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Thread:CthulhuinGURPS4e

03292009,05:59AM

#42

GodlessRose

Re:CthulhuinGURPS4e

I'mkindofenthusedattheprospectofrunningCoCwithGURPS,even
thoughwehaven'tplayedyet.(Hadtoreschedulethegamefornext
Friday.)I'vebeenlookingovertherulesandI'vetypedupsomenotes.
Nothingrevolutionaryhere,butIfigureI'llpostthemforanyonewho's
interested.I'llbeusingtherulesinCthulhuLives!,withthefollowing
modifications.Someoftheseideaswereappropriatedfromother
contributorstothisthread,mostnotablyGollum.(Thanks!)

JoinDate:Aug2004
Location:Cincinnati,OH

CharacterCreation:

Startingcharactersare100points.Advantagesarelimitedaccordingto
KeepingItRealbyPaulBlackwellonpg.31ofissue3/21ofPyramid
magazine.[Thisistomakesuspenseeasiertomaintain,whilestill
allowingplayersawiderangeofcharactercreationoptions.Butifyou
don'thavethatissue,don'tworryaboutit.Theimpactisn'tthatlarge.]
TheMythosAwarenessAdvantagefromGURPSCthulhuPunkdoesnot
exist.[Idon'tthinkitfitsthegenre.]TheInnsmouthLookDisadvantage
istrickytowriteupandIdoubtanyonewouldwantit,soI'llignoreit
fornow.

FrightChecks:

WhenmakingaFrightCheck,refertothesanitylossforafailedrollin
theBRPsystem.TheCharacterreceivesapenaltyequalto(maximum
possibledieroll)/2,providedthemaxrollisnomorethan24.Forhigher
rolls,thepenaltyis10+(Maximumpossibledieroll)/10.Ifarollhasa
modifier(e.g.,1d6+1)thendoublethemodifierforthispurpose(so
1d6+1becomes1d6+2).IftheFrightCheckisduetoacorpseorother
mundanecause,however,usethestandardGURPSmodifiersinstead.
TherulesforStress,Derangement,andtherapyfromGURPSHorror,
pg.141146,willbeused.(Andnaturally,GURPSHorrorcontainsislots
ofothergoodmaterialforCoCcampaignsaswell!)Formorerealism,
the"shellshock"optionsonpg.34ofGURPSTacticalShootingwillbe
usedforsomeFrightChecks,especiallythosecausedbymundane
horrors,ratherthanSanityBlastingMythoseffects.[Butnoneofthisis
vital.You'lldofinewithjusttheBasicSet,ifthatisallyouhave.]

CthulhuMythosSkill:

Oddly,HiddenLoreisanaverageskillin4e,eventhoughitseemsto
meetthecriteriaforaveryhardskillonB168.IwilluseTheCthulhu
MythosskillfromCthulhuLives!instead.Thisskilldoesnotdefaultto
Occultism,asinCthulhuPunk,butsomeoccultistsdostumbleupon
Mythosloreandacquiretheskill.
AMythostomeallowsthereadertoincreaseCthulhuMythosskillby
spendingamaximumnumberofcharacterpointsequaltohalfthe
percentageofskillincreaseitgrantsinBRP(rounddown,minimum1).
[Ifweassume99%skillinBRPisequivalenttoaskillofIQ+10in
GURPS,thisworksoutaboutright.]
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WheneveracharacterfailsaFrightCheckfromanencounterwith
Mythosphenomenaandgetsaresultof13orhigher,heisentitledto
spendonecharacterpointonCthulhuMythos.Otherwise,hecannot
increasethisskillwithoutthehelpofatome.

Magic:

SpellsareIQ/Hskills,orVHiftheycostmorethan12magicpoints,and
havenoDefault.TheyfunctionasinBRP,butreadPOWasWill,Magic
PointsasFP+EnergyReserve,and"ResistanceTableroll"as"Quick
Contest".Onacriticalfailurewithasummon/bindspell,thecreature
appears,butisnotbound.

MythosCreatures:

Someexcellentmonsterwriteupscanbefoundhere.

