(TFT) insanity

["David Michael Grouchy II" <david_michael_grouchy_ii@hotmail.com>]

  [Disclaimer: this post is rather long, sorry if it is a drag on the eyes. 
 Feel free to skip around, or skim over it.  One should still be able to 
pick up the flavor from a couple of sample insanities.  I would also like to 
apologize in advance.  Many of the insanities are poorly defined in game 
terms, even if a little unsettling to read.  I wasn't able to try them all 
out.  Testing insanities on characters was too weird to last very long.  Oh, 
also, sorry for all the funny shaped dice on the random tables.]


  Table A1:  Random Attribute (D6)

    1 St   -2 from strength
    2 Dx   -2 from dexterity
    3 Iq   -2 from inteligence
    4 Ma   -2 from movement allowance
    5 Ep   -2 from experience points
    6      -2 of their three studied talents or spells


  Table Loc1:  Random locations on the humanoid body

    1 Head (D6)
         1 brain, 2 forehead, 3 eyes/ears/nose, 4 mouth, jaw, base of 
skull, 5 neck, 6 collar bones
    2 Left Arm (D6)
         1 shoulder, 2 upper arm, 3 elbow, 4 fore arm, 5 thumb and wrist, 6 
hand and fingers
    3 Left Leg (D6)
         1 buttock, 2 Upper leg, 3 knee, 4 lower leg, 5 anckle, 6 foot
    4 Right Leg (D6)
         1 buttock, 2 Upper leg, 3 knee, 4 lower leg, 5 anckle, 6 foot
    5 Right Arm (D6)
         1 shoulder, 2 upper arm, 3 elbow, 4 fore arm, 5 thumb and wrist, 6 
hand and fingers
    6 Body (D6)
         1 sternum, 2 left chest, 3 right chest, 4 abdomin, 5 waist, 6 
groin


INSANITY

    Condolences are in order for the character who contracts a mental 
disorder.  Because the victim of a psychosis, a neurosis, or other disorder 
suffers from impairment in their capacity to meet the ordinary demands of 
life.  The character suffering from insanity must not only adjust to 
adversity but also pay closer attention to playing the character as 
impaired.  Impairment by insanity may result from a serious distortion in 
their capacity to recognize reality.  Hallucinations and delusions mark a 
distortion of the character's perceptions in many cases.  Mood alteration 
often drastically inhibits character responsiveness to problems.  After the 
character has been diagnosed as insane, as provided for in the "Insanity 
Contraction Table" below, the player must determine what type(s) of insanity 
his character has.  The tables below provide the full scope of mental 
disorders a character might suffer.

    Table  Ins1*:  Insanity Contraction Determination Table (D6)
1    Psychoses- associated with physical disorders (D6)
         1    (go to Ins2-1a)
         2-4  (go to Ins2-1b)
         5    (go to Ins2-1c)
         6    (go to Ins2-1d)
2    Brain Damage- mild, non-incapacitating (go to Ins3-1)
3    Psychoses- associated with mental disorders (go to Ins4-1)
4    Neuroses (go to Ins5-1)
5    Personality disorders (go to Ins6-1)
6    Psychophysiologic disorders (go to Ins7-1)
*  the table lists mental disorders on the same basis as diagnostic 
handbooks, excluding mental retardation (which can be handled by the 
existing Curse spell) and incapacitating brain damage (which is usually 
fatal in the face of mideval medicine anyway.)

    A note about delusions.  Many of the insanities that follow have 
delusional symptoms.  It may be argued that insanity and its misperception 
of reality is delusional, except in those cases where the insanity is caused 
by head injury.  For these two reasons we have included a breif description 
of how a successfuly played delusion should come off.
    Deluded:  The character has a beleif about a person (possibly the 
self), place, or thing that persists in the character's beleifs despite any 
evidence or facts to the contrary.  For instance the most frequent delusion 
in testing was a "Delusion of Reference," which is when a person beleives 
that the things they over hear in other people's conversations are related 
to them personally.  This is escpecially true of violent converstations or 
intentions.  The player is free to choose any delusion for their character 
they wish as long as the delusion is strong enough to match the insanity it 
came with or caused.
    Role playing a delusion is at once difficult and an art form.  The 
beleif in a delusion is not supposed to be self evident to the aflicted.  As 
a result acting out a delusiory beleif should be relatively unpredictable by 
others until a confrontational situation arrises that directly chalenges the 
delusion, like a disproving fact being repeatedly presented to the 
character.  At this point the deluded character will probably betray the 
existance of their delusion by clinging to it.  If the delusion has been 
played well, other characters will both recognize the existance of the 
delusion at that moment, and simultaniously become aware that symptoms of it 
had been manifesting for some time.

