From: owner-deltagreen-digest@nocturne.org (deltagreen-digest) To: deltagreen-digest@nocturne.org Subject: deltagreen-digest V2 #41 Reply-To: Delta Green List Sender: owner-deltagreen-digest@nocturne.org Errors-To: owner-deltagreen-digest@nocturne.org Precedence: bulk deltagreen-digest Monday, August 23 1999 Volume 02 : Number 041 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 03:55:33 GMT From: djuneau@io.com (Don Juneau) Subject: DG: Various Web Resources OK, folks, having pissed away most of two days online following links and searches, I've got some nifty things to point you at... Documentation/Props Material! Real government documents, useful for source (how it looks/is written, or for classification stamps and suchlike) or print 'em out as handouts. The US Army Military History Institute has a couple of offerings: http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/Sampler/ http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/DL/ The first is the original MHI "Document Sampler", with digitised images of such interest as "Casualty Notification - WWII" and "German Psyops - WWII". The latter URL will send you to .pdf versions of a larger selection, including "Psychological Warfare, USFET General Board Study No. 131, 1945", "Anti-Guerrilla Operations in Korea 1950, Memos, X Corps.", and other nifty items. (More seem to be available via the chronological sort than the aphabethical, but that might just be me and my fuzzy brain.) The US Army Space and Missle Defense Command Initial Security Briefing Handbook is available in .html at: http://www.smdc.army.mil/Intelligence/handbook/index.htm There's quite a few different security manuals floating around, it looks like. I seem to recall having some base-specific "web content regulations" on my other machine somewhere. (Still can't find my text "Area-51 Security Operations Manual" [Nellis Test Site?], tho.) Here's the NSA Security Guidelines Handbook: http://www.tscm.com/NSAsecmanual1.html Ye Big Page O' Military Intelligence Links is at: http://www.loyola.edu/dept/politics/milintel.html One of th goodies there is a .pdf of "Controlled Offensive Behavior", info on Soviet research that may be of interest - psychologcal provocation. (Haven't read it all yet myself, but it looks nifty.) There's also the National Reconissance Office Records Schedule, which might be used to keep pesky DG agents out of the more entertaining NRO data... The US Army Training & Doctrine Digital Library is at: http://www.adtdl.army.mil/atdls.htm but, to avoid the overly busy Java-bloated front page: http://www.adtdl.army.mil/rtddltextv.html There's a *lot* of goodies here. I've really only looked at the Field Manuals so far, but I've already sucked down FM 10-286 (IDENTIFICATION OF DECEASED PERSONNEL) (some big-meg appendixes there), but a lot of the cooler manuals are restricted - FM 3-9 (POTENTIAL MILITARY CHEMICAL/BIOLOGICAL AGENTS AND COMPOUNDS), FM 8-10-8 (MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE IN A THEATER OF OPERATIONS), and FM 33-1-1 (PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES), for example. Why the fuck FM 10-16 (GENERAL FABRIC REPAIR) is restricted is beyond me... maybe it has details of MOPP/CBR-warfare protective gear? Here's something fun: http://www.usemb.se/bsconf/1998/brief/uslmila.html "Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the United States of America Concerning Security Measures for the Protection of Classified Military Information". Use to fake up things for the PCs to dig up, maybe. From AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY: http://www.eidolon.ndirect.co.uk/unmajestic/023.html "Black Technology" - print it up as a "classified study", or just mine for ideas. The Technical Surveillance Counter Measures page of the Granite Island Group: http://www.tscm.com/ Buggery of the non-ape kind, the Reference Library: http://www.tscm.com/reference.html has some useful things, including links to a couple items above. The National Archives and Records Administration has items of interest in their Online Exhibition Hall: http://www.nara.gov/exhall/ (Wish I could recall where I got one docco - a report on an AF bomber crash that tore open a nuclear-weapons storage "igloo" in Europe in the '50s.) APB Online has more than just the Serial Killer Bureau and live metro police scanners (RealAudio streaming): http://www.apbonline.com/gfiles/index.html is the G-Files (which may have been mentioned on the DGML before), chock full of Freedom of Information Act-retrieved material - IIRC, there's some serious felt-tip redacting in some of these. Aha! The National Security Archive is where I got that "igloo" docco: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ All kinds of goodies, such as CIA Special National Intelligence Estimates, "Operation