The Black Seal Number
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PISCES: Her Majesty’s The Wrong Man: Watchmen A Tale of Terror By Adam Crossingham By Nick Brownlow Page 4 Page 45 A Brief Summary of known Strange Histories: Four Great Old One-worshipping alternatives to PISCES for Cults and Independent Agents Cthulhu Now games ‘On Her Majesty’s Occult Service’ by in the British Isles By Nick Brownlow, Tobias Adam Crossingham © 2003 By Nick Brownlow, Adam Cooper, Adam Crossingham & Publishers: Crossingham & Daniel Harms Rik Kershaw Moore The Black Seal is Page 12 Page 46 published twice yearly by the Missing Persons... The Penhew-Carlyle Foundation Brichester University Press 74 Union Street PISCES’ Magonia Facility By Daniel Harms Farnborough By David Conyers Page 52 Hampshire GU14 7QA Page 14 United Kingdom 13 Places of Interest in Unusual Suspects: Brichester ISSN: Wilbur Bromley By Nick Brownlow 1476-1939 By David Conyers Page 58 Product Code: Page 21 BUP102E An Interview with Gary Nos pauci, nos The Avengers: Sumpter pauci beati, nos Off-beat espionage in the Page 64 saevi nothi globus Swinging Sixties By Davide Mana The Further Files of Professor Internet: Page 23 Emerson Grant: Report on The Black Seal’s web Sample file Peruvian Mummy site is: http:// www.theblackseal.org Dangerous Places: By Graeme Price RAF Hobwood Page 66 Submissions: By Nick Brownlow Please check our web site for details of our Page 28 Reviews submissions policy By Divers Hands Perfidious Albion: PISCES Page 68 D20 Support: Free D20 Cthulhu Operations in the United support can be States Investigator Templates downloaded from: http:// By Graeme Price By Nick Brownlow, Adam www.theblackseal.org/ Page 30 Crossingham & Baz Nugent d20 Page 76 The BLACK SEAL #2 A Stylish Death: A Tale of Terror Dangerous Places: By Andy Bennsion Stranger’s Race Page 43 By Rik Kershaw Moore Page 82 Mind Games: A Tale of Terror By Brian Sammons Page 44 Volume 1 Number 2 Spring 2003 Welcome to the second issue of The Black Seal. It’s only to the Prime Minister’s Office, and chooses been just over a year since the first issue – which is which Prime Minister it wants to know of its longer than I intended. I hope to get issue #3 of The existence. Black Seal out a lot sooner next time. When looked at like this, PISCES is a civil The response to The Black Seal #1 was incredible. liberties nightmare. PISCES under its current Thanks to all of you who let me know what you leadership is a monster, almost out of control, and its thought of the magazine. Issue #1’s success proves, tentacles stretch very far indeed. I hope you will find to me at least, that there is a market for modern- some of this issue’s articles reflect this particularly period Call of Cthulhu material. I hope publishers are David Conyers’ “Missing Persons…” and Graeme watching and more releases may be on their way. Price’s “Perfidious Albion”, articles which detail just The release of d20 Call of Cthulhu has been the how far PISCES will go to get what it wants. biggest news item in the last year, and it is interesting The Black Seal editorial team has also been that Wizards of the Coast seems to have chosen to meeting the readers and contributors, drinking too make the modern day the preferred playing period. much alcohol and attempting to sell the fanzine over The Black Seal has embraced the new era of d20 the last year. You may have seen us at CthulhuCon, Cthulhu as well. Chaosium have requested us not to Convulsion and Dragonmeet. I hope we said “Hi!” publish d20 Cthulhu stats for the time being, but in the meantime, d20 stats for issues 1 and 2 can be Thanks to my wife Lorraine, Andrew Buckley, David downloaded from http://www.theblackseal.org/d20. Lamb and the mysterious Mr. X for this issue. We will publish d20 stats as soon as we have approval The Black Seal from Chaosium. Team meets This issue’s theme is PISCES. This doomed John Tynes at organisation is the United Kingdom’s sole defence Convulsion. against the Cthulhu Mythos, and is thus a very L to R: Nick, JT, suitable topic for a British Call of Cthulhu fanzine. John and Adam We’ve taken the opportunity to expand on what Pagan Publishing first presented in Delta Green: Countdown. The Vicar and Pagan did an excellent job creating opportunities for the Rev excellent role-playing with this organisation – I hope exchange we’ve added extra flavour. PISCES in its original words and beer presentation is a very dark, malevolent entity if approached in the wrong way. PISCES is a Second World War relic, armed with emergency powers that have never been rescinded. It’s above the law, does not officially exist, reports Editor & Layout: Sarah EvansSample © 2002, 2003 file Registered Trademark of Chaosium Inc., Adam “the Vicar” Crossingham pages 29, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62 & 63 and is used with their