I recently picked up C. J. Carella's Witchcraft RPG, because I lovedGURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War and I had heard that Witchcraft was a very similar setting. It looks like Eden Studios is going to support Witchcraft, so the chance to grab new stuff and add it to Voodoo, which is unlikely to get support, was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The conversion to GURPS is very easy, since Unisystem, the game engine used by Witchcraft, is very similar to GURPS. In fact, I'd say that many aspects were borrowed from GURPS. This conversion is intended for converting existing Witchcraft characters to GURPS, not creating them from scratch. At a later date, I will create a full-fledged GURPS Witchcraft.

Point Totals

In Witchcraft, character points are divided into separate pools for Attribute, Qualities, Drawbacks, Skills and Metaphysics. This makes characters more balanced. Also, different character types get different amounts of points in each pool. The character types are Gifted, Lesser Gifted and Mundane. This can be accomplished in GURPS by limiting points spent on Magic and other supernatural abilities to 60 points for the Gifted, 30 points for the Lesser Gifted and to zero points for Mundanes.

Characters in GURPS Witchcraft start with 250 points.

Attributes

Witchcraft uses six primary attributes, which are essentially the standard GURPS attributes, plus Perception and Will.

Attribute Equivalence Table
Witchcraft	GURPS
Strength	ST
Dexterity	DX
Constitution	HT
Intelligence	IQ
Perception	IQ + Alertness
Will	IQ + Strong/Weak Will

Attribute levels are on a -1 to 6 scale for humans, with 2 being average.

Attribute Level Conversion Table
Witchcraft	GURPS
per -1	-2
0	6
1	8
2	10
3	12
4	14
5	16
6	18
per +1	+2

The formula is:

GURPS Attribute = Witchcraft Attribute * 2 + 6

For Perception and Will, compare these attributes to Intelligence. If Perception is greater then Intelligence, add levels of Alertness. Since there is no opposite of Alertness in GURPS, if Perception is less than Intelligence, just ignore it. If Will is greater than Intelligence, then take levels of Strong Will. If Will is less than Intelligence, then take levels of Weak Will. Use the Attribute Level Conversion Table to determine how many levels of Alertness or Strong/Weak Will to take. For example, Johnny has Intelligence 3, Perception 4 and Will 2. Since the equivalent GURPS attribute for Perception 4 is 2 greater than the IQ of 12, Johnny takes Alertness/2. Since the equivalent GURPS Will for a Witchcraft Will of 2 is 10, Johnny takes Weak Will/2.

Witchcraft also uses four secondary attributes that are calculated from the others. These are Life Points, Endurance Points, Speed, and Essence Points. Except for Essence, these are ignored in GURPS. Instead, use the GURPS rules for Hit Points, Fatigue, and Speed. In Witchcraft, Essence is used to cast Magic, and is a separate pool from Fatigue. Either simply copy the Essence Pool value from Witchcraft or use the following formulae to calculate Essence:

Essence = (ST + DX + 3*IQ + HT ± Strong/Weak Will + Alertness - 36) / 2

 

Qualities and Drawbacks

Qualities in Witchcraft are Advantages in GURPS and Drawbacks are Disadvantages. The conversion of these is pretty straightforward one-to-one mappings. Advantages and Disadvantages with no equivalent in Witchcraft can be used with GM approval. Only those Advantages and Disadvantages that are named differently than the Witchcraft equivalent are listed in this table.

Mundane Quality / Drawback Conversion Table
Witchcraft Quality / Drawback	GURPS Advantage / Disadvantage
Acute Senses	Acute Vision, Hearing, Taste/Smell
Impaired Senses	Bad Sight, Hard of Hearing, No Sense of Taste/Smell
Adversary	Enemy
Artistic Talent	Artistic Genius*
Attractiveness	Appearance
Clown	*
Covetousness: Greedy	Greed
Covetousness: Lecherous	Lecherousness
Covetousness: Ambitious	*
Covetousness: Conspicuousness	Gloryhound
Cowardly	Cowardice
Cruel	Sadism
Emotional Problems	various Mental Disadvantages
Fast Reaction Time	Combat Reflexes
Honorable	Code of Honor
Humorless	No Sense of Humor
Lazy	Laziness
Minority	Social Stigma
Multiple Identity	Alternate Identity
Nerves of Steel	Unfazeable
Obsession	Compulsive Behavior
Paranoid	Paranoia
Photographic Memory	Eidetic Memory/1
Physical Disability	various Physical Disadvantages
Reckless	Impulsiveness
Recurring Nightmares	Nightmares
Resources	Wealth
Showoff	Gloryhound
Situational Awareness	Danger Sense
Status	Social Status
Talentless	*
Zealot	Fanaticism