Mongoose" (Propaganda Ballon Operations Plan), and a Top Secret memorandum regarding US nuclear weapons use in defending Taiwan. There's also docco used in the CNN COLD WAR series at: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/documents/ No docco, but a (overtaken-by-events?) listing of available material: http://www.kimsoft.com/korea/usinscom.htm Some scanned images of Soviet docco are available through: gopher://path.net:8001/11/.local/soviet/archives Not sure why I can't access the text; might be something to do with using NetScrape. More from the National Security Agency: http://www.nsa.gov:8080/docs/history/index.html Docco from the Cuban Missile Crisis and VENONA (Soviet spy operations. decoding, et cetera). One that I think I've posted to the list before: http://www.newstrench.com/01secret/01secret.htm A listing of FBI file numbers, offense codes and how to get copies of the files via the Freedom of Information Act. Build your own conspiracies! Use copies of *real* FBI docco to fill out your handouts and props! And last for now, don't forget the FBI FOIA Reading Room: http://foia.fbi.gov/ Looks to be .pdf files, redacted but otherwise useful and interesting. OK, there's probably more out there, but my brain is experiencing Data Compression Failure, and threatening to dribble out my ears... I could still use classification-stamp graphics, "period" letterheads and examples of foreign docco - any nice Nazi or Imperial Japanese items around? Don, the Lurker at the Keyboard... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 22:34:54 -0700 (PDT) From: David Farnell Subject: DG: Who dares invoke me? (was Re: deltagreen-digest V2 #37 Just wanted to chime in on the "Thank goodness you're OK, Tolga!" bandwagon. The reports have been horrific. Feel free to write me off-list when you have the jitters later, if there's nobody else around at the time. Very pleased to see my name cropping up in the posts, though. "They like me! They really like me!" Just logged on to skim email and found I couldn't resist replying--can't sleep anyway with the screwed-up body-clock thing. Presently in Austin, Texas, having a hard time getting reacquainted with the layout of the standard English keyboard. I'l look up the name and stats of the Japanese earthquake-measuring scale after i get back from vacation; it is neither of those described by the esteemed Mr. Mana. Japan has its very own, used nowhere else in the world AFAIK. I myself have only experienced a single gentle, mild tremor in 4 years of living in Japan, for which I am thankful but strangely disappointed. (A stupid reaction, but human nature, I suppose.) Northern Kyushu seems to be the most stable bit of Japan, from what I've been told. I mistook the tremor for a truck going by until just at the end, when I realized what it really was. Now, tornados (in America, of course)... From local reports, I have to say the USA seems better prepped for responding to disasters than Japan. There has been much discussion of it since "Kobe" (as the event is usually referred to), and the japanese really were woefully unprepared for things they really should have been ready for. Now the old idea of moving the government out of Tokyo (a highly earthquake-prone place, and apparently due for a Big One--you still keeping up the anti-Cthonian Elder Signs there, Jay?) is being thrown around again. DG: With Japan's highly-centralized gubmint, a major quake in Tokyo would chop the head off the country. AUM was possibly researching an earthquake-inducing weapon. Might someone else have grabbed the prototype when AUM went down? Hell, maybe that was what AUM was FOR--they were created and funded to create a weapon to destroy Tokyo, then dumped when they'd completed it. Now it's in the hands of... (sounds like EH material) I'm not EVEN gonna get into this whole creationism/evolution thing--got enough of that visiting the relatives today (our clan is a wonderful patchwork of Methodists, Born-Again Baptists, Catholics (Converted and Regular), Neo-Pagans, Buddhists, Shintoists, Freethinkers and others--and we manage to discuss religion regularly without killing each other, which frankly amazes me). As a teacher, though, I think the definition of what constitutes a theory needs to be made clear to students. I'll leave it at that. BTW, visited the MiB while in Hawaii last week. "Pineapple, pineapple, pineapple, your head." Excellent host, damn fine man, gamer-without-peer, all that. Interesting developments on the Shan front. Got to see my name in print in his issue of COUNTDOWN. Saw Sixth Sense with him and HIGHLY recommend it to those of you who haven't seen it yet--gave me an excellent idea for a CoC occupation, but to tell you would be a spoiler. Saw The Matrix last night after an appalling plane ride, no sleep for 36 hours, and in a combination movie-theater/bar with rowdy patrons screaming "YES!!" during cool fight moments. A very good way to see it. Outta here, Dave "I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them."