HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: z_coolidgejs@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: conversion of players (another one)
Date: 11 Jan 93 10:50:10 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <cesnyd01.726496713@starbase.spd.louisville.edu>,
(don't these headers sound like one of the Call of Cthulu monsters?)
cesnyd01@starbase.spd.louisville.edu (Cris Snyder) writes:

> Ok, I have a Dnd group, and they said they would play a game of Cthulhu with
>  me as GM.  No problem....

> What do I do?
 
Ever looked into Ravenloft?  I'll admit that it's a bit expensive to go out and
buy boxes of stuff, but if you perchance have the money I recommend Feast of
Goblyns and the Boxed set.  As an AD&D Ravenloft DM, I have precisely the same
problem that you now face.  Here's some ideas that may be of help.

Create feelings of weakness.  Infection with supernatural disease can be truely
terrifying.  Nightmares that affect game stats as well as have vivid effect on
the players' immaginations--those are nice.  I have more than once used my own
nightmares as sources of inspiration.
     Call of Cthulu seems even more ruthless than Ravenloft about killing off
characters.  Sometimes through the course of some games in which I was a player
rather than a DM, my character died but was brought back.  There is a certain
feeling about experiencing death--especially if your near death experience
involves Hell.  Don't permanantly kill off a character before his or her time;
instead give him or her flirts with death.
     As a player I got to role play madness.  (I played a bard, too.  Before
every Ravenloft game I made a point to listen to some heavy metal to get into
character.)  There is no better way to handle the horror genre than to have at
least one insane character in the party.  Be sure, however, that the one who
goes insane has a good role-player behind him.
     I have found that the most memorable games are the ones with the best
stories and the highest emotional quality.  I recommend creating truely
interesting plots with personal attatchments.  It is one thing to have an npc
die, but it is another thing to have an npc who has helped the party for three
consecutive game sessions to die.  Horror and fear does not have to be the only
emotions.  Sadness is common in both horror and nightmares.  Occasional joy
makes the games worth playing for the true role player, as well as makes the
horror and sadness elements more effective.  And sexuality helps create a
feeling of intensity.  (You aren't just romping through dungeons anymore!)

     I will admit that my DM overdid it a little.  I came back from the first
game crying.  But, that game revolutionized role-playing for me, and has
inspired me as a DM.

--Jon Coolidge       Z_CoolidgeJS@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Ring!
"Hello?"
"HELLO!  WE ARE THE GREAT OLD ONES!  WE SHALL TAKE THE EARTH!
  URG!  ROOOOOOHHHHHBLATTTTTTTGURGLEGURGLEGURGLE!  BLOT!"
       --The Call of Cthulu
From: Seth.Morris@launchpad.unc.edu (Seth Morris)
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: Elder Signs...
Summary: Elder Signs, like all major magick, rare for PCs
Keywords: CoC, CofC, Elder Signs
Date: 8 Jan 93 06:13:29 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service

In article <1993Jan7.194211.25209@nmsu.edu> jgoodric@dante.nmsu.edu (GOODRICH) writes:
>
>	By the way, for all you gamers of the CoC, how common are
>Elder Signs?  My long-standing campaign BTS finally got the spell 
>two years after the campaign started.  Is this common?  I'veheard that 
>many parties get one very quickly, like within six or so months.  

 I've played avidly for six years now, as both Keeper and player, and never
seen a PC have the spell. The impression I get from TUO and some of the
modules is that this is a definate exception, but it fits in well with my
reading of HPL in that the PCs are never given a general protection effective
against all forms of one type of nasty.
 I frequently give out specific spells that can be used in this circumstance
against this particular beasty, but I have bever given or received something
potentially useful in all adventures (other than shriveling, once). Some of
the contacts are useful, but the risks involved seem to outway the gains
most of the time.
 I can think, off the top of my head, of no time in the literature where a
protagonist had occult knowledge on the order of magnitude of the Elder
Sign (my PCs do, however, find permanent ESs engraved in caves and houses along
the way, and have learned to make use of these temporary "safe places").
 
 However, we play a very magic-poor campaign. I have never described the
effect of a spell, just the method, some information about the tome it was
in, and an idea of what the author thought of the spell. Generally, they figure
out what to do, although I have had one group misread an entire tome (of a
long dead, time-traveling wizard who worshipped Atlach-Natcha(sp?)) and 
believe that a spell dedicating a sacrifice to her (wrapping the sacrifice
in a web of magical energy) was a spell to bind an enemy. They wanted to try
it on a friend first. It would have been quite tragic had they lived to
perform the experiment. (Although it could very well have launched an
expidetion to the dreamlands to rescue him!)

