| LuisCarlos17Fe |
Some horror genres RPGs use systems to record the psychological damage by mental stress, for example the pool of sanity points from "Call of Chulth" but my opinion is the system for madness from "Unknown Armies" is closer to reality.
My idea is madness has got five pillars: violence, reality, helpeness, isolation and remorse. These pillars use a scale 1-20 like the abilities scores. Ordinary people have got 10. A low level is bad, and higher level isn't so bad but neither very good. A higher level means the character is hardened, for example a war veteran used to violence.
A low level of the pillars causes penalty like the abilities scores (-2 by Str 7, for example), and a high value gives a bonus check for some things, but also a penalty for others. For example somebody used to loneliness can suffer penalties for social interactions.
The pillars are:
Violence. Usually warriors and soldiers are hardened, but a high level means losing empathy, like indifference when you read fiction where lots of characters die. A cold heart is closed to the joy and happiness. He could lose advantages caused by inspiration or resolution. Love can causes pain, but we also need something to love, a reason for the sacrifice.
Reality. In a fantasy world with dragons, pokemons-like creatures, undeads and spellcasters this can sound strange, but sometimes we need enough good sense to notice when somebody could be a trick, a magic illusion or an hallucination caused by some poison. "Keep your open mind, but not so open your brain falls out".
Helpeness. The pride precedes the fall, but the other extreme also is bad. Destructive or pathological self-criticism may be so dangerous like blind proud and prepotency. We need to find the right balance between self-criticism and self-esteem/faith in oneself. Both are necessary but too much also can hurt you. Sometimes we need hope or faith to get enough courage to face the challenges. Breaking our dreams may be hard, but also we need what thrills us to live.
Isolation. This is not about living alone as an hermit, but social contacts. Somebody could be a rich merchant, talking for all day about trading and business but he is emotionally alone, he trust nobody, without friends nor love by a family. We need human contact to improve our social skills.
Remorse. We face the consequences caused by our own actions, and sometimes we feel guilty for our mistakes. If you can't feel remorse for the damage cause to other people then you may be a psychopath, or like a zealot, a bad guy trying to do the right by the wrong ways.
In the TTRPG Unknown Armies PCs becoming hardened helps for saving of checks for mental stress, but too high levels isn't very advisable.