Warthulhu?  Call of Hammer?
(A call of Cthulhu to Warhammer system adaption by David Peterson)
(c9221777@cc.newcastle.edu.au)


This is a slight revision and a polish of a system that I worked out a few years 
ago for converting Call of Cthulhu characters and monsters to Warhammer 
Fantasy Roleplay.  It is far simpler than other such conversion systems that I 
have worked out as both sets of rules use compatible game concepts.  Dungeons 
and Dragons, for example, is not really compatible with anything.

The conversion from Call Of Cthulhu to Warhammer is simple.

Movement
	Divide the Call of Cthulhu Move score by 2.

Weapon Skill
	Use the attack percentage of the most used hand-to-hand weapon or take 
an average.

Ballistic Skill
	Use the attack percentage of the most used missile weapon or take an 
average.

Strength
	Characters and Monsters work to a slightly different scale in 
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.  Thus for characters, divide their strength score 
by 3.5 and round down any fractions.  For monsters, take the square root of the 
strength score and round any fractions up.

Toughness
	Take the Constitution statistic and apply the same method as given for 
Strength.  

Wounds
	Take the Hit Point score and divide by 1.5.

Initiative
	The best thing to base this off would be Dexterity.  For scores within the 
normal 3-18 range, multiply by 3.  Scores from 19-21 become 51 (which is 18x3) 
plus 6 for each point over 18.  For even higher scores, add 1 point for every 
extra point.  Thus a Dex of 25 on some foul cthulhoid beastie would come to an I 
of 79 in Warhammer.

Dexterity
	Use the Dexterity statistic and apply the same method as given for 
Initiative.

Attacks
	This is equal to the number of attacks that a creature possesses.  For a 
character this should almost always be 1.

Leadership
	Take an average of the Intelligence, Cool, Will Power and Fellowship 
scores as calculated below.

Intelligence
	Use the Intelligence statistic and apply the same method as given for 
Initiative.

Cool
	Use the Investigator's remaining Sanity Points as his Cool score.  Insane 
cultists and foul cthulhoid monsters don't spook too easily and should have a 
Cool of 89.  Lesser servitor races and species such as Deep Ones and Sand 
Dwellers should take their Power score and apply the same method as given for 
Initiative to calculate the Cool score.

Will Power
	Use the Power statistic and apply the same method as given for Initiative.

Fellowship
	Social interaction tends to be governed by individual skills in Call of 
Cthulhu.  The nearest thing would be to use the Appearance statistic and apply 
the same method as given for Initiative.

Skills
	If a character has invested at least 20 points in a skill (or doubled the 
default value, whichever is higher) then that may be counted as a skill learned 
for Warhammer.  Some degree of GM judgement is required here.

Weapons
	Axes, swords, clubs etc will do the same amount of damage as their 
Warhammer equivalents.  Unarmed combat will regard merely the creature's 
strength, noting that damage penalties for fighting unarmed apply only to 
Player Characters.

Psychology
	Characters from Call of Cthulhu are bound to have a few mental 
disturbances that will translate quite nicely into the Warhammer world.

I tend to use the system of a failed Fear test earning 1 Insanity Point and a failed 
Terror test earning a d6.  In the following chart, the first column shows the San 
loss caused by a Cthulhu monster; the second column shows the equivalent 
Warhammer psychology; and the third shows the number of Insanity Points 
gained if the test is passed / if the test is failed.

d3-d10		Fear			0/1
d10-d20	Fear 6"+1/Terror	0/d6
d20-d100	Fear 6"+2/Terror	1/d6+2
d100		Fear 12"+3/Terror+20	d3/2d6
		

Example #1

An average Servitor of the Outer Gods is summoned by a Chaos Champion of 
Cthulhu.  Looking at the average scores from the Call of Cthulhu book we get a:

M: 4	WS: 45	BS:0	S: 4	T: 4	W: 12	I: 50	A: 2d3
Dx: 49	Ld:	Int: 52	Cl: 89	WP: 57	Fel: -	Causes Fear 6"+1/Terror

With the table at the beginning of the WFRP bestiary, such a creature could 
then be converted to the Warhammer Battle System.  Note that as characters 
tend to have unusually high S and T scores when compared to their Fantasy 
Battle counterparts, I recommend using WFRP S3-4 := WFB S3; S5-6 := S4, S7+ := S5 
for characters.  Magical and chaotic bonuses should remain constant.  This will 
prevent the evntuality of Giant Slayers picking up giants and throwing them.


Now What?
 
So what is the use of this system?  Imagine your Warhammer players' surprise 
and dismay when they come up against a Shoggoth.  How about Cthulhu as the 
mysterious 6th Chaos Power?  How about Plaguebearers in the 1920s?  Loosely 
run games might have characters moving between worlds with some sort of 
planar travel device or spell.

Another option would be to play a normal Call of Cthulhu game, but using the 
Warhammer mechanics.  We did a similar thing with MERP - we liked the game 
setting but hated the rules system so we used Middle Earth instead of the Old 
World as a game setting.  (Note that I have no problem with the Call of Cthulhu 
rules.)  Similar things could be done to produce a Warhammer Cyber, or a REAL 
Warhammer 40K roleplaying game.  I haven't given much thought to the 
career advances for a Call Of Cthulhu Archaeologist or a Cyberpunk Netrunner 
or a 40K Inquisitor, but it shouldn't be too difficult for anyone willing to put in 
the time.