely pencils, paper and dice. Character sheets courtesy the local library copier or copy shop. Only electronics allowed are pocket calculators. My tablet is college lined and never needs charging or batteries.

No, they really are all science fiction, submissions to the 2012 sci fi adventure contest.

Does it come with Parmesan cheese, or do we have to raid the villagers to get some?

Both Chronicles of Future Earth and Swords of Cydoria could have filled that role, as could have The Green. Chaosium has published several solid non-Cthulhu products over the last eight or so years that could have been spun out into game series. Instead they've been treated as one-shots, and some of the frustrated creators have since re-sold their projects to other publishers. It is a shame, really, because the assorted authors' enthusiasm could have generated a catalog of follow-up books for Chaosium. As we've discussed elsewhere, D100 games (no matter who publishes them) are in desperate need of radical, fanatical promotion. My local game shops barely stock Chaosium's flagship Call of Cthulhu books. If not for BRP Central, I wouldn't even know that Magic World, RuneQuest 6, BRP Rome or BRP Mecha, etc., exist. This "available online only" stuff limits sales to customers who already know of and play BRP when what we need to be doing is expanding the customer base and general public awareness that Chaosium/BRP and the other D100 publishers exist and have cool stuff that folks absolutely have to buy -- right now!

Yes. Chaosium actually had two genre-specific BRP adventure contests in 2012: a science fiction contest and a children's adventure contest. "Mission to Epsilon" is the result of the former. Not sure how many submissions they got for the latter. The "Orient Express" project for Cthulhu sidelined both.

Mine was "Descent with Modification."

"Mission to Epsilon," consisting of the 2012 adventure contest winners, is now available (2-1/2 years later). Whew! Talk about suspense.

But see, we need a hardcore push on marketing. Whether folks are at their game shop, or the grocery store (bread aisle), or Walmart, watching Dowton Abbey or listening to Rush Limbaugh, or a public restroom they should be tripping and stumbling over copies of RuneQuest. "Hmmm, what combat manuevers would one assign toDereck Jeeter?" "This is [talk show host]. I play RuneQuest, and you should, too."

I've been reading some vintage Aquaman from 1959, 1960. He's been around since 1941. These days, in DC Comics' "New 52" reboot, Aquaman is a bulletproof powerhouse able to toss a city bus with his trident. He can compel sea life to obey his telepathic commands but doesn't "talk to fish" since most creatures aren't smart enough to communicate anyway. Not so in 1959, where gangsters' machinegun fire injures Our Hero (it's OK, he got better). This is the Aquaman who, although raised on land by his lighthouse keeper father, can as an adult superhero only stay out of water for an hour before needing a refresh, although he occasionally solves crimes away from shore while wearing a water helmet. He really does talk to fish (and other sea creatures) in the same manner most folks talk to co-workers at their jobs. He can swim amazingly fast but, while certainly physically fit, isn't necessarily super strong. His main power is his ability to get a limitless number of creatures to interrupt their normal feeding and breeding schedules to solve problems for him in bizarre but creative ways. His faithful sidekick at this point isn't a dolphin but a giant octopus named Topo. Called "King of the Seven Seas" by the land-dwellers because of his ability to command sea life, Aquaman knows the location of Atlantis but almost never goes there and certainly doesn't claim any authority over the ancient city-state. Aqualad came along in 1960, after Aquaman had previously encountered an Aquagirl. Seems the Atlanteans send "defective" children who can't survive underwater to the surface in sealed capsules, hoping they will be found and adopted by the air-breathers. Aqualad didn't lose his sea powers but was initially terrified of fish. He was taken in by Aquaman since he was an orphan with no Atlantean relatives to return to. The stories are decently illustrated and plotted, but this iteration of Aquaman is definitely kid stuff. Since I've never enjoyed dark, grim "adult" superheroics I am OK with that, willing to accept early Sixties Aquaman for what he is, although his adventures are juvenile fantasy in a way that Batman and Hawkman yarns from the same era aren't. In one crossover tale, the Green Arrow and Speedy survive an encounter with Godzilla by having Topo persuade the King of Monsters that they are Aquaman's friends. So far, the only groan-worthy moment encountered was when Aquaman bested an evil circus animal trainer by turning one of his beasts against him; seems the critter was a water buffalo!

