From: owner-deltagreen-digest@nocturne.org (deltagreen-digest) To: deltagreen-digest@nocturne.org Subject: deltagreen-digest V1 #19 Reply-To: Delta Green List Sender: owner-deltagreen-digest@nocturne.org Errors-To: owner-deltagreen-digest@nocturne.org Precedence: bulk deltagreen-digest Friday, May 1 1998 Volume 01 : Number 019 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 09:53:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Michael S Beck Subject: Re: DG: inquiry Perhpa the best coe is one based on personal expereinces. Even if the enmy gets through all the ciphers, all they'll have is "This message concerns our conversation on the 11th of August of last year. I have discovered evidence that you were incorrect. To confirm this, I suggest you study pages 11-17 of the book we discussed on ..." On Wed, 29 Apr 1998, The Man in Black wrote: > On Wed, 29 Apr 1998, Phil A Posehn wrote: > > > Can anyone supply me with information on the details of how the "book > > codes" work? I'm aware that they require both parties to have copies of > > Go to the library and read a couple of books on basic encryption, or read > some of the FAQ's on the internet. RESEARCH! MAN! :) > > But seriously, the best codes use a little of everything: I pass messages > based on a codeword system where each word represents a phrase, situation, > contingency etc. This info is passed along via email that is redundantly > encrypted. Thus in order to break the code a dedicated network of > workstations must compute for a number of hours only to get a nonsense > series of words. The codebook is needed to break this additional layer of > security. BTW, the code changes every month or so. This is secure enough > to assuage even my rampant paranoia. > > The Man in Black is : Kenneth Scroggins > Novus Ordo Seclorum : Annuit Coeptus : E Pluribus Unum > RADIANCE : EVALUATION : KNIGHT > > ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 16:30:50 +0100 From: NICK Subject: DG: Re: The Prisoner not really much of a Prisoner buff myself, but I've enjoyed what little I've seen; what I do know is that there was a quite good comic-book sequel written and drawn by Dean Motter and published by DC about six years ago - it was collected in Trade Paperback format and i still see the odd copy around in the UK(titan Books were the publisher), so I'm assuming it was in print until recently. there's also a very recent book - it only came out about a year ago - that's apparently an analysis of the various themes of the serious; kind of an academic appraisal of it. Unfortunately, i don't remember the title or the author, and haven't read it, but i'll keep an eye open and post on the details if i see it. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 16:59:00 +0100 From: NICK Subject: Re: DG: Crystal Matrix AI's that pass the Turing Test not wanting to go on about the AI bit, like, but 'getting into it's head' does raise some interesting questions about the nature of reality (that old hobby horse) and personal identity. Our world is basically one of our perceptions - colour for instance, has no existence in the 'real world' - and similarily, our individuality and identity comes from our perceptions. Most people identify themselves with their physical existence - that's because everything they percieve is from that one perspective. A race of telepathic beings, for instance, who were in total and constant psychic contact probably wouldn't equate their physical bodies as themselves - more like just a part. So to get inside an AI's head - or for that matter a Great Old ones's (if such a thing is possible exempting the hard way) you have to think seriously about what it is capable of percieving and the way in which it does it. Being able to 'exist', for instance, at more than one spacial point simultaneously, and recieve sensory input simultaneously in this way is going to lead to a perception of time and space that's radically different from the one we have. All worth bearing in mind next time you're wondering what Yog-Sothoth should be doing next... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 17:12:39 +0100 From: NICK Subject: DG: lloigor I've never really kept up with CoC supplements before Delta Green, and so past what I've read in stories and the original rulebook I don't really know too much about the various races - I make up stuff that coheres with what I already know - and I'm currently running one campaign around the lloigors prescence in the Northern UK. Anyway, it's going fine and everything;- I've had the players chasing around a psychic serial killer whose the victim of a childhood mind link with a lloigor - the subsequent investigation into the lunatic asylum he escaped from - which is almost like a 'lloigor ward' it turns out; and a trip to an isolated town in Northumbria, which the government has allowed the lloigor to dominate and 'alter' for fifteen years in the name of 'research'. However, I'm looking to keep the action running and was wondering if anyone knew of any decent supplements, adventures or just suggestions that pertain to these strangely named things? