Effects of alcohol

[Anomylous]

The few times I've had characters getting drunk, it's been all about the roleplaying/character development/goofing around, and so I don't see the need for elaborate rules on drunkenness. Especially since most players already have a pretty good grasp on the effects of alcohol, and they generally won't quibble when you slap them with arbitrary DX and IQ penalties for drunkenness.


That said, I too like tomc's idea and will probably steal it for future reference.


I haven't had characters get into drinking contests, but if they did, I'd probably have them make a GURPS-style "Contest Roll" vs ST, giving a good-size bonus to a character who was a dwarf, known hardcore drinker (but I repeat myself), etc, to see who ended up passed out under the table.

Essentially, I'm inclined to just run all this seat-of-the-pants style, because I don't want to be looking up rules and doing calculations when the players just want to have their characters get drunk and have a good time.

[JLV]

The good news is that Steve is including a new "contest" rule in the new version of TFT, so you will have some guidelines suitable for TFT to use for this.

And I agree; to some extent, things that happen in the game SHOULD be roleplayed -- after all, if we don't do that, then what's the point of playing in the first place? ;-)

However, having said that, it's always nice if we can have a bit of rules structure behind these things, since it prevents the "rules lawyers" from quibbling quite as much... (It also supports solitaire play, if you want or need to go that way!)

[Melichor]

Drinking contests have sprung up interesting twists and turns in my campaigns.

One drinking contest resulted in an intoxicated warrior who became beguiled with a temptress loaded with Sex Appeal and Charisma. The beer googles and flirting brought a quick (sham) marriage that same evening. The marriage and runaway bride then caused a quest into the mountains to retrieve some stolen valuables.

Another drinking contest led to a skinny human teenager being adopted into a dwarf clan. Due to some very lucky rolls the kid drank a group of dwarves under the table. The next time around he was three drinks and passed out...

[Skarg]

Drunkenness seems like a very common situation to me. It happened from the beginning in TFT, and it seems to me were some references in published adventures, even if it's not described in AM or ITL. It seemed pretty clear how to do it.

* Different people get drunk at different rates & ways, not necessarily in proportion to ST and/or weight.
* There should be different levels of drunk effects.
* Drunkenness should affect personality and decision-making and senses/observation/perception, and understanding/communications and gullibility.
* Drunkenness should affect DX and IQ (negatively) and maybe MA.
* Drunkenness can lead to accidents, memory loss, and passing out.
* Some characters may be/become alcoholic.

It seems like there should be some guidelines and examples, but that probably it should mainly end up being up to the GM to assess something. Though if wanted, some sort of system could be worked up.

[flankspeed]

This is an attempt to show how intoxication could be gamed out, borrowing some ideas from those who have already posted here. There are details about saving throws, penalties, extra strong drinks, spiked drinks, vomiting, hangovers, and addiction.

I know this looks intimidatingly long, but the core mechanics are still simple, escalating D6 saves and one-step-at-a-time attribute penalties. I am merely trying to anticipate questions that might come up. This is probably way too much crunch for TFT, but since I wrote it, I might as well share it.


ALCOHOL & INTOXICATION

Adventurers often congregate in taverns seeking information, relaxation, or celebration. But while the wise taverngoer will pace her drinking to avoid overindulging, those who show less restraint risk getting tipsy or worse.

Anyone consuming only one drink (approximately one ounce of alcohol or one mug/glass of a typical brew) per hour rolls 1D6 vs ST to avoid the onset of intoxication. This is an automatic success so long as there is one hour between drinks and the drinker does not have Low Alcohol Tolerance. For each additional drink per hour, add 1D6 and roll again. Note that the Carousing Talent and High Alcohol Tolerance both subtract 1D6 from the difficulty, while Low Alcohol Tolerance adds 1D6. See the “Saving Throws Against Intoxication” section below.

The GM may rule that certain alcoholic drinks count as more than one drink per hour, and would add as many D6 to the roll as the number of equivalent normal drinks. Spiked drinks may be given to a character, and if undetected, the character must make Intoxication rolls as per normal (perhaps rolled by the GM). Spiked drinks can be detected as shown below in the “Spiked Drinks” section.

Any intoxication roll vs ST that is reduced to 1D6 difficulty is an automatic success with no roll necessary. A 2D6 roll automatically succeeds on a 2 and automatically fails on a 12. Any roll of 3D6 or more follows the standard rules for automatic success and failure.

