[Basic] Disadvatage of the Week: Phobias and Squeamish

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

I don't recall one OTTOMH. If you really must distinguish it from Necrophobia, it would have to be less disadvantageous than that, so I suppose you'd just call it -5 points (but you'd probably adjust that for a zombie apocalypse game).

Zombies p. 33 has a bit to say about this. To over-summarise, you can have a specific phobia of zombies ("-10 points in a zombie apocalypse, -5 otherwise"), or your general Necrophobia can kick in with an extra -6.

Great long lists of phobias stem from Call of Cthulhu, I think, but they don't necessarily trigger the slow decay that anything involving Fright Checks does in GURPS.

[Celti]

Phobias aren't the most common disadvantage in my games, but they do come up. One of the characters in my current game has the following:

Entrapment (Cleithrophobia): You must make a self-control roll to voluntarily enter a space where there is a strong risk of getting stuck or being trapped (e.g., an elevator or a cell). You must also roll immediately if or when the exits to your location are blocked. If you are actually imprisoned, self-control rolls are at a -5! -15 points.*

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by Celti

Phobias aren't the most common disadvantage in my games, but they do come up. One of the characters in my current game has the following:

Entrapment (Cleithrophobia): You must make a self-control roll to voluntarily enter a space where there is a strong risk of getting stuck or being trapped (e.g., an elevator or a cell). You must also roll immediately if or when the exits to your location are blocked. If you are actually imprisoned, self-control rolls are at a -5! -15 points.*

What's the difference between this and claustrophobia? They seem quite similar and you even gave it the same point value.

[Celti]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

What's the difference between this and claustrophobia? They seem quite similar and you even gave it the same point value.

Someone with cleithrophobia would be absolutely fine indoors if they know where the exits are, and they're unlocked. They'd probably be uneasy in a car if they weren't driving, or didn't trust the driver. They could be triggered in an empty field under open sky if they were encircled by people intent on capture — or if they were chained up or otherwise effectively restrained from leaving the area.

[edk926]

Originally Posted by Celti

Phobias aren't the most common disadvantage in my games, but they do come up. One of the characters in my current game has the following:

Entrapment (Cleithrophobia): You must make a self-control roll to voluntarily enter a space where there is a strong risk of getting stuck or being trapped (e.g., an elevator or a cell). You must also roll immediately if or when the exits to your location are blocked. If you are actually imprisoned, self-control rolls are at a -5! -15 points.*

Today I learned the name of a phobia I have to a point. Elevators make me a little uneasy, and I really don't like being a passenger in a vehicle driven by anyone other than my parents.

[khorboth]

One that did come up in a game was Squeamishness. It was in the background for a supers game I ran. That character happened to draw the power set that included microscopic vision. She used it exactly once.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by edk926

Today I learned the name of a phobia I have to a point.

I too have an 'elevator' phobia... but it's not enclosed, trapped spaces, but rather "anything that isn't good solid ground".

Not happy with bridges if they're too long or high. Planes and boats that get out of sight of the shore are right out. Buildings high enough to develop noticeable sway make me nervous.

Elevators aren't 'solid' it's the idea that they could plummet (despite knowing the engineering and how unlikely that is) that make me wary of them.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Buildings high enough to develop noticeable sway make me nervous.

A strange incident I once went through: I was working on the second or third floor of a building that was reasonably solid, although a bit on the light side by local standards. It was also next to a railway line.

One day, the building began to shake and carried on. We were confused: earthquakes don't happen in London and don't carry on at constant intensity for over a minute either. When we looked out of the window, it made more sense.

There was a train going past, quite slowly, loaded with stone slabs, at least 100 freight cars worth of it, with two locomotives at each end. It was inducing vibration in the ground, and the lightweight building was making it obvious.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by johndallman

A strange incident I once went through: I was working on the second or third floor of a building that was reasonably solid, although a bit on the light side by local standards. It was also next to a railway line.

One day, the building began to shake and carried on. We were confused: earthquakes don't happen in London and don't carry on at constant intensity for over a minute either. When we looked out of the window, it made more sense.

There was a train going past, quite slowly, loaded with stone slabs, at least 100 freight cars worth of it, with two locomotives at each end. It was inducing vibration in the ground, and the lightweight building was making it obvious.

That would definitely be off putting if I was above the second story. In my case it's not the idea of the building falling on me, it's the idea of it falling out from below me.

I refer to the phobia as my (very mild) "fear of not being able to just get out and walk away".

[Flyndaran]

I know someone with Squeamish. It's a very hard to define phobia. She's so creeped out by blood that I can't even mention checking my blood sugar. But she has no problem with her own, which is fortunate as she has a clotting disorder.
In some ways, it's more of an ick factor dialed up to 11 than basic blood, insect, dirt, etc. phobia.