    The GM will assign points of depression to characters who fail to play, 
or don't fulfill, their insanity.  The points may only be cured by the 
spending of experience points.

             exp points
Depression    to cure     description
  9          81 * IQ     Suicidal thoughts
  8          64 * IQ     Feelings of helplessness
  7          49 * IQ     Feelings of Dejection
  6          36 * IQ     Change in sleeping habits
  5          25 * IQ     Change in eating habits
  4          16 * IQ     Difficulty concentrating
  3           9 * IQ     Difficulty thinking
  2           4 * IQ     Inactivity
  1           1 * IQ     Sadness


    Table  Ins2-1a:  Senility determination (D6)

1    Presenile demented:  Same as senility, but occuring in middle age.
2-3  Senile:  A loss of mental faculties in conjunction with old age.  Self 
centeredness, difficulty in assimilating new experiences, and childish 
emotionality.
4-5  Senile dementia:  Profound mental deterioration in old age.  Associated 
with loss of memory, judgement, and values (both moral and aesthetic).  If 
caused by organic damage to the brain it may also include confusion, 
irrational ideas, and disturbed emotionality.  This is already handled by 
any failed aging checks that are subtracted from IQ.  The effects may be 
reversed by enough youth potions.


    Table2-1b*:  Alcholism Determination (D8)

1    Delirim Tremens:  violent delirium with tremors and frightening visual 
hallucinations that become more intense in the dark.  Due to excessive and 
prolonged alchol ingestion.  Also known as "d.t.'s"
2    Korsakov's psychosis:  Alcholic memory impairment of an irregular 
nature that affects learning abilities, disorientation, peripheral 
neuropathy (often associated with polyneuritis) and very especially 
confabulation on the part of the patient to cuver up their spotted memory.
3    Other alcoholic hallucinosis:  Manifest threatening or accusatory 
auditory hallucinations, even in relatively clear states of consciousness.
4    Alcoholic paranoia:  Jealousy, fear.
5    Acute Alcoholism:  A syndrom of excessive drinking to the point of 
depressing the higher nevrous centers, leading to stupor (IQ-1), 
incordination (DX-1) and impaired motor functions (MA-2) on a permenant 
basis.  Other transient effects include nausea, dehydration, and other "hang 
over" symptoms.  Depressed higher nervous center compells the alcholic to 
drink again to acheive any kind of excitement.  The cycle continues.  
Blackouts where the drinker diesn't remember periods of time may occure (the 
GM takes the character and plays them for a while.)
6    Alcoholic health deterioration:  Modify the characters Strength by 
placing a permenant -1 next to it.
7    Pathological intoxication:  Lying drunk.
8    Other alcholic psychosis:  GM specified if they know of one, or the GM 
picks one from above.
* presumably a recurring condition due to chronic alcoholism


    Table Ins2-1c:  Intracranial Infective Disorders (D6)

1-2  Paralysis-partial:  Inability to move a body part...  Roll on table 
Loc1 to determine the location affected.
3-4  Syphilitic intracranial infection:  Mental instability caused by 
venereal disease that results in confusion, delirium, and discomfort.
5-6  Encephalitis:  Acute recurring delirium, total stoic impassivity to 
events of high emotional significance, involuntary cumpulsive behavior.


    Table Ins2-1d:  Cerebral disorder psychoses (D4)

1    Cerebral arteriosclerosis:  Effectively like senility.  
Arteriosclerosis is the hardening of arterial walls and resultant loss of 
flexability.  Cerebral means this is happening to a brain artery.
2    Epilepsy:  Formerly known as the "falling sickness" an epileptic attack 
will cause the character to fall prone or supine.  Other symptoms includ 
convulsions, clouded consciousness, dazed reations or deep confusion and 
anxiety  Petit aml is the midler form of epilepsy that occures without 
amnesia.  Grand mal is the more sever form of epilepsy that occures with 
amnesia and/or movemnts of the head, eyes, or extremities.
3    Degenerative disease of the central nervous system:  The nervous sytem 
in vertebrates makes up brain and spinal cord where all seneory inpulses are 
sent to the brain and motor impulses are passed out.  Degenerative diseases 
of the CNS affect the supervision and coordination of the entire nervous 
sytem.  Roll on table Loc1 to find which body part is suffering from limited 
motor function.  Example: nervous spasms in the right foot.
4    Brain Trauma (go to table Ins3-1.)


