INSANITY
SHADOW of the
DEMON LORD to
PUNKAPOCALYPTIC:
the RPG
CONVERSION GUIDE
By Robert J. Schwalb
You want to add demons, magic, and monstrous mayhem to
PunkApocalyptic: The Roleplaying Game? Guess what,
degens, now you can! This document shows you how to take
all the cool shit from one game and use it in the other,
whether you’re introducing options into the game or bringing
characters from Shadow into the Wasteland.
ATTRIBUTES
One key difference between Shadow and Punk is that the
former uses four attributes, while the latter uses eight. To
convert attributes, do the following.
• Muscle equals the creature’s Strength.
• Meat equals the creature’s Strength.
• Hands equals the creature’s Agility.
• Feet equals the creature’s Speed.
• Brains equals the creature’s Intellect.
• Eyes equals the creature’s Perception.
• Mouth equals the average of the creature’s
Intellect and Will.
• Guts equals the creature’s Will.
ATTRIBUTE ROLLS
In Punk, attack rolls and challenge rolls are just called
attribute rolls, which have a target number 10 if unopposed
or the score of the attribute used to resist the roll. As well,
boons are called assets, while banes are called
complications.
CHARACTERISTICS
Punk uses some of the same characteristics as Shadow and
adds a couple.
Defense: Recalculate the creature’s Defense using the
rules in Punk.
Health: No change
Healing rate: Discard this mechanic.
Grit: Player characters have grit points. Use the rules in
Punk to determine the character’s grit.
Education: Use the rules in Punk for determining a
character’s Education.
Speed: Recalculate the character’s Speed using the rules
in Punk.
Mutagen: Use the rules in Punk to determine the starting
mutagen.
Missions: The player character’s missions score equals
its group level.
PunkApocalyptic does not use Insanity. However, you can
introduce this rule with a few adjustments. The maximum
amount of Insanity a creature can take equals its Guts score
instead of its Will. When a character gains Insanity, instead
of becoming frightened, the character becomes insane
instead.
ANCESTRIES
Punk uses backgrounds in place of ancestries. Characters
coming from Godless, Shadow of the Demon Lord, or
another World of Shadow do not select a background upon
entering the Wasteland.
HUMAN
Aside from changes described above, human characters are
unchanged. Or, just use the rules in PunkApocalyptic: the
RPG to create a human character.
CHANGELING
Replace all traits gained from the changeling ancestry with
the following.
Attributes: Decrease your Meat by 1 and increase your
Eyes by 1.
Mutagen: You gain 1 Mutagen.
Language: You speak one language of your choice.
Immune: You are immune to the effects of disease.
Iron Vulnerability: You are impaired while you are in
contact with objects made of iron or one of its alloys.
Shadowsight: You see into areas obscured by shadows
as if those areas were lit.
Steal Identity: You can use an action to alter your
appearance to match that of a target living creature you can
see within 5 yards. The target must be about your size and
have a humanoid body of flesh and blood. Your body
changes so you look like the target, though your clothing and
possessions remain unchanged. The effect of Steal Identity
lasts until you use this trait again. If you become
incapacitated or touch an object made from iron, you
immediately revert to your normal appearance.
MISSION 4 BENEFITS
When you complete your fourth mission, you gain the
following benefits. You can learn a spell in place of
Doppelganger’s Advantage.
Health: Increase by 4.
Doppleganger’s Advantage: At any point during your
turn, you can use a reaction to use your Steal Identity trait.
As well, when you use Steal Identity, all attribute rolls you
make against the target of your trait are made with 1 asset
for as long as you have the target’s appearance.
CLOCKWORK
Replace all the traits gained from the clockwork ancestry
with the following.
Attributes: Decrease Muscles by 1, Hands by 1, and
Feet by 1.
Language: You speak one language of your choice.
Immune: You never take damage from poison or venom,
you ignore the effects of disease, hunger, thirst, suffocation,
and sleep deprivation.
Key: You have a key somewhere on your body in a place
you cannot reach. The key is either turning or stopped. While
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the key is turning, you are a creature. If the key is stopped,
you are an object and you use the following statistics in
place of your normal ones.
Your key stops turning when you become incapacitated or
when the total of your attribute roll is 0 or less. If you become
an object from becoming incapacitated, any damage taken in
excess of your Health applies to your object form’s Health.
Mechanical Body: You do not eat, drink, or breathe. You
do not age and you cannot be transformed into an undead
creature. When you rest, you must expend 2 salvage to gain
the benefits of resisting instead of consuming 1 food and 1
water. Your mechanical body makes it impossible for you to
swim, so you sink to the bottom when you are submerged in
liquid.