 Hope this helps. Enjoy the game and the lit. Tell me what you think.

 Seth Morris

--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
From: ldoering@engin.umich.edu (Laurence Doering)
Subject: Re: Von Junzt :(
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 02:37:07 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In article <vociacdi.726431266@w352zrz> vociacdi@w352zrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de (Frank Vocilka) writes:
>The correct spelling of that name could be either 'von Junz' or 'von Juntz'. I
>don't know if this name exists, but it could be posible. The name of the book
>is 'Unaussprechliche Kulte' - though it would rather mean 'unpronouncable
>cults' than 'unmentionable cults' which I presume was how H.P.L. meant it.
>-frank

I realize I may be on thin ice disagreeing with somebody posting from
Germany, but my Cassell's German-English dictionary translates
"unaussprechbar" as "unpronounceable", and "unaussprechlich" as 
"inexpressible, indescribable, unspeakable, unutterable, ineffable."

Maybe HPL should have called Von Junzt's work "Unausstehlichen Kulten."

ljd
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
From: mlabossi@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Michael C LaBossiere)
Subject: CoC players wanted
Organization: The Ohio State University
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 00:37:06 GMT


Hi,
    All my players have graduated, but, since I am a grad student, I'm still
stuck here at OSU (the place where the sun shines not). I would like to extend
an invitation to players (or plotential players) of CoC to join in a new CoC
group. The campaign will be playtesting a book I am writing (yes, full credit
will be given to players). If you are interested, contact me via email at
mlabossi@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
    I'd like to play once every two weeks on Saturdays (maybe more often as
time permits) here in Columbus, Ohio.

Michael LaBossiere
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
From: ahughes@isosa1.estec.esa.nl (Alan Hughes)
Subject: Re: conversion of players to CoC
Keywords: Dnd, CoC
Organization: ESA/Estec/SAI, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 15:38:48 GMT

In article <cesnyd01.726496713@starbase.spd.louisville.edu>, cesnyd01@starbase.spd.louisville.edu (Cris Snyder) writes:
 > Ok, I have a Dnd group, and they said they would play a game of Cthulhu with me as GM.  No problem.  They are a good Dnd group, used to all sorts of nastys.
 > Problem.  
 > 
 > How does one take a person who has fought deamons and ghoulies and (literaly!)
 > had lunch with dieties go to a game system where part of the goal of the GM is 
 > to scare the socks off of him?  I don't think these folks are going to be 
 > impressed when a Bakee (Sp?) come fluttering down the hall way - they'll laugh!
 > 
 > What do I do?
 > 
 > I'm already planning to use physical eliments - low lights, candles, dark colors
 > etc. maybe even some spooky music in the background - I think this will 
 > deffinetely help.
 > 
 > Another big problem is how do you get it thru their heads that taking a week
 > (game time) and living in a library can almost be expected of them?  We're 
 > talking about Fantasy gamers who are used to obliterating anything they dont
 > understand with the exception to the fact that it's trying to eat them!
 > 
 > Any other thoughts? 
 > 
 > 					AlberCrombie. 
 > 

Let them learn the same way as you would teach any novice CoC player -

THE HARD WAY!!!!

Alan
From: corleyj@helium.gas.uug.arizona.edu (Jason D Corley )
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: Elder Signs...
Date: 11 Jan 93 23:27:05 GMT
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson

In article <1993Jan7.194211.25209@nmsu.edu> jgoodric@dante.nmsu.edu (GOODRICH) writes:
>
>	By the way, for all you gamers of the CoC, how common are
>Elder Signs?  My long-standing campaign BTS finally got the spell 
>two years after the campaign started.  Is this common?  I'veheard that 
>many parties get one very quickly, like within six or so months.  
>	How about it? Experiences?  
>

I had them pick it up first adventure.  Of course they had no idea what
it meant, or what it did, or how to make one that worked.  They just
knew that it was important.  Steal a line from Paranoia: Fear and Ignorance.
The fear bit is easy--- I think a lot of the modules haven't got Ignorance
quite down pat yet....

Remember--if and when they ever do get a talisman or a spell or something
that works, you'll have to work _that_much_harder_ to get them really scared
about stuff.  I made the Elder Sign not work nearly as well or as much as
the book said it should, just to put the fear of Gods into them.  (No, I
didn't send them up against a god their first time out.  Just The King In
Yellow, and they only half won.)

