seneschal

If your Inuit-alikes have already conquered Midgard, the Realms, and Cthulhu, the people and critters of Middle Earth are in real trouble. Where are those nosy, wardrobe-crawling kids and their sponsoring Lion now that we need them?

Your setting, as always, sounds intriguing. But why tie it in with Middle Earth, especially since the region covered is so remote and isolated that Gollum could become the new Dark Lord and Numenor could rise again from the waves, and your local PCs would never know the difference? Why not run it as a straight historical campaign?

Got it, and printed. I had it bundled and bound together with the BRP Quick-Start Edition.

Next question, then. Since I already have the Big Gold Book, in all its optional glory, could I just add EDU and SAN to existing BRP characters and run with it? I wouldn't have the background info, of course, but stats for Mythos critters are available online, and I've got a hefty volume of Lovecraft stories (and a smattering of the other guys, such as Robert Howard, Arthur Machen, M.R. James, and some anthologies of stories by many authors). The main thing I'd miss would be the GM's advice, chase rules, and the expanded weapon and equipment charts. But I'm also looking at the 1920s Investigator's Companion, since I enjoy pulp adventure with or without cosmic creepy-crawlies.

No, not really. Just a question. I know the game has stayed pretty much the same over its six editions. According to one rpg.net review, version 6 is really 5.5 with new formatting, and the major "recent" changes were between 5.5 and 5.0. But among Chaosium's boo-boo books is ver. 5.1.22 for $10.95 (as opposed to $30+ for ver. 6). Yeah, I'm a cheapskate, but my store of Innsmouth gold has run low since the Navy has stepped up its shore patrols (all the while claiming, of course, to be cruising the Persian Gulf). Other than the cover paintings, what are the differences between 5.1.22 and 6? Are the changes to the current edition worth an extra $20 or so?

One of the challenges of writing up Skeletor is that he doesn't have a well-defined set of abilities. New ones keep popping up as the plot demands, in addition to the mystic McGuffin of the week. Also, his powers don't fit neatly into one BRP niche. To reflect what The Hooded One can do, I had to raid four of the Big Gold Book's five power suites. Firing off energy blasts from his fingers, freezing foes in place, and mind-controlling opponents are his main schitcks, but he does a few other things regularly, too: Mutations -- Natural Weapon (Claws), +1D6 to Brawl They have to be good for something. Psychic Abilities -- Clairvoyance, Divination, Intuition, Mind Control, Telepathy Skeletor regularly spies on King Randor and family via crystal ball, originally got his powers from the extra-dimensional entity Hodak, is a better detective than He-Man, and telepathically gives orders to his goons. Sorcery -- Curse of Sorcery (4), Liken Shape (4), Make Whole (3), Unspeakable Bonds (3), Undo Sorcery (4) When mind-controlling someone, Skeletor often disfigures them in some way. He also disguises himself via magic, restores ancient magic and technological items to working order, and rarely gets magicked himself. Unspeakable Bonds seemed a better match for how he restrains victims than the super power Snare Projection. Super Powers -- Armor, Defense, Energy Projection (kinetic, radiation), Extra Energy His finger blasts are technically magic, but they do regular physical harm. Armor because although he goes around nearly naked, he never seems to get a scratch in his many sword fights and tussles with He-Man. Defense because despite Eternia's bulging arsenals of energy weapons, ancient missile weapons, and magic staves and wands Skeletor never seems to get hit by a ranged attack, ever. The BRP rules for shields and parrying don't appear to model this well. Although we've chuckled about what a doofus Skeletor is, in CoC terms he's shaping up as a rather dangerous foe. He-Man may be able to beat him up, but will the PC investigators be able to outsmart him, survive his depredations, and ultimately foil his latest harebrained scheme? What do y'all think? Next: skills. Skeletor is a Criminal, a Scientist, a Warrior, and a Wizard, and his skills reflect all four of these professions. But will even 500 skill points plus his personal skill bonus enable him to be competent?

Or is it FATE? After reading various reviews and the comments on this thread, I'm still trying to get a feel for what Chronicles is like. Is it more Howardian sword and sorcery fantasy? More Burroughsian/Buck Rogers post apocalyptic soft sci-fi? I've never been a big fantasy player, but I'd enjoy a Thundarr the Barbarian/Gamma World type setting.

Hyper-boria is the most energetic portion of Hyboria. Unfortunately, Conan stopped taking his medicine ....

I've said it elsewhere and before, but RuneQuest + CoC = Hyperboria. Bronze Age (or Iron Age) warriors, gritty combat, weird and scary monsters that heroes can run from without feeling like jerks. Personally, I prefer combat to be more cinematic but in the Conan stories once blades are drawn, somebody's going to get hurt.

