Presenting spells from tomes to the players

[Miihkali]

I'm currently running my first campaign (I've done only short scenarios before) I have found it perplexing how to present spells from the large Mythos tomes to the players. It is not that hard if they read some notes by a madman or something like that, and the notes are reasonably short and include only one or two spells--I can simply describe the content of the notes as they progress reading it and at some point note that "You find a description of a ritual which . . ." etc. The things get difficult if the book is long and contains several spells, I can of course make up kind of a synopsis for the contents of the book and describe it so, but how to get the spells in? If simply presenting them huge list of spells the book includes, they suffer serious inflation.

Here are some possible solutions:
- I tell them vaguely what the book includes and also mention that there are plenty of spells, so that it is up to players tell what they are looking for tand then I'd tell if there are any matches. The problem is, that then I conceal information PC's know from the players themselves. This also feels very lame, as finding 'correct' spell should not be similar to rolling library use and then finding some nice info from the library.
- I tell them only about the spells their characters have some information or clue, for example, if they have saw evil guy to summon a demon, I'll tell only about summoning spells. Problem: I'll (again) conceal info for them, and examining the book further will require from the players at least some clue how are Mythos spells like.
- I drop the spells as they progress in the book. Problems: even though I can make a synopsis of the contents of a book, I really cannot exactly know where reads what in a book of hundreds of pages. In addition, the inflation will come in anyway sooner or later, and every night telling the players "yeah, you today came up with couple of new spells more" will become boring and give the players overdose of supernatural so that they'll definitely lose their interest at some point. CoC magic should not be just selecting the most well-fitting one from your grimoire.
- I modify the 'forbidden books' stats so that they contain less spells. Problem: I think that tomes such as the Book of Eibon and Necronomicon really should contain plenty of rituals and ceremonies. They, after all, are studies in occult and magic.

[Pookie]

Do remember that although an investigator can scan a tome and gain a certain knowledge of its contents. It takes weeks to not only read a book, but also to learn each spell.

I always try and give the spell an interesting name that hints at what it does, but without makings its mechanical benefits obvious.

[Miihkali]

Do remember that although an investigator can scan a tome and gain a certain knowledge of its contents. It takes weeks to not only read a book, but also to learn each spell.

I always try and give the spell an interesting name that hints at what it does, but without makings its mechanical benefits obvious.

I know that and kept it in my mind, but I think it still leads to the same problem, even though over a longer period of time. The result is still the same: character is presented with awful lot of spells. The interesting names don't really help, even the most interesting name in the world won't save a flood of spells from suffering an inflation.
EDIT: But I'm open to suggestions. Could you please give me a little example how you would do the thing? :)

[GBSteve]

In the Trail demo, Ritual Pursuits, I have a tome with three spells, Call Dark Servitor (Summon/Bind Night Gaunt), Summon Ancestor (a Resurrection variant requiring a descendant of the deceased into whom the spirit of the dead is summoned) and Blessing of the Dark (enchant knife). This is the most spells I've ever had in a game, except for a pulpy d20 game in which one PC started out with 4 spells. Are you expecting your players to be wielding a lot of magic?

[Miihkali]

Well, all but one in my current group are newbies in Cthulhu, instead having plenty of experience from action games, and I'm pretty sure they will go to spell frenzy as soon as they get the first description of a ritual in their hands. Not that I have anything against using spells, actually I'm very eager to see some magic use, especially because the GM of the group I used to play in never introduced any spells. That was not bad thing per se, it fitted very well to his rather realistic and slow approach, but I personally find it fun to have magic for the sake of variation, especially as I personally prefer pulpy and slightly campy style in my games. But I'm pretty sure that if they ever get their hands to a book including several spells, they'll use as many of them as often as they can. Of course they'll eventually learn their lesson (at least I hope so), and I'm not going to give them any powerful Mythos tomes as long as they try to solve all problems by force.

However, as my plot is built around the ancient Hyperboreans I think receiving Book of Eibon will be the ultimate 'revelation'. And if they make it that far, I'd like to be sure how to deal with books with plenty of spells. Even if they won't make it, I have still been wondering this question for a long time.

[Gaffer]

You might want to revive the old spell multiplier rule, which was dropped around edition 5.0, to slow their spell acquisition. The old rule required the player to roll D100 against INT times the spell multiplier (generally between 1 and 5) for the volume. A success allowed the PC to successfully learn the particular spell. The roll could be retried every 2d6 weeks. You could assign spell multipliers to each spell, rather than to all spells in a particular tome. So a PC with 12 INT might have to roll 12 on D100 to learn the spell.

In addition, you might require success with the roll to even tell them that there is a spell. This supposes that the spell is not laid out in a sidebar box, but imbedded in the text.

Don't forget, too, that every time they use a spell (with few exceptions), they pay a SAN cost and sometimes have to sacrifice POW. You could rule that they pay these costs the first time when they learn the spell. Also, any spell that does serious harm or kills another human could have a SAN cost, at least the first time they do it. I'm thinking especially things like Bring Pestilence, Shrivelling, Wither Limb, Wrack. Using Mythos Magic should carry a serious cost.

You might want to give them the Liber Ivonis in Latin, rather than the English Book of Eibon, which might also slow them down. The old spell multiplier for all versions of that book was x2, by the way.

