Stress and Derangement: Fright and Confusion?

[dataweaver]

For those of you who are familiar with the Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks as outlined in the latest edition of Horror: what do you think about the option of replacing them with Confusion Checks as outlined in Powers (pp.84-85)? That is, you have Fright Checks (which cause Stress) and you have Confusion Checks (which cause Derangement).

As well, does Fearlessness add to your Will for the purpose of capping Stress? And should there be an equivalent to Fearlessness that helps you resist and/or cope with Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks and Derangement, other than the flat +8 bonus from Unfazeable? If so, what should it be called and how should it be priced? I'm leaning toward something like "Mental Stability" (you're unusually resistant to madness), with a higher cost than Fearlessness (due to the more persistent results of madness): say, 3 points per level.

(For those of you who are not familiar with Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks as outlined in the latest edition of Horror, note that they're very different from the Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks from earlier editions: they are part of the new Stress and Derangement system that roughly parallels Fatigue and Damage, and they do not halve your Will as they did in earlier editions.)

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

And should there be an equivalent to Fearlessness that helps you resist and/or cope with Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks and Derangement, other than the flat +8 bonus from Unfazeable? If so, what should it be called and how should it be priced?

• "Mental Stability" (+3) [10] ... includes limited Unfazeable (+8 instead of Immunity)
• "Mental Stability" (+8) [15] ... includes Unfazeable
• "Mental Stability" (Immunity) [30] ... includes Unfazeable

... as per Resistant (Very Common) (+3; +8; Immunity) [10; 15; 30]. (Unfazeable being Resistant (Common) (Immunity) [15].)

Would be my suggestion.

[dataweaver]

Note that Horror suggests that in a game of thoroughgoing cosmic horror, Unfazeable only grants a +8 vs. Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks. This is apparently modeled on the idea that "Unfazeable" is essentially "Immunity to Fright Checks (and any variants thereof)"; but in a thoroughgoing cosmic horror game where nothing is immune to the Sanity-Blasting version, it acts as the next best thing (i.e., Very Resistant). Since resistance to Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks is a subset of resistance to any kind of Fright Check, I'd expect it to have a lower frequency (and thus a cheaper price) than Unfazeable.

But I'm not talking about Resistance, per se. In a game that uses Stress and Derangement, Fearlessness is potentially as much a mental counterpart to "extra fatigue points" as it is an oddly-priced "Resistant to regular Fright Checks" (as it can offset Stress penalties on things other than Fright Checks). Likewise, I'd expect Mental Stability to help with Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks, Confusion Checks, and Madness Checks (Horror, p.143), depending on the campaign, as well as offsetting Derangement penalties to other rolls (such as to Interaction skills); and if Fearlessness does add to the Stress limit, then I'd likewise expect Mental Stability to add to the Derangement limit.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

Note that Horror suggests that in a game of thoroughgoing cosmic horror, Unfazeable only grants a +8 vs. Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks. This is apparently modeled on the idea that "Unfazeable" is essentially "Immunity to Fright Checks (and any variants thereof)"; but in a thoroughgoing cosmic horror game where nothing is immune to the Sanity-Blasting version, it acts as the next best thing (i.e., Very Resistant). Since resistance to Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks is a subset of resistance to any kind of Fright Check, I'd expect it to have a lower frequency (and thus a cheaper price) than Unfazeable.

I think that Unfazeable is equated to 7.5 levels of Fearlessness (rounded in the favor of the player) since that's how much the equivalent number of points would have given you if you had them in Fearlessness rather than in Unfazeable

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

For those of you who are familiar with the Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks as outlined in the latest edition of Horror: what do you think about the option of replacing them with Confusion Checks as outlined in Powers (pp.84-85)? That is, you have Fright Checks (which cause Stress) and you have Confusion Checks (which cause Derangement).

It seems to me like you would probably want to use something else for Derangement, since the Awe and Confusion table is intended to be more or less equal in its effects on characters to the Fright Check table. OTOH, if you're not using it for anything else, it doesn't look so out of order that you couldn't justify it, either.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

It seems to me like you would probably want to use something else for Derangement, since the Awe and Confusion table is intended to be more or less equal in its effects on characters to the Fright Check table. OTOH, if you're not using it for anything else, it doesn't look so out of order that you couldn't justify it, either.

The added severity of Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks comes from the fact that they cause Derangement rather than Stress; and Derangement is a lot harder to get rid of. As written, the Sanity-Blasting Fright Check is identical to a normal Fright Check except for this one detail; so swapping out the Fright Check Table with another that's equivalent in severity but potentially more in line with its themes should be reasonable. My main concern was whether or not Confusion Checks are indeed a better match conceptually.

In a similar vein, the very next section provides a way to add mental conditions to the usual results of a Fright Check; I suppose that one could combine this with Stress and Derangement by applying the Madness results to Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks but not to regular Fright Checks. Since the Madness results are often overlaid with the fear results, and only sometimes replace them, this would make Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks even more severe than they are as written, which might be exactly what you're looking for.

(This leads to the notion of applying the Madness results to a Confusion Check; but I'm worried that such a combination would have too much conceptual overlap.)

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

I think that Unfazeable is equated to 7.5 levels of Fearlessness (rounded in the favor of the player) since that's how much the equivalent number of points would have given you if you had them in Fearlessness rather than in Unfazeable

In a setting where you only have one kind of Fright Check, there's some sense in this. But if you have Awe and/or Confusion Checks alongside Fright Checks, or if you have Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks as well as ordinary Fright Checks, then it's entirely possible that Fearlessness will only apply to normal Fright Checks, whereas Unfazeable will apply to all of them (albeit in a slightly diminished capacity against Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks in games of cosmic horror).