She's not Snake Plissken, but ... Big hair. Face paint. Glam rock. Truly outrageous! Jem Quote: “Jem is my name. No one else is the same. Jem is my naaame.” “It’s showtime, Synergy.” Source: Jem, Sunbow Productions, 1985 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6G_o1MYECg Twenty-something Jerrica Benton inherited Starlight Music when her producer father died as well as Starlight House, a foster home for girls, which she had been managing. Unfortunately, Eric Raymond, her father’s unscrupulous business partner, owned half of Starlight Music and wanted the whole enchilada. He began by de-funding Starlight House in order have capital to launch a new bad girls band, the Misfits, then forbade Benton access to Starlight Music offices. Not content with that, he hired goons to harass her. The Misfits also committed acts of vandalism on their own account. One of Raymond’s thugs accidentally started a fire which destroyed the house, leaving the young heiress and her charges homeless. Meanwhile, Jerrica received a posthumous package from her father containing a pair of star-shaped earrings. When she donned them, Benton and the three friends who helped her oversee the foster girls – Kimber, Aja and Shana – beheld a vision of an ethereal woman who bade them to follow her. The phantom led them to an apparently abandoned Starlight Drive-In Theater on the edge of the city and vanished through the wall of the building that served as a base for the dilapidated screen, its voice still urging them forward. On impulse, Jerrica drove her car into the wall, and the four women found themselves inside a hidden music studio and electronics laboratory. The mysterious figure – a remote projection of a powerful artificial intelligence – told Jerrica the location was a last legacy from her father, a secret project that Eric Raymond knew nothing about. “Synergy” was a sophisticated computer installation operating groundbreaking lighting, sound, and special effects technologies. The studio also included a warehouse of musical instruments and stage costumes, even a promotional vehicle. Benton and her companions decided to launch their own musical group to best the Misfits and win back control of Starlight Music. To shield herself from Raymond’s interference, Jerrica used Synergy’s imaging technology to disguise herself as the rock star Jem. Kimber, Aja and Shana became the Holograms, although without adopting dual identities. Jerrica Benton is a skilled businesswoman and talented vocal performer (Shana writes the Holograms’ lyrics). She’s young, active and physically fit (she has to be to do those exhausting song and dance routines) but has no paranormal abilities. Her star earrings, however, act as a relay station for Synergy’s holographic projections and audio broadcasts, which enables her to instantly alter her voice and appearance and the appearances of people around her. She can also project realistic visual and auditory images, allowing her to mislead would-be pursuers or summon assistance from a distance, even to appear to be two places at once. Benton has used this ability to conceal her secret by having Jem and Jerrica Benton show up at the same location, although the projected self is intangible and unable to affect the physical world. Synergy’s broadcast power and range are apparently limitless, since Jerrica is able to create her illusions almost anywhere on the planet with only rare glitches. One wonders what those invisible high-intensity energy beams are doing to her body. It is perhaps fortunate that Benton – distracted by the need to support herself and the foster children – hasn’t appreciated the full possibilities of her techno-magical abilities. After all, the early costumed crime-fighter Mandrake the Magician launched his career with similar powers in 1934. Marvel Comics’ Dazzler (1980) was a busty blonde who also juggled crime-fighting and performing while warping sound and light. In an imaginative criminal’s hands, Synergy’s illusions would be a devastating weapon. Having a dual identity, even a high-tech one, isn’t any easier for Jerrica than it is for anyone else. She constantly has to juggle being both the Holograms’ manager and the group’s lead singer – her duties sometimes requiring her to be two places at once, or to be at the same location as both herself and as Jem. Raymond and the Misfits are out to harm both Jem and Jerrica. Benton is unable to pass through standard airport and courthouse security scanners as Jem because removing her jewelry would destroy her disguise. To make matters worse, her boyfriend, Rio Pacheco, is in love with both of her identities; she’s her own romantic rival and too embarrassed by her originally innocent deception to tell him the truth. What, the jerk can’t tell that he’s kissing the same woman, even with his eyes closed? It doesn’t help that Pacheco is jealous and that Jem attracts unwanted suitors like a picnic draws ants. Slim, blonde and pretty, Benton appears more voluptuous and mature in her Jem persona, and the pink face paint often worn around Jem’s eyes acts as sort of a mask. No one seems to notice that Jerrica and Jem share the same facial features and wear the same pink star earrings. So far, medical exams, biometric scans, and global publicity haven’t blown Jem’s cover. STR 12 CON 16 SIZ 13 INT 14 POW 15 DEX 14 APP 16 Move: 10 Hit Points: 15 Damage Bonus: +1D4 Armor: None Attacks: Brawl 25%, 1D3+db; Grapple 25%, various Skills: Art (Hologram Design) 45%, Attract Unwanted Suitor 85%, Bargain 45%, Disguise 41%, Dodge 68%, Fast Talk 45%, Fine Manipulation 45%, Insight 45%, Jump 65%, Knowledge (Accounting) 45%, Knowledge (Showmanship) 45%, Language (French) 40%, Language (English) 70%, Listen 65%, Perform (Singing) 45%, Perform (Dancing) 45%, Persuade 55%, Technical Skill (Computer Use) 45% Powers: Illusions, Visual, 14%, level 30 – 30 power points per 15 minutes, range 30 meters Illusions, Auditory, 14%, level 30 – 30 power points per 15 minutes, range 30 meters Jem’s is enable her to disguise herself at level 8 while simultaneously costuming or otherwise enhancing the appearance of the Holograms at level 7. She can be Jem at level 5 and still devote 25 levels to onstage special effects. Or she can use the whole 30 levels to create an illusion up to 30 meters away from herself. Per the initial spells rules on Page 92 of the Big Gold Book, Benton could have two to eight additional applications of Synergy’s special effects that she hasn’t figured out yet. Super Skills – Singing +40%, Dancing +40%, Disguise +40%, Visual Illusions +80%, Auditory Illusions +80%. Cost 28 build points Fast Reflexes or Dumb Luck – Defense, 6 levels, -30% vs. incoming attacks, cost 6 build points Extra Energy, +660 energy, cost 66 build points Failings: Super identity must be turned on, and with the obvious use of a removable item of power (+2 points) Dependents, the Holograms and the Starlight House girls, frequent involvement (+3 points) Hunted by the Misfits and Eric Raymond, low power but all the time (+2 points) Responsible to Starlight Music, the Holograms, all the time (+3 points) Notes: Jerrica Benton’s stats were randomly rolled at the “Awesome” level on the online Call of Cthulhu Creature Generator. Her CON 16 may seem excessive, but she has survived avalanches, rampaging bulldozers, ski lift malfunctions, and other physical hazards that James Bond might have trouble negotiating. It is the same for her high Dodge and Jump skills. Jem had 100 character points based on unmodified characteristics, plus 10 more for Failings, total 110. She had 500 skill points plus 140 personal skill points based on INTx10, total 640.

