GURPS CthulhuPunk, by Cris W. McCubbin is the melding of GURPS Cyberworld with Chaosim’s renowned Call of Cthulhu. The first thing you will notice about CthulhuPunk is the astounding cover by Chris Shy, showing a beefed-up cyberpunk oblivious to the enormous Hound of Tindalos materialising behind him. Chris Shy has outdone himself again, and I must confess to purchasing this book purely on the quality of the cover art (and the book’s title), with no thought as to the contents. I am a long time fan of the cyberpunk genre and R. Talsorian’s Cyberpunk 2020 is my favourite game of the genre. While I don’t own Call of Cthulhu, I have played in numerous games set in the 1890s and I appreciate what H. P. Lovecraft has done for horror.
So, CthulhuPunk was the first step for me into the world of Great Cthulhu.
GURPS CthulhuPunk begins (as most GURPS books do) with an “About GURPS” and the Introduction, which sets out the purpose of the book and how the two genres, Cthulhu horror and a dystopic future-shock can compliment each other. Lovecraft wrote his stories in the Depression (according to the Intro) and the cyberpunk genre is apparently much like it. “Both the historical and fictional era were formed by a recent explosion of technology (telephones and automobiles in the Depression, cyberspace and space stations in cyberpunk), together with the rapid expansion of cutthroat industrial corporations. Both eras were marked by a downtrodden repressed majority, an active, flamboyant organised crime underground and ever-increasing urbanization. Both societies were threatened by the growth of repressive, totalitarian regimes.” So, it seems that Cthulhu and cybepunk mix well. We then get the low down on the licensing agreement between Chaosium and S. J. Games. The agreement was for one near future book only, but if this one does well, then another may be done. After a bio of the author, we move to the main part of the book.
A word regarding the layout. It is done in typical GURPS fashion, with a sidebar for complimentary or additional text or pictures. Information ranging from pregenerated character bios to the nature of the Great Old Ones and a history of the creation of the Mythos are given here, as well as an interesting side note as to the role of race and racism in H. P. Lovecraft’s works.
Chapter One: The Cthulhu Mythos
Here the basics of the Cthulhu Mythos are spelled out. Who and (or?) what Great Cthulhu is explained as well as why it is called the Cthulhu Mythos (instead of the “Nyarlathotep Mythos” for example)- because Cthulhu is the most active on earth- and the low down of the Great Old Ones and the other Mythos creatures is mentioned.
The cosmology of the Mythos is also explained: Earth and humanity is meaningless and powerless when compared to the size, scope and desires of the universe and the creatures that inhabit it. Following that sober reminder that we are a blue speck amongst an infinity of blue specks, we get a detailed look at the divisions of the powers of the Mythos.
Several pages follow of “Blasphemous Tomes”, including that famous text, the Necronomicon and its various editions. Most interesting for me was the “Mythos Gazetteer”. I have to confess to reading a few Brian Lumley novels (the Titus Crow series) about the Mythos and it always confused me that he didn’t explain where anything was. With Lumley as my only guide to the Mythos, the Gazetteer set me straight. Those familiar with Call of Cthulhu will not doubt find this useless (an indeed, most of the entire first chapter. I imagine that it is all in the CoC core book.), but for someone whose only experience of Cthulhu is this book, it does an admirable job of describing all of the main places: The Centre of the Universe and court of Azathoth, R’lyeh (how do you pronounce some of the names?) and the Dreamlands.
Here I’d like to add something of interest to myself. I recently purchased GURPS Cabal, and one of the things that I noticed was that there exists an active Dreamlands within that setting. I previously knew of the Dreamlands of CoC from my Brian Lumley reading, so I wondered if it was the same place (i.e., that Lovecraft (or the other Cthulhu writers) borrowed the occult imagery of the Dreamlands to give to his stories, or whether Cabal got the dreamlands from Lovecraft. Anyway, it presented me the option of amalgamating the two, since I am a big fan of GURPS Cabal and had been toying with the idea of a Cabal/Cyberpunk crossover, or even a Cabal/Cthulhu crossover.
Anyway, back to the review. In that useful sidebar is what would be one of the more useful things regarding a Cyberpunk/CoC crossover: Why haven’t we found all those Mythos places with our technology? A variety of explanations are offered, which are potential plot hooks in themselves.
Finishing Chapter One is a dull timeline, although I was amused to notice my old favourite Conan in there. I know that the writers of the time borrowed and added their ideas with each other, but it was still amusing to imagine Arnold with his oiled nipples running after Cthulhu with a big sword “Ah’ll be bahck!” Heh heh.
