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Message: <blockquote data-quote="garrowolf" data-source="post: 5460927" data-attributes="member: 31900">Well after working on it all night I finally decided on this: Sanity Rules Fear and Horror    There is Fear, which is a mostly rational response, and then there is Horror, which is not. Several games have fear checks based on seeing things that are frightening and out of the realm of experience for the characters. However characters are regularly encountering dangerous situations that would frighten most people. So then you end up with a long list of possible triggers to Fright Checks. The problem is that it takes control away from the player and it treats the PCs as NPCs under a morale check. Therefore this system foregos the Fear Check for PCs. That is left up to the Role Playing skills of the Players.     The factor of interest is Horror checks and Sanity Damage. A Horror check is a Fright Check where the encounter has the potential to damage the sanity of the character. Horror checks relate to encounters that damage a person's view of the world around them. It could be the loss of a loved one in an unexpected or horrifying manner.  It could be a personal violation of your mind or body. It could be a threat from something that your mind says can not be.     Sanity Damage is shock to your understanding of the world around you. If you accumulate too much Sanity Damage then it will confuse you and cause you to hallucinate and become delusional. Your perceptions will start to change as you interpret the world in darker and more bizarre ways. You will start to see that everyone is staring at you and they know something. They are all working together to hurt you. You might hear what people say completely differently then others. You might see them do things that others do not. You may even start to see people and creatures that are not even there.     Fortunately the mind has a few defenses against this sort of thing. You have a trait called Composure. As long as your Sanity Damage amount is less than or equal to this value then you will not experience any obvious problems.     It becomes important to find ways to deal with your Sanity damage. You can convert the Sanity Damage into Quirks, Phobias, and Derangements. You can also reduce your sanity damage by facing your fears. If you get some therapy for it then you can heal some of this damage but it partially depends on if those that are helping you believe that you actually encountered these things. Otherwise they could cause further Sanity Damage while they convince you that you are already delusional even if you were not before.Quirk (1 pt) – A Quirk is a strange behavior such as an OCD or habit. Phobia (2 pt) – Your Phobia should be connected to the cause of the sanity damage but related to something in the everyday world. If you were attacked by flying monsters then you may not want to be near an open sky, especially at night. Derangement (3 pt) – A Derangement is a belief that is not rational but that you very strongly believe. It should involve an attempt to rationalize the incidents in some way. You may become obsessed with trying to discover more about them to prove that these monsters are servants of the local girl scout troop. You will be aggressive about trying to prove or defend this belief. You may even take some actions against the targets of your Derangements.     These will cause problems with social encounters equal to their rating (-1, -2, -3) when these come up. They are also possible food for explanations of botches. Players that make good use of their Sanity Damage can earn Social points or Hero points.     If your Sanity Damage goes past your Composure level then it will increase all of your error ranges by that amount and you will have frequent breaks with reality.     Sanity Damage is listed as (DC 15) 2. This means that you roll willpower against a DC 15 to keep your calm but you will still take 2 sanity damage. However for every 5 points over the DC reduces the sanity damage by 1. If you fail in the roll then you freak out right there. This could be fight, flight, or freaking out. If you botch then your mind breaks right there. You will gain an instant Derangement AND your Sanity Damage will go to 1 higher then your Composure (OR gain +2 sanity damage over the listed amount, whichever is higher). Facing Your Fears     If you face the source of your fears, especially if you destroy or defeat it then you can recover your lost sanity. Roll against the same DC as before. On a success then you remove a point of sanity damage. For every 5 points in your margin of success you can remove another point of sanity damage. You can only roll once per successful facing of fears but it will recover as much sanity as you want. You can remove a Quirk, Phobia, Or Derangement for the same price as you purchased them for instead of lowering your Sanity damage by that amount but only if your Sanity Damage is lower then your Composure.</blockquote>

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