I thought most folks ran from Cthulhu because he doesn't appeal to them.

Quit keeping us in suspense, solatkiss. Now that you've had a chance to review the scenario, can you shed any light on it?

Thanks, appreciate the input, fortnight delayed or not.

BGB generic demigod, Page 361: STR 35, CON 34, SIZ 15, INT 13, POW 18, DEX 15, APP 17 Has a resume of super skills, is armored like a tank, and can endure various hazardous environments. Basically a supervillain with supernatural origins. Think Hercules the Legendary Journeys or Xena, Warrior Princess. I also stumbled across stats for a demilovato. I'm not sure what a "lovato" is, but it sounds dangerous.

Move 40??? Can even cheetahs run that fast? And APP 21? Sure, she's got the slinky figure, but oh those whiskers!

Before you shell out cash, check out the Call of Cthulhu Creature Generator. It won't provide skills or spells, but it does generate deity stats, including for Bast. Bast #1 STR 48 CON 25 SIZ 12 INT 35 POW 30 DEX 45 APP 21 Move 40 HP 19 db +3D6 http://wstryder.org/coccg/

Hmmm, the Big Gold Book has a write-up for a generic demigod, the Hercules and Perseus types. You could scale up from there. And aside from the Mythos critters, Call of Cthulhu 6th has stats for the Egyptian goddess Bast (or Bastet, or Catwoman, or whatever she's calling herself these days). That might get you started on power levels and skills for traditional pantheon type gods. The feel I get is that gods have higher stats than humans plus a semi-trailer load of spells -- but they'd get their butts kicked by your average superhero.

"in pursuit of a mysterious Man in Black (move over John Brunner and Stephen King!)" You forgot the original: It wasn't the Dreamlands, just Nashville on a typical day ...

Working from the Big Gold Book. I'm trying to create a character that can generate convincing visual and auditory illusions. The Illusion spell from the Magic power suite seems too limited and doesn't really do what I want. I thought about Energy Control (sound and light); that would easily work for Marvel's Dazzler but it doesn't quite achieve what I'm after, either. Any suggestions?