Chapter Two: The Cyberpunk World
Most of this chapter is a rundown of GURPS Cyberworld. I must admit that I found this future history most unconvincing. Most of it is purely Cyberworld, and the Cthulhu Mythos was not mentioned much (if at all). I found the acronyms a bit silly, and the fact that some plague or something decimated Australia annoyed the hell out of me (since I am Australian). Another thing that was puzzling was that although the setting is supposed to be Cyberpunk, there is a big long section as to why the technology level isn’t high enough for there to be decent cyberware or internet/cybernet modems. Most of this chapter was completely useless to me, and it will be useless for anyone who already owns GURPS Cyberworld or plans on using another setting for their CthulhuPunk (I plan on using R. Talsorian’s CP2020 setting for example). Despite this, there are a few useful things, such as information as to where the last few remnants of the Mythos could be hiding, a few paragraphs on archaeology and undersea exploration. There are a few interesting ideas presented here that could be used for any Cyberpunk setting.
Chapter Three: Characters
Since I vehemently dislike the GURPS system (but love most of the sourcebooks), I only skimmed this chapter. Nevertheless, I have no doubt that it presents some use for people who plan on using Cyberworld or GURPS for their game. The varying powerlevels of characters is discussed, with the conclusion being: Cthulhu is always bigger, so don’t worry about the Mythos, worry about the “feel” of the campaign.
A whole bunch of mediocre character concepts follows, as well as GURPS rules for the Madness and Insanity checks that are a wonderful part of Call of Cthulhu. The system is rather uninspired, and is based on a pre-existing GURPS system of fright. There seems to be too much rolling and calculation involved, which made the section a rather dull to read. We then get a few new advantages and disadvantages, but none of them appealed to me. The Innsmouth Look was of interest only for an NPC antagonist, and would not be something I’d ever let a player get their hands on. And the Mythos Awareness seems to completely ruin the whole mystique and secretiveness that the Mythos is supposed to have. You aren’t supposed to be able to sense it.
Important skills given include Mythos Lore, which of course sends you mad, and then the rules for magic and psionics. One thing that annoyed me was the literacy section. Why are people in the future supposed to be only semi-literate? The Dream Travel psionic power was particularly interesting for my purposes, and most of the magic section just confirmed my belief that you could easily include the cosmology of GURPS Cabal with CthulhuPunk.
Forbidden Magick gives us the various Summoning/Bind/Contact/Call/Dismiss/Miscellaneous spells that probably come straight from the Call of Cthulhu book. However, more information here is given which would be of use for a first time CthulhuPunk GM with no previous experience. Most of it was not that helpful for me, as I have no intention of letting PCs get their hands on spells that would allow them to contact Tsathoggua for example, or summon and bind a Byakhee.
The chapter rounds out with some fascinating and imaginative “Weird Science”, technology that has been corrupted or influenced by the Old Ones.
Chapter Four : The CthulhuPunk Campaign
Here we get advice on how to run a CthuhuPunk campaign. The Three types of fear are explained, how to deal with cowardly PCs and the nature of a Cthulhu game (it is fundamentally meaningless). Something that I thought was out of place and not that useful was the Splatterpunk section. We can all do splatter and a combat wombat sessions, so why is it taking up space. No new information was given, just “overkill is important”.
One of the big problems with cyberpunk games is bringing together the characters. Kindly, we get various methods to bring the PCs together. Apparently, the pulps that spawned the Mythos didn’t do it because of their original plots, but because of their imaginative and unique flavour and the thrills. We are also given some sample plots, most of which aren’t that original.
Chapter Five: Investigators
A whole bunch of sample characters (which I only glanced at) and some Investigative organisations. I don’t know how many were the creation of McCubbin and how many are in CoC, but the only one that stood out was the Miskatonic Society, which I know is from CoC. What the various governments, corporations, religions and crime organisations know about the Mythos is also detailed, but none of it was all that useful for me, since I don’t plan on using the Cyberworld. Only the religion section was a good read, and only because the Catholic Church inevitably ends up knowing lots about the secrets of the universe.
Chapter Six: Cultists
True Believers, Mad Scientists, Nihilists, Revolutionaries, Rogue Investigators and Inhuman Cults. Each type gets the lowdown on what they are and how they can be evil Cthlhu worshipping cultists, even unintentionally. While I read it, I constantly thought “eh”. None of it leapt from the page at me, screaming “Use me in your game!!!” I thought the Serpent Men (of Saurians… does ever horror/conspiracy game have them?) were pretty cool though. I did think that the Mad Scientist had a few good uses: some particularly nasty piece of cyberware or programming. Having just watched Spy Hard last night, I can now see that a mad scientist as the relative of a PC or important NPC could be just thing… and there are any number of ways that this could be used. The meshing of magic and machine is an interesting one.