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 13:37:45 -0400 (EDT) From: "Andrew D. Gable" Subject: Re: DG: lloigor On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, NICK wrote: > However, I'm looking to keep the action running and was wondering if anyone > knew of any decent supplements, adventures or just suggestions that > pertain to these strangely named things? A good point is raised here. The lloigor (I think) are one of the coolest CoC races. Anything that looks like a teratosaur and can cause Tunguska-like explosions can't be all bad, after all. :) But I've noticed a depressing lack of representations of them in CoC supplements. You may want to take note, though, that on Steve Hatherley's site there are several Tales of Terror dealing with these monsters, most geared for the 1890s/1920s, but which should be able to be updated easily. Or do this (my suggestion): Have people in some remote village report sightings of dragons, dinosaurs, devils, whatever is appropriate to the campaign. Have these "dragons" turn out to be lloigor in reptilian form. Watch the joyous looks on the faces of your players when the dragons dissolve into their natural form! I'm also thinking here that it also might be feasible to have an isolated scientist doing some sort of "Jurassic Park"-type genetic experiments in the area, just to throw the players off track. - ---------- Andrew D. Gable agable@falcon.lhup.edu The CryptoWeb: www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/7270/ "Well, you've got to admit that if that is a woman, it does look as if she's been beaten with an ugly stick." -Austin Powers ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 12:02:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Jose Burgos Subject: DG: ghoulish degeneration I would like to know if there are any rules for how humans can degenerate into ghouls. In DG:AI it appears that such degenerations comes about through reading the "Ghoul Manuscripts" (the case of DG agent Jean Qualls); however, the basic rulebook (CoC5) mentions that humans can sometimes degenerate into ghouls, yet no rules are given. Should this only be treated as a supernatural/magical process or can it be due to a biological process as well? Perhaps this process is detailed in an existing sourcebook. Could someone in A cell (or anyone with certain knowledge) comment? burgos_j@yahoo.com _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 19:03:14 +0000 From: Matthew Pook Subject: Re: DG: lloigor I know that one scenario appeared in the old CoC companion (first one, not the dire Fragments of Fear). Strangely, there is an obelisk situated here in Falmouth about 30 foot high made from stone blocks. It has been moved around around the town 3 times and was erected by a local minor noble/sailor for absolutely no apparent reason. Plus the town has a madman who believes in the whole witchcraft stuff and has appeared on Fortean TV. Combined with legends of a creature living in the bay, has always given me the thought that the obelisk is part of a ritual to summon Lloigor. On another OT point, I am trying to track down UK based scenarios for CoC. Anybody help? I have all of the White Dwarf ones, but what about official stuff? - -- Pookie URL: http://arts.falmouth.ac.uk/journalism/PAGES/Welcome.htm HOME OF: The Unoffical SkyRealms of Jorune UK Home Page, and the following for GURPS: SkyRealms of Jorune, 2300 AD, Rally Cry !, Group Green, The Race, Strikeforce: Morituri, Xenozoic Tales, and The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. “... Don’t take your pineal gland for granted. Pamper it! Essential oils! Rubdowns! It could save your ass someday.” - - Tlg’manh, The Unspeakable Oath #14/15 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 13:41:23 -0500 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Ricardo_J._M=E9ndez?=" Subject: Re: DG: lloigor >A good point is raised here. The lloigor (I think) are one of the coolest >CoC races. Anything that looks like a teratosaur and can cause >Tunguska-like explosions can't be all bad, after all. :) But I've noticed >a depressing lack of representations of them in CoC supplements. Indeed. The Llogior make a cameo on Chaosium's "Horror on the Orient Express", but I always felt that it was too brief and tacked on. It would be great to see some adventures that really exploit them. Ricardo J. Méndez rmendez@geocities.com PGP Fingerprint: 8D9A 2B53 5631 4594 DE6D 69DF 3DCA 37E0 C27A 4EAB ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 16:43:18 -0400 From: graemep@immag.mcg.edu (Graeme Price) Subject: Re: DG: lloigor >On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, NICK wrote: > >> However, I'm looking to keep the action running and was wondering if anyone >> knew of any decent supplements, adventures or just suggestions that >> pertain to these strangely named things? > >A good point is raised here. The lloigor (I think) are one of the coolest >CoC races. Anything that looks like a teratosaur and can cause >Tunguska-like explosions can't be all bad, after all. :) But I've noticed >a depressing lack of representations of them in CoC supplements. > >You may want to take note, though, that on Steve Hatherley's site there >are several Tales of Terror dealing with these monsters, most geared for >the 1890s/1920s, but which should be able to be updated easily. Or do this >(my suggestion): Back in the old Cthulhu Companion (I think) there was a heavily Lloigor-oriented scenario called "the Mystery of Loch Feinn" which was set in 1920's Scotland. Very Loch Ness monster type of thing, with something to do with standing stones thrown in. It ought to be possible to update this and maybe throw in a few conspiracy type weird goings on, as well. This is probably a bit hard to come by nowadays, though (my copy was in the GW printing of CoC 3rd edition... ('87 or '88) and the scenario was old even then, so that dates it a bit!). Hope this helps a little. Graeme graemep@immag.mcg.edu Graeme Price PhD. Program in Molecular Immunology Institute of Molecular Medicine & Genetics Medical College of Georgia 1120 15th Street, CB-2803 Augusta, Georgia 30912-3175 U.S.A. Tel(lab): (+001) 706-721-8883 Fax: (+001) 706-721-8732 E-mail: graemep@immag.mcg.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 16:52:06 -0400 From: graemep@immag.mcg.edu (Graeme Price) Subject: Re: DG: How to Survive in a Lovecraft Story >Morten Kjeldseth Pettersen wrote: > >> Chris Womack wrote: >> >> > a bunch of really cool stuff< > > A friend of mine who was a Keeper used to have three rules for his games. >1- Don't go in the dark >2- Don't go anywhere alone >3- Always save the last bullet for yourself Yes, but very frustrating if you are a keeper trying to have someting nasty happen to just one or two PCs. My last party were a case in point... one PC would go off to follow a lead (Player and Keeper disappear out of the room with dice and character sheets). PC then fails to make the evening rendevous. The party then collectively sighs and one of the other PCs (any one dosen't matter) says "Damn. We've lost another PI. Still, on the bright side, at least we now know where the cultists are. Better break out the hardware and go to give them a stiff talking to!".... Of course, now the rest of the PCs are expected and half the party gets killed in the ensuing bloodbath. Ho hum. Pass around new character sheets. Incidentally, I am reminded of the old lightbulb joke. Viz. Q: "How many investigators does it take to change a lightbulb?" A: "All of them. NEVER split the party!" Graeme graemep@immag.mcg.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 17:47:56 -0400 From: graemep@immag.mcg.edu (Graeme Price) Subject: Re: DG: ghoulish degeneration >Jose Burgos Wrote: > >I would like to know if there are any rules for how humans can >degenerate into ghouls. In DG:AI it appears that such degenerations >comes about through reading the "Ghoul Manuscripts" (the case of DG >agent Jean Qualls); however, the basic rulebook (CoC5) mentions that >humans can sometimes degenerate into ghouls, yet no rules are given. >Should this only be treated as a supernatural/magical process or can >it be due to a biological process as well? Perhaps this process is >detailed in an existing sourcebook. Could someone in A cell (or anyone >with certain knowledge) comment? > Interesting. A "Ghoul Virus" perhaps? Some infectious agent or chemical altering the behaviour patterns of it's host towards canabalism... wait a minute. This almost sounds like BSE (Bovine Spongiform encephalopathy -aka. Mad Cow Disease), although that was/is enforced canabalism causing transmission of a degenerative neurological change. Kuru might be more appropriate (ritual canabalism and burial practices causing transmission - again - of degenerative neurological disease and death in the Fore natives of Papua New Guinea). Notice that both BSE and Kuru (and the other transmissable spongiform encephalopathies) are also both fairly inexplicable by mainstream molecular biology (I'm not going to go into this here... trust me. I'm a doctor!). I suppose that it is not beyond the bounds of possibility (for a CoC/DG setting) that someone/thing has manipulated an infectious agent (prion? maybe using the cookbook?) to trigger a latent degenerative mechanism which results in death unless the victim takes part in ghoul-type practices (which could enhance the cycle further) or only triggers the transformation into ghouls in a small proportion of those exposed. The question is who has done the manipulation (MJ-12?), and why (to increase the number of ghouls as a slave race or as nuclear/biological/chemical resistant troops?)?. Incidentally, linking it into BSE is somewhat cute, as it gives a reason for all those cattle mutilation incidents in the midwest.... I shall have to work on this for a scenario, I think. Now, where did I leave my brain samples? Graeme Graeme Price PhD. Program in Molecular Immunology Institute of Molecular Medicine & Genetics Medical College of Georgia 1120 15th Street, CB-2803 Augusta, Georgia 30912-3175 U.S.A. Tel(lab): (+001) 706-721-8883 Fax: (+001) 706-721-8732 E-mail: graemep@immag.mcg.