D&D 5E Out of the Abyss - Madness! Insanity! What Works/Doesn't? What Was Hilarious/Tragic?

[KahlessNestor]

In an Expeditions adventure, the DM forgot to tell us that walking to the next part of the adventure (rather than taking some Underdark stranger's portal) would take 30 DAYS! And that was 2 madness rolls a day. We made it three days out before we realized this was sucking. I think I kind of ruined the fun, though, since I was a cleric and could keep slapping Remove Curse on people to cure the madness they wanted to play with!

 

[DMCF]

yea, you do know that political correctness can also be called BEING POLITE... two of my friends are brothers, there mother in real life is paranoid schizophrenic... you know what they HATE seeing, people making jokes about paranoids... you know what they wont do though, tell random people (not even all our friends) about the deeply held problem.

One of them walked out of a Vampire game because of how someone was playing paranoid, and the story teller to this day doesn't know why they kid left game mad...

That is the job of the DM. If someone mentions they are uncomfortable then you retcon what is offensive and remove it from the game with an apology.

We had an instance where one player wanted the group to be named the ADHD group because they kept loosing focus on side quests. One firl mentioned it wasnt funny because she had ADHD. I revealed I was on Aderol Lo and behold so was 3/4 the table. Thee original player who was offended exclaimed "So it DOES make sense"! But to avoid any further relation to ADHD i harnessed the power of our combined illness and distracted everyone with an invisible stalker.

 

[zombiecube]

I don't like about half of the DMG options for madness effects. I'm hoping to come up with enough replacements to make this mechanic interesting, fun, and not offensive before I start running my players through OotA, but I'm having a hard time. Suggestions?

 

[Bawylie]

Iserith had a system that treated madness rolls like death saving throws, basically. And on the 3rd, you became insane. I think they took quite some effort to get rid of failed rolls, too.

 

[77IM]

Iserith had a system that treated madness rolls like death saving throws, basically. And on the 3rd, you became insane. I think they took quite some effort to get rid of failed rolls, too.

DO WANT

[MENTION=97077]iserith[/MENTION]...?

 

[iserith]

Iserith had a system that treated madness rolls like death saving throws, basically. And on the 3rd, you became insane. I think they took quite some effort to get rid of failed rolls, too.

DO WANT

[MENTION=97077]iserith[/MENTION]...?

This was for a Ravenloft one-shot. I wrote this prior to the DMG coming out. In play, I didn't use it much, chiefly because I tend to forget about add-ons during play. It takes a while for me to build a habit and the game only lasted a set number of sessions.

House Rule: Horror

When the DM calls for a horror check, make a Wisdom saving throw. If the scene of horror represents some corruption of your established ideal, you make the save with disadvantage. If it somehow plays into your established flaw, you make the save with advantage.

If you succeed on the save, you are not horrified and may act normally. If you fail, mark 1 Horror and you are frightened (see Appendix A: Conditions) until you are removed from the scene of horror for a reasonable amount of time.

Accumulating Horror is dangerous. They are like failed death saving throws, only they cannot be removed except through powerful magic (e.g. greater restoration) or spending downtime seeking treatment in a sanitarium. Upon reaching 3 Horror, you tumble down the rabbit hole of insanity: You can't take actions, can't understand what other creatures say, can't read, and speak only in gibberish. The DM controls your movement and actions as you effectively become an NPC. At your option, you become a villain whose motivations are based on twisted interpretations of your established ideal or flaw. Otherwise, the character is effectively unable to continue adventuring until treated with powerful magic or spending downtime in a sanitarium.

 

[Gnashtooth]

Hilarious? The whole party abusing Stool, 'cause that's what happened.

 

[Bawylie]

This was for a Ravenloft one-shot. I wrote this prior to the DMG coming out. In play, I didn't use it much, chiefly because I tend to forget about add-ons during play. It takes a while for me to build a habit and the game only lasted a set number of sessions.

House Rule: Horror

When the DM calls for a horror check, make a Wisdom saving throw. If the scene of horror represents some corruption of your established ideal, you make the save with disadvantage. If it somehow plays into your established flaw, you make the save with advantage.

If you succeed on the save, you are not horrified and may act normally. If you fail, mark 1 Horror and you are frightened (see Appendix A: Conditions) until you are removed from the scene of horror for a reasonable amount of time.

Accumulating Horror is dangerous. They are like failed death saving throws, only they cannot be removed except through powerful magic (e.g. greater restoration) or spending downtime seeking treatment in a sanitarium. Upon reaching 3 Horror, you tumble down the rabbit hole of insanity: You can't take actions, can't understand what other creatures say, can't read, and speak only in gibberish. The DM controls your movement and actions as you effectively become an NPC. At your option, you become a villain whose motivations are based on twisted interpretations of your established ideal or flaw. Otherwise, the character is effectively unable to continue adventuring until treated with powerful magic or spending downtime in a sanitarium.

There it is. Solid rule, perfect for RL, IMO.

 

[iserith]

There it is. Solid rule, perfect for RL, IMO.

Yeah, I like it because it's simple and it plugs into the existing rules for ideals, flaws, and downtime. It also doesn't specify particular mental illnesses be acted out. It's 2015 and being a bit more careful about these things seems like a good idea.

I think if I were going to use this house rule again, I'd want to offer some kind of benefit to offset the loss of the character or to encourage the player to turn the PC into a villain. So it's like "Damn, I lost my character to insanity, but at least I get X for my next character!" Something that might even encourage the player to just choose to fail that last horror check because it will make for the best drama in that moment.

 

[discosoc]

The insanity thing is one of several major parts of the AP that I think either work very well or not at all, depending entirely on how interested your players are in it. If you have even one player who's just not into the Underdark for an 8 month AP, or doesn't like having mechanical rules tell them how they have to RP their character, it can fall apart very fast. The AP is divisive like that.