CoC-Style Magic

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Ezra

I'm new to the GURPS system, so I hope this isn't a naïve question, but I'm wondering if the GURPS magic system can accommodate a Call of Cthulhu or Elric magic paradigm. That is, a magic system that is difficult to execute, time consuming, and dangerous (possibility of demonic possession, madness, etc.).

If so, which source books would I need?

In one of my campaigns (The Awakening) I modeled CoC magic using Ritual Path Magic and had each spell cost a certain number of Stability Points (from my Article "Mad as Bones" which is a way to model sanity points from CoC). Specifically, the greater effects multiplier was the number of SP lost from casting the spell. It had other rules too like if a spell brought you into negative SP all sorts of ugly things happened.