Lost Souls & Midian

This isn't necessarily a Midian idea, per se, but rather something that can be added to just about any system. After posting this to the forum, I realised it should probably be a Compendium. It's certainly big enough to merit such.

Let me start with the mandatory disclaimer. Mental illness is a series of serious afflictions, and can prove life altering or even crippling. There's nothing cute, or fun, or funny about suffering from any of these diseases. If your idea of 'crazy' is Daffy Duck, Steve Martin, or that annoying Malkavian whose goal in life seems to be sticking his finger in people's ears, then using any rule for insanity in any game probably isn't for you. It is not mere foolishness. It is not simply socially inappropriate behaviour. For these reasons I didn't include rules for mental health or insanity in the Midian Dark Fantasy Roleplaying Game. That game system has more than enough unsettling elements in it for most people already, and forcing player actions goes against one of the design principles for the Midian DFRPG. Mental illness is a serious issue. On the other hand, these guidelines are not meant to be clinical or scientific treatments taken from the DSM-IV. Hopefully we can all find some level of mature enjoyment somewhere between silliness and medicine.

An Insanity Point is a token that allows the GM, or anybody else (even some jerk just walking by the game table), to force the insane character to perform some act. The person using the token states what the inflicted character does, and the player of that insane character must either roleplay that out, or have the action adjudicated & described by the GM. This must be within the bounds of that insanity. As examples, an obsessive-compulsive person must perform a specific act or seek out some fetish. A phobic must run away (or attack or wet themselves). Someone suffering from hallucinations sees some non-real object or actor. Some one who is delusional adds some new false datum to their worldview.

Insanity Points as presented here are meant as a capstone system. To the best of my knowledge these guidelines should be compatible with the Madness Meter capstone. Since this is an additive instead of ablative system, there's no end point for the characters, no "turn your sheet over" limit--you can continue to play, getting crazier and crazier... The GM (and the player's tolerance for this sort of nonsense) determine the duration and extremes of each episode.

Each stated action must be within the realm of that particular illness, or the victim shrugs it off as a random idle thought, or realises the insane nature of the act & successfully fights against it. It is possible for each point to have its own associated mental illness or action. For example, someone afraid of both open spaces and spiders might freak out when someone puts their hand on her shoulder, thinking it a spider. But it only works on the arachnophobia points; when they're gone she can't go into a large parking lot, but isn't going to go catatonic when she walks into a spiderweb. If individual insanities tied to specific points becomes unwieldy, they can just as readily be used as part of a general pool that can be used against any of a character's mental illnesses.

Depending on the game system a Willpower check, saving throw, or similar could be used as well to fight against the insanity. Just as readily however, the game system might not offer any hope or salvation as even the strongest minds can break.

Insanity Points come in two flavours, permanent and temporary. Temporary points are related to a traumatic experience, and are gone just as soon as they are used. Note that the victim cannot voluntarily use their own points; the action must be initiated by an outside party. That is, you can't burn your own points in a safe manner to avoid racking up too many. Somebody else has to suggest an act of insanity. Permanent points are more deep-seated traumas, and are recovered over time. This can vary by game system: one per hour, 1D6 per game session, get them all back each day, etc. Permanent points are either issued by GM fiat (possibly as a veiled threat for someone who won't roleplay the insanity, or used against a player who tries to abuse this system--"let's see how you like it") or based on the game system. For example, one permanent point is gained everytime a character banks enough temporary points (e.g. traded for 5 or 10 temporary points). This can be either player choice or automatic, depending on the game--strain your brain now & pay for it later with mental health vs. going a bit nuts now to relieve potential emotional stress.

Here's how it would work in play. Jamal's detective is left tied-up in an abandoned building when the arsonists set fire to it. He barely escapes, and the GM assigns the character an Insanity Point due to the overwhelming trauma of being nearly burned alive. Jamal's detective is now a pyromaniac. The experience could have resulted in claustrophobia or some other illness, but the GM likes the dichotomy of someone almost burned to death being fascinated by the flame, and it fit's Jamal's character better as he seems to seek out situations that could be bad for him (in other words, is a pc).

The game they are playing is a hard-boiled crime drama. There is no chance to resist getting an Insanity Point, and no defence against its use. Later in the game Jamal's detective discoveries the hideout of the arsonists, where they store their accelerants. The proper thing to do would be to call the police, but Jamal's roommate calls out (from the couch, he isn't even playing the game), "Why don't you burn them up like they tried to burn you." This is sufficient for the detective's pyromania to flare up. Jamal hands back the red poker chip marking the Insanity Point (or erases the tickmark, or whatever), and sets fire to the hideout, watching it burn...