--Spinoza __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: 23 Aug 99 09:59:55 +0100 From: Peter Devlin Subject: DG: Info Request - Yidhra Would it be possible for someone to give me a quick run-down on the gaming and literary sources for the Great Old One Yidhra? (Aplogies to those who receive this twice.) Thanks :-) --> :-0 Peter Devlin Bell, Book and Candle - http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns.html The South Side - http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/lovecraft/411/south/ Email - pdevlin@scotsys.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: 23 Aug 99 10:39:48 +0100 From: Peter Devlin Subject: DG: The Incident II _ Guns in Glasgow Eamon's post on the Cork 'incident' begs a response based on a true incident here in Glasgow. Although not strictly DG relevant this could be the basis of an amusing short to throw at DG players. Simply change the references to something Mythos flavoured e.g. a live action Mythos game. A couple of years ago, at a higher education institute which must sadly remain unnamed, a group of film / TV students got together to discuss their final year creative piece. The result was a plan to do a short film called 'Reservwar Dugs' essentially a Glaswegian take on Tarrantino's movie hit (it helps if you are familiar with the Glaswegian accent; Scott Cleverdon will probably get it). Come the day of filming, the techie guy / van driver and the 6 cast members (who include the director and scriptwriter) assemble. The cast members change into their distinctive suits, shirts shades etc and get issued with their working replica handguns and fake blood bags. All jump into the van and drive to an infamous housing estate in Maryhill in the NW of the city. (For Americans - this is essentially a run down 'projects' area which has been notorious since the time of the razor gangs in the 30's). It is a beautiful early summer day with perfect light. Filming goes well, the techie getting some great shaky shots of the gleeful Dugs running around Maryhill bashing and blazing away at one another, diving into front gardens, shouting into mobile phones and looking really cool. Meanwhile, an 80 year old lady happens to look out her window to see two guys shooting at one another one the street, one of them falling into the gutter covered in blood. She calls Maryhill Police Station and reports that the Maryhill drugs gangs are shooting it out just outside her window. The techie guy, filming down the street, is delighted to see a police Tactical Unit Volvo car and 2 black mariah squad vans screech to a halt 30 feet from the bloody firefight which he is filming as a long shot. When dogs, cops and Armed Response Unit officers jump out wearing body armour and wielding H&K SMGs he panics and jumps into his van. He zooms off leaving the cast literally staring down the barrel. Well, techie forgets that the cast have left all their personal possessions and normal clothes in the back of the van, including ID. He stashes the tape and heads for the pub to tell his mates. The cast are huckled at gunpoint to Maryhill Police station where, without ID, they are banged up until someone can corroborate the desperate actor-director's story. Sadly, these geniuses forgot to inform the college of their shooting plan, so when the cops speak to the relevant college persons they draw a blank. 7 hours later the college Principal is informed and has to make grovelling apologies to the Chief Constable in order to get the cast out of one of Glasgow's hardest local jails. A deal was cut to keep things away from the rapacious Glaswegian press. Techie received a thumping when the cast finally caught up with him. All of the students were failed on their coursework. Rare copies of the tape now change hands for up to Ģ20 a time. It is exceptionally popular amongst lecturers and admin staff. Now, imagine what might happen in a DG context with students performing, say, a live action play? Cheers :-) --> :-0 Peter Devlin Bell, Book and Candle - http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns.html The South Side - http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/lovecraft/411/south/ Email - pdevlin@scotsys.