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:58:43 From: Davide Mana Subject: Re: DG: Lloigor Greetings. I agree: the Lloigor are quite good Mythos nasties and are severely underused. But please do not forget the excellent "The Watcher in the Valley" scenario, by Kevin Ross, in "Tales of the Miskatonic Valley" by Chaosium. It really has it all. Great plot (lifted from a Quatermass story). Great scenario structure: non-linear, leisurely-paced and perfectly presented. Spooky graphics by Blair Reynolds. It also offers a good alternative to the usual "lloigor-as-dragon' bit. I can't recommend it enough. It also can turn out to be a good alternative to the "Hounted House" scenario to hook new players and turn them into Call of Cthulhu enthusiasts. End of maniacal raving, back to pensive mode. Take care! Davide Mana Torino, Italy doctor.dee@iol.it ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 15:27:59 -0700 From: "Aaron" Subject: DG: Re: ghoulish degeneration I think either the CoC volume "At Your Door" or "Secrets " contained a short adventure set in the '90's that contained a person transforming into a ghoul. Was an interesting adventure. I do not remember the particulars off of the top of my head but it involved the devouring of bad meat and the descent into cannibalism I do believe. There though I do believe that the character was the child of a ghoul worshipping cult and that one of his parents may have been a ghoul. If you are interested I will follow up with a more detailed mail later when I can find my copy of the volume. - - hythian - >I would like to know if there are any rules for how humans can >degenerate into ghouls. In DG:AI it appears that such degenerations >comes about through reading the "Ghoul Manuscripts" (the case of DG >agent Jean Qualls); however, the basic rulebook (CoC5) mentions that >humans can sometimes degenerate into ghouls, yet no rules are given. >Should this only be treated as a supernatural/magical process or can >it be due to a biological process as well? Perhaps this process is >detailed in an existing sourcebook. Could someone in A cell (or anyone >with certain knowledge) comment? > >burgos_j@yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 15:56:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Jose Burgos Subject: Re: DG: Re: ghoulish degeneration Yes that would be a good help as I am trying to determine if this process is in any way biological (similar to the DeepOne/Human crossbreeding results). I would imagine that it should go beyond simply eating "bad" meat or otherwise anyone who likes to frequent MacDonalds would be ghouls by now (Hmm, possibly story idea...) J - ---Aaron wrote: > > I think either the CoC volume "At Your Door" or "Secrets " contained a short > adventure set in the '90's that contained a person transforming into a > ghoul. Was an interesting adventure. I do not remember the particulars off > of the top of my head but it involved the devouring of bad meat and the > descent into cannibalism I do believe. There though I do believe that the > character was the child of a ghoul worshipping cult and that one of his > parents may have been a ghoul. If you are interested I will follow up with a > more detailed mail later when I can find my copy of the volume. > > - hythian - > > > >I would like to know if there are any rules for how humans can > >degenerate into ghouls. In DG:AI it appears that such degenerations > >comes about through reading the "Ghoul Manuscripts" (the case of DG > >agent Jean Qualls); however, the basic rulebook (CoC5) mentions that > >humans can sometimes degenerate into ghouls, yet no rules are given. > >Should this only be treated as a supernatural/magical process or can > >it be due to a biological process as well? Perhaps this process is > >detailed in an existing sourcebook. Could someone in A cell (or anyone > >with certain knowledge) comment? > > > >burgos_j@yahoo.com > > > _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 16:05:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Jose Burgos Subject: Re: DG: ghoulish degeneration > Incidentally, linking it into BSE is somewhat cute, as it gives a reason > for all those cattle mutilation incidents in the midwest.... Hmm, smells like "el chupacabra" to me... In the case of Jean Qualls, (human DG agent turned ghoul) she attributes it (somewhat speculatively) to the possibility of DNA responses triggered by reading certain passages of the "Ghoul Manuscript". Still, I would think that such transformation should have a more scientific or biological basis (Oh no, Im sounding like Scully here), otherwise this is one book *no one* wants to read! J _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 17:12:12 -0500 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Ricardo_J._M=E9ndez?