CoC port

[acrosome]

Would it be inappropriate to post my work-in-progress of a Call of Cthulhu port to see what others thought of it? I ask because I'm unsure of the licensing situation and SJG might not want it on their server. I'll wait a day or two then assume that silence is acquiescence.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by acrosome

Would it be inappropriate to post my work-in-progress of a Call of Cthulhu port to see what others thought of it? I ask because I'm unsure of the licensing situation and SJG might not want it on their server. I'll wait a day or two then assume that silence is acquiescence.

IDNWFSJG, but I'm pretty sure that we can convert whatever we want here if the 20,000 GURPSifications of Star Wars (owned by George Lucas, who can be seen chasing a nickel down the sidewalk if you look out your window right now) are allowed to exist.

[Veton]

Yeah I don't think there should be any problem either.

[Figleaf23]

Check the forum rules for details, but basically SJG says if you post something here you are giving them an unlimited non-exclusive license to use it. (You still own it, and can still use it or sell it yourself though.)

[Amra]

Go for it, there's a lot of various conversions on here. I'd like to see what you've got and it's the best place to get GURPS feedback.

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by acrosome

Would it be inappropriate to post my work-in-progress of a Call of Cthulhu port to see what others thought of it? I ask because I'm unsure of the licensing situation and SJG might not want it on their server. I'll wait a day or two then assume that silence is acquiescence.

Don't do it - totally inappropriate. It offends me you'd even ask...

Nah. ;-) Actually, I think that would great. I incorporate a lot of CoC stuff into my games. GURPS CthulhuPunk is helpful, and the fact that it's 3rd edition doesn't really detract much from it's usefulness. But there's a lot more material in CoC than could ever be covered in just one reasonably sized GURPS book - magic, powers, characters, artifacts, creatures. Plus the need for a 4th Ed update. And questioning aspects of the original CthulhuPunk conversions. There's a lot of ground to cover. I say the more the merrier. If you like, I might post some of the stuff I've ported as well, we can compare notes.

[KevinJ]

Post away, just don't try to sell it...

[acrosome]

'Kay. Bear in mind that the operating phrase is "work-in-progress." In particular my Bestiary is pathetic- there is too much material to sift through for details, and i don't have access to all of it. I'll just post examples of spells and critters. And give me a few hours to figure out how to post charts- I've had problems with that before...

[acrosome]

Why do this?

Given that Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu (CoC), now in its sixth edition as of 2010, is an outstanding and groundbreaking game that has won many industry awards- why make a GURPS port? Well, my reasons are of course personal.
CoC is indeed a fun and very cerebral game. One of the basic premises in the game is that investigators cannot win. They can, at best, survive. On a lot of levels I find this to be a refreshing change, and very horrific, as intended.
But on another level I also acknowledge that many players enjoy developing their characters over several campaigns. Using GURPS Fright Checks rather than the nihilistic Sanity system in CoC can render investigators a bit more durable without, I feel, detracting from the overall atmosphere of darkness and inevitability of a Cthulhu campaign- assuming that the game master does his part, that is. One effect of the system that I propose below is to make trifling with minor Mythos forces much less mind-blasting, yet dealing with more powerful entities is nonetheless a daunting and likely fatal undertaking.
Also, CoC strongly emphasizes roleplaying over almost any game mechanics. It is a very abstract game system. As a nuts-and-bolts kind of guy I find this at times frustrating. I have embraced GURPS and its Reality Check, and I love the incredible detail that it offers. Frankly, this detail-oriented approach probably works particularly better than the CoC method in modern campaigns in which truly staggering analysis capabilities are available to ordinary citizens with little effort. In such situations the modern games take on a bit more of an X-Files feel, albeit with a much darker edge.
Further, there is a lot of published adventure material available for CoC- certainly much more so than for GURPS Horror. And, finally, I do find the incredibly rich environment and atmosphere of CoC appealing, which is why it is worth all of the bother.

The groundwork for this conversion system was laid by GURPS Cthulhupunk, but owes far more of its lineage to the informal Cthulhu Lives! manuscript by David Ellis Dickerson. Many of the rules from the Dickerson Manuscript are quoted in this system, though I have altered a lot to allow for the new GURPS fourth edition. Also, anyone who is serious about running a GURPS Cthulhu campaign needs to acquire GURPS High-Tech (abbreviated HT) right now. Those of a more combative bent will appreciate the download-able PDFs GURPS Pulp Guns volumes 1 and 2 (abbreviated PGO and PGT). Almost anyone will find another PDF called GURPS Loadouts: Monster Hunters (abbreviated LMH) to be truly delightful. Also, letting novice players read The Basics in the first chapter of Monster Hunters will save a lot of heartache as the game master tries to amuse himself while his players generate new characters... Oddly, GURPS Magic and GURPS Thaumatology are much less important- the Basic Set magic rules suffice, since all pertinent spells are either recreated here (with my embellishments) or modified from CoC statistics. You will almost certainly still have to buy the CoC basic rulebook, currently in its sixth edition. There is simply too much information in it to duplicate here- which would be copyright infringement, anyway. (Plus, since you have to buy their products anyway, Chaosium should have nothing to complain about, eh?) Any CoC rulebook page references herein refer to the sixth edition.

