Looking for low-magic D&D world for Cthulhu crossover

[Jürgen Hubert]

I, too , was seriously psyched about Pulp Cthulhu, and sad to see it go. Now that the basic setting books are out, I really don't expect to see too much more in the way of dual-stat Cthulhu stuff. Possibly Delta Green, if it ever comes out...

I'm on the Delta Green Mailing List (the best mailing list I've ever been on!), and from the rumblings there the creators are making progress with the new edition of Delta Green that includes d20 stats. The problem is that Pagan Publishing is an extremely small outfit, and thus have very little money - and therefore it takes a while until they have the money to print it.

I think it is supposed to be out sometime in spring, now.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

In short, I think it sounds to be almost exactly what you're looking for in this case. Of course, that all depends on exactly how much you want to "mod" the setting to make it Cthulhu-esque. Do you just want to tack on Cthulhu and Co. and the associated thematic elements, or do you want to completely redo magic to be like Call of Cthulhu?

I'd leave arcane magic mostly as it is (although I might require some SAN costs for the most powerful spells - and perhaps for creating certain magic items). After all, most arcane magic doesn't rely on the summoning of or contact with otherworldy entities, and thus is relatively "safe".

For divine magic, I'd make the same distinction between "nurturing druids" and "evil druids" as the appendix in Cthulhu d20, with the former being acceptable PCs. I'd make PC clerics into a prestige class with a fairly high Knowledge(religion) prerequisite (a rank of 10?) - with clerics that rare, it will be easier to portray the gods of humanity as weaker as the gods of the Mythos. Cultist clerics, of course, have no such prerequisites...

On the surface, the setting will look like a fairly normal fantasy world, but the elements of the Mythos - monsters, cultists, Great Old Ones and locales - will lurk just out of sight, just like in our world...

 

[Goobermunch]

Or in the alternative, you could simply keep clerical magic and the gods as they are, with the knowledge that their pitiful powers mean nothing once the great old ones turn their attention to your chosen world.

In this scenario, the gods of your world are lesser beings (though immensely powerful) who have taken, for some reason an interest in the beings of your world. The need not be benevolent, just powerful and interested in playing with the mortals of your world.

Then their elders come to the table. As your campaign develops, the existing gods and their followers are swept aside like so much chaff before the unstoppable onslaught of a great old one, who's not so much interested in destroying the world as getting over to beteguise for a good ham sandwich.

This also means you don't have to make any major changes to begin with. As the influence of the Mythos increases, chaos will increase. You can wait until the characters are 4th, 5th, or even 6th level before you ever have to utter the unspeakable words: "Everyone, make a sanity check." If you do it right, the shock from this event should be enough to get them to throw dice at you from across the table.

--G

 

[Desdichado]

I'd leave arcane magic mostly as it is (although I might require some SAN costs for the most powerful spells - and perhaps for creating certain magic items). After all, most arcane magic doesn't rely on the summoning of or contact with otherworldy entities, and thus is relatively "safe".

For divine magic, I'd make the same distinction between "nurturing druids" and "evil druids" as the appendix in Cthulhu d20, with the former being acceptable PCs. I'd make PC clerics into a prestige class with a fairly high Knowledge(religion) prerequisite (a rank of 10?) - with clerics that rare, it will be easier to portray the gods of humanity as weaker as the gods of the Mythos. Cultist clerics, of course, have no such prerequisites...

On the surface, the setting will look like a fairly normal fantasy world, but the elements of the Mythos - monsters, cultists, Great Old Ones and locales - will lurk just out of sight, just like in our world...

In that case, although I probably don't need to reiterate, it sounds like Kalamar fits all of your specs exactly. Much moreso than any other campaign setting I know of, actually. Although Iron Kingdoms is probably a good fit too, although it's got other stuff thrown in as well which isn't probably what you're looking for.

I'd also agree that the "Conan" setting would be good, if it were in print somewhere. Conceptually it fits well, though -- although it's more "weird tales" rather than high fantasy to begin with, so the contrast between the seen and the unseen won't be as stark.

 

[Krieg]

That doesn't make it recognizably D&D. Harn has always had a small fan segment, and is a setting meant to go with it's own custom system, first and foremost.

That is not correct. HarnWorld was released "first & foremost" as a system neutral setting. The Harnmaster rules were not released until several years later. There probably as many folks using HarnWorld with D&D, Rolemaster, Gurps & Runequest as there are those using the various editions of Harnmaster.

Ironically enough I was running a campaign in Harn using the CoC D20 rules for quite some time after it was first released.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I've just thought of an idea how to adapt the Mythos magic system from Cthulhu d20 to D&D:

First of all, anyone can learn any spell if he makes the necessary Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell level). But only those who could cast it ordinarily (wizards, clerics, etc.) can cast the spell safely.

This system requires that you use the Sanity system from CoC d20. Casting a spell without the usual prerequisites costs Sanity:

0-level and 1st level spells: 1
2nd: 1d2
3rd: 1d3
4td: 1d4
5th: 1d6
6th: 1d8
7th: 1d10
8th: 1d12
9th: 1d20

It also does temporary attribute damage:

0-level spells: 0
1st: 2
2nd: 2
3rd: 4
4td: 4
5th: 6
6th: 6
7th: 8
8th: 8
9th: 10

I'd probably link specific spell schools to specific attributes - Enchantment to Charisma, for example...

Casting spells with permanent XP costs also does permanent attribute damage that cannot be recovered through any means.

The "caster level" is always the minimum level ordinarily required to cast the spell, or the spellcaster level if the caster is already a spellcaster (any type).

This nicely empathizes that power in a Mythos universe is easy to get - but there is a terrible price to be paid for it.

What do you think?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

WTF??? it is more recognizably D&D than say the Forgettable Realms. Harn at least was around and available for purchase in the 1edADnD days.

To me, Harn is the gritty fantasy world to end all gritty fantasy worlds. And thus, to me at least, D&D isn't a good fit for it - for D&D is more about larger-than-life heros. Even settings like Ravenloft and Midnight assume that PCs will eventually become far more powerful than normal, everyday folk.

This doesn't detract from the quality of Harn, of course. But if I were to use Harn, I'd use something like GURPS.