There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR things..

[Reality]

I plan to run a campaign with my best friend over Skype (just him and me) where his character starts the story with total amnesia, but with flashes of memory from his past. The character will have a Psychological Complication to represent his loss of memory about himself and his history, but to represent his loss of memory about his abilities (and the flashes of ability he has from time to time), he will have all of his Skills bought with Requires A Roll at 8-. As he campaigns, he'll have the opportunity to buy off the Requires A Roll a little bit at a time, and when he gets his Skills bought off completely, he can then, at a dramatic moment, buy off the Psy. Com.

 

However, I have a problem: The character, before loosing his memory, knew a Martial Art, and the rules prohibit applying a Limitation to a Martial Maneuver.

 

Can anyone see an alternate way to achieve the same effect?

[Escafarc]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

A Physical Complication: a -4 to OCV/DCV for Martial Manuevers only to cancel out the positive bonus on a 14-. He pays normal cost on all his Martail Arts. And as the game goes on he buys the roll down to 11- then 8- and when his memories return he buys it off totally.

[Greywind]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

I plan to run a campaign with my best friend over Skype (just him and me) where his character starts the story with total amnesia, but with flashes of memory from his past. The character will have a Psychological Complication to represent his loss of memory about himself and his history, but to represent his loss of memory about his abilities (and the flashes of ability he has from time to time), he will have all of his Skills bought with Requires A Roll at 8-. As he campaigns, he'll have the opportunity to buy off the Requires A Roll a little bit at a time, and when he gets his Skills bought off completely, he can then, at a dramatic moment, buy off the Psy. Com.

 

However, I have a problem: The character, before loosing his memory, knew a Martial Art, and the rules prohibit applying a Limitation to a Martial Maneuver.

 

Can anyone see an alternate way to achieve the same effect?

What, or perhaps whom, is he planning on loosing his memory on?

[dmjalund]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

Amnesia is technically a Physical Lim unless he can remember things with an EGO roll

[Alibear]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

We have seen how this works in the movies with Jason Borne. The character has amnesia and doesn't know most of his abilities but the person making the subconcious decisions of how he reacts, in Borne's case the director, knows his character sheet.

 

He knows he can block, throw, and punch. He knows he's fast and tough and can drive like a crazy sumbitch on speed. He knows Borne can shoot a gun and all the rest.

 

I reckon it's just the mechanics of the story and down to roleplaying, not a particular limitation to remember skills. Borne had the skillset whenever it was needed.

[dmjalund]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

I have this condition...

 

(Remember Sammy Jenkis)

[Greywind]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

Wasn't there a bit in an episode of Night Court about that?

[sobran]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

I have this condition...

 

(Remember Sammy Jenkis)

Most awesome reference ever made.

 

On the actual topic at hand... I agree that I wouldn't necessarily require the limitations at all. If nothing else, this would require two rolls for every single skill use, which would quickly bog down the game. Unless I'm misunderstanding?

 

On the subject of martial arts, if you do stick with the RSR, maybe he could just make one roll at the beginning of combat. If he doesn't make it, he doesn't remember, but can try again until he makes the roll. Once he makes it, he can fight without penalty for the rest of the scene. This would be dramatically appropriate, but wouldn't slow things down nearly as much.

[Alibear]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

Borne never ever fails to use a skill he has learned... even if he doesn't conciously know he has the skill. This makes sense as normally to attain his level of skill he shows he'll have trained so much that his body will be doing things before he can think what he should do next. It has become instinctive.

 

By all means give him a Physical Complication to represent the fact that he's lost his memory but at no point does he forget how to do something. The info is gone but not the how.

 

My €0.02.

[StGrimblefig]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

We have seen how this works in the movies with Jason Borne. The character has amnesia and doesn't know most of his abilities but the person making the subconcious decisions of how he reacts, in Borne's case the director, knows his character sheet.

 

He knows he can block, throw, and punch. He knows he's fast and tough and can drive like a crazy sumbitch on speed. He knows Borne can shoot a gun and all the rest.

 

I reckon it's just the mechanics of the story and down to roleplaying, not a particular limitation to remember skills. Borne had the skillset whenever it was needed.

It seems like a question of higher memory versus lower memory. Higher memory includes those abstract things like names and dates and visual associations, while lower memory contains things like "muscle memory" and reactions. A lot of martial arts and other combat training involves repeating things over and over to get automatic actions/reactions to things without having to engage your higher brain functions.

 

With this in mind, it would seem to me that the character in question (just like the Bourne character) would not be able to consciously initiate the use of the abilities in a fight, but once the fight started, training and muscle memory would take over without the need for conscious thought. This seems to me like an Activation roll at the beginning of the combat, or even almost like a Berserk/Enraged roll.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think the Enraged roll is a better analogue. He is put under stress, and at some point he "snaps" and his training takes over.

[prestidigitator]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

Bah! The restriction on Martial Maneuvers is getting in your way in this case, not helping. Toast it. Consider applying the Limitation to the whole Martial Arts package maybe, instead of each individual maneuver. Otherwise, go to town.

[Reality]

Re: There are three things I can never remember. They are...um...there are FOUR thin

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions. The Borne reference makes sense, as does the higher vs lower memory, in cases where the amnesia resulted from an accident or injury. In my planned story, though, the guy literally had to scrub his own mind clean to prevent an effectively irreversible mind reprogramming and control (in game terms, a Severe Transform vs Mind and Spirit), though his people are advanced enough in medical technology that, through the genetic reengineering of their species, they can heal back such memories given enough time. In essence, "there's a bug in my head, and the only way to kill it is to flood my brain with sulfuric acid, and hope I recover some day." That's not what will literally happen, but something along those lines.

 

As for the bogging down of play with too many rolls, I did plan to keep the Activation Rolls limited to once per scene per Skill for noncombat skills, and once per Turn (or maybe every 5 Turns) for Martial Arts Maneuvers (allowing him to gain and loose the benefit of his Martial Training at seemingly random moments, forcing him to rethink his strategies mid-combat). I would of course play fair with him, pitting him against foes whose point totals matched his inhibited level of ability, making sure that opponents also had handicaps and obstacles that would inhibit them in combat, etc. I'd save the big guns for when he'd almost got back his memory.