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 08:02:16 -0500 From: Nightstar Subject: Re: DG: Assorted Questions At 11:34 AM 8/22/1999 +0100, you wrote: > It shows what the King originally looked >like- and just distiquishable behind him is strange whirling design >rather like an unsymetrical throwing star which I have assumed to be the >original and genuine yellow sign. If any one wants a copy I can perhaps >scan it . >\Barry Hill. Absolutely, but is it safe to look at? ;-> Finally, the light at the end of the tunnel. . . . heh, heh, heh! Nightstar ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 10:27:26 -0400 From: becole@juno.com Subject: Re: DG: RE: Starting a Campaign suggestions. On Sun, 22 Aug 1999 15:49:19 PDT "REFLECTING SKIN" writes: > One thing I'm considering is having a large group of core players >who all make characters of varying backgrounds, while no single group of them >will play continuosly throughout the campaign, all of them will play enough >so that they develop their own inter-character friendships and network of >associations. I have about twelve players and I figure between Twelve players in a group is pretty ambitious. All the moreso if you do not plan on having Keeper assistance or double duty (having another Keeper either help you while you run, run every other session, or co-Keep during sessions). One idea you might want to consider with such a large group is two distinct groups of six. One idea that worked well for me a long time ago was having two groups of three players, one group portrayed mercenaries hired by "interested parties" to track down my second group, who were themselves mercenaries employed by "nameless corporate entity". The only problem with this kind of setup is that it can lean towards schizophrenia, especially with variable numbers of players (I am assuming that you will not run all twelve in a single game?). If you go with the split, you have to run the groups separately, and heaven help you if you don't keep your notes or the heading of the individual campaign straight. But what really makes it work is that the actions of one group drive the goals of the other, thereby almost eliminating all the work you would have to put forth for two different groups. Nothin' like letting the players work for ya. The culmination, if you ever let it happen, may see the groups uniting against a common foe, obliterating each other, or perhaps a third, and previously undiscovered opponent steps in to get some action. (Personally, I favor John Woo's approach to the duality of characters with keenly opposite interests, think of it as Predator and Prey relationships). Where I am heading with this is that, depending on the experience of the two groups, you could feasibly have one group already investigating the Fate, or perhaps they are adepts of the Fate, or maybe they are just regular joes whose territory happens to coincide with the Fate's, and maybe they see this other group (of your players) moving in to look for THEIR collar or their territory or trying to infiltrate their group and so forth....the possibilities for attrition warfare are limitless. The real beauty of it is, if you red herring them enough, they may become so distracted from their original goals that when the dust settles, they realize all along that they were inches from what they were really sent there to do, right when it is too late to do anything. I swear to you I don't want it to sound like you should be unusually cruel, but every game I run I try to recapture the crystal perfection of a phone call I got one night from this hulking 6'2" player asking if I could come pick him up from the diner on campus he had wound up at.....he was too scared to walk to his dorm in the dark. I just loosely interpret role-playing that to mean that if you are going to frustrate the PCs, frustrate the players, if you are going to scare them, well.......remember to let the answering machine get it....... -B ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 13:13:52 -0400 From: "Brian M. Sammons" <105073.2452@compuserve.com> Subject: DG: Info Request - Yidhra Hi Peter- >Would it be possible for someone to give me a quick run-down >on the gaming and literary sources for the Great Old One Yidhra? Good call on Yidhra. I always wanted to use her/it in something, but never got off my lazy butt to do so. If you got ideas, please share. The only story to mention this strange creature is Where Yidhra Walks by Walter C. DeBill Jr. This story can be found in the classic anthology Disciples of Cthulhu which has been revised and recently (1996) reissued by Chaosium as one of their cycle books. Incidently, this book also contains another of my favorite Mythos stories called Darkness, My Name Is by Eddy C. Bertin which is the only story (that I know of) concerning the Great Old One Cyaegha. Anyway, back to Yidhra. Stats for this Outer God can be found in Scott David Aniolowski's Ye Booke of Monsters Vol I, and probably in new Monstrous Compendium (is this the right title?) Although I don't have that book. While her true form is unknown, I always picture Yidhra as a large jelly-based organism. She might somehow