NEW DERIVED STATISTIC
Sanity (SAN) [WILLx10]: This represents the characters
overall grip on reality. It is not necessaily a measure of how
well he can interact with others. Sometimes the craziest people
in real life seem perfectly normal. How often have you seen on
the news when they interview the mass-murderers neighbors and
they say "he was such a nice quiet kid"?
A characters Sanity represents the maximum Permanent Insanity points the player may accrue before becoming irrevocably insane and no longer playable. A characters current unadjusted SAN is also used to determine the characters Breaking Point, which is used to determine how many Temporary Insanity points are needed before the character snaps and acquires a Derangement.
Adjusted Sanity
If a characters WILL has been temporarily supressed or enhanced
for some reason (Stress, magic, drugs, etc) then the Referee keeps
track of the adjusted Sanity based on this score. This "adjusted
Sanity" does not affect the characters Breaking Point but
does affect if the character becomes irrevocably insane at the
end of a gaming session.
The Referee should use common sense and discretion with this of course. If the character is heavily drugged and has been through a lot (high Temporary Insanity and Stress but suppressed WILL) you should allow the player to perform actions that would prevent the character from becoming insane, or apply temporary insanities until the characters WILL returns to normal.
Breaking Point
A characters Breaking Point (BRK) is equal to the characters permanent
Sanity (unadjusted for suppressed WILL) divided by 5, rounding
down.
If a character has more Temporary Insanity points at the end of a session then his BRK then he acquires a Derangement.
Example: John has a WILL of 6, this gives him a Sanity of 60 and a Breaking Point of 12. If he received over 12 Temporary Insanity points in a single game session he would acquire a Derangement.
Derangements
At the end of a game session in which a character acquires a Derangement
the Referee can either assign one he feels appropriate or he may
allow the player to choose his own.
In either case the Derangement essentially "buys off" the Temporary Insanity points. All Derangements have a "price" that represent how many points it removes from the characters Temporary Insanity pool.
In any case it is not possible to "purchase" a Derangement that has a higher cost then the players Temporary Insanity pool.
Example: John has acquired 13 temporary Insanity points over the course of an game session. This brings him over his breaking point of 12 and so he acquires a Derangement. In this case the player is allowed to choose a Derangement he thinks is appropriate. He "buys" a Derangement that costs 6 TI. He reduces his Temporary Insanity pool to 6 and continues on. He could not have bought a Derangement that had a cost of 15 Temporary Insanity.
Still working on possible Derangements. They will probably be bought by Severity and Intensity (i.e. how hard it is to resist and act "normal" and how often it comes into play.
Negative Balance on Temporary Sanity
Since a character may not buy Derangements that have costs over
his current Temporary Sanity pool it should be obvious that a
character may not give himself a "balance" for Temporary
Insanity. If by some wierd situation he possibly go into "negative"
Temporary Insanity the total is reduced to 0 instead.
DIAL:
Permanent Insanity
After buying off Temporary Insanity points with a Derangement
(if necessary) the Referee then converts the characters Temporary
Insanity pool into Permanent Insanity and Stress.
This conversion is done by dividing the characters current
Temporary Insanity by 2, rounding down. This number is applied
both to the characters Permanent Insanity total and as Straight
Stress for the next game session.
Alternately you can adjust this number up or down as a Insanity
Dial. Ranging from a value of 1 (Splatterpunk) to 5 (Heroic)
Irrevocably Insane
"I am not a madman! The blue metal angels told me so!"
If a players Permanent Insanity points ever equal or exceed the characters current adjusted SAN score then the character comes under the control of the GM as an NPC.
Gaining Temporary Insanity Points
This is described under 'Horror Checks'.
Cyberware and Sanity
Depending on the specific campaign cyberware can affects ones
Sanity in different ways or even not at all. One option is listed
below.
Starting Cyberware - Total the characters initial cyberware Humanity Loss and divide it in half, rounding down. The Referee then applies the resulting number as Temporary insanity and determines how many Permanent Insanity points the character has before play starts. He does not get any Stress unless the implants are very recent. In an exception to normal rules the character may spend this starting Permanent Insanity to buy Derangements. The player always chooses these starting derangements.
Future Implants - Cyberware implanted between game sessions is treated as Temporary Insanity points that the character begins the next game session with, on a 1 for 1 basis with Humanity Loss. The character may, at the Referees discretion get counselling and other factors to reduce the Humanity Loss, and hence their starting Temporary Insanity...
Example: John starts play with cybernetics
that cost him 25 HL. This leaves him with 12 Temporary Insanity
points which when divided by the Insanity Dial setting of 2(default)
gives him a starting total of 6 Permanent Insanity.