permission. Co-editor & Webmonkey: Paul J Holden © 2002 Chaosium Inc. is the Registered Trademark of Chaosium Inc. Nick “No nickname Nick” Brownlow pages 39, 40, 55, 56 & 57 David Lee Ingersoll © 2002, 2003 Graphic Support: Published by arrangement with the Delta pages 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 31, 32, 35, 36 & 38 L. Abdul Baan Green Partnership. The intellectual property Vibes: Charlotte Ronald © 2003 pages 24 & 25 known as Delta Green is ™ and © the Delta Jonathan “Radio” Turner Green Partnership, who has licensed its use Proofreading: Maps: here. The contents of this document are © Andy Bennison, Nick Brownlow, David David Conyers © 2003 pages 15, 17 & 18 Charlotte Ronald Conyers, Tobias Cooper, Adam Koen Goorickx © 2003 page 54 Crossingham, Daniel Harms, Rik Kershaw Articles: Moore, Davide Mana, Graeme Price, Brian All articles are © 2002, 2003 by their Unofficial: Sammons, excepting those elements that respective authors: Andy Bennison, Nick All material in this magazine is to be are components of the Delta Green Brownlow, David Conyers, Tobias Cooper, considered unofficial and non-canon in the intellectual property. The Delta Green logo Adam Crossingham, Daniel Harms, Rik world of Delta Green and PISCES, although is a trade- ‘Alley’ by Luis Corte Real © 2002 Kershaw Moore, Davide Mana, Graeme every attempt has been made to check mark of the Price, Brian Sammons existing facts and conform to the published Delta Green world view. It is up to individual Keepers Partnership Artwork: what material they shall incorporate into and is used Neil Beattie © 2003 page 12 their view of Delta Green. with permis- sion. Robert Corcoran © 2003 pages 4, 5, 6, 7 & 50 Legalese: Adam Crossingham © 2003 page 1 Call of Cthulhu ® is Chaosium Inc.’s trademarked role-playing game of horror Luis Corte Real © 2002 page 84 and wonder. Call of Cthulhu is the Based on Scott Glancy’s PISCES and Army of the Third Eye chapters of Delta Green: Countdown. “We do disagreeable things so that ordinary people here and elsewhere can sleep safely in their beds at night... Of course, we occasionally do very wicked things...” – John Le Carre, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold “You only have the same sort of fear that everyone here has. That’s why you are employed here. The moment we notice someone isn’t frightened that this set-up and all the other set-ups like it are a threat to parliamentary systems – we fire him. The only way a department that pries can run is to admit of no elite which is immune from prying.” – Len Deighton, Funeral in Berlin This article should be read by keepers in conjunction with Scott Glancy’s PISCES chapter from Delta Green: Countdown. Players should read this article without consulting Delta Green: Countdown. INTRODUCTION activities are completely outside the law. Full scale military Tenebrae non sunt, sed ignorantia (There is no darkness but ignorance) – operations have been authorised in the past, but today PISCES is PISCES motto adopted in the 1950s more likely to resort to blackmail, reputation smearing, threats of Sampleviolence, file payoffs, involuntary sectioning under mental health laws, The Paranormal Intelligence Section for Counter-intelligence, murder or disappearances. PISCES’ actual reaction often depends Espionage & Sabotage is the oldest paranormal intelligence on the experience of the operators in the field, and the perceived agency in the world. PISCES can trace its origins directly back to risk. PISCES is also tasked to deal with paranormal entities, and its the First World War and indirectly into the late Nineteenth personnel will deal with any manifestations using the appropriate Century. In the modern world PISCES works to guard the security level of risk containment. This may include the use of deadly of the United Kingdom from the dangers of the Cthulhu Mythos. force or magic. PISCES reports directly to the Prime Minister, bypassing all the Researching alien science is PISCES’ third role. PISCES controlling committees that MI5, MI6 and GCHQ have to maintains a library at Kilmaur Manor, and ‘Magonia’ – a research report to. laboratory; both facilities are located in Scotland. A small number of ‘formulae’ are approved for field use, and have on occasion been issued to field agents. PISCES’ MISSION OBJECTIVES Kilmaur Manor’s library in a high-security vault is one of the “Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of the State.” – Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal de Richelieu, Chief Minister to Louis XIII The first role of PISCES is unorthodox, or paranormal, intelligence gathering. New religions, charismatic cult leaders, strange police reports, UFO sightings, and other Fortean events are investigated. Agents record and analyse events and people for the potential threat to the society or the fabric of the United Kingdom.