Futureworld bypassed the whole starship thing by enabling adventurers to go direct from world to world, like the characters on Stargate or Sliders. But given an enthusiastic, competent author, why wouldn't Chaosium want to expand their horizons? They've already done some sci-fi monographs such as Outpost 19, Cthulhu Rising, and Project Ulysses. Pick one, flesh out the universe, and run with it.

Skeletor rides a purple great cat called Panthor, Battlecat's evil equivalent (but without the headgear). But he's equally as likely to ride one of Trap Jaw's hover sleds or simply teleport where he wants to go. Apparently he's not fond of aerobic exercise. For my final write-up, I'll probably have to include supplemental write-ups for The Hooded One's feline mount and his robot guards.

Naw, all my campaigns are G-rated, or at least the cleaner side of PG. Besides, isn't Kenny ... dead? In any event, here's initial flavor text for a Skeletor write-up. I've tried to make him a little more mysterious and menacing as befits a CoC monster. I'll probably use the super powers rules instead of sorcery when building him since he just points and shoots like a Polaroid camera, no incantations, spell books or nasty spell components needed. Even the artifacts he collects act more like technological power tools than magic items. They each do one thing reliably without a lot of fuss or preparation, only they never run out of ammo or battery power. The Hooded One The sinister schemer known as The Hooded One is a power-hungry would-be conqueror seeking to enslave whatever worlds and beings he encounters. A master of arcane knowledge, he employs both weird science and sorcery to achieve his ends. He’s equally comfortable turning foes into frogs or sending robotic soldiers against them. Despite the fantastic abilities he has accrued during his long quest for universal dominance, The Hooded One is at heart a bully and a coward. He blithely threatens his minions but hesitates to strike a competent opponent until he can be sure of having an unquestionable advantage. Not content with gathering power a little at a time, The Hooded One is forever in search of the ultimate gadget or magic item which will enable him to seize his target in one fell swoop. He’ll opt for a grand, convoluted master plan when simpler, slower, or quieter methods might serve him better. The Hooded One rarely tackles opponents one-on-one. He almost always is accompanied by up to five subservient minions, each of whom has powers and ambitions of his (or her) own. This goon squad is occasionally augmented by The Hooded One’s robotic “knights,” squat hovering cylinders equipped with grasping mechanical arms and laser projectors. The Hooded One usually has his minions attack first, stepping in once he’s assessed the situation. Although he displays numerous abilities, The Hooded One most commonly fires magical blasts from his hands. These can damage or immobilize a foe, or control the victim’s mind. He also can teleport and isn’t ashamed to abandon minions and allies when the tide of battle turns against him. (When in a more generous frame of mind, he can teleport his allies with him.) The Hooded One proudly brandishes a staff as long as he is tall and topped by a ram’s skull, which he is loathe to part with. However, his magic powers seem to function perfectly well whether he has it in his possession or not. He also variously carries a sword, a double-headed axe with a crystal ball embedded in the top, or an energy pistol. The arch-villain inevitably has some sort of hold-out weapon or device hidden upon his person which he can pull out when defeat seems certain. Since he’s normally almost naked, the ability to conceal these items is apparently yet another evidence of his mystic prowess. A tall, muscular humanoid, The Hooded One possesses the blue skin and clawed fingers and toes of a Hindu divinity. His face is a yellowed skull, which sits within a voluminous hood without visible neck, although his head movements are normal. His Stygian eye sockets glow red when he is excited or angry. In addition to the hood, kept in place by a chest harness, he wears a matching breechcloth. He occasionally complements these with knee-length boots and/or a flowing cloak. Despite his impressive appearance, The Hooded One’s voice is high-pitched and rather squeaky, possibly as a result of the injuries that destroyed his face. He has a tendency to throw back his head and cackle maniacally when he’s sure he has the upper hand.

Rust's suggestions betray an admirable familiarity with Traveller. And Traveller is a good source of possible starting vessels: The typical Type S scout has enough room for 4-6 people if you really stretch it (about the size of typical gaming group) but can be piloted by one person. It can jump short distances through hyperspace (1 parsec) and has a small cargo hold. It has one hardpoint for attaching a weapons turret but doesn't come armed from the factory. It's the Volkwagen Beetle of starships but can get player-characters places and earn them a small profit, and it can land just about anywhere. Repair and replacement parts are easy to find and (comparatively) cheap. The free trader is double the size of the scout, is half cargo hold, and has room for 2-4 passengers in addition to the PC crew. Its performance isn't any better than the scout's but it can carry enough cargo to enable them to earn a regular income if they're smart. Its larger size enables it to add a second weapons turret, the better to protect the cargo against pirates, but the Millenium Falcon it ain't. A yacht is essentially a free trader in which much of the cargo space has been sacrificed for additional fuel (enabling a second 1-parsec jump) and luxury accommodations for the owner and his pals. If the PCs have a sponsor and want to travel in style, this is the way to go. All three models are tiny compared to Warhammer 40K's massive vessels, even compared to Traveller High Guard's warships. But all of them can land with or without an atmosphere, with or without a starport, and can refuel by skimming the nearest gas giant for hydrogen. If you want the heroes to have basic transportation but don't want them to attempt to raid Ming the Merciless' palace, these are some possible ways to go.