If he gets a set of Wolvers installed at the end of the game session
(for a cost of 12 HL) then he starts the next session with 12
Temporary Insanity points already built up.
SWITCH:
Acting Crazy
For every 10 points of Permanent Insanity the character gains
he permanently loses a point of PRE as well…This represents
the character becoming weirder and weirder as he detaches from
the norms of human behavior.
HORROR CHECKS
Making Horror Checks
Horror Checks are made against a target Difficulty number using
the characters WILL attribute. You gain a number of Stress or
Temporary Insanity points equal to the number of points you FAILED
the check by. It is up to the GM whether the Horror Check will
merely cause Stress or if it will cause Temporary Insanity.
Note that the GM may decide the character may apply his INT
as a bonus to the rolls, or apply certain skills. The most obvious
example of this is combat related situations, where those who
have combat experience or good training may apply their INT or
Tactics skill as a bonus (trained responses and experience).
Situations
COMBAT
Combat is incredibly stressful! I would suggest everyone read
'Blackhawk Down' as a primer to battle-induced stress and what
happens when soldiers are faced with it.
Under Fire for First Time: 15
Under Light Fire (single shot) : 10
Under Heavy Fire (automatic or heavy weapons): 15
Under Suppressive Fire (heavy weapons, explosives, artillery):
20
Modifiers-
Outnumbered: +5 to base Difficulty
Ambushed (snipers included): +5 to base Difficulty
Tactics skill or INT if trained: - level of skill or attribute
TORTURE
Being tortured is not a nice thing, and can really screw you up
psychologically. Especially if the captors know what they are
doing. The torture need not be physical, in fact physical interrogation
is actually quite inefficient and rarely used except in emergencies
or as a companion to an ongoing mental interrogation.
Light Torture (John Tesh albums, sleep deprivation): 10
Heavy Torture (splinters under the nails, sleep deprivation combined
with drugs): 20
Extreme Torture (breaking toes, electrocution, John Tesh doing
a GWAR impersonation, simsense): 30
Insane Torture (simsense deconstruction, sensory deprivation,
mindwiping): 40+
Modifiers-
Torturers Psychology or Torture skill: +level of Skill
Resist Torture: -level of skill
MORTALITY
Getting shot can make you think about a lot of things, not the
least of which is your mortality. Players generally should only
need to make one check per game session.
Getting Wounded: 15
Mortally Wounded (making Death Saves): 20
Modifiers-
Have been wounded in the past: -5
KILLING
Killing someone is not easy, it requires overriding a lot of mental
blocks even if you have grown up in a violent atmosphere. Even
though players tend to be incredibly callous and ruthless that
does not mean his character is not affected by the slaughter.
The player may not even realize his character is dipping into
madness.
Killing Someone for the First Time: 25
Killing Someone Face-to Face: 20
Killing Someone at a Distance: 15
Modifiers-
Had been attacked or threatened by target: -5
Viewed through optics or enhanced vision: -5 (it's more unreal)
Player can reasonably rationalize his actions: -level of
INT attribute
Target was defenseless: +10
Killing multiple people in one turn: +5
Messy Death (gibs everywhere): +5
If using EMP then ADD the users EMP stat to the difficulty.
DEAD BODIES EVERYWHERE
If the character is stepping over bodies every day just to get
to his car then obviously seeing bodies is not going to faze 'em.
He may not even really notice them after awhile. But seeing our
best friend with his head cut off can shake even the most hardened
heart.
You can also have the characters make a Sanity Check if they see one of their friends killed in front of their eyes (i.e. on a op). Players tend to be nonchalant about their buddies getting blown-away.
Discovering a Corpse: 5
Modifiers-
Mutilated: +5
Of an acquaintance: +5
Of a friend: +10
Of a close friend: +15
Best friend or love: +20
"Seen a million of em!": -10
THINGS THAT SHOULD NOT BE
In a cthulhupunk storyline the players could be facing beasts
that twist ones mind by their mere existance. In a more prosaic
campaign there could still be knowledge that is too much to bear
(finding out you are shizophrenic and that you murdered your own
family).
Minor Unnatural Event (seeing magic in a nonmagic world, John
Tesh concert): 10
Major Unnatural Event (sacrifice, presence of gods): 15
Witnessing torture/mutilation: 10
Modifiers-
Participation in event: +5
Supernatural present: +10
John Tesh or Outer God present: +15
OTHER HORROR CHECKS
Being followed: 10
Minor Disaster (robbery, fire in apartment, car blown up): 15
Major Disaster (riots, war, earthquakes, firestorms, assassination
attempt): 20