Who here has used d20 CoC or Unearthed Arcana sanity variant?

[molonel]

I'm running a d20 Modern Black Ops sort of game, with material I've drawn from the GURPS Black Ops supplement, Delta Green and a dash of CoO. The two campaigns I'm running are at 4th level, and I'm considering adding the sanity mechanics into the game.

Has anyone run those rules? Any break points or suggestions you might make?

I already know I'm not going to use many of the low-level sanity-testing effects. It's kind of hard to justify having the characters make a sanity check for watching a corpse rise from the grave when they've already been on a zombie hunt.

The CoC d20 and the Unearthed Arcana sanity variant rules are almost identical, so for the purposes of discussion, here they are:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/campaigns/sanity.htm

 

[EditorBFG]

I'm running a d20 Modern Black Ops sort of game, with material I've drawn from the GURPS Black Ops supplement, Delta Green and a dash of CoO. The two campaigns I'm running are at 4th level, and I'm considering adding the sanity mechanics into the game.

Has anyone run those rules? Any break points or suggestions you might make?

I already know I'm not going to use many of the low-level sanity-testing effects. It's kind of hard to justify having the characters make a sanity check for watching a corpse rise from the grave when they've already been on a zombie hunt.

The CoC d20 and the Unearthed Arcana sanity variant rules are almost identical, so for the purposes of discussion, here they are:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/campaigns/sanity.htm

To my knowledge, they're fine with d20. I've played d20 CoC, and a CoC/Spycraft hybrid, as well as a lot of CoC, and this system has been around forever, as part of regular Call of Cthulhu. It should work fine-- if it were broken, we would know it by now, I think.

 

[Stormborn]

I already know I'm not going to use many of the low-level sanity-testing effects. It's kind of hard to justify having the characters make a sanity check for watching a corpse rise from the grave when they've already been on a zombie hunt.

I can certainly see this being in true in the kind of game you describe, but in CoC the assumption is this: You NEVER get used to it. The supernatural always has an unhinging effect on the human mind. The d20 CoC book even gives example of events that aren't even supernatural, just unusual, that cause a degree of sanity loss. I think you are justified in saying that mundane things have no effect on a highly trained group of operatives.

For a more heroic game where PCs combat the supernatural with a degree of mental safety I would suggest establishing a kind of DR for sanity. For example, you might say that any sanity loss that is less than 1/2 your current level+Cha mod+Misc. Modifiers has no effect, while sanity loss greater than that number is reduced accordingly. I suggest Charisma as the base stat for this for a couple of reasons. I think its safe to say that Wisdom is equated with perception, and in the case of the mythos the better you percieve something the worse off you are. Same with Intelligence, which represents how much you know. Charisma, OTOH, seems to be a function of personality. I think it could be argued that those with a strong ego/sense of self/strength of personality might be able to better resist the effects of sanity loss due to mythos encounters - or it could be argued that people with strong personalities are already a little bit outside of the norm mentally speaking and thus have some degree of protection. You could add feats that grant a +2 or +3 bonus to this score. The only thing to watch out for is PC spell casters. Depending on the system you use magic may be more effective than intended if it does not result in sanity loss. Given that you are using a hybrid system this might not be an issue, or you may not have PC spell casters at all.

 

[Prest0]

You might consider taking a look at Fear Effects. [Disclaimer: I'm the publisher] It's a sanity system that doesn't require the players to keep track of points. There's a single save DC modified by circumstances. Failure means you roll on a table of outcomes. There's 3 different tables depending on the level of horror-- minor spook, medium shock, or great fright. (Okay, there's a fourth level, but we don't talk about it.) Characters who pass a fear check are hardened against that kind of encounter in the future and don't have to make subsequent checks.

 

[Nebulous]

In my d20 Cthulhu campaign, i've used the Sanity system and the Grim Tales sanity rules for wonderful results. I use the percentage system as detailed in CoC, but when it comes to actually adjudicating Madness Effects and in-game detrimental penalties, i flip over to GT and use that chapter. What i don't use is the Grim Tales Horror Check. It looks like it would work fine, but the CoC Sanity rules are simpler.

 

[molonel]

Thanks for all of your feedback. I have a copy of Grim Tales, so I may look at the effects in that chapter, but I agree, from what I've seen so far the resolution system in CoC d20 is simpler.

You might consider taking a look at Fear Effects. [Disclaimer: I'm the publisher] It's a sanity system that doesn't require the players to keep track of points. There's a single save DC modified by circumstances. Failure means you roll on a table of outcomes. There's 3 different tables depending on the level of horror-- minor spook, medium shock, or great fright. (Okay, there's a fourth level, but we don't talk about it.) Characters who pass a fear check are hardened against that kind of encounter in the future and don't have to make subsequent checks.

It's funny you mention that, because Fear Effects is item #9 in my cart right now at Rpgnow.com.

Again, thanks. The feedback here has been very helpful.

 

[EditorBFG]

I already know I'm not going to use many of the low-level sanity-testing effects. It's kind of hard to justify having the characters make a sanity check for watching a corpse rise from the grave when they've already been on a zombie hunt.

Mike Mearls put some optional rules on his old blog for something called Mental Hardness that may help you represent characters who have seen a lot of sanity-blasting things. Link below:

http://www.mearls.com/cthulhu/coc_sanity.html

 

[The Lost Muse]

My personal variation on this is to use the something similar to the injury rules in the SRD and just have a Sanity Save. (AKA, Charisma check) For special ops, you could probably use a will save to make the saves a little easier to fail.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/injury.htm