Paula Dupree, the Ape Woman Source: Captive Wild Woman, Universal Studios, 1943; Jungle Woman, Universal Studios, 1944; The Jungle Captive, Universal Studios, 1945 Cheela, a female circus gorilla, was stolen by the unscrupulous Dr. Sigmund Walters for experiments with endocrine secretions. Walters injected human female hormones (taken without permission from a patient) into the ape and also transplanted the brain of his nurse (she was becoming suspicious) into its skull. Cheela transformed into the likeness of a beautiful human woman that Walters named Paula Dupree. She rejoined the circus as a lion tamer’s assistant, mute but with a strange power over animals. Jealous of her boss’s fiancé, Dupree committed murder but missed her intended target. The resulting tumultuous emotions and the hormonal changes associated with them caused the girl to revert first to a hybrid ape/woman form, then to full bestial mode. She killed the doctor when he attempted further experiments, rescued the animal trainer from out-of-control big cats, and then was shot by a policeman. The ape’s body was claimed for medical research purposes by Dr. Carl Fletcher, employed by the same Crestview Sanitarium where Walters had performed his questionable experiments. Fletcher discovered that Cheela still lived and saved her life. The gorilla subsequently escaped but a shapely brunette was found wandering the sanitarium grounds. As before, Paula Dupree became insanely jealous of one of the Crestview nurses after she met the woman’s handsome boyfriend. Still in human guise, she crushed the sanitarium’s lecherous handyman when he tried to force his attentions on her then went after the nurse. Fletcher tried to stop the feral beauty with an injection but accidentally gave her too much of the drug during the fight. Upon death, Dupree reverted to her bestial form. Next, the ape woman’s body was stolen from the morgue by sinister Dr. Stendahl, who had discovered a method of restoring life to dead animals. He revived the creature with blood transfusions drawn from his unwilling female lab assistant and was delighted when the savage ape woman morphed once more into a human girl. However, Paula Dupree’s mind had been damaged by the trauma – physical, emotional and chemical – she had undergone. She was now passive and unresponsive, almost an automaton. Stendahl had his brutal henchman steal Walters’ and Fletcher’s notes from Crestview Sanitarium and planned to again transplant a human brain (donated by his unwilling assistant) into Dupree’s body. However, Dupree reverted to bestial form, broke free from the operating table restraints, and strangled the doctor. She was then shot (again!) by police drawn to Stendahl’s country laboratory by the string of thefts and murders the doctor and his henchman had committed. With the region surrounding Crestview apparently cleansed of mad scientists, the ape woman remained dead … perhaps. Cheela was originally an unusually large and especially intelligent gorilla, friendly and loyal toward her trainer. As Paula Dupree she is a statuesque brunette with huge, intense eyes and a nasty tendency to jealousy. In ape woman form she resembles a cross between Lon Chaney Junior’s Wolf Man and a distaff escapee from the Planet of the Apes movies. No matter what her appearance, Cheela/Paula retains her inhuman strength, cunning and agility. She can be quite charming despite her inability to talk. When her anger is aroused, however, she is vengeful and violent. Dupree’s transformations are out of her control. Strong emotions sometimes trigger her bestial form, while infusions of human bodily fluids encourage a return to womanhood – but the changes often occur seemingly at random. After becoming a human she seems dazed and vacant at first but assumes a watchful wariness once she recovers. Her animal self is much more energetic and may become hostile on slight provocation. If adventurers don’t try to seize her and attempt to talk to her, however, the ape woman may simply flee or may even accompany them willingly as long as they don’t try to surround her or otherwise threaten her. Despite her ferocious dental equipment, the ape woman is much more likely to strangle opponents from behind or to grab and crush them from ambush than to bite. She is able to contain the explosive emotions roiling in her inhuman breast long enough to carefully stalk and size up an opponent. She prefers surprise and avoids frontal assaults on ready, armed foes. Dupree readily develops attachments to attractive human men (including player-characters) and will tolerate no rivals (ditto). She also dislikes being restrained and may seek revenge on those who have caged or bound her. STR 32 CON 15 SIZ 11 INT 10 POW 15 DEX 17 APP 18/ -- Move: 10 (5 in trees) Hit Points: 13 (26 CON + SIZ) Damage Bonus: +2D6 Armor: 3 Attacks: Bite 45%, 1D6+1/2DB; Brawl 40%, 1D3+DB; Grapple 65%, special Skills: Climb 65%, Dodge 34%, Hide 50%, Insight (Animal Empathy) 65%, Listen 35%, Sense 25%, Stealth 60%, Track 40% Notes: Cheela’s gorilla stats (except for SIZ, INT and APP) were randomly rolled at the “Fantastic” level on the online Call of Cthulhu Creature Generator. Her SIZ and APP are based on actress Acquanetta’s 5’7” stature. Skills were based on the gorilla write-up in the Big Gold Book, which differs somewhat from the info listed in the CoCCG and the BaSIC Bestiary.