[acrosome]

Characters

CoC investigators do indeed tend to be intelligent, accomplished people. Nonetheless they also tend to be specialists in their field. Perfectly reasonable Cthulhu characters can be generated with a 100 point total. However, some of the stock CoC character archetypes can require quite startling character point totals- the wealthy dilettante comes to mind. Thus I feel that a 150 point starting total is perfectly reasonable, and 200 isn't unreasonable, but many points should definitely be spent upon social intangibles- equivalents to CoC Credit Rating- such as Contacts, Claim to Hospitality, Reputation, Status, Social Regard, Charisma, Courtesy Rank, Favors, Tenure, Wealth, Heir, Independent Income, etc. In particular, in many 1920's CoC campaigns a tenured professor's university probably counts as a low-level patron. Tenured professors can get grants, take sabbaticals, and borrow university property fairly freely. A retired policeman now working as a private eye might retain his old local police department as a patron- sometimes his old buddies slip him work, and they tend to help him out of jams, etc. A petty criminal could have a crime lord or organization as a patron. Don't forget generous Area Knowledge. An Heir to a tycoon-level fortune (Multimillionaire 2, at least) would spend 50 points on that alone, even without counting his other social advantages. Don't forget the free Status derived from Wealth!

As always in GURPS if a character acquires a disadvantage during play, for instance by massively failing a fright check, just reduce their character point total- do not give the player those points to spend. Yes, his will result in groups of investigators of wildly varying point totals, but this should be considered a role playing opportunity. When the point total gets too low for the player to tolerate then retire the character- probably to an asylum. This is very much in keeping with the genre. Conversely, in fairness and also in keeping with the genre, advantages gained during play should not have to be paid off either- just increase the point total. (These almost always take the form of a Contact, Favors, or perhaps a Patron. But bear in mind that only the player character(s) with which the NPC most directly interacted will likely acquire the advantage. Often this will be the wealthiest or most prestigious character but might also be the lowliest character if the contact is for instance a member of the criminal underworld.) The players have enough problems- don't handicap them with points that they must pay off before they can learn a critical spell from an obscure Mythos tome. Knowledge and Contacts are a CoC character's true payoff- not character points.

And count your blessings, because you still can't win.

I highly recommend creating characters from scratch for a GURPS Cthulhu campaign because any system for character conversion from CoC to GURPS will invariably produce some odd or extreme results. One might be tempted to translate some CoC attributes directly, such a STR = ST, DEX = DX, INT = IQ, CON = HT.

But I advise against this because the CoC attributes are based upon a normal human range of 3 to 21, which gives absurd results in GURPS. Instead I would take half the difference of the CoC attribute from 9.5 and add it to 9.5, to narrow the range a bit. (I chose 9.5 rather than 10 due to some obscure statistical phenomena of rolling 3d6.) Also, GURPS ST influences a character's height and weight so it should be derived from both STR and SIZ as shown. Similarly GURPS IQ is very clearly defined as a combination of raw intelligence and education, and so basing it upon INT and EDU seems valid.

Thus:

ST = (STR + SIZ + 19) / 4
DX = (DEX + 9.5) / 2
IQ = (INT + EDU + 19) / 4
HT = (CON + 9.5) / 2
Will = (POW + 9.5) / 2
Per = (INT + 9.5) / 2

Base FP on HT as usual. However, if POW>HT give the difference as an Energy Reserve (see GURPS Thaumatology).

These formulae result in converted GURPS attributes ranging from 7 to 16, which seems appropriate since 7 is the lowest score that isn't considered "crippling" in GURPS canon. CoC PCs have attributes randomly rolled in such a way that the curves are skewed and the average randomly-rolled PC will translate to ST11 DX10 IQ12 HT10. But here we are mostly concerned with easily translating the NPCs listed in published investigations, and they are generally designed well and will give superb results with these formulae. For reference, a human with median scores for the 3-to-21 range (e.g. 11 or 12) in every CoC attribute will translate to ST11 DX11 IQ11 HT11.

