Low Sanity (test/dev i3.0)
TESTER: Troy Lancaster
Low Sanity Effects
1/29/2010 Email Thread
[Kelly] {covers low sanity effects (loss of AM) and how no one uses it}
[Larry] just cause you insane doesn’t mean you take more time to determine an
action. generally crazy people are more dangerous not less. more than likely you’ll go off half cocked or something.
usually i role play the low stat in any case. bloodlust is just plain crazy as well as berserk.
[Kelly] insane, in many cases, is
psychological. This means a neurosis, psychosis, etc. You could have a SAN of 2 billion and still have these and be clinically insane. Insanity in the mechanics sense means you are not sure who, how, where and why you are. Basically things do not make sense. There are to mechanical SAN effects – distraction – i.e. your brain is mostly
there, fighting to cement its grip on reality, and overwhelmed – that is, your brain can’t cut it on its own any more and you’re just not sure whats real. Even more harsh would be confusion, or the idea of no control, ‘half
cocked’. You got only arbitrary control of your actions at this point. Roleplaying does not cut it for a mechanic like this. Sure it helps, as it does in all cases, but where other attributes impose penalties, SAN should not? We gotta have something. However, something you said did give me an idea (how it may affect bloodlust). With the inclusion in the size facets of skills, why not do the same here? So basically when you hit a 2 SAN, what you get is a -1 on some things? I would say that any resistance to behavioral (WPR?) traits (compulsion, bloodlust, hatred) suffers a -1. I would also say the unstable state negates good luck. Lastly, because you’re not processing things correctly, i would say any bonuses for high PER are lost.
[Troy] I tend to agree with this statement from Larry…I think it more likely someone with low sanity adopts a temporary trait like short fuse, bloodlust, berserk, code of conduct, phobia, nightmares, etc. to represent the change in their personality. I don’t think someone is slower because of low sanity. I think them less predictable, erratic, a bit more chaotic reactions. maybe their more honest, they lie more something but, slowing them down unless gripped be fear or phobia doesn’t seem to make to much sense to me. Like Larry says, Crazy, poor,
homeless, grief stricken people tend to be more dangerous because they feel like they have less to lose. This is a shock to the system in someway and reactions can very drastically. Perhaps Malaise from poor nutrition, lack of appetite, reduce appearance, charisma but, not AM. Maybe one of the effects will impact this anyway but, not as a rule unless dictated by the trait adopted for a time. Psychosis’-Visions, hallucinations, psychopath’s-murderer’s, sociopath’s-lack of empathy, emotion, fore-thought, remorse etc…again all of these can have effects or, impacts on the game. Under-confidence may make someone hesitate their actions if it’s tied into the game and, why the character went insane in the first place. But, when all is said and done, I think giving them a negative Behavioral trait temporarily, as related to the reasons for the alteration, may be a better way of showing or reflecting it in game terms. Just thinking…it’s up to you how you want to reflect it in the game but, I think it more likely to go down this route?
[Kelly] Again, thats all nice, but i don’t see one universal mechanic in there. Crazy does not necessarily make you more dangerous – thats just opinion. Less to lose is just an opinion, its not universal. Crazy can also make you completely harmless. You are still thinking clinical – thats not what this is about, as those rules will take multiple pages and be totally unwieldy (not to mention non-core). I also think a negative behavioral trait is pretty light and very random. I’d say due to the misfiring thought process and sensory process, you’re lucky to
get away with just a check to lose 1 AM. But thats my opinion too.
[Troy] I think just making it a random roll% on a list of possible Behavioral Trait effects is all that it would require. It simple, clean i.e. refer to trait blah, blah, blah for effect and, just choose the ones you think are possible given the effects of a low sanity. That’s up to you which you want to put on a 100%chart (Keeping within the mechanic’s already set). This gives you a randomness factor but, stable mechanic. They could go berserk or become soft-hearted with a code of conduct to avoid killing, like I said, let the dice decide. They may even suffer from multiple effects depending on how severe the loss, multiple losses, a random slot that says re-roll another effect plus the first. How you do this or organize it again is up to you but, I think it quite a simple chart listing traits that apply and, the 100% dice roll to determine which will impact you. You don’t need to explain every trait, just refer them to the list of traits that already exists. No multiple pages, nor unwieldy and, could be core rule if you so choose it as the mechanic is the same 100%and, random as craziness deserves it to be. That’s my opinion…But, you’re the developer and, know what it takes to create a page, graph or, chart in Incarna and, I don’t. I do think it could be that simple and, on 1 page.
[Kelly] More charts, more randomness and still the focus on clinical/bat-shit crazy behavior. I don’t think its clean at all. What you describe is essentially psychosis and neurosis – these are mental diseases. Low sanity <> mental disease and does not mean you are crazy. Has anyone actually read the sanity attribute and insanity effect? Low sanity is going to mean your grip on reality is slight.
[ — (back and forth conversation on merits of different approaches — ]
[Kelly] Its got to actually make sense based on the parameters of mechanics. Again, i would say that no one’s bothered to read them, so i feel that people just sort of firing from the hip. Sanity should be better linked to mental disease for its lower values – i’ll fix that. Lacking in sanity means that your senses are less trusted, and your will and rational thought become subverted. Thats the basics, so given that, how does randomly acquiring a phobia get in there? I never said it was slight – if anything mine is more punishing. The current loss of AM reflects basically a sensory and thought process that is disjointed. It was a brutal and easy way to represent it. Now i see thats probably too brutal, especially given SAN as a dump stat and the impact other stats of the same value have. In trying to give some game balance and use to SAN other than in very specialized circumstances, the impact became too great. I now see this as a chance to unify disease mechanics between physical and mental in some cases as well – i’ll bet i can collapse some of the effects.
[Troy] I mention a Phobia or, other effect due to a loss Sanity based off/related to the way it was lost in the first place. Not as a starting character. I assume one must have learned to deal with whatever happened to them by then. Where your effects would apply. I guess I look at it like Cage gone from Short-Fused to Berserker from the impact of the loss of his family. His father was a warrior, he could rationalize that but, his mother and younger sister, that drove him over the edge. Later, he embraced it but, the shock and the anger was what drove him in that direction. Cause and effect, it doesn’t need to be so random and, you’re right about Disease effects as well…on the severe side of things anyway.
[Kelly] (Given all input) Proposal:
Mild (the SAN of 2) = Unfocused: Any skill bonuses for high PER/RSN/WPR are lost and extended actions (picking a lock, crafting, repair, etc.) automatically take an extra cycle to complete.
Moderate = (-2) Erratic: [as mild +] All skills suffer non-proficiency and a -2 penalty.
Severe = (-4) Unstable: [as moderate +] Victim loses half available AM.
Crippling = (-X) Overwhelmed: [as severe +] Any stressful situation
requires a check against shock, lasting a full hour.
[Charlie] I personally feel that this proposal makes sense. Rather than being something that directly
affects multiple skills, sanity becomes something that is important to have a a decent level as opposed to high. Few will be willing to take the dive in SAN for its pair.