Topic: Madness part deux

[croakerdogboy]

I have been trying to figure out a way to handle insanity in my campaign (converted Game of Thrones). I was stuck to a degree, I have the Gamemaster Companion for RMSS and it handles mental illness as a disease, I have Cyberspace and have some ideas from the CRS stat. But they don't really give the flavor I was wanting. For instance, I don't want a character to go into screaming psychosis over getting cut. But I would like for them to perhaps develop claustrophobia when they are buried in a collapsing building for 10 hours.

I just bought several Spacemaster Datanets and was going through them. I really liked the new radiation rules. Then it occurred to me that in a lot of ways insanity is a lot like radiation exposure. People have so much they can handle before snapping, but there are lots of little cracks that will show in the facade along the way. The idea that psychotherapy, (or in an old world campaign, hacking down the guy that caused you grief) would mitigate some of the accumulated effects (lowering the REM) appeals to me.

I have read that there are insanity rules in Nightmares of Mine, but this is one of the few sourcebooks I don't have. Without stepping on anyone's copyright toes could someone give me a rough idea of how it is handled there?

[vroomfogle]

I just went and looked through Nightmares of Mine because I hadn't remembered any insanity rules in it....and I was right.  There aren't.  It's completely system independent, there are no rules in it for anything.

Now the Mentalism Companion does have rules - it's only about 3 pages.  I have not used them but they seem better then the GM Law rules.  There is a classification of mental disorders, a sanity stat is used to measure one's sanity and it can drop over time through trauma and stress.

Without reading through it again in detail it's pretty much a mechanism for determining when someone develops some sort of neuroses or pychoses.   There are a few guidelines/rules for their impact in game but I think insanity has to mostly be roleplayed.   That being said Mentalism Companion has a decent overview and very simple rules for characters developing and healing types of insanity.

[croakerdogboy]

I just went through and looked at it again. The one thing I don't like about it is that it is handling Sanity as a stat with the roll for success or failure on the mental stability chart. It does define the various mental problems that can arise well, but the mechanics for handling it are not what I am looking for.

I see it as less then a stat, more like mental hp. In the same way you can take a physical wound, you can take a mental wound. Except the resultant effects from a mental wound are a lot harder to heal. That's why I like the lifetime accumulation effect, with actual crit table rolls over a certain level. But then again, that's just what I was thinking.

[croakerdogboy]

No, it doesn't read correctly at all. It's giving all sorts of errors.

[Marc R]

RoCo 3. . . .Depression Criticals, Stress Criticals, and Shock Criticals kind of representing the depressive/passive, manic/stress and sudden shock aspects of mental injury.

[croakerdogboy]

Hmm. That sounds good. Only one problem. The only RM2 stuff I have is Alchemy Companion, RM Arms Law, Character/Campaign Law, Spell Law, and Out Law(hee hee).

And I didn't see it in for sale PDF's.

[Marc R]

It's one of the "Lost" books. . .you can find copies on ebey, or wait and hope for the Guild Companion to get them back in print. . .

I think vroom mentioned all the in print, still for sale options, short of using the mental diseases caused by Evil Mentalists.

[croakerdogboy]

Hmm. Well that's that then, I will have to develop my own. Limited budget and all that precludes me from purchasing it. However, I think that I can come up with something that will suit.

[markc]

 You might also try Powells City of Books, I think I saw one there last time I was at the store.

MDC

[Arioch]

You can find Depression Criticals also here, in the B appendix of SW Master Atlas:

http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item224

A game with a good insanity system IMHO is Unknown Armies, where there are 5 "madness meters", divided by stimulus (Violence, Unnatural, Helplesness, Isolation, Self). Failing a check against one of these stimulus will make you temporary mad (with different reactions based on the situation), while passing the check will make you more reistent to it and more callous.

[Justin]

would it be okay if you developed your own mechanic using the stuff in Mentalist Comp. and treat the stat like hp? Keep track of it's original value and have it go down--so each time you have a tramatic event you don't handle well your temp stat goes down, much like hp. Obviously, leveling wouldn't give you an opportunity to raise it. In fact, maybe you could give the possibility of raising it only on level and when temp=potential(harnessing no mental trauma.)
This is inspiring. I thank you, my players don't.

[dutch206]

"Our house, in the middle of the street...."

[Justin]

"...a fine time, such a happy time."

[croakerdogboy]

would it be okay if you developed your own mechanic using the stuff in Mentalist Comp. and treat the stat like hp? Keep track of it's original value and have it go down--so each time you have a tramatic event you don't handle well your temp stat goes down, much like hp. Obviously, leveling wouldn't give you an opportunity to raise it. In fact, maybe you could give the possibility of raising it only on level and when temp=potential(harnessing no mental trauma.)

Kinda what I was thinking. I would use the stuff in Mentalist Comp, and develop a crit table for insanity. The way I spec it is this.

Sanity is handled like Body Development. Meaning everyone gets points for it. Etc etc. Then you develop your sanity points. Just like hit points. Now, my thoughts on it were that you can use your DP to level it up just the same way as body development. (i.e. Turning from a green scared rookie who loses his cookies at every crime scene, to a hardened veteran who continues to eat his sandwich in the autopsy room). When something extremely traumatic happens, you roll on the sanity loss table, and possibly the sanity crit table. This would treat your emotional and mental health the same way you treat your physical.

In most campaigns a person would more likely have to take physical damage several times compared to how often they had to take mental damage. So mental damage would be a little more difficult to heal. You would still be able to heal unassisted (i.e. developing a mental block, forgetting a lot of the event...etc.) but you would heal much better with a healer. This could even be tied in with spell backlash so that rather then lowering potential stats, you would take mental damage and have the resultant effects.

Hmmm. Now I am going to have to stop what I was doing and work this out while it is fresh on my mind.

[runequester]

I'd just steal the sanity system from Call of Cthulhu. Its not super realistic, but its gameable