Supernatural Quality / Drawback Conversion Table
Witchcraft Quality / Drawback	GURPS Advantage / Disadvantage
Accursed	Curse
Age	Longevity, Extended Lifespan
Divine Inspiration	Divine Favor
Essence Channeling	Essence Channeling*
Gift	Gift*
Good / Bad Luck	Luck, Unluckiness
Increased Essence Pool	Increased Essence Pool*
Medium with Magical Training	Unusual Background - 10 points *
Old Soul	Racial Memory
Rosicrucian Scholar	Unusual Background - 10 points *

* = New Advantage or Disadvantage

New Advantages

Artistic Genius 15 points

You have a high level of creative genius in a particular area of art. Choose a skill from the Artistic Skills for this advantage to apply to. All skill rolls for that skill have a +3 bonus, and all normal failures become normal successes.

In addition, Artistic Geniuses have strong souls. Add 12 points to the Essence Pool because of the strength of your spirit.

Essence Channeling +5 points/level

You have the ability to use your own Essence to power metaphysical arts. Each level of this advantage allows the character to add one Essence per turn to a use of metaphysics. Without this advantage, a character can still perform Magic, but only long rituals and external sources of Essence can be used.

The Gift 50 points

Your have abilities that few understand. You can see things others can't. This advantage is required to have any other supernatural abilities described in the Metaphysics section. It also gives the character the ability sense the presence of supernatural creatures and the use of magic in their vicinity on successful IQ roll.

Increased Essence Pool 1 point/level

Your soul is stronger than normal. Each level of this advantage adds one point to the character's Essence Pool.

Unusual Background (Medium with Magical Training) 10 points

In general, mediums only have access to Necromancy training and abilities. This advantage is required for mediums to learn Magic or The Sight.

Unusual Background (Rosicrucian Scholar) 10 points

In general, Rosicrucians only have access to Magic training and abilities. This advantage is required for Rosicrucians to learn The Sight or Necromancy.

Skills

As for Qualities and Drawbacks, Skills are translated to GURPS in a very straightforward manner. In fact, most Witchcraft Skills have the same name as their equivalent GURPS Skill. The table below gives only those skills that have different names in each system.

Skill Conversion Table
Witchcraft	GURPS
Beautician	Professional: Beautician
Bureaucracy	Administration
Cheating	Gambling
Computers	Computer Operations
Craft (type)	Craft Skills
Dodge	*
Electronic Surveillance	Electronic Operations: Surveillance
Escapism	Escape
Fine Arts	Artistic Skills
Haggling	Merchant
Hand Weapon	Combat Skills
Humanities	Scientific Skills
Instruction	Teaching
Magic Theory	Thaumatology
Martial Arts	Karate
Medicine	Medical Skills
Myth and Legend	Legend Lore
Notice	*
Occult Knowledge	Occultism
Play Instrument	Instrument
Questioning	Interrogation
Research / Investigation	Research,
Rituals	Rituals and Ceremonies
Sciences	Scientific Skills
Seduction	Sex Appeal
Smooth Talking	Fast Talk
Snares	Survival (type)
Storytelling	Bard
Surveillance	Shadowing
Trance	Autohypnosis
Unconventional Medicine	Esoteric Medical Skills
Veterinary Medicine	Veterinary
Weight Lifting	Lifting

Metaphysics

Witchcraft has four main metaphysical areas of knowledge: Magic, The Sight, Necromancy and Divine Inspiration. These translate loosely into GURPS Improvisational Magic, Psionics, the Necromancy College of Magic and Divine Favor, respectively. Use Witchcraft for exact descriptions of the metaphysical powers.