   Table Ins3-1:  Brain damage dtermination table (D10)

1    Intracranial infection:  See JAB for contraction of infection.  The 
results of a brain infection (area 1,1 on the location table Loc1) are 
confusion, delirium, and discomfort.  Character must roll one extra dice to 
perform any action.  May worsen to +2 dice per action if infection spreads 
(caused by edema to the brain from a JAB).  The worst case scenario is that 
a JAB causes bacterimic shock intracranialy which will kill unless magical 
healing is used, and even then causes a lose of -2 to some random attribute 
(see Random Attribute above) permenantly.
2    System Intoxication*:  Acute by drug, poison or alcohol (go to Ins3-1a)
3    Brain trauma:  From light headedness to Idiocy ( a major mental 
deficiency yeilding 2/3 IQ).  Cuased by mental or emotional stress or by 
physical injury.  Any stress (fatigue points) that exceeds the character's 
St causes brain trauma.  For instance A wizard has a ST of 10, and a total 
fatigue of 8, casts an additional 3 fatigue for a sleep spell.  The result 
is two points of brain trauma because he exceeded his fatigue's governing 
attribute by two.  The trauma gives the character IQ-2.  If the IQ minus 
reaches 2/3'rd of the characters normal IQ they have passed from light 
headedness to idocy.  Brain trauma cuased by excessive stress can be cured 
by sleeping it off.  Physical INJURIES to the head cause brain trauma at the 
following ratios.
         Bruise: CLUB damage of 1-3 points
         Edema:  CLUB damage of 4-7 points
            Concusion: CLUB damage of 5-7 points
         Fracture: CLUB damage of 8+ points
4    Circulatory disturbances:  Poor circulation in the brain, motor 
functions impaired.  Affects dice rolls that rely on dexterity.  Physical 
INJURIES to the head (location 1,1) cause brain trauma at the following 
ratios.
         Capilary bleeding: CUT damage of 1-3 points
         Venous bleeding:  CUT damage of 4-7 points
         Arterial bleeding: CUT damage of 8+ points
5    Epilepsy:  See Epilepsy above on Table Ins2-1d, item 2.
6    Metabolism Disturbances:  Hormonal imbalances that could effect mental, 
particularly sexual outlooks, to a dire extent.  Catabolism is the release 
of energy and consequential breakdown of organs, anabolism is the 
constructive part of matabolism that makes up cells.  The release of 
hormones to control these functions is triggered in the brain.  An imbalance 
will favor one of the two processes.  Roll odd or even.
7    Senility:  Self-centeredness, difficulty in assimilating new 
experiences, and childish emotionality.  If caused by organic damage to the 
breain it may also include confusion, and irrational ideas.
8    Degenerative disease of the central nervous system:  See Degenerative 
disease above on Table Ins2-1d, item 3.
9    Damaged intracranial neoplasm:  Same as Brain Trauma, but after the 
head injury is healed (if it is healed) any internal scaring, or abnormal 
growth of new tissue (tumor) will cause some lesser level of the brain 
trauma to persist on a permenant basis.
10   Other:  Acute or chronic brain syndrom from damage (GM may choose from 
above).
* Again - recurring problems result from chronic use.


    Table Ins3-1a:  System intoxication (D6)

1-2  System intoxication by Drug.  Very Dx-6, mildly Dx-1.
3-4  System intoxication by Poison.  Very Dx-6, mildly Dx-1.
5-6  System intoxication by Alchohol.  Very Dx-6, mildly Dx-1.


    Table Ins4-1:  Mental psychoses (D10)

1-3  Schizophrenia (go to Ins4-1a)
4-6  Major affective disorders (go to Ins4-1b)
7    Paranoid state:  Characteriszed by suspiciousness (-1 reaction to all 
like amulet of skepticism), persecutory trends, or megalomania.
8-10 Psychotic reactions (go to Ins4-1c)


    Table Ins4-1a:  Schizophrenic types (d12).  Marked misinterpretation of 
reality and drastic alterations of idea formation.  Also called dementia 
praecox.