	Jason
	Yog-Sothoth Fan Clubbe
    
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
From: ebstokes@uncc.edu (Edward B Stokes)
Subject: The Thing that should not be
Reply-To: ebstokes@uncc.edu
Organization: University of NC at Charlotte
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 23:01:57 GMT

Any of you who listen to heavy metal, listen to "The thing that should not be" on Metallica's Maste4 of Puppets. It's cool. Sample lyrics:

Hybrid children watch the sea,
Pray for father roaming free.

..He watches, lurking beneath the sea,
Great old ones, forbidden sight
He searches, hunter of the shadows...

Now tell me this song doesn't have a few references to Big "C". Cool Huh? If you want, I have a text file of the complete lyrics and I'll post it
From: jgoodric@dante.nmsu.edu (GOODRICH)
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: Edward Gory
Date: 7 Jan 93 19:24:14 GMT
Organization: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM


	Actually, Mr. Gorey has illustrated hundreds of weird books, 
and written more than his fair share of them.  He won a Tony for his work
designing the '70's Broadway hit Dracula (Frank Langella version).
He has over 247 illustrations in the NMSU library, including
the Gashlycrumb Tinies, Jack the Giant Killer, and many,many,many,many
more.  He has illustrated the cover for at least one Clark Ashton Smith 
book, and is generally incredibly and very creepy.  Hope the guy lives 
a long, happy, twisted life.


	The Laughing Priest!  {Jgoodric@nmsu.edu}

Player: "I read the last Page of _Revelations of Glaaki_
	  so I know how it ends."
Keeper: "Put a big "Y" at the top of your character sheet."
Organization: University of Maine System
Date: Friday, 8 Jan 1993 12:30:13 EST
From: <IO01255@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: Elder Signs...

In article <1993Jan7.194211.25209@nmsu.edu>, jgoodric@dante.nmsu.edu (GOODRICH)
says:
>
>        By the way, for all you gamers of the CoC, how common are
>Elder Signs?  My long-standing campaign BTS finally got the spell
>two years after the campaign started.  Is this common?  I'veheard that
>many parties get one very quickly, like within six or so months.
>        How about it? Experiences?

Well, my players found an amulet with an elder sign cast upon it, and
they have used that thing as a last ditch protection more than a few times.
Sometimes it has gotten to the point where they have squabbled amoungst
themselves as to who gets to wear it....
My players didn't know the power of the symbol until they began experimenting
with it, and when they did, they began to use its protection a lot.
I have yet to actually give them the Elder Sign spell, as I feel that having
the amulet be a special, rare thing (as I have made it), it has given the
players much more respect for the item and the symbol in general.  I have
though given them a couple of other spells only because one of the party
members is 'crazy' enough to actually pursue such knowledge.
Oh... It's always fun to screw with an investigators mind.......

CTHULHU FTAGHNN!!!  SHUB-NIGGURATH IA! IA!
Organization: University of Maine System
Date: Tuesday, 12 Jan 1993 16:57:43 EST
From: <IO01255@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: horror music
 <1iv547INNlb8@au-ns.american.edu> <1993Jan12.202440.15686@kth.se>

In article <1993Jan12.202440.15686@kth.se>, Dexter says:
>
>In article <1iv547INNlb8@au-ns.american.edu>, sayre@bird (Kirk Sayre) writes:
>|> In article <cesnyd01.726863259@starbase.spd.louisville.edu>
>cesnyd01@romulus.spd.louisville.edu (Cris Snyder) writes:
>|> >
>|> >Hi guys.  Question : what music do you have that reminds you of
>Lovecraft's
>|> >creepies or just that type of setting?  I want to avoid songs that are
>|> *Stuff Deleted*
>|> |> If you want to hear some scary, moody music, listen to the majority of
>|> songs by My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult or by Skinny Puppy.
>|> Particular songs to look for are:
>|> *Stuff Deleted*
>
>Lords of the New Curchs (Lords of the) New Curch
>
>no.sig
>
>
From the soundtrack to Dracula, I heard a twisted tune on the second side that
do with the scene in the movie where the three vampire sisters were slaughterin
horses....  Wonderfully disturbing!  What about Moon Over Bourbon Street
by Sting????
>
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
From: mega@lut.fi (Mega the Root of All Evil)
Subject: Re: The Thing that should not be
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 16:03:34 GMT
Disclaimer: Death before disco
	<93012.021132IO01255@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Organization: Pikametallimiehet (Speed Metal Men), Finland