=" Subject: Re: DG: ghoulish degeneration >I suppose that it is not beyond the bounds of possibility (for a CoC/DG >setting) that someone/thing has manipulated an infectious agent (prion? >maybe using the cookbook?) to trigger a latent degenerative mechanism which >results in death unless the victim takes part in ghoul-type practices >(which could enhance the cycle further) or only triggers the transformation >into ghouls in a small proportion of those exposed. Yikes. Sometimes you can learn some nasty stuff having a doctor around. But do let me know if you do that scenario, I'd love to see it. A small question: is there any nutrient or substance that can be gained only through the ingestion of either human or long dead meat? That could justify the ghoulish practices. Maybe the transformation could be triggered the first time the subjects come into contact with that very substance, and as you pointed out, the substance just furthers the degeneration along. Kind of like a drug addiction. Ricardo J. Méndez rmendez@geocities.com PGP Fingerprint: 8D9A 2B53 5631 4594 DE6D 69DF 3DCA 37E0 C27A 4EAB ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 19:56:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Michael S Beck Subject: Re: DG: ghoulish degeneration The decision to eat human or rotting flesh may be a cultural choice rather than a biological necessity. On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, [iso-8859-1] Ricardo J. Méndez wrote: > > > >I suppose that it is not beyond the bounds of possibility (for a CoC/DG > >setting) that someone/thing has manipulated an infectious agent (prion? > >maybe using the cookbook?) to trigger a latent degenerative mechanism which > >results in death unless the victim takes part in ghoul-type practices > >(which could enhance the cycle further) or only triggers the transformation > >into ghouls in a small proportion of those exposed. > > > Yikes. Sometimes you can learn some nasty stuff having a doctor around. > But do let me know if you do that scenario, I'd love to see it. > > A small question: is there any nutrient or substance that can be gained only > through the ingestion of either human or long dead meat? That could justify > the ghoulish practices. Maybe the transformation could be triggered the > first time the subjects come into contact with that very substance, and as > you pointed out, the substance just furthers the degeneration along. Kind > of like a drug addiction. > > > Ricardo J. Méndez > rmendez@geocities.com > PGP Fingerprint: 8D9A 2B53 5631 4594 DE6D 69DF 3DCA 37E0 C27A 4EAB > > > > ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 18:56:58 -0500 (CDT) From: Don Juneau Subject: DG: Ghoul & lloigor info Two MiGo with one stone and all that, but CoC 4th Edition has a bit of both, for scenarios. The PAPER CHASE adventure (one player, at that), gives some Ghoul-transformation "basic" info, in just a bit over two pages (plus art). The MYSTERY OF LOCH FEINN lies just a few pages away, giving the lloigor a shot at devouring new characters as well. Some light Ghoul activity occurs in one section of AT YOUR DOOR, but (IMO) it's played a bit for laughs. And I vaguely recall an issue of THE UNSPEAKABLE OATH that discusses the odd "dual nature" of the lloigor, apparently based on two differing ideas by authours. (not that I can find *that* part offhand, no... ) "Tonight on the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Ghoul versus Sand Dweller!" Don ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 21:21:37 EDT From: Croaker Jr Subject: Re: DG: Ordo Templi Orientis Black Dahlia/Parsons/etc: Great stuff! That's a storyline definitely worth pursuing and researching. I hope you'll keep sending your thoughts and developments. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 98 20:21:14 -0700 From: Joseph Camp Subject: Re: DG: lloigor >Indeed. The Llogior make a cameo on Chaosium's "Horror on the Orient >Express", but I always felt that it was too brief and tacked on. It would >be great to see some adventures that really exploit them. My liason at Pagan Publishing tells me that there will be a lloigor scenario in their book MORTAL COILS, which I gather to be a set of game scenarios in the early decades of this century and not DG-related per se. Supposedly it's going to press in the next week or two, but as usual their release dates are unreliable intelligence at best. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 21:22:31 -0500 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Ricardo_J._M=E9ndez?=" Subject: Re: DG: ghoulish degeneration Indeed it could, but if someone turning to a ghoul feels the inclination, no matter their background, it would be a physical need. Also, since we were looking into medical possibilities, it sounded like an interesting idea. Ricardo J. Méndez rmendez@geocities.com PGP Fingerprint: 8D9A 2B53 5631 4594 DE6D 69DF 3DCA 37E0 C27A 4EAB - -----Original Message----- From: Michael S Beck To: Delta Green List Date: Thursday, April 30, 1998 6:58 PM Subject: Re: DG: ghoulish degeneration >The decision to eat human or rotting flesh may be a cultural choice rather >than a biological necessity. