Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

[Viper3220]

So I have a character who has recurring nightmares (I saw this somewhere a while ago and if not I like the idea) now what exactly happens the day after you have a recurring nightmare? It's a disadvantage, so something bad has got to happen. What do you all think?

[Edsel]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

Perhaps he'll see something that reminds him of the nightmare, thereby causing him to suffer some minor physical effect. Perhaps he suffers a PRE attack caused by the memories flooding back. Perhaps he briefly suffers a negative combat modifier as he looks around apprehensively for futher monsters of the id. Maybe it could be a sort of variable Psychological Limitation that changes depending on his most recent nightmare.

[David Johnston]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

It could interfere with your getting a full night's sleep, but there are no sleep deprivation rules. Maybe on those days, his skill rolls and CVs are at -1?

[Guyon]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

What about when he has nightmares one or more of the following happen due to fatigue depending on how may disadvantage points you took:

 

-1 DCV

-1 OCV

-1 for every roll

+ 1 OCV for all villains

+ 1 DCV for villains

+1 dammage Die for villains

or a combination of these. The GM can even change it on the fly to keep him guessing.

 

When I spar in Taekwondo, after many matches in one night fatigue sets in. At that point I do not attack at much. Also at soem point I even know an attack is coming and do not have the energy to block it. Because of that I have gotten kicked so hard in the head that it knocked a contact out of my eye.

 

Fatuage is a really tough thing to deal with.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

I would go with Edsel's idea and expand on it.

 

Perhaps he'll see something that reminds him of the nightmare' date=' thereby causing him to suffer some minor physical effect. [/quote']

 

I would make him see something and have to make an EGO roll to keep his wits. The minuses of the EGO roll would depend on the severity that you took the disad at.

 

Perhaps he suffers a PRE attack caused by the memories flooding back. Perhaps he briefly suffers a negative combat modifier as he looks around apprehensively for futher monsters of the id. Maybe it could be a sort of variable Psychological Limitation that changes depending on his most recent nightmare.

 

I would stick with the negative combat modifers ... but perhaps take a que from the PRE Table. Depending on how bad the EGO rolled failed, he could be at 1/2 DCV as he begins to have a relapse of the dream.

[Viper3220]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

What about when he has nightmares one or more of the following happen due to fatigue depending on how may disadvantage points you took:

 

-1 DCV

-1 OCV

-1 for every roll

+ 1 OCV for all villains

+ 1 DCV for villains

+1 dammage Die for villains

or a combination of these. The GM can even change it on the fly to keep him guessing.

 

When I spar in Taekwondo, after many matches in one night fatigue sets in. At that point I do not attack at much. Also at soem point I even know an attack is coming and do not have the energy to block it. Because of that I have gotten kicked so hard in the head that it knocked a contact out of my eye.

 

Fatuage is a really tough thing to deal with.

 

That would be running out of END and yes it is tough, because you know that you can't expend much more. Also I think isn't there a rule that if you're out of END and you're still doing stuff you start taking stun?

anyway these are all good things guys, thanks.

 

EDIT: I took it as a psychological limitation

very common

moderate

I figured hey you sleep every night so there's a chance to have one right there.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

I've seen something like this before. IIRC, we took it as a psych lim, common moderate. It didn't really have any concrete effects in game-terms; it was essentially a license for wacky roleplaying on the part of the player (who I knew could be trusted to play it up).

 

OTOH, if you're looking at it as something that causes fatugue, it might fit better as some kind of Succeptability to Bad Dreams, frequency based on how often you want to hit him with the dreams, effect is a drain on STUN?

 

[Edit: To put it another way, regardless of the cause, if the effect is physical then I would call it a succeptability/vulnerability/physical lim rather than a psych lim.]

