GURPS and Call of Cthulhu

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Hello,

I'd like to GM a GURPS game in a typical CoC style, in the 20s.
I'm aware of the CthulhuPunk supplement, but I was wondering if some
conversion for the classical CoC had been made.
For example, what about the sanity and madness rules that help so much
creating the right mood? I belive they're rather essential for any CoC game.
So could anyone tell me where to find, if possible, theese resources?

Thank you so much.

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.gurps (More info?)

Well, my first suggestion is access the GURPS HORROR and CTHULHUPUNK (if u
enjoy the genre) and use those rules to run your game in the COC setting
Otherwise there was a Roleplayer article (I can't recall the issue)
specifically describing COC mythos, I suggest you ti give a look at
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps in order to access the Roleplayer subpage.
If you need further information, feel free to ask


Alioshin

 

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On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 15:53:23 GMT, Luca <morpheo77@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I'd like to GM a GURPS game in a typical CoC style, in the 20s.
>I'm aware of the CthulhuPunk supplement, but I was wondering if some
>conversion for the classical CoC had been made.
>For example, what about the sanity and madness rules that help so much
>creating the right mood?

GURPS has Fright Check rules that do the same thing better.

 

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Luca wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'd like to GM a GURPS game in a typical CoC style, in the 20s.
> I'm aware of the CthulhuPunk supplement, but I was wondering if some
> conversion for the classical CoC had been made.
> For example, what about the sanity and madness rules that help so much
> creating the right mood? I belive they're rather essential for any CoC
> game.
> So could anyone tell me where to find, if possible, theese resources?
>
> Thank you so much.
I am running a game in a universe that is using elements of the old
World of Darkness setting & Delta Green. We are using GURPS 3rd edition
(no plans to convert due to the amount of support material that has been
created for the campaign).

I find the CthulhuPunk supplement has enough conversion rules and
game mechanic ideas that are independent of the Cyberworld setting to
still be useful to a non-cyber GM.

The amended Cthulhu fright check rules certainly do the job of scaring
your PC's witless and leaving them with all those interesting mental
scars that make Cthulhu PC's so much fun to play. There's no SAN 0
point though. It's the referee's call as to when a PC has gone so
crazy they are unplayable.

--
Regards,
MoonDog.

 

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On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 19:52:21 +0000, MoonDog
<MoonDog.aka.s_murrant@yahell.co.uk> wrote:


>
>The amended Cthulhu fright check rules certainly do the job of scaring
>your PC's witless and leaving them with all those interesting mental
>scars that make Cthulhu PC's so much fun to play.

I thought the amended Cthulhu fright check rules were a waste of
space. If something's really mind blowingly scary, then just give it
a bigger modifier. If you are worried about people cranking up their
resistance to fear, then increase the price of it to match the
increased value of it in that circumstance. A

 

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David Johnston wrote:
> On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 19:52:21 +0000, MoonDog
> <MoonDog.aka.s_murrant@yahell.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>
>>The amended Cthulhu fright check rules certainly do the job of scaring
>>your PC's witless and leaving them with all those interesting mental
>>scars that make Cthulhu PC's so much fun to play.
>

Where can I find those?

 

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Luca <morpheo77@hotmail.com> wrote:

>David Johnston wrote:
>> On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 19:52:21 +0000, MoonDog
>> <MoonDog.aka.s_murrant@yahell.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>>The amended Cthulhu fright check rules certainly do the job of scaring
>>>your PC's witless and leaving them with all those interesting mental
>>>scars that make Cthulhu PC's so much fun to play.
>
>Where can I find those?

They're in GURPS CthulhuPunk, of course, as "Mythos Fright Checks,"
and also in GURPS Horror 3E (by Kenneth Hite) under the name
"Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks."

Basically, you can never get more than +4 to Will for Fright Checks,
no matter how many levels of Fearlessness and whatnot you have, and
then Will is cut in half (*after* the +4, so you really only get +2)
for the roll.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of some smackdown laid on his sorry ass. - Stone Cold Jane Austen

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.gurps (More info?)

> They're in GURPS CthulhuPunk, of course, as "Mythos Fright Checks,"
> and also in GURPS Horror 3E (by Kenneth Hite) under the name
> "Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks."

OK, fine! I'm waiting for my ebay seller to ship GURPS Horror 3E...great
supplement, eh?

> Basically, you can never get more than +4 to Will for Fright Checks,
> no matter how many levels of Fearlessness and whatnot you have, and
> then Will is cut in half (*after* the +4, so you really only get +2)
> for the roll.

That feels quite right.

I've also read Roleplayer #22 article "Cthulhu Lives!" and I feel rather
ready to go now.
Anyway, there are just two things left:

1) sanity isn't tied to the Cthulhu Mythos skill. As you problably
already know, in CoC the Cthulhu Mythos skill level corresponds to the
roof for your maximum Sanity level. IMO, this little rule is helps a lot
in conveying HPL's concept of "dangerous knowledge".

2) magic doesn't cause madness. HPL's alien unholy magic should trigger
a fright check, don't you think?

I'm aware that, no matter how well you convert rules and system, you'll
never get all the same. Nontheless, do you have any suggestions about
these two points? Or maybe I should go without these two concpts?

Thank you very much,
Luca

P.S. I forgot to say that I'm a quite the GURPS enthusiast, but this
would be my first GURPS GMing!

