Trail of Cthulhu: Arcane Tomes

From time to time I prepare a brief description of arcane tomes to drop into my own campaign, to be used whenever the characters go looking for something antiquarian and interesting and I don't have a plot-specific book to give them. I thought this might be of some use to you, particularly if you play Bookhounds, and as I have a quiet moment - a rare thing, these days - I've dusted off some of those old notes, as follows:

Zohar Kabbalist foundational work. Quarto bound in pale cream leather (brain-tanned) with the inscription Mensis meus vinco eram , Diabolus suus vinco eram (translation: Montagu my master was, the Devil his master was: a reference to Hellfire Club member John Montague, Earl of Sandwich); 1758 edition, Guild of Stationers mark with the printer listed as Thomas Beckton. Language: Latin.Study award: 1 dedicated pool point Latin, Occult or Theology, player's choice. Potential magic: 1 point.

Observations on Several Parts of Africa Author Sir Wade Jermyn. Octavo bound in limp vellum, binding water damaged, leather thongs beginning to fail. Signature on title page: August Schynse [Keeper's note: German missionary and explorer]. Listed as 1 of 240, 1768 edition, printer a Cairene identified only as του δύση καλά [translation: of the Western Well]. Language: Greek, though there are handwritten notes in German. Book also includes several sketches signed by A.S., in a small packet. One of the sketches has a handwritten note, ein Ritus des wich aus Volk  [translation: a rite of the shunned people], and depicts a ceremony in honor of Ahtu [Keeper: Nyarlathotep]. Study award: 1 dedicated point History, Anthropology or Archaeology, player's choice. Cthulhu Mythos: +1

The Secret Doctrine, Author Madame Blavatski. 2 of 3 volumes (Cosmogenesis is missing), each quarto bound  in wet-blue leather with gold inlay.  Anthrogenesis is scorched and slightly smoke-damaged. 1888 edition, printer Ettrick and Sons, Norwich. Study award: 1 dedicated point Occult or Theology, player's choice.  

Oracles of Nostradamus Author: unknown. Quarto bound in lamb skin, slightly foxed (markings on back cover). Published by the Milanese printer and engraver Baldini, 1704 edition. Excellent copper-plate engravings. Language: Italian.Study award: 1 dedicated point Occult or History, player's choice.

Culto del trasporto mangiatori Author: unknown. Folio bound in what appears to be brain-tanned leather [Mythos: ghoul skin] with the inscription egli chi passeggiata sotto il lapide avuto questo fatto , possesso dal scritto del padrone [translation: he who walks beneath the graves had this done, at the behest of the master]. Handwritten volume, time of binding unknown but probably early 19^th century. Several of the later sections appear to have been excised [some of the spells have been cut out of the book]. Language: Italian. A small silver whistle is tied to the book by a length of black leather. [note on title page: il richiamare e controllo del stella bestia, il segno di potere. translation: to invoke and control the star beast with the sign of power.]  Study award: 1 dedicated point Occult or History, player's choice. Cthulhu Mythos: +1. Spells: none, or one; Keeper's choice as to what's left, given that much has been removed.

The Book of Werewolves Author: Sabine Baring-Gould. Octavo bound in chromium blue leather, second edition 1867 by the London bookmakers Rogers and Sons. Signed by the author to ‘Charles, in the hope that it may be of some small use.’ [Keeper: persistent research might indicate Charles Prescott, occultist and suicide 1871, as the possible recipient.] Study award: 1 dedicated point Occult, Anthropology or History, player's choice. Potential magic: 1 point. Special: this book was in Prescott's hands on the night he shot himself with a silver bullet. Each night, at 1 in the morning, it bleeds; Stability 3 to witness. It remains unstained after each event, but anything close to it - other books on the shelf, the shelf itself - may end up spotted with blood.

Azathoth and Other Horrors Poetry by Edward Pickman Derby; also includes several sketch drawings by M.S. [Keeper: a London artist, Miles Shipley] based on the poems. 1919 Onyx Sphinx Press edition, with repaired binding. This copy was Shipley’s personal volume; he has decorated the interior and cover with his own designs.Study award: 1 dedicated point Art. Potential magic: 1 point. Special: due to Shipley's contact with the Serpent People - see further Masks of Nyarlathotep - some of the markings on the book have special significance to the People. Another Serpent, seeing these marks, would become incredibly agitated and want to find out more. Whether or not the Serpent would actually stoop to paying good money for it is another matter; the People aren't in the habit of cooperating with monkeys.