ConvertingcharactersfromBRP:

ThesysteminCthulhuLives!isgoodformonsters,butitlacksdetailfor
humans.HerearesomealternaterulesforconvertingPCsand
importantNPCs.
DonotreduceIQbytwo,asCthulhuLives!recommends.Instead,the
differencebetween10andthelevelofanyAttributeshouldbereduced
byhalf,andtheAttributeshouldthenberoundedtoward10.Thisisto
accountforthefactsthatBRPCharacteristicshavelessimpactonplay
thanGURPSAttributes,andareoftenquitehighorlow.(Ignorethisrule
ifthecharacterhasagoodreasontohaveanextremeAttribute.)
FollowingarevariantoptionsforconvertingAttributesforhumans:
GURPS:BRP
ST:(Str+Siz)/2(Alternately,useStrforST!andSizforHP,ifthe
disparityissmall.)
DX:Dex
IQ:(Int+Edu3)/2
HT:Con(ButnotethatinBRP,"magicpoints"arebasedonPOW.Soto
preservemagicalpower,adjustGURPSFPtoequalBRPPOW,orgive
thecharacterEnergyReservetomakeupthedifference.)
Will:Pow
Per:ThisiscomposedoftheListenandSpotHiddenskills.Youcould
averagethem,orusetheloweroneforPERandaddAcuteSenseto
modeltheother.OrusethehigheroneforPER,andtakea
Disadvantagethatimpairstheothersense.

SkillEquivalents(Or,Further
EvidenceThatIhaveTooMuchFree
Time):
TheskillconversionsysteminCthulhuLives!givesfairlylowscoreson
average(11),andmakesskillshigherthanAttribute+4impossible.
Also,itconvertspercentagesintoscoresofAtt+x,eventhough
Characteristicsdon'taffectskillsinBRP.Thisdoesn'tagreewithme.

InBRP,50%isthelevelatwhichacharactercanmakealivingwithhis
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skill,andhasthemaximumchanceofsucceedingataneasytask.This
isprobablyequivalenttoskill12orbetterinGURPS.Acharacterwith
humanmaximumskillstillfailsoftenindifficultconditions,sonoone
seemstohaveaverymasterfullevelofskillinBRP.So99%should
represent19or,atbest,20.
Therefore,ifwejustusetheProbabilityofSuccesstableonB171
(roundingtothenearestwholenumber),andadd2or3tothescores,
wecangetreasonableskilllevels.IftheBRPskillfallsbetweenthe
listedpercentages,countitasthelowerone.ABRPscoreof99%isone
levelabovethetopscoreonthetable.For100%,assignanyvalueyou
likethisisonlyusedforbeingswithsuperhumanabilities.
IfthelistedlevelofGURPSskillislowerthanthecharacterwouldhave
ifhespent1characterpointonit,orifnoskillpointswerespentonitin
BRP,thenhedoesnothavetheskill.
Hereisthetable,usingthemoregenerous+3modifier.Thisismainly
forPCsandmajorvillains,soIfigurewecancutthemsomeslack:
BRP:GURPS
100%:21+
99%:20
98%:19
95%:18
91%:17
84%:16
74%:15
63%:14
50%:13
38%:12
26%:11
16%:10,orwhatthecharacterwouldhaveifhespent1cpontheskill,
ifthatwouldbeless.
9%:9,oraDabblerPerkforDefault+2,ifthatwouldbeless.
5%orless:Default
Ithoughtaboutmakingaconversionfromthe"HowGoodAmI?"table
onpp.177oftheCoCKeeper'sCompanionI,butIfindithardto
harmonizewiththeCoCcorebook,muchlessGURPS.Still,thattable
andmineseemtobeinthesameballpark,atleastinpart.Itequates
3540%withabachelor'sdegree,4050%withamaster's,and5059%
withamaster'spluspracticalexperience.(AndthenwegotoFantasy
Island,whereaPh.Dhasaminimumof60%rightoutofgradschool,
withnoupperlimit.Whichisthesameasaproathlete.Right...)
IfweignoretheinflatednumbersforaPh.D,Ithinkmytable
correspondsinagenerousbutbelievablemanner,asintended.Ifwe
subtract1fromtheGURPSskilllvlsonmytable,andcutthePh.Ds
downtoamoreplausible5065%,Ithinkthecorrespondenceismore
realistic.
LasteditedbyGodlessRose06152013at01:52AM.Reason:Addedmorelinksand
notes.

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