 

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In message <n8VXd.4680$Tm5.96281@twister2.libero.it>, Luca
<morpheo77@hotmail.com> writes
>1) sanity isn't tied to the Cthulhu Mythos skill. As you problably
>already know, in CoC the Cthulhu Mythos skill level corresponds to the
>roof for your maximum Sanity level. IMO, this little rule is helps a
>lot in conveying HPL's concept of "dangerous knowledge".
>

One thing I advocate is to have a penalty to all fright checks equal to
the number of points you have in Cthulu Mythos.

>2) magic doesn't cause madness. HPL's alien unholy magic should trigger
>a fright check, don't you think?

And maybe the same should apply to Magic?
--
Michael Cule

 

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On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 18:15:29 +0000, Michael Cule
<mikec@room3b.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>In message <n8VXd.4680$Tm5.96281@twister2.libero.it>, Luca
><morpheo77@hotmail.com> writes
>>1) sanity isn't tied to the Cthulhu Mythos skill. As you problably
>>already know, in CoC the Cthulhu Mythos skill level corresponds to the
>>roof for your maximum Sanity level. IMO, this little rule is helps a
>>lot in conveying HPL's concept of "dangerous knowledge".
>>
>
>One thing I advocate is to have a penalty to all fright checks equal to
>the number of points you have in Cthulu Mythos.

I would suggest instead that you just have to make fright checks on a
regular basis while studying that skill. This will give you phobias
if you do it long enough, and when you then run into monsters that
trigger the phobias...

>
>>2) magic doesn't cause madness. HPL's alien unholy magic should trigger
>>a fright check, don't you think?
>
>And maybe the same should apply to Magic?

Since HPL's "magic" almost entirely consists of summoning creatures
that will force you to make fright checks....

 

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Luca wrote:
>
>> They're in GURPS CthulhuPunk, of course, as "Mythos Fright Checks,"
>> and also in GURPS Horror 3E (by Kenneth Hite) under the name
>> "Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks."
>
>
> OK, fine! I'm waiting for my ebay seller to ship GURPS Horror 3E...great
> supplement, eh?
>
>> Basically, you can never get more than +4 to Will for Fright Checks,
>> no matter how many levels of Fearlessness and whatnot you have, and
>> then Will is cut in half (*after* the +4, so you really only get +2)
>> for the roll.
>
>
> That feels quite right.
>
> I've also read Roleplayer #22 article "Cthulhu Lives!" and I feel rather
> ready to go now.
> Anyway, there are just two things left:
>
> 1) sanity isn't tied to the Cthulhu Mythos skill. As you problably
> already know, in CoC the Cthulhu Mythos skill level corresponds to the
> roof for your maximum Sanity level. IMO, this little rule is helps a lot
> in conveying HPL's concept of "dangerous knowledge".

An oft-overlooked aspect of the Mythos fright check is that once you
have the Mythos Lore skill you can use it in place of Will for your
fright checks. In the game I'm in we use it a full value, not halved.
That said we're going for a more August Derleth style game & not your
standard utterly nihilistic pure Lovecraft approach (which I don't feel
makes for a decent game myself).

However increasing the skill results in a Mythos fright check with a
penalty equal to the level of skill that you are going to. Hence
dangerous knowledge. Also any critical failure of a Mythos fright check
(which is fairly probable when researching the skill) results in the PC
loosing a point of will (either 1 off Strong Will or a point of Weak
Will). I guess once Weak Will has got to the point that PC mental
disadvantages kick in automatically they could be regarded as being SAN 0.

> 2) magic doesn't cause madness. HPL's alien unholy magic should trigger
> a fright check, don't you think?

Abso-frickin-lutely! Just pick a penalty appropriate to the power of
the spell.

> I'm aware that, no matter how well you convert rules and system, you'll
> never get all the same. Nontheless, do you have any suggestions about
> these two points? Or maybe I should go without these two concpts?
>
> Thank you very much,
> Luca

No worries.

> P.S. I forgot to say that I'm a quite the GURPS enthusiast, but this
> would be my first GURPS GMing!

Well good luck to you.

 

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Luca <morpheo77@hotmail.com> wrote:

>1) sanity isn't tied to the Cthulhu Mythos skill. As you problably
>already know, in CoC the Cthulhu Mythos skill level corresponds to the
>roof for your maximum Sanity level. IMO, this little rule is helps a lot
>in conveying HPL's concept of "dangerous knowledge".

This is covered in the description of the Mythos Lore skill (IQ/VH,
defaults to Occultism-12) in GURPS CthulhuPunk. For every level you
gain in Mythos Lore, you make a Mythos Fright Check. You don't halve
Will, but you have a penalty equal to the new skill level. So if you
go from Mythos Lore-12 to Mythos Lore-13, you roll at -13. If you
instead increase to Mythos Lore-15, you make *three* checks -- one at
-13, one at -14, and one at -15.

>2) magic doesn't cause madness. HPL's alien unholy magic should trigger
>a fright check, don't you think?

Casting any of the Mythos spells listed in GURPS CthulhuPunk requires
a Mythos Fright Check -- at -5 for contacting a Great Old One, at -10
for summoning (or dismissing) a Great Old One.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of some smackdown laid on his sorry ass. - Stone Cold Jane Austen