Access to Metaphysics powers requires the Gifted Advantage. This allows Mundanes to be more powerful characters than the Gifted, since they don't have the mystical abilities that the setting is all about.

All forms of Metaphysics interact with each other, unlike in GURPS. For example, Magical forms of mind control can be resisted with The Sight's Mindrule defense. All Essence costs listed in Witchcraft are used as-is.

These powers are only not well fleshed out in this article. For more information, consult the Witchcraft book.

Magic

Witchcraft's Magic is similar to the magic system presented in Steffan O'Sullivan's Improvisational Magic as the Only Magic (Roleplayer 19: http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/Roleplayer/Roleplayer19/OnlyImprovMagic.html). Replace Spell Colleges with Invocations. Each Witchcraft Invocation is a Mental/Hard skill. All effects within an Invocation are improvised.

The table below shows each Witchcraft Invocation and its area of effect:

Witchcraft Invocation	Game Effect
Affect the Psyche	Emotions of target
Blessing	Luck
Cleansing	Neutralize Negative Energy
Consecration	Create Essence Vessel
Communion	Attune with Area
Elemental Air	Air
Elemental Earth	Earth
Elemental Fire	Fire
Elemental Water	Water
Farsight	Vision at a distance
Gateway	Interdimensional portals
Insight	Perceive Person's Aura
Lesser Curse	Project Negative Essence
Lesser Healing	Healing
Lesser Illusion	Illusions
Shielding	Magical Protection
Soul Projection	Astral Travel
Soulfire	Direct damage
Spirit Mastery	Control of spirits
Symbols of Protection	Protective Items
Warding	Magical Barriers

The Sight

The Sight is easily converted to GURPS Psionics. Each power of The Sight has Strength and Art levels which translate directly into Psionics Power and Skills. The following table shows the translation between them:

The Sight Conversion Table
Witchcraft	GURPS
Mindsight Strength	Telepathy
Mindsight Art	Emotion Sense, Telerecieve, Mind Shield
Mindtalk Strength	Telepathy
Mindtalk Art	Telesend, Mind Shield
Mindrule Strength	Telepathy
Mindrule Art	Suggest, Telecontrol, Mind Shield
Mindhands Strength	Psychokinesis
Mindhands Art	Telekinesis, PK Shield
Mindheal Strength	Healing
Mindheal Art	Healing
Mindfire Strength	Psychokinesis
Mindfire Art	Pyrokinesis, PK Shield
Mindtime Strength	ESP
Mindtime Art	Precognition, Psychometry, Combat Sense
Mindkill Strength	Telepathy
Mindkill Art	Mental Blow, Mental Stab
Mindview Strength	ESP
Mindview Art	Clairvoyance

Mindsight Strength Conversion
Witchcraft	GURPS Power
1	2
2	5-6
3	7-8
4	9-10
5	11-12
6	13-14
+1	+1

Mindhands Strength Conversion
Witchcraft	GURPS Power
1	13
2	14
3-5	15
6	16
7	17
8	18
9-10	19
11+	20

 

Necromancy

Necromancy in Witchcraft consists of a skill and several power areas. The level of the individual power governs what effects can be made. The Necromancy skill governs whether someone is successful is in what is attempted. Necromancy is a Mental/Hard skill. Levels of the Necromantic Powers cost 5 points per level up to level 5 and 10 points per level over level 5. More powerful abilities are available at higher power levels, as described in Witchcraft.

Necromancy Power	Effect
Death Speech	Speak with Spirits
Death Vessel	Spirit Possession
Death Lordship	Command Spirits
Death Mastery	Power of Life and Death

 

Divine Inspiration

This is the power of a god manifested through the Divinely Inspired character. It requires the Divine Favor advantage to give access to Miracles. Miracles can be bought for 10 points each, and their effects are summarized below:

Miracle	Area of Effect
The Binding	Supernatural Restraint
The Touch of Healing	Cure Wounds
Exorcism	Banish Spirits
Divine Sight	True Sight
Holy Fire	Divine Retribution
Strength of Ten	Superhuman Strength
Visions	Divine Guidance