NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8939912" data-attributes="member: 6785785">Your question made me think of a game I played not too long ago; Spire: The City Must Fall. I ran a campaign for a little over a year. It includes elements along the lines of what people are talking about. The game has Fallout, which consists of consequences the character takes on after they've accumulated too much Stress. The more Stress, the worse the Fallout can be, from Minor, to Moderate, and finally Severe (usually Severe Fallout results in the end for the character). Here's an example that came up in our game:WEIRD: [Mind] You do something unsettling that bothers normal people – obsessive behaviour, singing to yourself, fulfilling a strange compulsion at inappropriate times. At the earliest opportunity, the GM can declare that your weirdness puts a useful NPC off you (and probably your allies, too). Once this happens, remove this fallout.PERMANENTLY WEIRD: [Mind] As WEIRD, but: it lasts until you get proper treatment, and the GM can trigger it whenever they like. You can suppress the effects of this fallout for a scene by marking D3 stress against Mind.One is a temporary Minor Fallout, the second is an ongoing Moderate Fallout. I include the first because the second, which came up in our game, references it. Both of these can happen when a character takes too much Mind Stress (there are five types, so Fallout varies by Stress type). What I like about this is that for the Minor version, the GM simply evokes it when he wants, and it foils an interaction with an NPC, and then it's gone. Seems like a suitable consequence. For the Moderate version, it lingers, and the GM can evoke it whenever he wants, making things difficult for the character continually. However, the player can suppress it at a cost. They can take 3 Mind Stress to shut it down. Also, they can seek proper treatment to resolve the Ongoing Fallout. It works really well. The mechanics work to help portray the idea that this person has been damaged mentally. It has actual teeth in play and isn't just left for the player to "act crazy" through their portrayal of their character. It gives the GM something to incorporate into ongoing play, but it also gives the player the option to mitigate it. Taking this Fallout, the character took a total turn from what we had seen previously, and the player really leaned into it. The mechanics helped reveal the character, not reinforce the player's conception of the character. I don't think there are many examples of the "permanent mind control" that's being cited as a concern. It's a bit of a boogeyman. But there are mechanics that do work along those lines, and when implemented well, they can really enhance play and deliver a very different experience.</blockquote>

Verification