Fear and Mental Stress

This section details a slight alteration to the fear test mechanic for earlier versions of our games.  This version will now be the cannon and will appear in all future Gethsemmane Games RPGs.

It is inevitable that your characters will encounter things which cause them fear, sooner or later. Whenever a character is confronted by a frightening or horrific creature, situation or event the character will need to make a “Fear Check”. A fear check is a type of WIP saving throw. The character must try to roll under his or her  usual (ie undamaged) WIP+Current WIP, on d%.

Fear Save = Undamaged WIP+Current WIP

If the character passes this roll, then (s)he has been able to fight down the terror and can continue to function normally. However, if the character rolls higher than their WIP, then (s)he will grow frightened and will suffer some WIP loss and some other effects. WIP points lost this way can be recovered normally.

When a character fails a WIP test, the amount that (s)he failed by is referred to as the “Fear Strength” Look up the  “Fear Strength” on the “Fright Chart” (located at the end of this section) to see what effect the character suffers as a result.

Fear Factors

Some creatures have a FF listed in their statistics. Other events or experiences may also have a FF at the GM's discretion.

 Whenever a character makes a Fear Check, the “Fear Factor” of the creature or event which caused the fear check should be applied as a penalty to the characters chance of passing the fear test.

Effects of WIP Loss

The loss of WIP can have a significant effect upon a character and the exact nature of this effect depends upon how much WIP the character has lost.

Frayed Nerves;- whenever a character loses 6 or more points of WIP in a single combat round his nerves become frayed. The character becomes easily upset, irritable and moody. These effects last until the character has a good nights sleep (8 or more hours) or until some one passing a “Psychology” roll spends half an hour soothing the characters nerves.

Temporary Insanity;- When a characters WIP falls to half their usual WIP or less then they go temporarily insane. The character gains a phobia, mental or emotional drawback which lasts until their WIP recovers to more than half their usual score.

Permanently Insane;- If the characters WIP ever drops to less than 10 the character gains a mental or emotional drawback permanently. (Unless a good psychologist can cure them at a later date). This drawback is not lost when the character regains their WIP.

Catatonic;- Should a characters WIP ever fall to 0 or less the character will become catatonic. A catatonic character is unable to act or even speak independently and becomes passive, as if they were a automation. This lasts until the characters WIP is restored to at least half of their usual level, at which point they become permanently insane (see above). In addition, the WIP of the catatonic character is permanently reduced by 1 point.

Final Fear Strength	Fear level	Effects on the character
0 (Zero) or less	Worried	IL is halved for 2 rounds. Lose 1 point of WIP
1 to 10	Alarmed	Character may take no offensive action this round and loses 2 points of WIP
11 to 20	Mildly frightened	Character may take no offensive action this round, IL is halved next round and loses 1-5 points of WIP
21 to 40	Harrowed	Character may take no offensive action this round, IL is halved next round and loses 1-10 points of WIP
41 - 60	Scared	Character may take no offensive action this round, IL is halved next round and loses 1-10 points of WIP. Suffers 5% to all skills for 1-5 rounds.
61 to 80	Cowed	Character may take no offensive action this round, IL is halved next round and loses 2-20 points of WIP. Suffers –5% to all skills for 1-5 rounds
81 or more	Fear struck	The character loses 2-20 WIP and will either flee, faint, hide or vomit for 1-5 rounds depending on circumstances and the GM.

Saving Throws in our Games

Saving throws, often also called “Attribute Tests” are a particular type of check used to determine if a character's Primary or Secondary attributes protect them from some harmful effect or allow them to succeed at some feat of Strength, Will, Perception or so forth.  This section details a slight alteration in the way saving throws are made compared to some early versions of our rules (Later versions already use this method).

Whenever a saving throw is called for by the GM, the player should roll a d% and attempt to roll equal to or less than the appropriate target number.  If the player succeeds in rolling the target number or less then they have succeeded, or passed, if hey roll higher, then they have failed.

To find the target number of any given saving throw, take the characters attribute number and adjust it according to the difficulty level of the saving throw being called for, as follows;-

Easy Attribute x2.5
Sandard    Attribute x2
Difficult Attribute x1

The GM will set the difficulty level of he saving throw when he or she calls for one, and should base the choice of difficulty level on how easy or how hard he or she feels the task is.  Some common examples are included above, but they are by no means exhaustive and the GM should use his or her judgement.

Quite often a saving throw may be the result of a player trying to do something that may or may not work, but which is not covered by their skill, but is instead likely to depend upon one of their attributes.  For example, if a player wishes to listen carefully to see if they can hear any noise through a door the GM may call upon them to make a Perception saving throw.  If the GM knows there are a number of people on the other side engaged in conversation he may set the difficulty as “Standard”, if hey are engaged in noisy activity (s)he may set the difficulty as “Easy” where as if hey are sleeping but may or may not snore, perhaps the GM will decide the difficulty is “Difficult”.

Alternatively, saving throws may be called for by the text of an adventure or the GM may rule there is a need for one.  For example, a party of Entropy Stalkers chasing an entropy mutant across the roofs of a city come to the end of one roof and must leap, safely, to the next.  The GM calls for each entropy stalker to make either an Agility save to make the jump safely, and, since (s)he feels the gap is not a large one and the building they are jumping to is slightly lower than the one they are jumping former, the GM sets the difficulty as Standard.  Later, the party are called on to jump over a much larger gap and the GM sets the difficulty of that one as Difficult.  Certain skills may be usable instead of the saving throw, in the above example an acrobatics skill may be appropriate.

Unlike skills checks, saving throws do not earn the character experience points and no tick is placed et to the tested attribute.