A critical success subtracts 1D6 from the difficulty of the next intoxication roll if drinking continues and lessens attribute penalties by +1 DX and +1 IQ. A critical failure increases the next roll for continued drinking by an extra 1D6 in addition to the normal 1D6, increases the attribute penalties by an extra -1 DX and -1 IQ, and causes the drinker to vomit on their next turn.

The practical effect of a critical failure for combat would be that the character may take no other action than vomiting on their next turn. However, the GM may rule that some other misfortune happens to the drinker instead of vomiting, such as falling off a chair, stumbling and falling to the ground, dropping whatever they were holding, etc., or may allow the player to make appropriate adjDX rolls to try moving to a better place before vomiting.

A normal failure on the roll means that intoxication has begun or gotten worse. See the “Failed Intoxication Roll” section below. When a character passes out after five failed rolls, they will remain unconscious for a number of hours equal to the amount by which they failed their save.

Success on the intoxication roll means no additional ill effects from drinking while still enjoying the revelry, though any accumulated penalties for intoxication remain in effect. If drinking continues within that hour, the difficulty of the intoxication roll increases by 1D6 for each drink beyond the first. Roll separately for each drink consumed. If an hour passes between drinks, then the first drink during the next hour starts at 1D6 less than the previous hour’s last intoxication roll.

For example: three drinks last hour at 3D6 carry over a base difficulty of 2D6, and the first drink of the next hour would add its 1D6 to again become a total saving throw of 3D6 vs ST. If two hours had passed with no drinking, then only 1D6 of difficulty would carry over to become 2D6 total, and three hours later is long enough that the first drink would be back to a 1D6 automatic success. Remember, a successful roll only means that no additional penalties accrue. It takes four hours of non-drinking to actually decrease penalties by one level of failure, as detailed in the following paragraphs.

If the character remains awake and conscious, then for every four hours that pass without drinking, decrease the level of intoxication by one failure amount. Thus if currently suffering from three failed rolls for -3DX, etc., and four hours pass without drinking, reduce the penalties to -2 DX, etc.

If a character either goes to sleep or becomes unconscious due to passing out, they are better able to recover. Their level of intoxication still decreases by one failure amount for every four hours without drinking, but the only effects of intoxication that remain after waking up — the “hangover” — are the penalties to DX and IQ (no movement penalties, no numbness, and no Reaction roll adjustment).


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SAVING THROWS AGAINST INTOXICATION
(Rated by Drinks Per Hour)

1st Drink/Hour: 1D6 vs ST for an automatic success unless character has Low Alcohol Tolerance (see note below)

2nd Drink/Hour: 2D6 vs ST

3rd Drink/Hour: 3D6 vs ST

4th Drink/Hour: 4D6 vs ST

For every additional drink per hour, add +1D6 to the difficulty. Extremely strong characters are able to drink more alcohol per hour but will eventually face challenging saving throws.

NOTE:
All modifiers are cumulative.
Carousing Talent: Roll -1D6
High Alcohol Tolerance (may be a racial trait, e.g., dwarf): Roll -1D6
Low Alcohol Tolerance (may be a racial trait, e.g., elf): Roll +1D6
Extra Strong Drink: Roll +1D6 or more


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DETECTING SPIKED DRINKS

Standard +1D6 drink: 3D6 vs IQ

— Roll -1D6 if drinker is familiar with alcoholic beverages due to Carousing Talent or working with liquor, poisons, or Alchemy
— Roll -1D6 for each drink strength beyond standard (if the drink is twice as strong adding 2D6 to the Intoxication saving throw, then the detection roll is 1D6 easier)
— Roll +1D6 if prepared by a person skilled with alcohol, poisons, Alchemy, or Carousing

NOTE: A detection roll reduced to 1D6 is an automatic success.