be related to Abhoth as both spawn life forms from their bodies, but Yidhra is in control of hers and with here powerful telepathic link to them, she controls all of her _avatars_ at the same time, can use all of their senses, and knows what they know. Yidhra has many forms, from a large monster that sleeps in the earth, awaiting the time to awake and destroy, to a very beautiful young woman named Yolanda who runs a cult-like town in the American southwest. Madam Yi is a Yidhra avatar as well and can also be found in the Booke of Monsters. Yidhra evolved over the countless aeons to what she is today. In fact she is still evolving. She does so by consuming life forms and stealing their genetic material and keeping the _good_ stuff. Yidhra then rebirths the thing she had consumed, but the animal is now drastically altered on the cellular level, monstrous looking, and most likely totally insane. In the story by DeBill she turned a man into a large dog-like thing. Yidhra requires regular sacrifices of new genetic material, and in between great whole sacrifices, Yidhra's avatars will often take little sips and nibbles of genetic stuff from her loyal followers. This causes many members in a Yidhra cult to suffer deformities that over time come to resemble the appearance of the avatar they follow. In the case of Madam Yi, many of her chosen have elongated, claw-like fingers and porcelain-looking, doll-like faces. Have you ever read the Dean Koontz (I remember him when he had an R. in there) novel Phantoms? The book was good, the movie hideous. Well, the baddie in that book always reminded me of Yidhra as they share many similar traits. In fact far too similar if you ask me! Well what ever, that novel could be a good scource of info on what would happen if Yidhra ever came to town. Many mythos tomes have been written about specific avatars of Yidhra with only a few of the authors ever knowing the truth about their subjects. The titles of some of these books, in case you want to use them, are Uraltre Schrecken, Black Sutra, Chronicles of Thrang, and Cthonic Revelations. (SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION: If you want to find CoC related statistics to any of these books, I did a large table of lesser known Mythos tomes for the 5.5 edition of the CoC book, and these titles can be found there.) I hope this helps. If you got any other questions about something I might of left out of this post, just ask. Oh and aplogies to those who receive this twice, but I thought members of both the DG and SA lists might like to see this. Best, Brian M. Sammons. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 10:38:13 -0700 From: Phil A Posehn Subject: Re: DG: Keepers Eyes Only You also might try "On the Edge" or Conspiracy X" Phil On Sat, 21 Aug 1999 19:42:34 EDT Popeyesays@aol.com writes: >In a message dated 8/21/99 2:09:58 PM Central Daylight Time, >reflectingskin@hotmail.com writes: > ><< I was hoping to run my main players as new recruits, with little >or no > mythos information of their own. While their controller obviously >hands out > neccesary facts for each case, how much does DG really give it's >agents in > terms of mythos knowledge and resources? While I do like the idea of >the > players having some help from people more experienced in matters, I >really > dont want to lose the "what the hell is going on " effect of COC by >giving > my player too much info at first. >> > > >Hide the rule books, generate your own character sheets on another >gaming >system (modern age skirmish type) and don't even let the word >"Cthulhu" cross >your lips for the first several gaming sessions. Try using the >Millenium >rules they're quick, slick and the players should thinkj they are >miles away >from any mythos activity if you play it cool. ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 15:21:55 -0300 From: "Diego Garcia" Subject: Re: DG: Objective Personal Weapon CroakerJr@aol.com writes: << Let's look at those specifications again: * Less than 3 pounds fully loaded. * 200-meter effective range. * Immediate incapacitation of individuals wearing body armor. * Felt recoil no greater than the M9 pistol. * Fire semi- and fully-automatic. * Both lethal and less-than-lethal capability. * Reduced risk of collateral damage. * Holsterable. * Low flash, blast, and magnetic signatures. * Not a bullet launcher. So: a very compact carbine or submachine gun firing armor-piercing rounds with attached taser and/or tear gas launcher? And yet not a bullet launcher? What is the most likely extrapolation of current technology to meet those specifications? Shane Ivey >> I read in a magazine (I donīt remember the name ) about the development of a taser that can send electric charges trough "air". The idea is to use a high intensity ultraviolet light which ionizes the air betwewn the weapon and the target, and send electricity trough ionized air. The main problem was the size of the power source needed to produce the light and the electric charges.