OBJECT FORM
Defense 5 Health 15 Size unchanged
Speed 0
Muscles 0 Hands 0 Brains — Mouth —
Meat 0 Feet 0 Eyes — Guts —
Object You count as an object. You cannot use actions
or reactions.
Suppressed Afflictions Any afflictions you had when
you became an object become suppressed and have
no effect for as long as you remain an object. Rounds
spend in object form count toward the duration of
those effects.
Failing Magic If you became an object from becoming
incapacitated, the magic binding your soul to your
mechanical body begins to fail. Instead using the
normal rules for incapacitated characters, you roll a d6
at the end of each round and apply the following
results.
6. You arrest the failing magic and
you are no longer incapacitated. You are an object
until another creature uses an action to turn your key.
2–5. You suffer magical failure. If you
get this result three times, your soul escapes your
body and you remain an object forever.
1. You explode into a 1d6-yard radius,
dealing 2d6 damage to everything in the area. A
creature in the area can roll Feet, taking half the
damage on a success.
Wind the Clock A creature that can reach you can use
an action to wind your key. If you are not
incapacitated, your mechanisms resume their normal
functions and transform you into a creature at the end
of the round. If you are incapacitated, roll a d6. If the
number rolled is greater than your grit, you spend 1 grit
and remain incapacitated. Otherwise, you can spend 1
grit and heal damage as a result or simply cease being
incapacitated.
Repair Object Damage A creature can use a tool kit, 1
salvage, and an action to start repairing your object
form. If the creature spends a total of 4 hours working
on your object form, it can roll Brains with 1
complication. On a success, your object form heals
2d6 damage or you regain 1 grit, up to your normal
maximum.
MISSION 4 BENEFITS
When you complete your fourth mission, you gain the
following benefits. You can learn a spell in place of Grind the
Gears.
Health: Increase by 5.
Grind the Gears: You can increase the number of actions
you can use on your turn by one. When you finish your turn,
roll a d6. If you roll an odd number, you become object at the
end of the round.
DWARF
Replace all the traits gained from the dwarf ancestry with the
following.
Attributes: Decrease Feet by 1 and increase your Eyes
by 1.
Language: You speak one language of your choice and
Dwarfish.
Small: Your Size is 1/2 instead of 1.
Darksight: You see into areas obscured by darkness
within 10 yards of you as if those areas were lit. Beyond this
distance you treat darkness as if it was shadows.
Robust Constitution: You take half damage from
poisons, venoms, toxins, and radiation. You make attribute
rolls with 1 boon to avoid or remove the sickened affliction.
Mission 4 Benefits
When you complete your fourth mission, you gain the
following benefits. You can learn a spell in place of Shake It
Off.
Health: Increase by 6.
Grit: Increase by 1.
Shake It Off: Whenever you spend 1 grit, you can also
remove the fatigued, impaired, or sickened affliction from
yourself.
GOBLIN
Replace all the traits gained from the dwarf ancestry with the
following.
Attributes: Decrease Muscle by 2. Increase Hands and
Feet by 1 each. Finally, reduce Guts by 1.
Language: You speak one language of your choice and
Elvish.
Small: Your Size is 1/2 instead of 1.
Immune: You are immune to the effects of disease.
Iron Vulnerability: You are impaired while you are in
contact with objects made of iron or one of its alloys.
Shadowsight: You see into areas obscured by shadows
as if those areas were lit.
Sneaky: You make attribute rolls to hide and sneak with 1
boon.
MISSION 4 BENEFITS
When you complete your fourth mission, you gain the
following benefits. You can learn a spell in place of Spring
Away.
Health: Increase by 4.
Spring Away: When a creature you can see fails a roll to
attack your Defense or Speed, you can use a reaction to
retreat.
ORC
Replace all the traits gained from the dwarf ancestry with the
following.
Attributes: Increase Muscle and Feet by 1 each and
decrease Brains and Guts each by 1.
Mutagen: Gain 1 mutagen.
Language: You speak one language of your choice and
Dark Speech.
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 Shadowsight: You see into areas obscured by shadows
as if those areas were lit.
MISSION 4 BENEFITS
When you complete your fourth mission, you gain the
following benefits. You can learn a spell in place of Rising
Fury.
Health: Increase by 6.
Rising Fury: When you take damage, you make your
next attribute roll to attack before the end of the next round
with 1 boon.
PROFESSIONS
If you’re bringing characters into the Wasteland from
Shadow, you can leave the professions alone and they work
in the way described in that game. Otherwise, don’t worry
about professions as they’re not used in PunkApocalyptic:
The RPG.
THE RULES
The rules from Shadow port well into Punk with little trouble.
But, you’ll need to make a few tweaks.
