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| - From Greg Stolze on RPGnet: Waaay back when, when HB: Redeemer came out, I promised ten pounds of books to the first person to post a correct translation of the coded message from its introduction here. No one broke it. In 2001, I sold an annotated copy of the book at auction, including big hints about the cipher. The buyer didn't break it. Then he posted the hints for other codebreakers to consider. THEY didn't break it. Finally, after a concensus seemed to emerge, I agreed to reveal all when I got my author copies of "Days of Fire", provided that no one broke the code in the interim. Today, that book arrived. How the Cipher Worked The cipher was actually two overlapping ciphers. I took the base message and split it in half. The first half was encoded on (IIRC) the
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| abstract
| - From Greg Stolze on RPGnet: Waaay back when, when HB: Redeemer came out, I promised ten pounds of books to the first person to post a correct translation of the coded message from its introduction here. No one broke it. In 2001, I sold an annotated copy of the book at auction, including big hints about the cipher. The buyer didn't break it. Then he posted the hints for other codebreakers to consider. THEY didn't break it. Finally, after a concensus seemed to emerge, I agreed to reveal all when I got my author copies of "Days of Fire", provided that no one broke the code in the interim. Today, that book arrived. How the Cipher Worked The cipher was actually two overlapping ciphers. I took the base message and split it in half. The first half was encoded on (IIRC) the up and down axis of the symbols, with the second on the right-left axis. (Or maybe vice versa. Or maybe it was the 3:00 and 9:30 positions. Remember, I did this years ago.) I thought the gig was just about up when someone figured that angle out and posted it on RPG.NET. But according to that poster, the frequencies didn't work for letter frequencies in English. Which makes sense, because the message was in French. Break the cipher and here's what you get. AMBROSE J'AI MENÈ L'ENQUÊTE QUE TU AS DEMANDÉE STOP ILAPPARAÎT QUE CETTE NOUVELLE MENACE N'EST PAS SI NOUVELLE QUE*A STOP JE CROIS QUE LES LASOMBRA EURENT DES PROBLEMESIDENTIQUES VERS LE DÉBUT DU QUATORZIEME SIECLE MAIS IL Y APEU DE CHANCES QUE NOUS RECEVIONS UNE RÉPONSE DIRECTE DE LEURPART STOP SI LA LÉGENDE DES CRÂNES DE VERRE HURLANTS A UNFOND DE VÉRITÉ IL POURRAIT Y AVOIR UN RAPPORT STOP JE NE SAISPAS POURQUOI IL Y AURAIT UNE BRUSQUE RÉSURGENCE APRES DESANNÉES DE SOMMEIL A MOINS QUE LA GÉHENNE NE SOIT VRAIMENT LASTOP DE TOUTES MANIERES D'APRES LES RAPPORTS ACTUELS NOUSSAVONS QU'ILS POSSEDENT LES POUVOIRS SUIVANTS STOP ILSMANIPULENT LES ESPRITS STOP ILS PEUVENT MANIFESTER UNERAPIDITÉ ET UNE FORCE SURHUMAINES STOP LEURS SENS SONTSURNATURELS STOP ON LES A OBSERVES EN BOSNIE A LOS ANGELES ETAILLEURS STOP QUELLES SONT LEURS FAIBLESSES JE NE PUIS ENCORELE DEVINER STOP DÉSOLÉE STOP SINCEREMENT MARGUERITE Translated into English, that roughly means... AMBROSE I HAVE MADE THE INVESTIGATIONS YOU REQUESTED STOP ITAPPEARS THAT THIS NEW THREAT IS NOT REALLY ALL THAT NEW STOPI BELIEVE THE LASOMBRA HAD SIMILAR PROBLEMS AROUND THE TURNOF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY BUT WE ARE UNLIKELY TO GET ASTRAIGHT ANSWER OUT OF THEM STOP IF THERE IS ANYTHING TO THELEGEND OF THE SCREAMING GLASS SKULLS THERE COULD BE ACONNECTION STOP I DO NOT KNOW WHY THERE IS SUCH A SUDDENRESURGENCE AFTER YEARS OF DORMANCY UNLESS IT REALLY ISGEHENNA STOP IN ANY EVENT FROM THE CURRENT REPORTS WE KNOWTHAT THEY POSSESS THE FOLLOWING POWERS STOP THEY CANMANIPULATE SPIRITS STOP THEY CAN HARNESS SUPERHUMAN SPEED ANDSTRENGTH STOP THEY HAVE PRETERNATURALLY KEEN SENSES STOP THEYCAN PRODUCE FIRE STOP THESE HAVE BEEN OBSERVED IN BOSNIA INLOS ANGELES AND ELSEWHERE STOP WHAT THEIR PARTICULARWEAKNESSES ARE I CANNOT YET SPECULATE STOP SORRY STOPSINCERELY MARGUERITE What this refers to is a bit of intra-game wonkery based on the V:tM plotline about the Kindred of the East starting to mess 'round with western-style vampires. There it is! If you enjoyed it, take a stab at the cipher in "Days of Fire," though in that case you get the spoiler on how to decipher it three pages from the end. -G.
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