(and perhaps with a high capacity portable power source it could meet almost every requirement (except the range)) Someone else has heard about this? Diego Garcia (in his first message to this list) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 15:54:20 -0300 From: "Diego Garcia" Subject: DG: earthquake-inducing weapon? >From local reports, I have to say the USA seems better prepped for >responding to disasters than Japan. There has been much discussion of >it since "Kobe" (as the event is usually referred to), and the japanese >really were woefully unprepared for things they really should have been >ready for. Now the old idea of moving the government out of Tokyo (a >highly earthquake-prone place, and apparently due for a Big One--you >still keeping up the anti-Cthonian Elder Signs there, Jay?) is being >thrown around again. > >DG: With Japan's highly-centralized gubmint, a major quake in Tokyo >would chop the head off the country. AUM was possibly researching an >earthquake-inducing weapon. Might someone else have grabbed the >prototype when AUM went down? Hell, maybe that was what AUM was >FOR--they were created and funded to create a weapon to destroy Tokyo, >then dumped when they'd completed it. Now it's in the hands of... >(sounds like EH material) An idea someone told me, was about China doing underground nuclear explosions near geological unstable areas to produce earthquakes in Japan.The question is: Which is the measurable difference between an artificial earthquake and a natural one? Because if itīs no measurable difference, this could be an excellent way to attack an enemy country and keep a good international image (because the forces of nature do your dirty work). Other (related?) project I read in an old National Geographic magazine was about U.S Army project StormFury.The idea was to create and control cyclones to be used as weapons. Perhaps all the "natural" disasters that are striking different places in the world are out of control results of these projects. Diego Garcia ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 15:25:34 -0400 From: graemep@immagene.mcg.edu (Graeme Price) Subject: Re: DG: Objective Personal Weapon The Croak Father wrote: ><< Let's look at those specifications again: > > * Less than 3 pounds fully loaded. > * 200-meter effective range. > * Immediate incapacitation of individuals wearing body armor. > * Felt recoil no greater than the M9 pistol. > * Fire semi- and fully-automatic. > * Both lethal and less-than-lethal capability. > * Reduced risk of collateral damage. > * Holsterable. > * Low flash, blast, and magnetic signatures. > * Not a bullet launcher. > So: a very compact carbine or submachine gun firing armor-piercing rounds > with attached taser and/or tear gas launcher? And yet not a bullet launcher? > What is the most likely extrapolation of current technology to meet those > specifications? Until I saw the bit about "not a bullet launcher" I was thinking about the old cyberpunk cherry of the liquid propellant rifle. Basic idea is to take a tank of combustible fluid (jet fuel or the like) and inject it into a combustion chamber with a separate slug dropping into the barrel just in front of the chamber. Set the charge off by electric impulse, and hey presto rapid fire slug thrower with the recoil and weight advantages of caseless weapons. The amount of propellant delivered into the chamber could be varied reasonably easily, and this would (naturally) change the velocity of the slug. You could make the slug magazine and the propellant reservoir seperate from each other, which would allow (for example) loading of gel rounds or other such non-lethal ammo. And I still claim not to be a 'fondler! Then Diego (welcome) wrote: >I read in a magazine (I donīt remember the name ) about the development of a >taser that can send electric charges trough "air". The idea is to use a high >intensity ultraviolet light which ionizes the air betwewn the weapon and the >target, and send electricity trough ionized air. >The main problem was the size of the power source needed to produce the light >and the electric charges.(and perhaps with a high capacity portable power >source >it could meet almost every requirement (except the range)) > >Someone else has heard about this? Yes indeedy. The idea is to use a low intensity laser to ionise the air, then this would (in theory) guide a charge to the target without the sue of wires. I say in theory, because I can envision some problems with this in practice (for example if it was raining). As I understand it though, the problem with tasers is delivering a charge strong enough to kill (incapacitate is no problem) reliably, which doesn't meet the specs Shane described. The other problem, as you mention, is powering the thing - I would imagine it would be a one or two shot thing... but who knows what MJ-12 front companies could dream up (energizer bunny my arse... it's obviously a Mi-Go in a fluffy pink rabbit suit!). Later Graeme graemep@immag.mcg.