ATTACK ROLLS AND CHALLENGE
ROLLS
Punk calls these things attribute rolls. The activity attempted
determines the target number. Any rule that affects attack
rolls should be interpreted to affect attribute rolls made to
attack. Similarly, any rule that specifically affects challenge
rolls without attack rolls should apply to attribute rolls not
made to attack.
Anytime a rule specifically calls out an attribute, such as a
Strength attack roll or an Intellect challenge roll, you should
use the Punk attribute that best applies. For example, if you
would make a Strength challenge roll to resist a disease,
you’d roll Meat, since you’re using your overall health and
body to resist the effect.
Whenever a rule calls for a Perception challenge roll, you
make an Eyes roll instead.
BOONS AND BANES
Boons are called assets. Banes are called complications.
They work exactly the same.
AFFLICTIONS
Afflictions work the same way in both games, but some
afflictions are absent, while Punk introduces some others.
Here’s how to convert afflictions from Shadow to Punk.
Asleep: Use the unconscious affliction.
Charmed: A charmed creature sees the source of the
affliction as a trusted friend and ally. The charmed creature
cannot attack the creature that bestowed the affliction.
Compelled: A compelled creature cannot use actions or
move. Instead, during each fast turn, the creature that
bestowed the affliction can force the compelled creature to
move or use an action. The creature that bestowed the
affliction makes all decisions on the compelled creature’s
behalf.
Dazed: Use the confused affliction.
Defenseless: Use the stunned affliction.
Diseased: Use the sickened affliction.
Grabbed: Refer to the grab attack for details.
Poisoned: Use the sickened affliction.
Surprise: See the rules for surprise in the Combat
section.
CORRUPTION
Characters with Corruption scores greater than 0 lose their
Corruption scores and gain an equal number of mutagen.
Any effect that would bestow Corruption bestows mutagen
instead.
Asleep: Use the unconscious affliction.
TRIGGERED ACTIONS
Punk uses reaction instead of triggered action. Anytime a
rule calls for a triggered action, use a reaction instead.
PATHS
Paths from Shadow work with some minor modifications as
described below.
ATTRIBUTES
Generally, paths in Shadow of the Demon Lord let you
increase one or more attributes of your choice. Characters
with expert paths can increase another attribute by 1, while
characters with master paths can increase yet another
attribute by 1. Paths that offer increases to specific attributes
instead increase attributes as follows.
• An increase to Strength either increases Muscle or
Meat by 1.
• An increase to Agility increases Hands.
• An increase to Intellect increases Brains or Mouth.
• An increase to Will increase Guts.
CHARACRERISTICS
Many paths increase characteristic scores. If so, use the
following guidelines.
• Increases to Defense and Health are unchanged.
• Increases to Perception apply to the Eyes
attribute.
• If the path increases Speed, halve the increase
(minimum 1) and apply it to Feet.
• If the path increases Corruption, increase the
character’s Mutagen instead.
LANGUAGES AND PROFESSIONS
Ignore these gains.
MAGIC
Unchanged.
TALENTS
Although many talents work with PunkApocalyptic, some
refer to rules that do not apply. An exhaustive redesign of all
the paths available in Shadow is beyond the scope of this
conversion document, so use the following general rules.
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 HEALING RATE
Any talent that allows a creature to heal damage equal to its
healing rate instead heals damage as if it had spent 1 grit. If
a talent increases the value of healing rate, spending 1 grit
heals an extra 1d6 damage.
TRADITIONS AND SPELLS
You can use the spells presented in Shadow as written,
though adjusting attributes as noted above. Note, that dark
magic traditions cause the caster to gain mutagen in place of
Corruption.
CREATURES
TRAITS
Traits function as described, but you might have to make
other adjustments in accordance with the above guidelines.
WEAPONS
Aside from converting attributes from one system to the
other, the creature’s weapons are the same as its attack
options.
SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
A creature’s special attacks, special actions, and end of the
round entries become its special activities. Again, adjust the
mechanics as needed.

When you use a creature from Shadow in PunkApocalyptic,

make the following adjustments. SAMPLE CREATURES
Here are some examples of converted creatures.
DIFFICULTY
Creatures in Shadow tend to be more powerful than are FOMOR DIFFICULTY 1
creatures in PunkApocalyptic. Use the following table as a Defense 14 Health 10 Size 1 Speed 5
rough guide for determining the Difficulty in Punk for a
Shadow creature. Muscles 10 Hands 12 Brains 8 Mouth 8
Meat 10 Feet 10 Eyes 10 Guts 7
DIFFICULTY Pack Fighting When the fomor attacks a target within
Shadow PunkApocalyptic
the reach of another creature friendly to the fomor that
1 1
has this trait, the fomor makes the roll with 1asset.