> In article <93012.021132IO01255@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>, <IO01255@MAINE.MAINE.EDU> writes:

> In article <104432@netnews.upenn.edu>, karna@pobox.upenn.edu (Animesh Karna)
> says:
>>
>>In article <C0ppBA.5vz@unccsun.uncc.edu> ebstokes@uncc.edu writes:
>>>Any of you who listen to heavy metal, listen to "The thing that should not
>>be"
>>> on Metallica's Maste4 of Puppets. It's cool. Sample lyrics:
>>. . .
>>>
>>>Now tell me this song doesn't have a few references to Big "C". Cool Huh?
>>>If you want, I have a text file of the complete lyrics and I'll post it
>>
>>In "Ride The Lightning", they have a musical piece (no words) called
>>"The Call of Ktulu".  I'm not sure why, but the name "Ktulu" sounds vaguely
>>familiar . . . ;-)

> I believe they had to spellit "Ktulu" because of some sort of copyright problem
> I guess that one of the song writers is a big Lovecraft fan... That's what
> I heard...

 Yes Cliff Burton (RIP) was a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft's works and he
 probably inspired James Hetfield to write a song about Cthulhu Mythos...

--
==================================================================
I mega@lut.fi                                                    I
I "Standardized, homogenized, sterilized,                        I
I  I've heard that song before.                                  I
I  Deodorized, commercialized, televised,                        I
I  I've heard that song before." - Tommy Christ (Scatterbrain) - I
==================================================================
From: bonapart@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: Elder Signs...  
Date: 12 Jan 93 10:09:00 -0500
Organization: Carnegie Mellon Computer Club

Hi, all.

The one major time I had some of my players encounter an Elder sign, it
was on the door of a room.  Not knowing what was in that room, they decided
to leave it alone... thus increasing their feelings of paranoia...

Such things, left around, make one wonder why they were left....

-john
bonapart@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu

Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
From: royd@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Roy Daniel)
Subject: Is the group at it's proper place?
Organization: Universite de Montreal
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 19:46:25 GMT


I have noticed an increasing number of posts that talked about CoC. Maybe this
newsgroup should be moved to rec.arts.games.frp.coc?

I think this place is better without things like debates of D&D/CoC.

I enjoy both, but here is the place to discuss aspects of the Myth, rather that
a related game.

Any opinions?


Daniel Roy

-- 
Mr. Cole's axiom:
	"The sum of the intelligence on the planet is a constant;
	 the population is growing."
Organization: University of Maine System
Date: Tuesday, 12 Jan 1993 02:11:32 EST
From: <IO01255@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: The Thing that should not be

In article <104432@netnews.upenn.edu>, karna@pobox.upenn.edu (Animesh Karna)
says:
>
>In article <C0ppBA.5vz@unccsun.uncc.edu> ebstokes@uncc.edu writes:
>>Any of you who listen to heavy metal, listen to "The thing that should not
>be"
>> on Metallica's Maste4 of Puppets. It's cool. Sample lyrics:
>. . .
>>
>>Now tell me this song doesn't have a few references to Big "C". Cool Huh?
>>If you want, I have a text file of the complete lyrics and I'll post it
>
>In "Ride The Lightning", they have a musical piece (no words) called
>"The Call of Ktulu".  I'm not sure why, but the name "Ktulu" sounds vaguely
>familiar . . . ;-)

I believe they had to spellit "Ktulu" because of some sort of copyright problem
I guess that one of the song writers is a big Lovecraft fan... That's what
I heard...
From: fortune7@cyberden.sf.ca.us
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: Another Story
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 93 11:01:39 PST
Reply-To: fortune7@cyberden.sf.ca.us
Organization: Indescribable Creations

wimcdaid@dante.nmsu.edu (MC DAID) writes:

> 	Howdy.  I've noticed that this groups traffic is dying
> off, and I want to help fix that.  The following is a story that
> I wrote that I must confess was inspired by my recent trip to 
> Providence.  I didn't dig anyone up, although I met a very angry
> corpse looking for some 'British guy'...
> 
> If I get some positive responses, I'll finish it within a week.
> Otherwise, all that typing just wears me out.
> 
> 						-Liam
> 
> 		To be continued, maybe.

Yes! Yes! By all means, finish it!  We need good mythos fiction in this 
newsgroup.  Do you think you could email me a copy of the finished 
product in case I miss the post?