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 21:58:39 +0200 From: Davide Mana Subject: Re: DG: earthquake-inducing weapon? Greetings. And so I was summoned again by unwitting listmembers. It all started when SuperDave wrote >>DG: With Japan's highly-centralized gubmint, a major quake in Tokyo >>would chop the head off the country. AUM was possibly researching an >>earthquake-inducing weapon. Might someone else have grabbed the >>prototype when AUM went down? Hell, maybe that was what AUM was >>FOR--they were created and funded to create a weapon to destroy Tokyo, >>then dumped when they'd completed it. Now it's in the hands of... >>(sounds like EH material) To which, Diego replied >An idea someone told me, was about China doing underground nuclear explosions >near geological unstable areas to produce earthquakes in Japan.The question is: >Which is the measurable difference between an artificial earthquake and a >natural one? Depth of the ipocenter and location. An earthquake is basically a release of an energy buildup, the buildup being caused by tectonic stresses (continets pushing and pulling each other). When enough energy has been accumulated to top the rock resistance, the rock cracks (producing faults) and the energy is released in the form of shockwaves. You know the rest. So, the depth at which the original crack happens (the ipocenter of the seism) is - or can be - a telling detail in distinguishing natural (=deep-seated) from man-made quakes. The location, too is an obvious tell-tale element - a shock in a non-seismic area is usually regarded as artificial. But let's explore this a little bit further, shall we? Now, how do we create an artificial earthquake? Well, there's the basic way, used almost daily by geophisicists doing seismic logging - you detonate a charge to cause shockwaves to ripple through the rock bodies. This means that the energy release center is superficial (or to be technical, the ipocenter coincides with the epicenter). No way you can mistake one of these tests for a natural shock. The scale of the evnt is absolutely local (a few square kms) Then, there's the nuclear test way - you plant a nuclear charge at a certain depth and detonate it. Once again, the ipocenter is pretty superficial (they dig a hole for the bomb that's a few hundreds of meters deep at most, IIRC). This way is theoretically good but generally unpractical - remember what I wrote about the Iroshima bomb: quake-wise it was pretty weak, so to cause a kick-ass event like the one that devastated Kobe, you should use an enormous charge, and place it pretty close to the target. All things considered, it's faster and cheaper to just nuke the place. And let's not forget it's generally hard to mistake a nuke test for a quake, for a lot of technical reasons. [Interestingly enough (in a twisted way) we must remember that the worldwide network of seismographers was originally established during the Cold War Years so that some nations could detect the nuclear tests of the competition.] Then there's the third way, which is theoretical only, as nobody ever tried it out. Yet. You use a deep-seated charge not to cause a seismic event, but as a primer for a natural event. So, you just pick a promising spot (along San Andreas Fault System, e.g.) where the natural buildup is massive but just borderline cathastrophic, then you drill a deep hole and enplace a charge that, once detonated, will push the balance that little bit on the wrong side, starting the show. This requires state of the art geophisics (to find the right spot) and drilling work, plus nuclear equipment designed for the purpose, considering the pressure and heat the charge has to tolerate while it is emplaced. As an added subtlety, the bang should be timed to coincide with some minor event, to loose the artificial discharge among the jumble of ancillary natural shocks, so that unless the seismograph record is scanned with hindsight, no foul play can be detected. Tough and costly, but possible. The only drawback - the system works best at plate bounduaries: forget about using it to destroy Washington DC, but if it's Washington State you want, well, be my guest ;> About the Chinese experiments Diego mentions - either they are carried out in the China sea (perfect setting, but unlikely) or are really deep-seated (we talk thousands of meters underground, even more unlikely) to cause trouble in