5 5
Otherwise, the fomor makes the roll with 1
10 10
25 25 complication.
50 100 Craven A fomor is frightened while within the reach of
100 250 two or more hostile creatures.
250 500 Gear light armor, shield, spear
500 750
WEAPONS
750+ 1,000
Spear (melee or range 10) Roll Hands (+2) to hit
Defense: Success: 1d6 damage.
ATTRIBUTES
Start by converting the base creature’s attributes as follows. BOGGART DIFFICULTY 100
Defense 14 Health 50 Size 2 Speed 6
• Muscles equals the creature’s Strength.
• Meat equals the creature’s Strength. Muscles 16 Hands 11 Brains 8 Mouth 8
• Hands equals the creature’s Agility. Meat 16 Feet 12 Eyes 8 Guts 13
• Feet equals the creature’s Speed.
• Brains equals the creature’s Intellect. Shadowsight The boggart can see into areas obscured
• Eyes equals the creature’s Perception. by shadows as if they were lit.
• Mouth equals the creature’s Intellect. Frightening When a creature that does not have this or
• Guts equals the creature’s Will. the horrifying trait first sees a boggart, it must succeed
on a Guts roll or become frightened for 1d6 rounds.
Then calculate the creature’s Defense, Health, Size, and Once a creature makes this roll, it becomes immune to
Speed. the frightening traits of all boggarts until it completes a
rest.
• Defense equals half the creature’s Feet plus half
the creature’s Eyes. Note, some creature’s in WEAPONS
Shadow have hidden bonuses to Defense Fist (melee) Roll Muscles (+6) with 2 assets to hit
resulting from natural armor or some other source. Defense: Success: 2d6 + 6 damage
To determine if an unarmored creature has this
bonus, simply subject its Agility score from its SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
Defense. You can then apply the difference as a Fists of Fury Use an action to have the boggart make
bonus to the base creature’s Defense. one fist attack against any number of creatures within
• Health is unchanged. its reach.
• Size is unchanged.
• Speed equals half the creature’s Feet.

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SMALL DEMON DIFFICULTY 25 DRAGON DIFFICULTY 750
Defense 19 Health 20 Size 1/2 Speed 9 Defense 25 Health 160 Size 3 Speed 8
Muscles 16 Hands 13 Brains 11 Mouth 11 Muscles 17 Hands 13 Brains 14 Mouth 14
Meat 16 Feet 18 Eyes 13 Guts 15 Meat 17 Feet 16 Eyes 19 Guts 16
Horrifying When a creature that does not have this or Frightening When a creature that does not have this or
the frightening trait first sees the small demon, the the horrifying trait first sees a dragon, it must succeed
creature must succeed on a Guts roll or become on a Guts roll or become frightened for 1d6 rounds.
insane for 6 rounds. Once a creature makes this roll, it becomes immune to
Immune damage from disease, poison, radiation; the frightening traits of all dragons until it completes a
confused, fatigued, frightened, immobilized, insane, rest.
sickened, slowed, stunned Immune damage from fire; charmed, confused,
Spell Defense A demon takes half damage from spells. frightened, stunned, unconscious
If a creature attacks the demon with a spell, the demon Spell Defense A dragon takes half damage from spells.
imposes 1 complication on the roll to attack and the If a creature attacks the dragon with a spell, the
demon makes any rolls to resist the spell with 1 asset. dragon imposes 1 complication on the roll to attack
Demonic Shadows Lit areas out to 1 yard around the and the demon makes any rolls to resist the spell with
demon become shadows. 1 asset.

WEAPONS
Natural Weapon (melee) Roll Muscles (+6) with 2 assets
to hit Defense: Success: 2d6 damage.
SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
Frenzied Attack Use an action to have the demon attack
two different targets within its reach. Make the roll for
each attack with 1 complication.
Void Step Use an action, or a reaction on the demon’s
turn, to have the demon teleport to an open space it
can see within 20 yards. Roll a d6. On a roll of a 1, the
demon loses this special activity for 6 rounds.
WEAPONS
Claw (melee) Roll Muscles (+7) with 3 assets to hit
Defense: Success: 2d6 damage.
Teeth (melee) Roll Muscles (+7) with 3 assets to hit
Defense: Success: 3d6 damage plus 1d6 damage
from fire.
SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
Flurry of Attacks Use an action to have the dragon
attack twice with its claws and once with its teeth.
Spew Fire Use an action to have the dragon spray
flames from its mouth into a 10-yard-loing cone. The
fire deals 4d6 + 5 damage to everything in the area. A
creature in the area must succeed on a Feet roll with 2
complications or take 4d6 + 5 extra damage and catch
fire. Once the dragon uses Spew Fire it must wait 1
round before it can use it again.