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From:	"Mongoose; bodyguard, vigilante." <EWESSEL@****>
Subject:	Sanity and essence
Date:	Sun, 4 Oct 92 16:42:00 CDT

Message no. 1 This was posted today, october 4.

]We all talk about the "effects" of low essence ... but let's face it, aside
]from the higher targets for healing, there aren't many "effects" at all. I
]am seriously, seriously, considering quantifying a sanity system for low
]essence types...

I think this is a wonderful idea. Please do it, and post your system so we
can all put our two nuyen worth in.

The Mongoose
"See Flash, I'm not that dumb."

From:	Janne P R Jalkanen <jalkanen@*****.HUT.FI>
Subject:	Re: Sanity and essence
Date:	Mon, 5 Oct 92 15:37:04 EET

Message no. 2 > ]We all talk about the "effects" of low essence ... but let's face it,
aside
> ]from the higher targets for healing, there aren't many "effects" at all.
I
> ]am seriously, seriously, considering quantifying a sanity system for low
> ]essence types...
>
> I think this is a wonderful idea. Please do it, and post your system so we
> can all put our two nuyen worth in.

I found this in the net some time ago, and we've been using it ever since
(quite succesfully if I may add...). It really gives a boost to the
role-playing of the character, if the player himself cannot think of
anything special his character is. Enjoy.

P.S. (Sorry, I seem to have lost the header somewhere...)

P.P.S. Ok, ok, it _does_ use a d100 (shudder) but so what?

----clip----

>>>>>[Yo chumm dude's. Here is some goodies fore you to use,
i pick't it up one night running the matrix. My grupe is using
it to get around the problem in a roleplaying manner.....Remember
to credit the creator (Jonathan), and not me.]<<<<<
-Rain (08:32:34/13-03-92:cfa@***.dk)

>>>>>[ Here it commes............enjoy.......................
Here are my house rules for cyberpsychosis... Feel free to comment!
I also use these rules during character creation, it makes life for
street samurai types a lot more interesting.

Loosely based on R. Talsorian's _Cyberpunk_, characters with lots of
cyberware tend to lose their humanity. When receiving any new
cyberware, characters must make an Unresisted Success Test using
their Willpower with a target number of 10 minus the new Essence
score. This roll is for *each* piece of cyberware added. There are
four stages of cyberpsychosis: Mild, Moderate, Severe and Extreme.
Each complete failure on the Success Test causes the character to
progress one more stage, or get a new psychosis. In addition, the
character must also make that Willpower success test whenever going
through severe emotional trauma (something you gotta roleplay,
chummer) or suffering a Deadly wound, including when undergoing
Major Invasive Surgery. (Who said mages were the only ones with
problems?) The target number for these rolls is once again 10 minus
the Essence of the character.

If the character already has a psychosis and fails his roll, roll
1D6. If the roll is 3-6, one of his psychoses (a random one) gets
one stage worse. If it's a 1 or 2, he gets a new psychosis. When a
character gets a new psychosis, roll d100 on the table below.

Roll Name Description
01-15 Rejection of biological life Simply put, the character doesn't
much like people or animals.
16-25 Delusions of immortality At lesser levels, manifests as
something akin to foolhardiness.
26-30 Fantasy Don Quixote, anyone?
31-35 Paranoia Obvious
36-40 Cyberwear? What cyberwear? Character forgets about his cyberwear
occasionally or all the time. Will
even deny that he has it.
41-45 Catatonia Mild catatonia means that it happens
once in awhile. Extreme means
that it happens alot.
46-50 Obsession With something. Pick something
that fits for the character.
51-55 Delusions of infallibility "I don't make mistakes."
56-65 Hyperactivity Character always uses his cyberwear
whenever possible.
66-70 Schizophrenia Obvious
71-80 Phobia Pick one. Some possibilities are
phobias of the Matrix, of tech,
or of magic.
81-90 Delusions of invincibility "Watch me take that autocannon hit
in the chest!"
91-95 Spaced out Character tends to get lost in
abstracts. "How blue the sky
is today."
96-100 Rejection of cyberware Character tries to get rid of
his cyberware, will refuse to
use it.

Characters with Mild psychoses will only exhibit moderate effects,
and only under extreme circumstances. For instance, a mild
schizophrenic may not become schizophrenic until he's captured by
the enemy, and then only for a little while. Moderate psychoses
will take place a little more often, for instance someone who
forgets about his cyberwear won't remember to turn on his
thermographic vision for the first half-hour of nighttime. Severe
psychoses tend to be continuous, but not very public. Someone who's
severely paranoid will have his home be a fortress, be very careful
in public places, and be leery of strangers. When you've got an
Extreme psychosis, you're in trouble. Those with extreme rejection
of biological life will become killing machines, those who have
extreme rejection of cyberware will even cut off limbs to get it
(their cyberware) away from them, etc.

Treatment for Cyberpsychosis
It is possible to recover from cyberpsychosis, however. But first,
the character has to *want* to begin treatment. The character must
make an Unresisted Willpower Success Test, with a target number of 4
for Mild, 6 for Moderate, 8 for Severe and 10 for Extreme. A single
success is all that's needed to begin treatment. Treatment for
cyberpsychosis requires 40 hours times the level of psychosis being
treated (Mild = 1, Moderate = 2, etc) and typically costs 100 nuyen
per hour for professional help. Only one specific psychosis may be
treated at a time. Meetings for treatment must take place at least
once per week, if the character misses a week he has to start over.

At the end of treatment, the character makes another Willpower
Success Test similar to that above. Negative modifiers for family
or friends' support and thoroughly professional help are ok, but
shouldn't exceed -3. As long as the character gets one or more
successes on this roll, his level of psychosis drops down by one.
Successes can be used to reduce time or to make the treatment more
effective. Each block of two successes beyond the first can make
the level of psychosis drop down by one more stage, i.e. getting
three successes is enough to make a Severe psychosis into a Mild
one. Failing the treatment roll means that the character has spent
the money and not gotten any result. He can immediately return to
treatment if he wishes, but if he spends more than a month away he's
going to have to roll again to begin treatment.

jonathan

"Pain. Pain is what makes us human, what keeps us in touch with the flesh.
I no longer feel pain myself. So I hunt the street, find someone, and
give them pain, to remind myself of what it is. It keeps me human."
......................]<<<<<
-Rain (8:45:12/13-03-92:cfa@***.dk)

----end clip----

--
Janne Jalkanen !
jalkanen@*******.hut.fi ! Life is about making the right moves.
-'Good Die!' !

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