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Clark Ashton Smith and CoC


Sean_RDP

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As a late comer fan of his work (reading Return of the Sorcerer right now), I am curious how much influence Smith's work has had on official CoC material? I know not all of his work is public domain yet, but some of it is. Really just curious. 

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I can't think of anything that Chaosium has done that really does much in the style of Smith, aside from things like giving stats for Tsathoggua. 

Pagan Publishing has shown a little more interest in his work. The Realm of Shadows is a campaign book that deals with the cult of Mordiggian. It also features a trip to a part of the Dreamlands that is heavily influenced by Smith's work. 

In the Delta Green books, the ghouls under Manhattan are divided by a religious schism involving the cult of Mordiggian as well.

If I wanted to make an all out Clark Ashton Smith game, I would probably lean more on Runequest and Stormbringer as the base rather than Call of Cthulhu. They just fit with the greater emphasis on sorcery in his work. 

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I read all of Smith's Arkham House collections about 30 years ago.  Pretty cool stuff.  I need to re-read them one day.

A handful of his deities that achieved "cross-over" status to HPL - Tsathoggua (again), Abhoth, Ubbo-Sathla, Atlach-Nacha (I know cuz I'm the one statted him), the "womp?(?) (I can't exactly remember the name was based on a monster that appears in the story "The Abominations of Yondo" (I know cuz Sandy Petersen told me so).  "The Book of Eibon" of course is part of COC lore, too.  I think that's roughly it.  I've heard of "In the Realm of Shadows" but not read it (sounds interesting, though!)

There are quite a few beasties and concepts in his stories that could be utilized in a COC game. "The Beast of Averoigne" would make a good COC Dark Ages scenario.  "The Hunters from Beyond" would work in any era.  And lots of his stuff would be harmonious with Dreamlands adventures.

I concur with Baulderstone that his sword and sorcery tales would work best with Stormbringer (esp) rules.  I've actually long thought about doing a fantasy scenario based on "The Death of Malygris".

I know there was a D&D scenario called "Castle Amber" that was based on CAS' stories; and someone out there wrote up a Zothique setting for d20.  So there's a start.

 

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Patrick Mallet's RPG write-up of Zothique can be found on the Eldritch Dark site here:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/articles/criticism/

under 2005 'Zothique: The Last Continent'.

Lots of good CAS info on that site.

I agree that his stuff is probably better served by Stormbringer/Magic World than the default assumptions of Call of Cthulhu.

Edited by Simlasa
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On 11/18/2015, 12:41:07, cjbowser said:

I will admit that I'm a big fan of CAS and some of the themes and tones of his work made it into CDA 2nd.

Sorry to take this off-topic... but, is CDA 2nd edition available anywhere? Doesn't seem to be listed on Chaosium's site or Drive-Thru Rpg.

Also, how does CDA-2 compare with CDA-1 in terms of content? I own a pdf of CDA-1 so I'm curious if there's any value to "upgrading".

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1 hour ago, K Peterson said:

Sorry to take this off-topic... but, is CDA 2nd edition available anywhere? Doesn't seem to be listed on Chaosium's site or Drive-Thru Rpg.

Also, how does CDA-2 compare with CDA-1 in terms of content? I own a pdf of CDA-1 so I'm curious if there's any value to "upgrading".

Chaosium were briefly selling a print edition (which is a pre-release "ashcan" apparently created for NecronomiCon 2015 in Providence); that's not the final print/PDF release, which I'm hoping to see next year.

I got a copy from NecronomiCon, but not with me, so I'll include the back-cover and introduction summaries from the book's RPGGeek database entry:

Quote

From the back cover:

Cthulhu Dark Ages has been updated for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition, completely revised and with a wealth of new setting material. Included are a player’s guide to the Dark Ages, an optional Sanity mechanic which mirrors the medieval mindset, rules for the oral tradition of story telling, rules for mounted combat, a grimoire of Dark Age spells and optional rules for folk magic, a bestiary of monsters, as well as a fully detailed setting - the Anglo-Saxon community of Totburh in England’s Severn Valley which includes interesting characters, dwelling descriptions, and a multitude of plot hooks for Keepers to use and develop. In addition, three scenarios introduce players to the Dark Age Severn Valley.