My answer would be not to allow them to create a bunch of antisocial loners in the first place. Ditch the "army of one" Punisher/James Bond/Simon Templar template; instead think Batman family, a classic Mission Impossible team, the literary The Shadow or The Spider and his gang of competent agents, Jonny Quest and his spy-slammin' household. These people have a common goal, a bond created by working together before in dangerous situations and saving one another's bacon time and again. Their training and funding are provided by the same source. They've learned to trust and depend upon one another ... and they have to in order to stay alive and complete the mission, whatever it is this time. Their association isn't a casual one; they may even share living quarters as well as a headquarters somewhere. Although each member is competent, he is also a specialist with certain skills and abilities the others need. Although they may occasionally undertake solo forays, the PCs' strength is as a team, combining their uniqueness to vanquish the villain(s). Do the Power Rangers, the Thundercats, the pilots of Voltron, the members of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, the A-Team, the Bionic Six split up and go haring off on their own? They do not! On the rare occasions that they do separate due to circumstance or personal disagreements, they are vulnerable to capture and/or death at the hands of the Big Bad. So it should be with your PCs. Whatever other incentives you give them, however big and bad they think they are, they're individually not as bad as the Big Bad; there is safety (and success) in numbers. If they try to show off and take off on their own, they'll get stomped, possibly by the very mooks they're used to humiliating as a group.

"And at the end of the session, you should do a recap stressing the valuable life lesson learned." Heh, heh. Watching some Filmation episodes (He-Man, Bravestarr) back-to-back, even the villains sometimes got into the act, essentially saying, "Don't be like me." I don't know how players would react, but it would be appropriate.

My comments, by the way, were not intended as a slap at Alephtar Games. I hope the company grows, prospers, and continues to put out fine products and win awards for doing so. It's just that a book in the hand is worth fourteen on my portable USB drive. Which ones do I actually get to learn and play? Heh, you guessed it. Unless the rules are as brief and simple as Risus or Mini Six, I find it impossible to digest the material.

Call me a Luddite, but nothing beats a physical product in one's hands. You can spread it out on the table, make notes on it, study it for hours wherever electrical outlets and battery stores are not, easily turn between marked sections rather than having to scroll through lengthy electronic pages, etc. You may say that I can get my PDFs printed at Office Depot (but not Kinko's!). True, but a spiral-bound copy on good paper with vinyl covers is going to cost me approximately another $30, in addition to whatever the download cost (which is where Legend's $1 sale comes in handy). Download-only may be the wave of the future for small publishers, but it is a wave that washes me the wrong way. Changing technology or equipment failure has lost me many downloads, but physical books tend to last for decades (as the groaning shelves of the local used bookstore attest). Had the dawn of role-playing occurred during the Age of Electronica, there would be no old-school movement, no hard-core love for aging copies of RuneQuest 1-3, no chances of running Elric/Stormbringer (since the files were written for now-antiquated technology). Think about your favorite old RPGs or editions. Now think about your favorite old electronic games from the same era, the ones that ran on Commodore 64 or Atari, or on outdated, unsupported versions of DOS or Windows. The difference is that you can still play your physical dead-tree role-playing games (unless Mom tossed out your boxed sets while you were away at college). But your computer games are mere memories, and the reboot (in the unlikely event that a software company attempts one) is never as good. Think Duke Nukem Forever. The Mongoose marathon of classic game revivals would never have occurred since electronic gamers' memories are as brief as the platforms they use and toss away. Call of Cthulhu -- classic game, still around, still playable, even the older editions and modules. Inspiration for bad movies. Alone in the Dark -- classic game, unplayable unless you can locate an aging copy, then download quirky open-source software on your modern PC. Inspiration for bad movies. Well, at least the bad movie part is the same.