Many thanks in advance.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||                                                         |||
||| "Cerebus believes it is easier to see during the day    |||
|||  than it is at night."                                  |||
|||                                                         |||
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From: johnh@compnews.co.uk (John Harcourt)
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: The Thing that should not be
Date: 12 Jan 93 13:28:23 GMT
Organization: Computer Newspaper Services, Howden, UK.
NNTP-Posting-Host: aniseed.compnews.co.uk
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

ebstokes@uncc.edu (Edward B Stokes) writes:
: Any of you who listen to heavy metal, listen to "The thing that should not be" on Metallica's Maste4 of Puppets. It's cool. Sample lyrics:
: 
: Hybrid children watch the sea,
: Pray for father roaming free.
: 
: ..He watches, lurking beneath the sea,
: Great old ones, forbidden sight
: He searches, hunter of the shadows...
: 
: Now tell me this song doesn't have a few references to Big "C". Cool Huh? If you want, I have a text file of the complete lyrics and I'll post it

There's another track on similar lines either on that album or another, can't
remember which. And "Sanitarium" of course...

I'll have to check.

--
*******************************************************************************
John Kesdan Harcourt | My employers would like me to remind you that I wrote
johnh@compnews.co.uk | this without their approval and they probably object... 
*******************************************************************************
When things are at their darkest it's a brave man who can kick back and party! 
*******************************************************************************
From: lmg@natinst.com (Louis Gomes)
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: horror music
Date: 12 Jan 1993 14:16:18 -0600
Organization: National Instruments, Austin, TX
NNTP-Posting-Host: eagle.natinst.com

In article <cesnyd01.726863259@starbase.spd.louisville.edu> cesnyd01@romulus.spd.louisville.edu (Cris Snyder) writes:
>
>Hi guys.  Question : what music do you have that reminds you of Lovecraft's
>creepies or just that type of setting?  I want to avoid songs that are
>directly related to the mythos, i.e. 'The Thing That Should Not Be' or 
>'Call of Ktulu' by Metallica.  I am looking for stuff that can set a mood 
>real well.

Myself, I've stuck "Afterhours" by the "Sisters Of Mercy" (B side of
the "Body And Soul" single) into a couple of CoC scenarios, with some
good effects...

louis
From: rust@dssdev.enet.dec.com (Elizabeth Rust)
Newsgroups: alt.horror.cthulhu
Subject: Re: conversion of players to CoC
Date: 8 Jan 93 16:22:07 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation


In article <cesnyd01.726496713@starbase.spd.louisville.edu>, cesnyd01@starbase.spd.louisville.edu (Cris Snyder) writes...
>Ok, I have a Dnd group, and they said they would play a game of Cthulhu with me as GM.  No problem.  They are a good Dnd group, used to all sorts of nastys.
>Problem.  
> 
>How does one take a person who has fought deamons and ghoulies and (literaly!)
>had lunch with dieties go to a game system where part of the goal of the GM is 
>to scare the socks off of him?  I don't think these folks are going to be 
>impressed when a Bakee (Sp?) come fluttering down the hall way - they'll laugh!
> 
>What do I do?
> 
>I'm already planning to use physical eliments - low lights, candles, dark colors
>etc. maybe even some spooky music in the background - I think this will 
>deffinetely help.
> 
>Another big problem is how do you get it thru their heads that taking a week
>(game time) and living in a library can almost be expected of them?  We're 
>talking about Fantasy gamers who are used to obliterating anything they dont
>understand with the exception to the fact that it's trying to eat them!
> 
>Any other thoughts? 
> 
>					AlberCrombie. 

If your people are role-players, they ought to be able to shift gears without
too much trouble - just be sure that, when you give 'em their character
information, you make it clear what "SAN" means. ;-)

If they prefer hack'n'slashing to puzzle-solving and/or lots of character 
interaction, CoC might not be the best choice of games/scenarios for them.
Even then, if they don't seem to be appreciating the "atmosphere" or the
library-research bits, you could throw 'em into a huge, non-stop 
cultists-and-monsters melee. (Be sure to provide some cannon-fodder so
they can see first-hand the results of someone's getting too close to
a shoggoth...)


Beth 'Gory Details' Rust	| Many a man has dated his ruin from some 
Digital Equipment Corp.		| murder or other that perhaps he thought 
Nashua, NH			| little of at the time.
rust@ddif.enet.dec.com		| 		-- Thomas de Quincey