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Shadowrun goes Cthulhu

by Stephen Wohlert (stephen.wohlert@GKSS.de)

This article is supposed to tie two of the best roleplaying games I have ever played. I hope to add another dimension of adventure to the Shadowrun world. Some attempt has been taken in the GURPS book Cthulhupunk, but it did not satisfy me, although there are some good ideas in it. So I would like to give you my own view and some Rules that you might apply.

First of all you have to find a Chtulhu Now! adventure or campaign that suits your taste and even more important your group of characters. Some adventures are based on a scientific background of at least one character. So you might find it useful to add an NPC to your ongoing campaign to prepare the adventure. Also you will have to change names of organisations and convert them into companies or pervert their goals or motivation. It is quite a lot of work, but I think it worth the time.

Rules

The following rules apply only to the first edition of the Shadowrun rules, but it should be easy to convert them. Since I have only limited access to SR Sourcebooks my discussion is far from complete.

I refer to the Basic Rules of course, and the Grimoire (1st Ed.). It is also useful to own a copy of the Cthulhu basic rules, but not essential.

Common notes on Cthulhu magic

This is for all you GM who are punished with players who think themselves as scientists, or rationalists of some kind.

Cthulhu magic is different from ‘normal’ magic. It happens in yet another space which is not accessible for shamans or hermetic mages. It is not even accessible for any other living being except mythos creatures ( do they live in our sense of the word ?? ), though they seldom use it. Some arch villains may use it to escape miraculously.

PCs can not trace spells back to the caster. But Initiates can ask questions about a spell or the caster if they know it or him by going on an astral quest. It is enough if the character saw somebody casting the spell, or read about it in a mythos tome.

That is to say, that the metaplanes are some kind of above Cthulhu space. Metaplanes are the mother of all (if there are more) magical universes.

For you scientists again, both astral and Cthulhu space are twodimensional, and perpendicular to each other. By that you notice effects of one space in the other but can’t switch to or see the other. Sounds complicated but if you (the ‘scientists’) think about it, it becomes quite clear.

The metaspace encloses all the other spaces and thus becomes at least threedimensional.

People who are able to cast Cthulhu spells, appear mundane in astral space and the spells themselves do not appear in astral space. Exceptions to this rule are the Great Old Ones. They twist and turn astral space because of their immense powers. Whether they are from the metaplanes I do not know, and no one who knows lives to tell it. Anyway, in the immediate surrounding of a Great Old One astral space blurs and seems to turn into itself and the mage experiences the sensation of being sucked into an endless void full of horror. Magicians might easily get lost in this maelstrom of magic. The influence of a Great Old One radiates about 5 km starting out with a mild breeze in astral space toward the place where the Great Old One hovers. This breeze grows stronger with every 100 m you approach him. At a distance of about 1 km it has grown to a storm that blows the astral being towards the center (Willpower 5 to resist and escape). By then astral space itself is beginning to twist. Casting a spell in this area also requires a willpower test with a target number of 6. This twisting comes with the sensation of being dragged toward the center. At a distance of 100 m to the Great Old One the character is doomed. If you don’t like killing characters, which I understand, apply a last chance willpower test by a target number equal to the magic attribute of the Great Old One ( from 12 to ?). If the character fails he still might come out of it, if you want, but should suffer from some madness or an other dire consequense.

If the Great Old One is not fully awake divide the distances by 10 and lower the target numbers as you think appropiate.

This is tough, but who said you should mess with the big C and his kin?

Basic Rules

First of all, players divide their Karma in two categories: Good Karma and instant Karma. These two are used in the same way as in the basic rules. Good Karma is for raising Attributes and Skills while instant karma serves as an emergency brake in case of need and as a sanity points replacement. If characters already have earned karma, treat it as good karma, because the amount of instant karma will be assigned by a die roll. From now on gained Karma points must be assigned to either category and cannot be shifted afterwards.

The start value of instant karma and its maximum for the character to reach is (Both values should be carefully noted):

(1W6 + 3 + Modifiers) x 10

min=1, max=100

Modifiers:

Willpower

Essence

-1

-2

<-6

-4

Serious allergy against sunlight: -1

Because of the factor 10 all costs for the use of instant karma must also be multiplied by ten.

Characters suffer from sanity losses in the same way they do in Cthulhu Rules. And of course they go insane when they drop to zero or below. This insanity comes in a lot of differeent shapes and does not mean a character has to be replaced by another. It is a sick world after all, isn’t it?

Just be creative.

To convert Cthulhu stats in SR stats, simply divide the original values by 3, since 18 should be a maximum, or by 3.33 if you allow 20 as a maximum. (Beware this may weaken an opponent, or aide considerably). Most attributes convert directly.

STR

Strength

CON

Body

DEX

Quickness/Reaction

APP

Charisma

POW

Magic

INT

Intelligence

(POW + EDU)/2

Willpower

Skills are best assigned individually, leaving out skills below 25% except Cthulhu Mythos.

A rule of thumb is to simply divide the original values by 15 (mathematically not correct but easier to calculate). But again raise or lower results as they suit you without changing the intention of the figure in the adventure as it is supposed to be. This is very easily done with a bit of practice (one short adventure should do).

Converting spells is more difficult since they are mostly to be newly created. To estimate the drain and staging follow the rules of creating new spells in the Grimoire or your own reasoning ( some times the better advice). You can spare a lot of work if you leave out spells that opponents will not use anyway. The sanity loss for casting a spell is the same as is given in the stats of the original spell. A loss of a Power point can be tackled in two different ways. First lower the magic attribute, if the character has one by one, or make him lose an additional ten points of instant karma/sanity per power point lost and lower the maximum of instant karma by the same number of points.

If called for a sanity roll apply a Willpower test with an appropiate target Number. Following are some guidelines I use. Make them differ for individual characters.

Discover a corpse by surprise: 3
Discover a severly humiliated corpse by surprise: 5
Seeing a mythos creature on film, photo or trivid: 4 - 8 depending on its nature.
Seeing a mythos creature in real life: 6 -10 depending on its nature and intentions.
Seeing a Great Old One: at least 12.

Then deduct sanitiy as called for in the adventure depending on the outcome of the roll. If more than 8 points are lost at a time, consider the possibility of a mental disease or phobia that fits the situation. These diseases don’t last that long and can be treated by a psychiatrist.

To reflect the experiences your characters make with the mythos, you can either use the percentage system from the Cthulhu system or convert it into SR by introducing a new skill: Mythos Knowledge. This skill has no place in the skillweb and cannot be raised by good karma. It can only be raised by experiencing the mythos and at the discretion of the GM. I recommend that one character preferably:

A mage, 2. A shaman, 3. Any elven character. Should have a statring value of 1. Target numbers of tests are always greater than 10. Even for the most ‘common’ things. You can either ignore fumbles or use them to scare the xxxx out of your characters / players. This should be easy, for from what I experienced, players tend to overreact when confronted with the mythos (Very funny thing).

That’s all for now. I use these rules from time to time to keep my players honest. I feature a Cthulhu adventure every now and then and they’ve always been fun.

I recommend trying: Dreams Dark and Deadly, The Killer Out Of Space and the campaign At Your Door.

If you have suggestions, or questios about this article contact the owner of this page to get my temporary e-mail address.

Thank you and keep watching the skies!