[Dave Glyer]

Learning and using Mythos magic should never become dull and ho-hum. I agree that is it quite possible to have a large arsenal of known spells available to a party of 5 or 6 seasoned investigators. Getting to that point, though, should have consequences. Don't deny them the use of Mythos magic, but make sure they pay the correct price. Whether that price is SAN or Magic Points or both, Mythos magic should be viewed with trepidation. To my point, the 6th ed Rule Book states, on page 78:

"Neither does learning and casting spells ever become a normal thing to do. Every spell is discrete, and most are cast with malevolent intent. Every spell achieves an effect impossible in the normal world. The necessary recreation of horrible effect and alien mind-set always costs Sanity, even if the same spell is cast twenty times a day. Spellcasting is a bargain with darkness, and must be paid for."

I think the issue as Keeper is to utilize research time, Cthulhu Mythos % increases and SAN loss in a way that impresses the gravity of learning and using Mythos Magic.

Say an investigator has access to three large Mythos tomes. It could take six months to a year to study those tomes, let alone learn any spells. Most scenarios and campaigns have some sort of time constraint where setting aside this amount of time may become impractical. Page 102 of the 6th edition Rule Book explains that to learn a spell takes an additional 2D6 weeks of study time. At the end of the 2D6 weeks, the investigator must make a D100 roll equal to or less than INTx3. A failure means the study time is lost and the investigator must start over.

Reading Mythos tomes is one surefire way to increase your Cthulhu Mythos %. You had referenced the Book of Eibon and the Necronomicon. Just as an example, if an investigator only studied those two tomes, that would be a Cthulhu Mythos % increase of at least 25% (depending on versions studied it could be as high as +31%). To put that into perspective, an investigator with a starting SAN of 65% (POW of 13) would now have a maximum SAN of 40%. Yikes!

Reading a Mythos tome is the most common way to learn a spell and that, in itself, involves SAN loss. The act of casting the spell may also result in SAN loss as well as any potential SAN loss from the result of the spell. For example, summoning a byakhee costs 1D3 SAN for casting the spell and then 1D6 for seeing the summoned byakhee. That alone is between 2 and 9 points of SAN lost just for casting the spell. As an investigator's SAN begins to trickle away just from learning and using Mythos magic, there should be a point where they realize the cost of learning Mythos magic may just be too high.

Have fun with it and get in the investigator's head. If an investigator is studying the spell Summon Fire Vampire, have the investigator break out in uncontrolled sweating as if they were sitting too close to a roaring fire. Cloud Memory? Maybe they can't remember what they had for lunch. And so on.

[LoneKharnivore]

Reading Mythos tomes is one surefire way to increase your Cthulhu Mythos %. You had referenced the Book of Eibon and the Necronomicon. Just as an example, if an investigator only studied those two tomes, that would be a Cthulhu Mythos % increase of at least 25% (depending on versions studied it could be as high as +31%). To put that into perspective, an investigator with a starting SAN of 65% (POW of 13) would now have a maximum SAN of 40%. Yikes!

Um, no... There are three numbers when it comes to SAN: maximum SAN, starting SAN and current SAN. Cthulhu Mythos affects maximum SAN (which starts at 99), not current SAN, so they would now have a maximum SAN of 74 (99-25).

HOWEVER reading and comprehending those tomes also costs them current SAN - in this case 1D4/2D4 for the Book of Eibon and 1D10/2D10 for the Necronomicon. Therefore it's entirely possible that with nearly two years of study (32 weeks for the Book of Eibon and 66 weeks for the Necronomicon) and two failed SAN rolls they could lose 28 (current) SAN - which is not to mention individual costs for trying out spells!

As a further thought, when describing the tomes themselves to your players make it clear just how bizarrely written they are - the crabbed handwriting that sometimes goes in three different directions, the crazily scribbled diagrams, the weird poetic/mystical allegories, the references to other books that then must be searched out - and how the further they get through the book the harder it is to accept what it is they're reading, and the more insane the ramblings become.

I suggest looking at the "Feverish Study" rules in the Keeper's Companion, if you have it; rules that codify the strain such tomes place upon human minds. They are presented as an option for players if they wish to read something quickly, but I impose them for too much time spent delving into arcane mysteries - it's quite amusing when the player thinks they can just read a tome for a week solid, only to find they've become obsessed with the secret lore they are uncovering and simply can't stop... and then they begin to neglect food and sleep; they run out of paper and continue scribbling on their desk, their walls, their floor; they start muttering to themselves, and jumping at shadows in the corner of their vision... If no-one physically tears them away from their studies they start to lose SAN on a daily basis, and then CON, and madness or death is the only possible result.

Have fun with it and get in the investigator's head. If an investigator is studying the spell Summon Fire Vampire, have the investigator break out in uncontrolled sweating as if they were sitting too close to a roaring fire. Cloud Memory? Maybe they can't remember what they had for lunch. And so on.

I like this. I like this a lot Yoink!

[Dave Glyer]

"

Um, no... There are three numbers when it comes to SAN: maximum SAN, starting SAN and current SAN. Cthulhu Mythos affects maximum SAN (which starts at 99), not current SAN, so they would now have a maximum SAN of 74 (99-25)."

As Ed McMahon was fond of saying..."You are correct, Sir!