SkeletonMurderer Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 In the conversion rules for 7th edition Call of Cthulhu they have everything except how to convert NPC sanity. Does anyone have any idea on how to do this? Right now I'm running Mister Corbitt from the Mansions of Madness book and I simply have no idea how crazy my NPCs are. My instinct would say, "Well just have the converted Power be the same as your NPC sanity." Except I know this isn't true because Corbitt himself is a deeply disturbed cultist despite having a high Power rating. This is going to get even more complicated when I run versions of bigger scenarios like Tatters of the King so any help would be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK Nyarlathotep Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Since Sanity is ranked out of 100 in previous editions anyway, I'd say their Sanity is probably their Sanity. So if Corbitt's sanity is 36 in 6e, it's probably 36 in 7e. Make sense? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkeletonMurderer Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 Thanks TK. In that case alot of NPCs from older campaigns have pretty low starting sanity (twenties and thirties). I guess that's the point of the game though in that you're dealing with mostly crazy people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK Nyarlathotep Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Possibly true - if you feel like they might have higher sanity, definitely feel free to boost it up! One of the things I like to emphasize to people is that, unlike more traditional games, Call of Cthulhu never really was "balanced" in the traditional sense - it does not fall apart if you tinker just that little bit too much. It's very elastic! Therefore, more helpful NPCs could and should have higher sanity (maybe an older edition oversight?) while less helpful or antagonistic NPCs could stand to be a little more crazy. *SPOILERS FOR Mister Corbitt* I think Mister Corbitt's seemingly-normal presentation is a symptom of his insanity, not something he does when he isn't feeling insane. Therefore, low sanity is definitely a problem he has. Same with the guy who steals body parts for him whose name escapes me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanessaVR Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I threw out the official CoC rules for Sanity well over a decade ago (I also run games under d20 3.5 rules, not BRP). My replacement system is called “Monster Familiarity”. If you not only survive but triumph against a specific type of monster, say Deep Ones, then you get a +2 bonus to SAN checks every time you face them in the future, up to a maximum of +20. So triumph against Deep Ones ten times, and you’re not likely to go mad from facing them at any point in the future. They might EAT you, but at least they won’t drive you to insanity. Record this on your character sheet as “Monster Familiarity (Deep Ones): +2” For every creature you “max out” at a +20 bonus, you receive a +1 bonus to ALL future SAN checks; this doesn’t stack with the bonuses for specific creatures. So once you’re “quite familiar” with Deep Ones, if you then encounter some Ghouls, you’re starting out with a +1 bonus to not freak out upon seeing them. And if you triumph enough against Ghouls to “max out” your Monster Familiarity bonus for them as well, your general SAN check bonus goes up to +2; this is also up to a maximum of +20. Record this on your character sheet as “Sanity Check Bonus (All): +1” Anyhow, that’s why, even though I own the 7th Edition books, I’ve never even looked at the Sanity section, as I don’t really care what’s in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkeletonMurderer Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 Pretty cool Janessa; I might try this. There's some optional rules in 7th edition you might also like called "Getting Used To The Awfulness" and "Mythos Hardened". It'd go really well with your mod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK Nyarlathotep Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Can't say that's a concept I can get behind, at least if I'm running horror rather than Pulp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanessaVR Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 @TK_Nylarlathotep: The rules for CoC vary in our group depending who the GM is. Two of our GMs run more horror-oriented campaigns, and while the other two of us lean more toward pulp. Or, as I put it, I'm running a Lovecraft Lite campaign, and not a Cosmic Horror Story campaign. So there is no shared world for our group - changing GMs means moving to a different Lovecraftian Earth with new PCs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK Nyarlathotep Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 That clears things up a fair deal! I run my home games as episodic "movies" or as multi-episode "seasons" of a TV show, like American Horror Story or Channel Zero, so they're mostly standalone stories. Good approach! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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