Unpublished Monograph Author: unknown. 1915, limp vellum binding. The bookmaker is unknown but, judging by the style and materials, was most likely an Oxford binder working for one of the colleges.  The Merton College coat of arms is stamped on the interior cover. The monograph is signed ‘In gratitude, TSE.’ Handwriting analysis may tentatively identify the writing as T.S. Eliot. It is ‘a comparison of the runic symbols, recently discovered, to the early classic Vedic, with notes as to discrepancies and possible alternate translations.’ Study award: 1 dedicated point History (Mi-Go Runes). Potential magic: 1 point.

I hope you find this useful! I may return to this list with more books, later on.

Dulce et Decorum Est Trail of Cthulhu Great War

I'm overjoyed to report that my Great War collection, Dulce et Decorum Est, is finally out in .pdf!

http://pelgranepress...1#comment-73782

To forestall the obvious question: Not So Quiet and Flying Coffins are not in this collection, as those two scenarios have already been published twice: once as .pdf, and again in one or other of the Out Of Space/Time collections. However this one does include Dead Horse Corner (terror in the trenches) and Vaterland, set aboard the rotting hulk of Germany's finest ocean liner.  This collection also includes extended rules sections for air, land and naval warfare - new planes, tanks, armored cars and more - as well as a section devoted to campaign ideas and settings. You've got all kinds of new antagonists to worry about, from the Order of the White Feather in England to tainted and terrible hyenas waiting out in the desolate wastelands of Palestine. Incidentally, for those of you wondering whatever happened to Agathe von Plon of Flying Coffins fame, you can find out in Vaterland ...

I'm pleased and proud to see this in print at last! I hope everyone who purchases a copy enjoys it.

To give you a brief taste, let me show you an extract from one of the cultist sections, Mata Malam:

When the Dutch spy Margaretha Geertruida Zelle – aka Mata Hari, Indonesian for Eye of the Day – was executed in October 1917, few mourned her. Many of her former paramours were secretly relieved to see her gone, but there was at least one who wept for her unreservedly, and that one determined to get her back, by any means necessary.

Doctor-turned-cultist Victor Berthelot’s descent into madness began – though he could not have realized it at the time – when he went to see a show at the Olympia, in 1905. He was just a student then, but he was smitten by the danseuse’s charms, and – along with many other would-be suitors – bombarded her each night with flowers and presents. At least, such presents as he could afford, and when his family discovered how he was spending his allowance, they threatened to cut him off. Chastened, he returned to his studies, while his beloved – who had no idea Berthelot even existed – went on to fame, fortune, and life as a courtesan to wealthy men ...

The Lamp That Tweets: Night's Black Agents

Here's a fun idea: why not put together a bug - total cost about $100, set up time maybe two hours - install it in a lamp, and then Tweet everything the bug overhears, in real time? That's what the creators of Conversnitch set out to do, and the resulting Twitter feed's been live for months. It's all part of an ongoing experiment to bring public surveillance into the wider conversation, by showing people just how easy it is to set up a surveillance feed. Some technical expertise required, naturally, but  once that hurdle's jumped anything's possible.

As a device, it achieves its objective. The only mild disappointment is that it relies on live workers to transcribe and Tweet the end result; it'd be so much more sinister if it was completely automated. Probably it could be automated, but doing so would certainly bump up the cost.

From a Night's Black Agents perspective, what does this device achieve?

As a piece of surveillance equipment, not much. Yes, it's neat, but it does little out of the ordinary. The main attraction here is the live Tweeting, broadcasting people's unconsidered conversations for all the world to see. As a device to give to the antagonists so they can overhear the protagonists' conversations, it's a bit of a bust.

But suppose that wasn't its purpose?

There are at least two possibilities here: the accidental Tweet, and the revenge Tweet.

In the accident version, the protagonists - or someone they care about - happens to be standing near one of these lamps when they say something indiscreet. It could be anything, and could have happened anywhere; that's the beauty of it.  The ones who set up the device, in this instance, would be artists and academics conducting an experiment, just as in the original example. They don't know what's so important about this particular conversation, but someone else does, and happens to discover the live Tweet stream. Cue chaos, as the protagonists' latest plan is revealed by an art project gone wrong.

The revenge Tweet has slightly more potential. In this example, the person who sets up the device isn't affiliated with the Conspiracy, but has reason to be pissed off with the protagonists. This person sets up the bug with an automated Tweet feature, and plants it somewhere useful. Then anything the protagonist says ends up on Twitter, constantly. There's no turning it off, or pressing pause; whatever's said ends up as 140 characters in a long stream of Tweets. Imagine the potential for chaos, as the protagonist's secrets and fears are plastered all over the internet. 