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 21:42:51 -0500 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Ricardo_J._M=E9ndez?=" Subject: Re: DG: lloigor - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I just learned that Pagan Publishing's upcoming "Mortal Coils" will have an adventure that will include the Lloigor. I suppose that it's worth finding out about it for Lloigor fans. In fact, the whole 6-adventure supplement sounds interesting. Cheers, Ricardo J. Méndez rmendez@geocities.com PGP Fingerprint: 8D9A 2B53 5631 4594 DE6D 69DF 3DCA 37E0 C27A 4EAB - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 5.5.3 for non-commercial use iQA/AwUBNUk2qz3KN+DCek6rEQL6/ACfTkb1AvH4m0X7I6CjPWxGUAtRFUkAnj3Y a4hk0E4a/TS3G2BrbEXYbExz =zATR - -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 00:47:55 EDT From: TUO Subject: Re: Re: DG: lloigor Certain informants at Pagan Publishing have informed me that the scenario anthology entitled "Mortal Coils" does include a lloigor scenario and in fact, the book has been upgraded to 8 scenarios. - -Agent Poe ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:52:18 -0500 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Ricardo_J._M=E9ndez?=" Subject: Re: Re: DG: lloigor Well, Pagan can't say that they aren't getting enough publicity, can they? :) Ricardo J. Méndez rmendez@geocities.com PGP Fingerprint: 8D9A 2B53 5631 4594 DE6D 69DF 3DCA 37E0 C27A 4EAB - -----Original Message----- From: TUO To: deltagreen@nocturne.org Date: Thursday, April 30, 1998 11:50 PM Subject: Re: Re: DG: lloigor >Certain informants at Pagan Publishing have informed me that the scenario >anthology entitled "Mortal Coils" does include a lloigor scenario and in fact, >the book has been upgraded to 8 scenarios. > >-Agent Poe ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 11:30:27 +0300 From: "Jussi Lehtinen" Subject: DG: Re: inquiry - ---------- > Can anyone supply me with information on the details of how the "book > codes" work? I'm aware that they require both parties to have copies of > the same edition of the same book and that they use the text to generate > a constantly changing encryption key. I'd like to use them as a > replacement for computers as a means of secret communications in my game. > My feelings are that MJ12's penetration of the NSC makes the net too > potentially dangerous and that a book code encourages a little more role > playing. The 'book code' works on a simple principle. For each message, a new page of the book should be used. To encrypt, the message originator writes down two numbers for each letter, corresponding to a line number and a letter number on the page. To decrypt, the receiver reads these numbers and references them to the lines and letters on the book. Bear in mind that there are many variations of the 'book code' and that this is only one of them. The book code shares the same benefits as the 'one-time-pad' system. The principles are that each key is used only once, and that the key is as long or longer than the message being sent. If the book used isn't compromised, and each page of the book is used to encrypt no more than a single message, the book code is impossible to crack. Jussi Lehtinen, a.k.a. agent Benedic Helsinki, Finland lehtinej@netlife.fi ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 09:49:52 +0100 From: NICK Subject: DG: Re: UK based scenarios Officially, I only know of the GW supplement 'The Statue of the sorceror and the Vanishing conjurer', which contains two adventures, one of which is set in 1920's London - there was also a sourcebook I never got hold of called 'A Green and Pleasant Land', with some cricketers on the front and a tentacle slithering towards a lost ball. I'm assuming that was concerned with 1920's England too. Otherwise, I've participated in dozens of UK-based COC games, modern and otherwise over the years...just drop me a line ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 10:13:06 +0100 From: NICK Subject: Re: DG: lloigor Yeah, I'd already absorbed the Ctrhulu companion adventure into my storyline, kind of;- the idea was the lloigor had suceeded in their task of erecting more megaliths in the area (except I shifted the location to an island off the coast of Northumbria) and had been leeching energy and corrupting the human populace ever since. Until 1983, the village would be the subject of some kind of horrific scandal every eight or nine years (mass child abuse/ animal mutilations) but noone ever really looked past the headlines and the human horrors they saw. Then the USAF, who have a base in the area became interested in the strange radar contacts they started to pick up over the town. MJ-12 project sidekick were notified and with the co-operation of the British security services threw a 'firewall' round the area. Strangely enough, noone ever wanted to leave, and noone really ever came to visit. After a few years people