Gaze into the Abyss
A Sanity mechanic for Risus Sleepwalkers.
It depends on your style of play; I prefer for the GM to handle the mechanics of the Sanity rules, giving the PCs roleplaying cues as necessary.
However, there's no reason why this can't be done "In Public," so to speak, with the players making their own rolls and keeping track of their Sanity Tally themselves.
The mechanics are:
Sanity Tally=character dice total (note: I include bonus dice, as from taking Hooks and/or Tales, in this total, so a "Normal" character has a Sanity Tally of 12)
Sanity Cliche=character dice total/4, rounded down. This means a standard character with a Hook and Tale has a Sanity Cliche of (3)
In a Sanity Check, roll the character's Sanity Cliche against the creature or event's TN (see below);
if the character loses, take one off the Sanity Tally.
The GM or player (depending on who's handling the mechanics) can pump the Sanity Cliche before a difficult test, to simulate holding on to your sanity by sheer force of will, but being psychologically exhausted and more vulnerable to further shocks afterward.
Each time a character loses a point from the Sanity Tally, roll dice equal to the Tally points lost in that session vs your Sanity Cliche.
This is a combat, where horrified insights into the workings of reality battle the character's sense of how things should be - roleplay it!
If the character loses this combat, he or she goes temporarily insane.
If a character's Sanity Tally ever goes to zero, they become permanently insane, and the player must go through the lengthy, tedious process of making a new Risus PC. Break out a fresh Post-it note...
Anytime a new die for a cliche is earned, add 1 to the character's current and total Sanity Tally. At the GM's whim, other major successes may add to the current Tally, although the total may never exceed the character's dice total. This intentionally does not differ for those with funky dice.
And don't forget the primal rule; the GM is free to do whatever he sees fit to make things work as he sees fit. If a PC pumps or double-pumps or uses a lucky shot to stare down Hastur, that's all well and good. But feel free to ding his or her Sanity Tally anyway.
PCs can escape from Great Old Ones, but they shouldn't stroll away whistling...
Sanity TNs for various events
- Performing minor Willworkings: 5
- Seeing a Deep One: 6
- Reading a minor Mythos text: 8
- Seeing a Ghoul feast: 10
- Performing significant Willworkings: 12
- Discovering an unbelievable atrocity: 15
- Performing major Willworkings: 17
- Seeing an enraged adult Cthonian: 20
- Seeing a nest of Dholes: 25
- Reading the Necronomicon: 30
- Seeing Cthulhu: 30
As always, GMs should bump these numbers up or down to represent different situations. Additionally, some cliches can allow characters to ignore some Sanity Checks for a period.
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