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FAILED INTOXICATION ROLL RESULTS

1st Failure: -1 DX, -1 IQ

2nd Failure: -2 DX, -2 IQ
— To avoid falling prone when moving more than four hexes per turn, roll 2D6 vs adjDX before entering each hex over four, failure means falling prone in the current hex
— Reaction rolls are -1 or +1 based on circumstances and the preferences of the other person

3rd Failure: -3 DX, -3 IQ
— To avoid falling prone when moving more than two hexes per turn, roll 3D6 vs adjDX before entering each hex over two, failure means falling prone in the current hex
— Reaction rolls are -2 or +2 based on circumstances and the preferences of the other person
— Physical damage taken is -1 Hit due to numbness

4th Failure: -4 DX, -4 IQ
— Roll 3D6 vs adjDX to avoid falling prone on any turn when standing without some support, failure means falling prone in the current hex (the character either needs to sit down, lay down, lean heavily on something solid, or have someone put an arm around them)
— Roll 3D6 vs adjDX to stand up again if prone (no other action allowed while attempting to stand up)
— Roll 3D6 vs adjDX before every hex of unsupported movement, failure means falling prone in the current hex, but if able to lean heavily on something solid, such as a wall, then roll only 2D6 per hex for the first two hexes and 3D6 for each additional hex per turn (if someone puts an arm around the character to assist walking, the pair may move up to half the slowest person’s Movement Allowance per turn without any danger of falling prone; for flavor, the character ought to still roll 3D6 vs adjDX at the end of the movement to see if they would have fallen without the support)
— Reaction rolls are -2 or +2 based on circumstances and the preferences of the other person, but the drinker’s speech will be very slurred
— Physical damage taken is -2 Hits due to extremely dulled senses (as when putting a person into a drunken stupor before performing primitive surgery)

5th Failure: Passes out.
— Unconsciousness will last as many hours as the roll was failed by (rolling a 14 vs ST=10 results in 4 hours of unconsciousness)
-- If the roll is a critical failure, the drinker will vomit and remain unconscious as stated previously while suffering fatal alcohol poisoning. The drinker will die at the end of their hours of unconsciousness unless they receive medical attention before the hours expire (Physicker at 4D6/IQ or Master Physicker at 3D6/IQ).


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ALCOHOLISM

Subject to GM ruling, the first time a character tastes alcohol and every time a character passes out due to intoxication, roll 2D6 vs IQ to avoid alcohol addiction. (On 2D6 a 2 automatically succeeds and 12 automatically fails, add +1D6 to the roll if the person has alcoholic relatives or some innate tendency toward alcoholism.)

An alcoholic must roll 3D6 vs adjusted IQ to not drink every day, to stop drinking once started, and to turn down an opportunity to drink. The GM may rule that the severity increases over time to 4D6 or higher.

To kick the habit requires some triggering event that brings about a desire to recover, whether a tragedy of some sort or an intervention by loved ones. Roll 5D6 vs adjusted IQ per week to kick the habit alone cold turkey. Decrease the difficulty to 4D6 per week if helped by someone else skilled in medicine, psychology, or spirituality, and to 3D6 per month if helped by skilled individuals in a prolonged treatment program.


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[Skarg]

Awesome job! That's a great ruleset! Looks like it ought to play out really well.

[flankspeed]

Originally Posted by Skarg

Awesome job! That's a great ruleset! Looks like it ought to play out really well.

Thank you very much! I sometimes hesitate to share, so I appreciate the encouragement.

[flankspeed]

Originally Posted by guymc

.... Any rules for this ought to be very brief and easily implemented, I would say. But it seems like it would be so much USE to a GM that it would be a shame not to provide this somewhere. Sometimes a drunken brawl is just what you need to kick off a fine session of adventuring.

Guy, if I may be so bold and presumptuous, when you have a moment, could you look at my suggested rules that appear several posts above this one?

I don’t think they can be condensed down into one paragraph because they deal with so many aspects of drinking, from spiked drinks to vomiting and hangovers to addiction. So many details simply require some room to explain them.

According to these rules, a character could say, “pour me a double,” and their saving throw would increase by 2D6 instead of 1D6, or a wounded character could guzzle enough drinks to quickly accrue four or five failed rolls and get into such a drunken stupor that they’d be ready for the Physicker to remove that nasty barbed arrow.

If you are able to check them out, then thank you very much!

[CardDiceian]

thanks for startign this thread Guy.
I'm back in the UK now - (only just arrived, so won't be able to get my head round all these ideas straight away - But there looks to be some very cool looking concepts here - so I'll be going through them all carefully. Thanks all so much for your input :)

I'll post up a couple of quick game plays from our holiday later on in the week.

including the rough idea i had on the drunk character.

[CardDiceian]

Originally Posted by flankspeed

Guy, if I may be so bold and presumptuous, when you have a moment, could you look at my suggested rules that appear several posts above this one?



If you are able to check them out, then thank you very much!

This seems like a really nicely rounded set of rules, that take any for of revelry into account -I'll certainly be printing these off and keeping them with my official rules. :)