Cthulhu in GURPS 4e

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by GodlessRose

I like this. After 1, the penalties equal the median roll, rounded down.

I was thinking at half the maximum sanity lost, but it is almost the same thing.

Originally Posted by GodlessRose

But what about 5d10 (Ubbo-Sathla) or 1d100 (Cthulhu)? If we use the average roll as the fright check penalty, then these would be even harsher than in CthulhuPunk.

Yes, I fully do agree. To be honest, my players never met such creatures... Yet!

But an easy conversion can still be designed here.

Always taking into account the maximum sanity lost, above 1d20 (which gives -10), each full 10 points gives a further -1.

For Ubbo-Sathla, the maximum is 50 (30 above 20), so, it gives -13.
For Cthulhu, the maximum is 100 (80 above 20), so it gives -18.

That is almost like Cthulhupunk, where Cthulhu gives a -15.

[Gollum]

After glancing again at Call of Cthulhu (5th edition, french translation), I think a bit more about this calculation...

It is even more easy to consider that 1d100 gives -20 and that everything between 1d20 and 1d100 (like 5d10) - which is quite rare in Call of Cthulhu - gives -15. Then the complete table would be...

1 point / +0
1d2 / -1
1d4 / -2
1d6 / -3
1d8 / -4
1d10/ -5
1d12/ -6
1d20/ -10
Between 1d20 and 1d100 / -15
1d100/ -20

Note that in Cthulhupunk, Azathot gives a -20 while Cthulhu gives a -15. And yet, in Call of Cthulhu, they do exactly the same thing: 1d10/1d100.

[Max Schreck]

Originally Posted by Gollum

It is even more easy to consider that 1d100 gives -20 and that everything between 1d20 and 1d100 (like 5d10) - which is quite rare in Call of Cthulhu - gives -15. Then the complete table would be...

1 point / +0
1d2 / -1
1d4 / -2
1d6 / -3
1d8 / -4
1d10/ -5
1d12/ -6
1d20/ -10
Between 1d20 and 1d100 / -15
1d100/ -20

Sounds reasonable.
According to the Roleplayer article Cthulhu Lives! Lovecraftian Horror in GURPS, this is the way to go. The article suggests taking the maximum possible SAN loss, divide by two, and apply this number to the Fright Check. SAN loss of 1d100 equals -20 to the Fright Check, just as suggested above. The only difference is that the Roleplayer article didn't have a -15 modifier to Fright Checks.
The Conversions chapter in GURPS Cthulhupunk, pp. 121-123 was based on the Roleplayer article, but didn't have the Mythos Fright Checks.

Max

[GodlessRose]

Originally Posted by Gollum

1 point / +0
1d2 / -1
1d4 / -2
1d6 / -3
1d8 / -4
1d10/ -5
1d12/ -6
1d20/ -10
Between 1d20 and 1d100 / -15
1d100/ -20

Looks good. To further differentiate the Bad Things with a maximum sanity loss above 20, you could give them a penalty of 10 plus one tenth the max roll. So a Son of Yog-Sothoth (3d10) would be -13, and Ubbo-Sathla (5d10) gets -15. And a hypothetical 8d10 (or 4d20) nastiness would get -18.

Though I wonder why they gave the Son of Yog-Sothoth such a high sanity loss. Dr. Armitage and company seemed to hold up quite well when they faced it.

Edit: To be truly universal, this rule should only apply to Bad Things with a maximum sanity loss greater than 24. In case there's an obscure 3d8 nastiness in one of the books.

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by GodlessRose

Looks good. To further differentiate the Bad Things with a maximum sanity loss above 20, you could give them a penalty of 10 plus one tenth the max roll.

Yes. That is a very good idea! Much more easy than the one I posted above. I will adopt it. Thank you very much!

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by Max Schreck

Sounds reasonable.
According to the Roleplayer article Cthulhu Lives! Lovecraftian Horror in GURPS, this is the way to go.

Thank you for this reference. I'm very proud to have found the same rule than one GURPS author!

[capnq]

Originally Posted by GodlessRose

Though I wonder why they gave the Son of Yog-Sothoth such a high sanity loss. Dr. Armitage and company seemed to hold up quite well when they faced it.

OTOH, Curtis Whateley passed out from a fleeting glimpse of SoYS through a telescope.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by capnq

OTOH, Curtis Whateley passed out from a fleeting glimpse of SoYS through a telescope.

Yeah... but those Whateleys weren't the most stable people you could meet :/

[GodlessRose]

One more question. So far, everyone to weigh in on the Mythos/Sanity-Blasting Fright Check mechanic rejects it. Does anyone actually like it?

[gmillerd]

Depends on how the arc of the game is planned, if its bug hunt your likely going to have disposable characters. Not something that works well in GURPS with full blown points due to the time/engergy impact of character creation on players.

I run mythos games pretty exclusively and if the characters know about the horrors and are inteligence and in sync; they likely won't try and crusade again the mythos themselves in a last stand fashion.

If the game is dealing with the cultists and the mad scientists, the sub-races and the artifacts, then your really looking at something akin to maybe a dark-cliffhangers game.

If you plotted a indiana jones movie and made it rated-r, juiced up the naz1 cult angle 500% you might have a good cthulhu arc. And why people need to be rototilled every game is beyond me.