on the outside mysteriosly even startd to forget about its existence (even police Inspectors and Social workers who had worked on the child abuse cases)MJ-12 were convinced that the town was inhabited in some way shape or form by an alien race that may or may not be the Greys in some way shape or form. erecting surveillance cameras in and around the town (at the cost of several NRO Delta operatives who simply deserted and never left)they sat down to watch. For fifteen years. The state of the town today is that the human populace are completely degenerate. Ritual torture, cannibalism and violent sexual deviancy are everyday occurences on the streets. Most of the children born in the town since the early eighties have been deformed in some way, whilst the more recent births display signs of being partly reptillian/amphibian. The megaliths in the region are sick with power, and this is affecting time/space - causing the dead to wander the town aimlessly. The living pay no attention to this. Meanwhile the lloigor, in their astral form, are veritably drunk on energy - manifesting their dragon forms only to annihalate anyone they percieve as a threat. Or at least this was the case until my agents stuck their oar in leading to considerable loss of life and limb. The question is where to go now. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 12:59:42 From: Davide Mana Subject: Re: DG: Ghoulish degeneration (Keepers Only?) Greetings. Here's a few more theories and ramblings about the Human/Ghoul situation. It's a rether long and pedantic piece (sorry), and it might spoil the fun of some players. So, please exercise restraint. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sorry if I intrude, armed only with my palaeonthological background, into this learned medical dissertation, but there are a few options that, in my opinion, need to be covered. Let's please consider a ghoul's means of reproduction. Apparently, the Ghoul as species can reproduce in three different ways, that I'll call (for want of better terms): - - standard sexual reproduction - - crossbreeding - - contagion We might have overlooked the fact that the three processes do not produce the same kind of ghoul, but I'll expand on this later. So far, the discussion has covered chiefly reproduction-by-contagion, or "how to become a ghoul". Interestingly enough, the main text giving us proof on the sexual reproduction of ghouls, an account fictionally published under the title of "Pickman's Model" (I trust that you are all familiar with this item), might shed some light on the contagion angle, too. The "Pickman" paper details the Ghoulish practice of planting "changelkings" in human communities. A child of the Ghoul is placed in the craddle of a new-born human child, and the child is taken to the Ghoul community. The stolen child is raised by the ghouls to become a ghoul himself. The little ghoul is raised by humans and passes for human without difficulty until something triggers the morphological change. The reason for placing a ghoul among humans might be traced to the documented possibility of human-ghoul crossbreeding; recent practices of "ethnic policy" in various regions of the world - probably one of the most sinister and hateful forms of human cultural degeneration - show us that sistematically violating and impregnating the enemy's women is not such an unheard of practice. All of the above might also be taken to show that the Ghoul's attitude towards the Humans is not so neutral as some moderate members of our group seem to think. Let's go back to the question of how the three ghouls produced by the three breeding practices differ. The ghoul produced by sexual intercourse between two ghouls is the less problematic; he shares his parent's gene-pool completely and is a ghoul proper. The recently proposed taxonomical definition of "Greater Ghoul" might fit this sub-species, but further study is needed. The human-ghoul hybrid shares only part of the genetic set of his ghoul parent, but this might turn out to be the dominant one in the long run. The taxonomic definition of "Hu-ghouls" has been proposed and seems completely acceptable at least as a working terminological convention. The humans rised as ghouls are problematic; they do not share any genetic material with their foster parents (or do they?), and while feeding on human meat seems to be a required practice, leading to the perfectly justified postulation of a phisical trigger for the change (cfr. the earlier posts), a growing number of reliable data are also showing that simple exposure to the Ghoul cultural structure can activate the change (see the Jean Qualls instance). It seems reasonable to postulate at this point that the change from human to ghoul might be psichological in the first instance and only later assume a phisical meaning, and so that humans turn into ghouls by a psichosomathic process. Incidentally, this perfectly fits the assessment made by the Providence Gentleman (an untrained but highly informed student of the