Chapter Seven : Mythos Bestiary
The stats of the various monsters and Great Ones of the Mythos. I felt really cheated that Azathoth, the “chief of the outer gods” gets stats. I have much experience with the old gamer adage: “if it has stats, we can kill it!” Numerous times have I given stats to an ubermench NPC or monster, only to find that the PCs somehow killed the bleeder! Anyway, the additional information given with the stats will no doubt prove of use, even if it is only to make up something other than the truth to tell the PCs as they delve deeper into the murky world of the Mythos. The most use these things can be is as giant cosmic batteries for cultists, or something in the background. I can’t really imagine any scenario other than the end of a campaign (for the dramatic scene where the Beast comes through the gate, and the PCs need to put it back) that any of these things would ever be used. Also, the information here can be used to come up with imagery of the cultist’s lairs, or for dream sequences. One of the more amusing parts of Cthulhu’s write-up: “There is no known force which can permanently destroy Cthulhu- even if he is caught at ground zero of an H-bomb explosion, he will reform in 10 to 20 minutes, only he’ll be radioactive.” I had a good laugh at that.
Eventually, the Bestiary gets to the more useful Mythos monsters: the Byakhee, Nightgaunts, Dark Young, Flying Polyps Mi-go and Ghasts. All of these and more get a good write up and enough detail to make really nasty plots from. Just one Nightgaunt or Shoggoth would be meat enough for an entire story.
One thing that got to me (in a bad way) is the GURPS obsession to give detailed and useless stats to everything. Ghouls for example have the Odious Personal Habit: Eat Dead Humans. GURPS categorises everything and gives it a point worth, which gets a bit annoying after awhile. I guess that is a personal bias against GURPS and there are no doubt numerous people who find it useful and a bonus. To me, it is silly.
The final chapter is Chapter Eight: Adventure Seeds. This is just a collection of little starting points for a GM to take and start a game immediately. It also gives an illustration of the types of games that can be run with CthulhuPunk. While most of them are creative, most of them are firmly out of the street genre of Cyberpunk and into the corporate or government side of things. Either you have to belong to the parties involved, or you have to be a member of one of the various Investigative agencies detailed earlier (such as the Miskatonic Society). Most of them could be retrofitted to be more local, or moved up and down on the power scale.
GURPS CthulhuPunk rounds out with conversion mechanics from Call of Cthulhu to GURPS, a bibliography and an ever-useful Index.
Conclusion
I bought GURPS CthulhuPunk expecting nothing. As I said, I only bought the book because of the amazing cover, which can be found here . As it was, the book was a mixed bag for me. It gave me information about the Cthulhu Mythos which I didn’t know. I got some nifty artwork by Dan Smith (of In Nomine fame) and a few neat ideas. On the other hand, several chapters were largely useless for me. The Conversions, the Character and Investigators chapters, as well as the rundown of Cyberworld were useless. For someone who owns neither GURPS Cyberworld nor Call of Cthulhu, then most of the book will be filled with new information. But if you don’t plan on using Cyberworld, and/or already own Call of Cthulhu, then much of the book will be a repeat of previous material.
The art was a mixed bag too. While some of the pictures were great, others were really shoddy and to be honest, Dan Smith’s art began to get too much. Some of his stylistic touches are nice, but when an entire book is filled with them, then you can get an overload. Also, there was a lack of pictures of the critters. I would have liked a picture of the Mi-go and Start-spawn, but there were none (or at least, I didn’t know it if there were).
Despite this, when I sat down to read the book, I did so in an entire session. Normally, I can’t or won’t read a book in one sitting, but certain books have been. BESM was one such, as was Clanbook: Tremere. I am well known among my friends for buying roleplaying books but not reading them. I am a compulsive collector, and many books just go on the shelf and don’t get used or read (such as Maelstrom or Mummy: the Resurrection).
I have to say that although I want to run a CthulhuPunk game, I will do so after I have purchased both Chaosium’s CoC and Pagan’s Delta Green. Too much of the information in CthulhuPunk was not relevant to the type of game I was playing, and as I said, I’m not partial to the GURPS system. I think I would rather get my information regarding the Mythos straight from the horses mouth, and although I realise that I should read H. P. Lovecraft’s books before even attempting such a thing, I need to reread Lord of the Rings before I do that, not to mention my set university reading.
I have noticed in my gamestore that a nice looking leather bound copy of Call of Cthulhu has appeared, and despite the heinous cost of the book, it has to be a part of my collection!
To finish off, CthulhuPunk is a decent attempt to give a complete mix of Cyberpunk and Call of Cthulhu in one book. It didn’t suffer from the normal GURPS problem of “please refer to X supplement for rules on how to do this vital thing that we didn’t include in the book you are holding” etc. It is recommended that Call of Cthulhu be used, but if you own that, I wonder why you need CthulhuPunk, since it really didn’t seem to offer that much extra. Anyway, it was an interesting read and a nice summary or primer for when I finally get the Real Thing.
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