1    Simple:  Apathy, indifference, cold impersonal attitude in 
relationships.
2    Hebephrenic:  Disorganized thinking, silliness, shallowness, 
hypochondria.  If delusions are present in this disorganized form of 
schizophrenia they will lack an underlying theme.
3    Catatonic excited:  Violent motor activity, purposless exitement, along 
with mental symptoms of 'Simple:' above.
4    Catatonic withdrawn:  Stupor, rigidity, mutism, negativism, 
inappropriate or bizarre posturing, and mental symtoms of 'Simple:' above.
5    Paranoid schizoprenia:  Violent, aggressive hostility broght on because 
of persecutory or grandiose delusions or hallucinations, or delusional 
jealousy.
6    Acute schizophrenic episodes:  Occurs infrequently, can be as intense 
as paranoid schizophrenia.
7    Latent:  Symptoms obscured by lack of any history of schizophrenic 
episodes.
8    Residual:  Symptoms show but then disappear after episode.
9    Schizo-affective excited:  Pronounced excitement mixes with 
schizophrenic 'Simple' symptoms.
10   Schizo-affective depresed:  Pronounced depression mixes with 
schizophrenic simple symptoms.
11   Childhood type:  Appears before puberty.
12   Chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia:  Frequently changing between 
symptoms of other schizophrenia.


    Table Ins4-1b:  Major effective disorders (D6)

1-2  Involutional melancholia:  Deep worry, anxiety, agitation, severe 
insomnia.  Characterized by somatic and nihilistic delusions.  A state of 
depresion that occures at nemopause or climacteric.
3-4  Manic-depressive:  Severe mood swings, typically altering between mania 
and depression or psychotic depression.
5-6  Circular manic-depressive:  Both moods surface during the attack.


    Table Ins4-1c:  Psychotic reactions (D6).  A narcissistic neurotic, 
which is the worst of both worlds.  The ability of the psyche to have an 
urge that it knows it shouldn't act out, subjugating the urge to a surrogate 
expression, containing the urge withing the walls of its surrogate 
expression, occasionally cogitating that this is all just an extension of 
one's own will, that the world that made all this necessary is also an 
extension of one's will, that everything else besides this is an extension 
of one's will because one has made everything else the way it is by 
succeeding in restraining the urge, and in the end believing that all of 
this is what makes objective existence possible.  Sort of like feeling the 
world is very very lucky that one hasn't acted out all of one's desires and 
the world owes one a huge dept for all the restraint shown so far.

1-2
    Psychotic Depression:  See the depression chart at the begining of the 
insanity section.  Psychotics have particularly hard to cure depressions 
because in the end analysis they feel responsible for creating the reality, 
or world, that brough on their depression.  Thus they feel they deserve it.  
Once a character has to pay more experience to buy off their depression than 
an entire character point their depression becomes psychotic.  The character 
gets 3D vs. IQ to resist potions, causing them to have no effect.  They will 
refuse to touch any magical device.  And casting a spell on them has to be 
done at 4D vs. Dx (or +1D which ever is less.)
3-4
    Confusion (recurring reactive):  Reread either of the two preceeding 
paragraphs and one should easily be able to pick some point in the reasoning 
to become confused over.  Now role play that bit of confusion as a tenet of 
reality whenever the character is persecuted or uncertain.  Psychotic 
confusion may have memory loss if they don't wish to explain their own 
actions.
5-6
    Psychotic Paranoia:  Suspiciousness, persecutory trends, and 
megalomania.  "Someone out there knows that I am the source of all reality 
and they are out to get me, but I can't admit to anyone that is why they are 
after me or the truth will get out."


    Table Ins5-1:  Neuroses determination (D8).  Neuroses are mental and 
emotional disorders that do not affect speach, and only affect a small part 
of the personality.  A person with a neuroses has a less distorted view of 
reality than a person with a psychosis.  The result of Trying Too Hard no to 
act out some urge, and usually developing a preventive ritual related to 
that urge that grants partial or surrogate satisfaction while acting as a 
perimeter to contain the same urge.  Disturbances vary from physical, 
physiological, or mental disorders.