subject), when he emphasized moral corruption as a preferential means of phisical degeneration. The ingestion of human flesh is, from this point of view, much more a psichological/cultural "statement" than a real phisical component of the change. A psichological trigger seems to work also in the cases of ghoul changelings reverting back to type (cfr. the Pickman data). Does this mean that a psichological/cultural component is _always_ needed to achieve the completion of the maturation process? Or it simply means that little Hu-ghoul hybrids are sistematically used as changelings because of their higher mimetic capacity? The process is not well understood at the moment. Agent Qualls was both in the best position to observe the phenomenon and in the worst to clinically assess it, but her opinion about DNA triggering might not be so far fetched. Please consider: if the practice of planting ghoul changelings in our communities has been going on for long enough, we do not know how much of our gene-pool is tainted by the Ghoul DNA. In this sense, Humans turning into Ghouls as a result of contagion might be a relatively recent phenomenon, either purposefully engineered by the Ghouls or simply an accidental result of crossbreeding that the Ghouls are just too happy to exploit. Is it possible for a "pure", untainted human to turn into a ghoul as a consequence of psichological degeneration or cultural pressure? The Providence Gentleman seemed to think so. This might force us to distinguish two forms of Ghoul reproduction by contagion: - - primary; the moral corruption and degeneration of otherwise normal humans - - secondary; the reversion to type of already tainted individuals In the end, primary contagion might be just a thing of the past, or a purely theoretical possibility. The next question, infact, is: are there any untainted humans? This probably depends on how long the "changeling planting practice" has been going on, and how pervasive it has been. At this point, keeping an eye on the results of the Human Genome Mapping Program might be a good policy for DG operatives. Even if we might not like said results at all. Here I close my preliminary treatment of the Ghoul/Human Reversion Mechanics. Thanks for your attention. Davide Mana Torino, Italy doctor.dee@iol.it ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 09:36:42 -0500 (CDT) From: "G. Wyckoff" Subject: Re: DG: ghoulish degeneration Heya All- > > > Incidentally, linking it into BSE is somewhat cute, as it gives a > reason > > for all those cattle mutilation incidents in the midwest.... > > Hmm, smells like "el chupacabra" to me... > > In the case of Jean Qualls, (human DG agent turned ghoul) she > attributes it (somewhat speculatively) to the possibility of DNA > responses triggered by reading certain passages of the "Ghoul > Manuscript". Still, I would think that such transformation should have > a more scientific or biological basis (Oh no, Im sounding like Scully > here), otherwise this is one book *no one* wants to read! > J Well, isn't the "Ghoul Manuscript" supposed to be bound in human flesh? If that was the case, than perhaps the infectious element (I would also think it to be a prion) is able to survive in the cover of the manuscript. As you read more and more and have greater exposure to the protein, you speed your transformation. Incidentally, "prions" are supposedly infectious _protein_ agents. Most viruses are either DNA or RNA based; RNA and DNA are the "traditional" genetic material. Prions, on the other hand, are supposedly proteins capable of creating a heritable difference in your genetic material. As (I think it was Graeme?) said, the functioning of prions are somewhat of a mystery still. Several rather uncommon human diseases are believed to be spread through a prion mechanism. The only problem with this hypothesis is that the prion-based diseases seem to have a long latency period, whereas the "ghoul transformation" is rather rapid. What's all of this mean? Well, maybe you don't have to actually _read_ the book to become a ghoul. Maybe lots of contact with it would do the trick. Maybe it is an especially pernicious disease, this "ghoul transformation" agent. That seems just a little more than cruel to most investigators, however. One interesting site on Prions, and specifically Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (a human spongiform encephalopathy), see: http://members.aol.com/crjakob/brochure.html Note that it is sometimes difficult to incorporate "science" into mythos campaigns, becuase the Mythos behaves so differently from the way we would _expect_ things to behave given or limited understanding of nature. The fact that prions are still so poorly unmderstood reflects that there is still a lot we don't know about nature. (Though, if anyone is interested, I could give a bunch of references on this line of research) Jerry gwyckoff@midway.uchicago.edu Committee on Genetics ------------------------------ End of deltagreen-digest V1 #19 *******************************