Japan. But the ones carried out in the Takla Makan region might cause some problems in the Tibet-Himalayas area. Final note: all of the above uses a basic current technological setting. More Bond-style quake-primers might include focused soundwaves generators (hit the right armonics and off the fault goes) or lasers or what. But I guess the ever up-to-date MiB will have a shopping list of all the available ultratech primers out there handy. Also, on a smaller scale, and bribing the right guy (contact me offline for payment details) it is possible to start a very local, small scale event through totally natural means (= using no more than a few sticks of TNT), plus hard work and dedication. Nothing in the Razed Cities class, but enough to.... let's say damage a Russian nuclear reactor? And here I sto my daily dose of pedantry - hope this was not too confusing. Take care, gentlemen. Davide "R'n'R" Mana PS: yes, it's possible to create local cyclones too; the hard part is controlling them. And it's costly as hell. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 08:15:45 +1200 From: Williamson Mark Subject: DG: Mountains of Madness Hi everybody I've been away from the list for a few months (having moved cities and all) and might have missed the news but I thought Chaosium's Mountains of Madness hadn't shipped yet. Amazon, however, are shipping me a coipy even as we speak. What's the story? Are Chasoium holding back the offical release to time it with the other parts of the Mountains of Madness pack, or am I just out of touch - either way I'm happy a copy is coming to me. Here's a link to the Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1568821387/projectfirestorm and the books ISBN is: 1568821387 - -Mark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 15:27:47 -0500 From: Joseph Camp Subject: Re: DG: Assorted Questions COUNTDOWN SPOILERS... >1) What's this 'Sosotris' thing ya'll mention in COUNTDOWN? A King in >Yellow novella in the lines of 'Ambrose' and 'Broadalbin', but can you give >us some details? Or at least some ad copy? If you look at the KIY Tarot section, you'll find some information about a Madame Sosostris. The novella apparently deals with her trip to New York City, and her stay at the Broadalbin hotel. Tynes has no release date as of yet. >2) And, it seems that a Hastur/King in Yellow campaign is in the pipeline. >Details, please. How soon can we hope to see this? Ditto here--no release date as of yet. It was playtested around 1991/92, and has been awaiting writing ever since. >3) Recently, Pagan Publishing got the rights to the script to a version of >The King in Yellow that was put on in Portland. How soon can we expect that >to be available? Sometime this fall, I hear. >4) What other stuff have you guys got planned? I know I asked at GenCon, >but in the meantime, I have totally forgotten. I seem to recall a new DG >Eyes Only and a vampire sourcebook/campaign by Crowe. Anything else? Detwiller is working on a DGEO book regarding the Philadelphia Experiment. The Crowe project has been partially playtested but is still a long way off--at this point, it's not really an officially announced project, just something we're tinkering with. The rest of 1999 should allegedly bring retail editions of DARK THEATRES and THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, the 1920s sourcebook/campaign MYSTERIES OF MESOAMERICA, and two non-gaming titles, one on Lovecraftian movies & TV and one providing timelines of events in HPL's works. >5) As we all know, there is an H.P. Lovecraft Tarot deck. In COUNTDOWN, a >King in Yellow Tarot is presented. Is there any chance of seeing the KiY >Tarot printed, similiar to the HPL Tarot? No plans at present. >6) Someone smack Detwiller around for me. Gladly. be seeing you, Alphonse ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 15:27:49 -0500 From: Joseph Camp Subject: Re: DG: Rule of the Engagement Question COUNTDOWN SPOILERS... >We have recently finished the new DELTA GREEN novel Rules of the Engagement. > While RotE drasticly changes several points in COUNTDOWN, and shakes up A >Cell, this is not what I have a question about. Incidentally, I hope it's clear to everyone that there is no requirement for you to incorporate the events in ROE (or DT or AI) into your campaigns. The only "official" stuff you might even be concerned with should be the sourcebook works. >Who is Agent Nolan? Do we know who he really is or anything else about him? > I am intrigued by his ...connection, shall we say, to Agent Nancy. No other published materials thus far deal with Agent Nolan; no other information is available at this time. But feel free to improvise if desired! be seeing you, Alphonse ------------------------------ End of deltagreen-digest V2 #41 *******************************