The only weakness to this system is that a CoC character with STR 21 and SIZ 21 converts to only ST 16, whereas in GURPS a truly world-class bodybuilder or weightlifter probably has a few more points than that. However, examining the NPCs in published CoC investigations reveals many cultists with STR and SIZ near the top of the scale, yet it is clear from their descriptions that these are not quite meant to be Schwarzenegger-esque behemoths, and thus topping out at 16 is probably appropriate.

CoC APP should be converted to a GURPS Appearance equivalent. Fisrt treat APP as any other attribute, but find then subtract 10:

GURPS Appearance = (APP + 9.5) / 2) – 10

This will give a score from -3 to +6, which is similar to the reaction modifier for various levels of GURPS Appearance and should translate thus:

Score = Appearance
-3 = Hideous (-4)
-2 = Ugly (-2)
-1 = Unattractive (-1)
+0 = Average
+1 = Attractive (+1)
+2 = Attractive (+1)
+3 = Handsome/Beautiful (+2/+4)
+4 = Handsome/Beautiful (+2/+4)
+5 = Very Handsome/Beautiful (+2/+6)
+6 = Very Handsome/Beautiful (+2/+6)

In a GURPS Cthulhu campaign Will is sometimes permanently sacrificed to power particularly potent Mythos magic in situtaitons in which CoC POW would be similarly sacrificed, thus incurring a -5 point disadvantage per Will point spent.

All sentient beings are assumed to have Magery (Mythos) 0, a special form of aspected Magery. (If you run an Infinity campaign or something similar wherein characters cross dimensions or into alternate realities and you want to send them to a "Cthulhu World" this should be a 5-point advantage just like other Magery 0, though I would advise that Mythos magic not work in other dimensions. In a dedicated Cthulhu campaign, however, this can just be ignored and considered free, since all sentient beings have it.)

A character with POW 15 or greater may qualify for the Serendipity or 15-point Luck advantages, if you wish to closely mimic the CoC rules. The higher levels of Luck advantage are not consistent with the genre, and should be disallowed.

GURPS Speed and Move should be calculated from GURPS statistics.

CoC Credit Rating is best simulated with various GURPS advantages and disadvantages. Status (possibly via Wealth), Rank of various types, Reputation, Social Stigma, and Social Regard are all appropriate. Try to allow some sort of +1 reaction for every10% above the base Credit Rating score of 15%, even if it is from a small group or with a low likelihood of recognition.

Weirdness Magnet would certainly be appropriate for the college professor who's acquaintances keep asking him for help with problems that turn out to be Mythos related! Tenure also helps. Some tempting but specifically disallowed player-character advantages at character generation include Illuminated, Luck at more than 15-point level, Magic Resistance, Mana Damper, Mana Enhancer, True Faith, and Unfazeable. Personally, I recommend against Xenophilia and against more than one or perhaps two levels of Fearlessness- it simply doesn't fit the genre. The quirk-level version of Xenophilia (Broad-Minded) should be used in its place. Blessed (Mythos) is probably only appropriate for cultists and the insane. Be careful allowing "psychic" abilities such as Channeling, Clairsentience, Medium, Mind-anything, Oracle, Precognition, Psychometry, or Spirit Empathy. If these are allowed they should either be potential or secret player character advantages (B33), or have severe limitations such as uncontrollable, etc.
Most cinematic, supernatural, or exotic advantages and disadvantages that are not applicable to Mythos magic are also not appropriate for the genre, but some of them could conceivably be acquired during play, as side effects to powerful magic for example- but details I leave to individual game masters. Obviously, traits incompatible with being human are not appropriate.

Most CoC skills have a direct counterpart in GURPS, though the name may differ. It is tempting to take the skill percentage and translate them into die rolls per the chart on B171, but don't do it. Most investigators have pitiful success chances with their skills, and the GURPS system of bonuses and penalties is just different enough to cause headaches. Instead, consider any CoC skill known at 50% to be equivalent to knowing the GURPS equivalent at IQ or DX level. For every full 10% above or below 50%, increase or reduce the skill level by one. This is also a handy way to translate bonuses or penalties listed in CoC adventures- every 10% is a bonus or penalty of one.
I encourage players to consider fleshing out their characters with skills that are normally considered relatively useless. You would be surprised how often the ability to sing, dance, play an instrument, or appreciate poetry comes in handy in a CoC campaign! Conoisseur skill is not just fluff in this genre. A dilettante's yachting ability or even his Games skill can also come remarkably in handy. Almost any intellectual discipline may prove useful, from Astronomy to Geology, and Psychology to Archeology or Architecture. Or even Prospecting! You just never know. And of course Research is the sine qua non of GURPS Cthulhu skills.