Quote

From the introduction (by revision co-author Chad Bowser):

The first Cthulhu Dark Ages was a success, spawning several monographs. Unfortunately, it never received official support in the form of released-to-distribution books. Rather than reprint the original Cthulhu Dark Ages, Chaosium decided to produce an updated version, with an increased page count. Andi and I were handed the task of building upon Stephane’s original masterpiece. As a fan of the first edition, and somebody with an advanced degree in 10th century history, I was thrilled. Deciding how to update it and increase its value as a game proved a monumental challenge. One of the most important changes is that the new Cthulhu Dark Ages is a supplement, not a standalone product. While most of the rules you need to play are contained within, the book does reference some spells and creatures from the core Call of Cthulhu rulebook.

As you read through the book, you will undoubtedly see many changes. Some changes were minor. First and foremost, Cthulhu Dark Ages has been updated for the 7th edition of Call of Cthulhu. There are some changes to the combat system to make it more deadly, a new, optional Sanity mechanic to better situate the rules within the early medieval mindset, and rules for the oral tradition—something to take the place of Mythos tomes in an illiterate world.

Some other changes are more grandiose in scope. The original Cthulhu Dark Ages was a toolkit but lacked a defined world for players and their Keeper to tackle. There were hints of the Dark Ages world here and there, but nothing to tell the players what made the Dark Ages unique and different from the High Middle Ages or the ancient world. Now, there’s the village of Totburh, a fully developed Anglo-Saxon burh (fortified dwelling) nestled snuggly within the Severn Valley; filled with interesting characters and more plot hooks than a Keeper can shake a shoggoth at. Granted, not everybody is going to be excited by Anglo-Saxon England, so there’s also a player’s guide to life in the Dark Ages that explains many of the concepts that were fairly widespread, but by no means universal, across the continent during the 10th century, which aims to illustrate exactly how alien the 10th century can be to modern players.

I hope that's some help.

Edited by trystero
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Self-discipline isnt everything; look at Pol Pot.”
—Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

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Thanks, the quotes cover any further questions I had. There are definitely some tempting additions - a fully detailed setting, scenarios, a player's guide. The rules upgrade is valueless to me. Perhaps I'll grab CDA 2e if the pdf is affordable, when it's available.

Actually, I do have one question: how does the page count of 2e compare with 1e? The quotes mention changes and additions, but also the fact that CDA is now a supplement instead of standalone. Is the page count a wash, or has it increased?

Edited by K Peterson
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Within the D100 family, the  most CAS influenced product  probably is Design Mechanism's  "Monster Island": cursed ruins in the jungle; lost, degenerate races; baleful sorceries, its the kind of place where Eibon would feel right at home.

A little further afield in actual game mechanics, there's "Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea" : Review of Astonishing Swordsmen...

 

 

 

 

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On ‎18‎/‎11‎/‎2015‎ ‎21‎:‎54‎:‎40, Aycorn said:

There are quite a few beasties and concepts in his stories that could be utilized in a COC game. "The Beast of Averoigne" would make a good COC Dark Ages scenario.  "The Hunters from Beyond" would work in any era.  And lots of his stuff would be harmonious with Dreamlands adventures.

 

Just to add to this, the Worlds Of Cthulhu magazine did a fine  write up of CAS Averoigne setting for Cthulhu Dark Ages spread across several issues, spells, beasts, geography etc etc. I thought it was rather good.

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On 1/12/2015 at 0:56 AM, Agentorange said:

Just to add to this, the Worlds Of Cthulhu magazine did a fine  write up of CAS Averoigne setting for Cthulhu Dark Ages spread across several issues, spells, beasts, geography etc etc. I thought it was rather good.

This is something I'd like to see as a book from Chaosium. Either as a CoC supplement or as a standalone BRP game.

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