Dark Ages Cthulhu: A New Jerusalem

A short while back, someone asked what they'd have to do in order to get a copy of A New Jerusalem, a Dark Ages scenario written for Hammercon a few years back. Well, now you know; all you have to do is ask!

If the Hammercon folks want me to take it down for whatever reason, down it comes; but I doubt they'll object. The scenario is here, and the pregens are here, here, here, here, here and also here!.

Hackers and Haunted Coke Machines: Night's Black Agents

There's a couple of articles I'm going to urge you to read, and one of them can be found at the New York Times. It discusses hacking and infiltration techniques, and leads off with an intriguing story about a Chinese takeaway menu.

Hackers discovered that their chosen target was a little too secure for comfort. Rather than bash their heads against a firewall, they decided on a watering hole trap: their malware infested the online takeaway menu of a nearby Chinese restaurant, popular with the target's staff. End result: the staff went online from their work machines, browsed the menu, and got an extra helping of virus with their sweet 'n sour. That gave the hackers a foothold into the system, and since one system is often connected to all the others, they soon were able to infect the entire network.

I'm going to go out on a limb - though not very far - and suggest that, as a plan of attack, Western military targets are probably very vulnerable to this kind of exploit. A security system is only as secure as its stupidest user, and you meet some real prize winners in the military. I can just picture a base's security network penetrated thanks to the squaddies' love of chips, curry and pizza. But that's by the way.

The article goes on to note that, in most cases, a watering hole tactic like this probably isn't necessary. Many companies sabotage their own security efforts, by bringing in Coke machines and other outside vendor equipment. Remember when I said earlier that one system is often connected to all the others? That's also the case with every single outside vendor's device. Gone are the days when a Coke machine was just a coin-operated snack dispenser; now they boast all kinds of sophisticated systems to let the supplier know when the machine's empty, broken, or otherwise needs maintenance. Except not too sophisticated, since they often run on older OS like Windows XP, or even have their security protocols switched off by default on installation. Yet the Coke machine - or more likely, projector, HVAC equipment and so on - is probably hooked up to the company's internal systems, even in instances where there's no good reason for the connection. Exploit the Coke machine, and you exploit the company.

Which, incidentally, leads straight back to a very old story, for here's an example of a Trojan that, actually and for true, relies on a Trojan Horse. But that's a joke for the classicists. 

This article sparked an unusual train of thought over at Gizmodo, where an editorial pounces on the use of the word 'adversary' by one of the Times' security experts and, by linking 'adversary' with Satan, suggests that this use of one particular word means that cybersecurity experts are obsessed with cursed objects. The discussion "takes on an air of almost Catholic exorcism," according to the editorial. I'm not going to delve too far into the Gizmodo piece, except to say that I think the writer makes far too much of a meal out of 'adversary,' taking it out of context to prove a rather oddball point.

But when taken in conjunction with the core concept of Night's Black Agents, we can really have some fun with the idea. Why not have haunted hackers? Why not have possessed vending machines, projectors serving the whims of Satan, and other mechanical invaders happily passing on data to their masters?

With that in mind, here are some stats for a possessing spirit:

Creeper0741

Abilities: Digital Intrusion 8, Health 1
Special: Possession (mechanical), Hive Mind
Blocks: in a supernatural setting, holy symbols may act as a Block for the Creeper0741
Compulsion: Spread infection.
Notes: The Creeper0741 is a standard infiltration tool used by some Conspiracy-backed hackers. It can Possess anything that uses microchip technology; it cannot exist outside of a microchip. Often the hacker will carry around a small portable device with the Creeper installed, place the device against the object the hacker wishes to infect, wait a few moments and then leave, taking the device. The Creeper will have made the leap from the hacker's infecting item to the other device and, since it has the Hive Mind ability, so long as the hacker retains the original infecting item the hacker will be able to 'see' whatever the Creeper sees. The Creeper can infect as many devices as it has Digital Intrusion points. An individual Creeper is extremely weak and has no defenses, but of course as a spirit entity it cannot be damaged by bullets or knives. However an electrical overload will clean it out. Some hackers claim that 'free' Creepers exist out on the net which have grown exponentially, increasing its Digital Intrusion by leaps and bounds. Theoretically if a free Creeper were to be captured, any device it has infected will be brought under the captor's control.