1    Anxiety:  Abnormal apprehension and overwhelming fear, simultanious 
with doubt concerning the nature of reality or one's ability to cope with 
it.  Physical symptons of an anxiety attack are sweating, cartiac 
disturbance, diarrhea, or vertigo.
2    Hysteria:  Unmanageable fear or emotional excess over disturbances in 
one's psychic, sensory, vasomotor, or visceral functions in the absence of 
any real or natural cuse for them.  One of Freud's three neuroses where the 
urge is perceived to rise through one particular organ of the body which 
mercifully shuts itself down to halt the release of the urge.  The draw back 
is that this can result in psychosomatic paralysis, blindness, etcetera, 
depending on the location affected.
3    Phobia:  Se table Ins5-2.
4    Obsession or compulsion:  Failure to be able to think the obsessive 
thought(s) or do the compulsive act(s), or both, causes anxiety or 
depressive neurosis.  To avoid this a substitute ritualistic obsession which 
is partially satisfying or similar to the original obsession or compulsion.  
One of Freud's three types of neuroses where the surrogate behavior occures 
in great frequency because it has taken the form of a normally publicly 
acceptable behavior which makes indulging in it easy.
5    Depressive neurosis:  . . .
6    Neurasthenia:  Complaints of chronic weakness.
7    Depersonalization syndrom:  Divorcement from reality, self, even body.
8    Hypochodria:  A chronic sufferer of imagined illness or injuries.


    Table Ins5-2:  Phobia determination.  One of Freud's three types of 
neuroses (see the explanation of neurosis on table Ins5-1), where the urge 
being resisted has been banished into something objective that can be 
avoided making the rest of the character's life sort of normal.  In 
classical situations the objective item, place, food, or creature that 
becomes the target of a phobia is in some way associated with an experience 
that was powerfull enough, or frightening enough, to cause the neurotic to 
temporarily forget about their unsavory urge.  This is the same thing as 
saying they were scared straight for a moment.  To face the phobia, actually 
means to face the underlying urge that the character is trying to avoid.  
Couple the natural power of the objective item to cause fear with the 
subjective fear of having one's dark urges exposed, and the resulting 
magnatude of fear is the neurotic phobia.  The item will have the same 
affect on the character just as if it had cast an avert spell on them.


    Table Ins6-1:  Personality Disorders (D20)

1    Paranoia:  Suspiciousness or persecutory trends.
2    Cyclothymic:  Mood fluctiations but with out the psychotic delusions 
typical to a manic depressive.  A cyclothymic is more of an expansive to 
depressive, or an elevated to irratable.
3    Schizoid:  One who is tending toward, or showing signs of schizophrenic 
behaviour but who isn't.
4    Explosive:  Sudden, and typicaly unpredictable, outbursts of emotional 
and/or physical activity that occasionaly surprise even the person they 
happen to.
5    Obsessive:  Failure to be able to think the obsessive through causes 
depression.
6    Hysteric:  A person who exibhits some form of hysteria  (see Neurosis 
Ins5-1).
7    Asthenic:  Debility, or to be debilitated, this is a loss of, or lack 
of, strength.  Character has St-1 for calculating minimum strength to use a 
weapon.
8    Antisocial:  Behavior deviating sharply from the social norm.
9    Passive:  Character will only apply margianl will power, will never 
take the lead, and is usually "conserving energy."
10   Aggressive:  Marked by a forceful energy of enterprising initiative 
which may easily spill over into hostile, injurious, or destructive 
behaviour when faced with frustration.
11   Inadequate:  An individual who is short of aquiring the capacity for 
psychological maturity or effective social adjustment.
12   Compulsive:  Repetative behaviour or act that causes depression in the 
individual when they cannot engage in it.
13-16  Sexual Deviation:  Go to table 6-1a.
17     Alcholism:  Go to table 2-1b.
18-20  Drug dependence:  Go to table 6-1b.


    Table 6-1a:  Sexual Deviations (D8)

1    Homosexuality
2    Fetishism
3    Pedophilia
4    Transvestitism
5    Exhibitionism
6    Voyeurism
7    Sadism
8    Masochism


    Table 6-1b:  Drug addiction types (D8)

1    Opium
2    Morphine synthetics
3    Barbiturates
4    Tranquilizers
5    Cocaine
6    Cannabis sativa
7    Stimulants
8    Hallucinogens


    Table Ins7-1:  Psychophysilogic disorder determination (D8)

1    skin disorder
2    musculoskeletal disorder
3    respiratory
4    cardiovascular
5    gastro-intestinal
6    genito-urinary
7    endocrine disorder

   David Michael Grouchy II

_________________________________________________________________
Get 10MB of e-mail storage! Sign up for Hotmail Extra Storage.  
http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"