Fear and insanity

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jasonmd2020
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Fear and insanity

Post by jasonmd2020 »

Just wondering if there was a rule idea someone has used for BFRPG similar to CoC's infamous Sanity stat. I lean on horror a lot in my scenario writing for fantasy homebrew, and was just wondering what others have used. Do you just use a saving roll, or have you got a more detailed system in place?
"I've...seen things...you people wouldn't believe."
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Solomoriah
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Re: Fear and insanity

Post by Solomoriah »

I have no system.

When I try to run horror, what I dream of is Rosemary's Baby, what I hope for is more like Nightmare on Elm Street, and what I actually get is Scooby Doo.
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SmootRK
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Re: Fear and insanity

Post by SmootRK »

Solomoriah wrote: Sun Dec 09, 2018 9:23 pm I have no system.

When I try to run horror, what I dream of is Rosemary's Baby, what I hope for is more like Nightmare on Elm Street, and what I actually get is Scooby Doo.
Quoted due to truth.... "zoinks"
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Dimirag
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Re: Fear and insanity

Post by Dimirag »

Fear systems can be difficult, one could end up with something to easy or complicated, something that breaks the ambient, etc...

A Saving Throw against Fear and Insanity could be an option.
Then it depends on how fast and dirty you want the effects to be:
-Using Sanity Points will make characters resist longer vs having direct effects based on the ST roll.
Same for fear, you can have Mettle points or go with a Save or Flee system.
Sorry for any misspelling or writing error, I am not a native English speaker
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orobouros
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Re: Fear and insanity

Post by orobouros »

You could make it as complicated as you want. But if you want something simple, give people "fear" HP equal to their regular HP. Allow monsters to do regular or fear damage. For real horror effect, make fear damage a passive effect. Hit zero fear HP and you now have to take some sort of disadvantage. Or have progressive penalties at some levels of fear HP.

Personally I feel "fear" is something that doesn't translate well into table-top rpgs, on account of my preference being for challenging the players, not the characters. It's brought in as a "cause fear" spell or effect which is intentionally very open and for the DM to decide its effects.
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jasonmd2020
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Re: Fear and insanity

Post by jasonmd2020 »

But if you want something simple, give people "fear" HP equal to their regular HP.

Hmm... Possibly using Wisdom instead of constitution for bonuses.
Personally I feel "fear" is something that doesn't translate well into table-top rpgs, on account of my preference being for challenging the players, not the characters.
True. But being afraid, like receiving damage, is involuntary. Having a character receive "fear damage" can give a player an opportunity for some interesting role playing. Unlike regular damage, which just kills a PC.

I think I feel my first supplement submission coming on...
"I've...seen things...you people wouldn't believe."
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