"I would suspect that if I sprung this on a group that hadn’t bought into the premise, I should be very wary of thrown objects." The key might be just to have the plot thread begin, confront the PCs with an encounter or two, without naming names but vividly describing their opponents' appearances and the consequences of the baddies' actions (as you would with any unknown CoC monster). See how long it takes for the group to figure it out, if they ever do. Plus you've got Professor Simonton, the local bad guy, too. Will he join forces with the newcomers, worshiping them as gods? Pretend to be subservient while scheming to gain arcane power from the visitors? Or will he rally his cultists against these unwanted rivals, possibly seeking the PCs as allies against this new, greater threat to his long-term plans? Yeah, it always occurred to me that Evil-Lyn was powerful enough to have set up shop for herself. Why she always chose to turn over awesomely powerful magic items to Skeletor after first testing them out herself had me scratching my head. Loyalty among thieves? It couldn't have been old Skull Face's good looks. As to the other typical members of the crew: Beast Man -- He's got bestial strength, senses, and agility as well as the ability to talk to and control animals. Not the brightest tool in the box, he's still an excellent stalker and tracker, uses technology freely, and has plenty of ambition. He tends to react emotionally rather than thinking things through. Although always intimidated by Skeletor, he'd be the minion most likely to turn on his boss and stab him in the back if he thought he could get away with it. Other than Mer-Man, he's the most likely to come off as a typical CoC monster at first ... except he's got plans to make himself Somebody. Mer-Man -- Typical Deep One type, except he can speak plain English and has pretensions of being King of the Sea (like Aquaman or the Submariner). Like Beast Man, he resents Skeletor's domination. He's less likely to buck the big boss directly however, more liable to run off to the depths and start his own projects. Ironically, although he loves water, he hates mud as he was forever being tossed into deep puddles of it by He-Man. He carries either a trident or a magic sword that can shoot water like a fire hose. Instead of seeking a human mate or sacrifices, Mer-Man is likely to collect some goons of his own and begin to boss folks around and steal things ... like a typical '20s gangster boss. Trap Jaw -- Cyborg, master inventor and weaponsmith, his missing right forearm is an attachment point for his various devices. He also has heavy metal jaws which presumably could be used to bite people a la the James Bond villain Jaws (although the cartoon never had him attempt this). Despite his genius, he's a follower, subservient and loyal to Skeletor. How he'd make do with local Earth gear would be interesting. He'd be a scary but much more comprehensible opponent for the PCs, sort of a cross between the Terminator and Lex Luthor but with less brains when it came to pulling off his schemes. Plus his gadgets, awesome when they work, don't always function exactly as planned. Tri-Klops -- A muscular swordsman with a rotating helmet with three lenses that give him super vision and the occasional ability to shoot energy beams. He presumably has dark hair and a normal pair of eyes beneath. Tri-Klops is mere hired muscle, but he is strong enough to toss around boulders and never questions Skeletor. There were many more evil minions, most of them robotic or animal-like humanoids, but these were the main, original goons. On the other hand, perhaps some of the lesser-known antagonists would make better CoC opponents if you play up the scary and play down the gimmickiness. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Masters_of_the_Universe_characters Besides, what's truly more scary -- facing the Mythos or re-living your '80s childhood?

The intrepid PCs intervene moments too late to stop the cultists' ritual. A gate to elsewhere opens. But things don't turn out exactly as the evil Professor Simonton, the heroes' recurring nemesis, planned. Instead of contacting the Plain of Leng or the Nameless City or Unknown Kadath, the cosmic portal leads to ... Eternia. Yeah, that Eternia. Suddenly Skeletor and his minions are loose in 1920s Boston (or wherever your campaign is set), and it is up to the player-characters to stop him. He-Man's stuck in his own dimension, puzzled but relieved to get a break from the Big Bad's endless schemes. Skeletor's got high-tech gadgetry, a sorceress, and mutant musclemen on his side. (So far, par for the course for a typical CoC encounter.) His energy weapons and vehicles will eventually run out of juice and ammo, and he'll have difficulty compensating with Twenties Earth tech. As usual, his ambition exceeds his competence and that of his goons, who may have their own agendas. On the other hand, there are surely mouldering tomes and ancient artifacts in the adventurers' world that could prove useful to him. Could it work? Magical super villains might make an interesting break from the usual Mythos opponents. On the other hand, CoC focuses on suspense and mystery, and subtlety isn't Skeletor's strong suite. Try keeping this one out of the papers, guys.

Thanks for the heads up!

Thank you! Merry Christmas to all from the wind-swept and cold (but fortunately snowless) prairie of Oklahoma. People here still remember last year's post-New Years' blizzard with trepidation. Joy to the World, but Bah, Humbug to the proverbial White Christmas. I'd be content to have a coconut palm as my Christmas Tree. Pass the poi, please.

I've "purchased" the adventure three times but have never had the option to actually download it.

Sounds intriguing. Is that a unicorn polar bear with gills on the cover?

I read the reviews on Amazon.com. It sounds interesting but, as you said, it really is obscure. Don't feel too rejected. I've posted titles of inspirational books and creature write-ups for years only to be met with a chorus of crickets chirping. Keep on feeding us good ideas.

Sling 30%, eh? So it's not pixie dust, after all. It's the stars that you see when you get bonked between the eyes!