[Viper3220]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

Yea I am going to roleplay the dreams into his character. Dream is always a war dream, one reason is because in the war he got his legs blown off. (he has cybenrnetic legs now) So I'm going to have to find some sort of attitude for him to have after having this dream. As for the mechanical effect, a friend of mine always tells me "It's a disadvantage for a reason, it has to give you some kind of a disadvantage" so I thought that it needed some mechanical effect. Even so, I'm sure my GM will play it up

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

Yea I am going to roleplay the dreams into his character. Dream is always a war dream' date=' one reason is because in the war he got his legs blown off. (he has cybenrnetic legs now) So I'm going to have to find some sort of attitude for him to have after having this dream. As for the mechanical effect, a friend of mine always tells me "It's a disadvantage for a reason, it has to give you some kind of a disadvantage" so I thought that it needed some mechanical effect. Even so, I'm sure my GM will play it up [/quote']

Well, that wasn't quite what I meant. Yes, a Disadvantage has to limit the character in some way or it's not worth any points. But that effect doesn't always have to be physical. Psych Lims like "Code vs killing," "Protects the weak" or "Overly Competative" don't affect the character's stats per se, but they strongly influence the character's actions. So the question isn't so much how do you roleplay the dreams themselves, but how do the dreams affect your character when he is awake (which is, after all, when most of the game takes place). So if it makes him moody, distant, or gives him psychotic flashbacks, it's a Psych Lim. If the main effect is that it makes him tired -- ie, it has a physical effect -- you might be better off buliding it as a Succeptability. In your case, I think you could conceivably go either way, or even both, depending on how you (and your GM) see the character.

 

I'm not sure I'm explaining it well, but I'm trying to draw a distinction between the cause of the disad and the effect of the disad. The cause is more like a special effect - it affects primarily how you play the character. The effect is the mechanic of what it actually does in game terms. For example, Tommy is deaf, dumb & blind from some childhood emotional trauma. The cause may be psycological, but the effect is built as physical limitations: can't see, hear or speak.

 

Also, remember that the Frequency of the Disad refers not to how often he has the dreams, but how often they disadvantage him. For example, a character can be "Moody and withdrawn" all the time, but it may only disadvantages him (in game terms) occassionally. Kind of a subtle distiction, I know. Again, depends on how you & your GM want to play it.

[dstarfire]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

Aside from the physical fatigue effects (which doesn't make sense for a character to have to endure for more than a few days). I think the wacky roleplaying fits perfectly. Some specifics I'd suggest: absent-mindedness, moodiness, a susceptibility to mental attacks. Maybe have him randomly take recoveries when not being directly threatened himself. other fun stuff.

[Jfry]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

This seems like something that is more/less disadvantageous depending on the campaign. For example, I have a Fantasy Hero character who sometimes screams and thrashes in his sleep. This can be a serious limitation in itself, if it happens when he's out in the wilds and it helps to attract local orcs in search of sleeping prey. The same effect might not count as a limitation at all in a typical Champions campaign...though all of the effects discussed above (which carry the disad over to waking hours) certainly would.

 

Cheers,

Jeff

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

Another approach might be a dependence on meds to keep the nighmares away, with te effecty being incompitece (gradually increasing penalties), but that works out to a no point disad, and reversed (a dependence on a good nights sleep every day or a cumulative -1 per day) is a good 0 point everyman disad to sim the human need for sleep anyway.

 

I've given delusional characters a Vunerability to Mental Illusions before (if you are used to seeing things that aren't there you are probably easier to trick with MI), but that doesn't sound like the direction you're going for.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

While the character is asleep and experiencing a nightmare (probably a judgement call, or we could just assume it is most of the time), I would probably require an Ego roll based upon the severity of the Disadvantage for the character to perceive anything for waking up. That's on top of the usual -6 to the Per roll. I might or might not allow the character to take the Lightsleep Talent, or might allow a Limitation to be placed upon it to reflect the affects of the Disadvantage.

 

But then, the character might also wake up periodically due to the nightmares, so (s)he might be more inclined to notice that the person who is supposed to be on active watch has disappeared.

 

Of course, if the player wanted to go the other way and make the nightmares a SFX of the character's Lighsleep (or some other Power), I wouldn't impose such penalties but a Disadvantage might be worth less (or no) points, depending upon the other kinds of penalties the player is willing to take from it (IOW as GM I'd try to negotiate it a bit with the player at character creation).

[Vondy]

Re: Disad: Recurring Nightmare(s)

 

If it causes fatigue or performance drops then its a physical lim.

 

If it causes psychological trauma on some level and affects perceptions, then its a psych lim.

 

How do you want it to affect play? Decide that and work from there.