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Old 05-15-2011, 06:15 PM   #1
Adelus
 
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Default [Horror] Aspected Corruption

The Corruption system is one of my favorite parts of GURPS Horror (though, really, so much of it is great that I might as well just call GURPS Horror my second favorite GURPS book next to Thaumatology). Its more of what I was expecting the Spiritual Distortion system to be, its effects being more pronounced and gradual instead of the sort of sudden shift in character once your distortion tops off.

That said, as it is, its pretty much set up to make people evil. So, I was just musing about a simple way to expand its possibilities.

Aspected Corruption changes the system up only in that some Corruption comes from specific different sources - what these are could be whatever fits your campaign. Elements, different gods, moral codes, etc. You keep track of how much aspected corruption is accumulated, and apply effects appropriately for that aspect; working with Angelic beings may make you more honest and upstanding (and fanatical...), and the spirit vessel of a volcano god might find themselves developing a short temper and irritable disposition. While this could also be used for non-horror settings, it can still have a place where there are various spiritual nasties with different mannerisms, or even for infectious behaviour from certain monsters (gaining a taste for meat after several close calls with werewolves, etc.)

One thing I was wondering though was how accumulating from several aspects would work; would the most abundant override others? Would certain aspects neutralize each other, or could people accumulate personality changes from all of them, suffering rapid changes in behavior due to their warring aspected psyche?
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Old 05-16-2011, 08:05 AM   #2
The Colonel
 
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Default Re: [Horror] Aspected Corruption

Waiting for the hard copy so I can't comment on the actual rules, but how about: for specific traits pick the most plentiful (or most appropriate?) type of corruption - if your temper is being tried, go with the short temper corruption etc. - if there's some kind of effect that tracks your general drift away from humanity ... add it up.

I see given forms of corruption adding given disadvantages over time...
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Old 05-16-2011, 08:25 AM   #3
SCAR
 
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Default Re: [Horror] Aspected Corruption

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adelus View Post
The Corruption system is one of my favorite parts of GURPS Horror (though, really, so much of it is great that I might as well just call GURPS Horror my second favorite GURPS book next to Thaumatology). Its more of what I was expecting the Spiritual Distortion system to be, its effects being more pronounced and gradual instead of the sort of sudden shift in character once your distortion tops off.

That said, as it is, its pretty much set up to make people evil. So, I was just musing about a simple way to expand its possibilities.

Aspected Corruption changes the system up only in that some Corruption comes from specific different sources - what these are could be whatever fits your campaign. Elements, different gods, moral codes, etc. You keep track of how much aspected corruption is accumulated, and apply effects appropriately for that aspect; working with Angelic beings may make you more honest and upstanding (and fanatical...), and the spirit vessel of a volcano god might find themselves developing a short temper and irritable disposition. While this could also be used for non-horror settings, it can still have a place where there are various spiritual nasties with different mannerisms, or even for infectious behaviour from certain monsters (gaining a taste for meat after several close calls with werewolves, etc.)

One thing I was wondering though was how accumulating from several aspects would work; would the most abundant override others? Would certain aspects neutralize each other, or could people accumulate personality changes from all of them, suffering rapid changes in behavior due to their warring aspected psyche?
That's a very neat idea - and it might well be useful in other (non-horror) scenarios.

As to your question - tricky and probably varies by setting.

The total corruption (from all sources) would be a measure of how much you're being pulled apart (mentally/spiritually) - if you were looking at the overall effect on say Sanity, enough corruption from any and all sources would drive you over the edge.

Multiple different corruptions might produce a Split Personality, especially if the aspects were opposed.

Corruptions from opposed sources might cancel each other out, this would seem logical for something like Angelic and Demonic influences.

If a character is subject to sufficient corruption from multiple sources to gain a variety of different new mental traits, they're probably just going to go mad!
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Old 05-16-2011, 08:28 AM   #4
Jerander
 
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Default Re: [Horror] Aspected Corruption

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Originally Posted by Adelus View Post
One thing I was wondering though was how accumulating from several aspects would work; would the most abundant override others? Would certain aspects neutralize each other, or could people accumulate personality changes from all of them, suffering rapid changes in behavior due to their warring aspected psyche?
That's a neat idea. I'd keep track of each aspect separately and apply personality changes as appropriate. It could make for a conflicted personality or maybe even multiple personalities.
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Old 05-16-2011, 09:23 AM   #5
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Default Re: [Horror] Aspected Corruption

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Originally Posted by Adelus View Post
One thing I was wondering though was how accumulating from several aspects would work; would the most abundant override others? Would certain aspects neutralize each other, or could people accumulate personality changes from all of them, suffering rapid changes in behavior due to their warring aspected psyche?
I agree with others that tracking each separately is the most interesting option from a roleplaying perspective, but I wanted to add that your other options are equally valid depending on the GMs worldview.

Potentially some Aspects could trump others, some could pool and some could conflict.
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Old 05-16-2011, 09:40 AM   #6
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Default Re: [Horror] Aspected Corruption

I wonder if the upcoming Social Engineering might include something along the same lines for modelling the effects of any kind of mental influence (not just mystical, insanity creating influences).
It certainly seems like Memetics could work along a similar track.
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Old 05-16-2011, 01:55 PM   #7
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Default Re: [Horror] Aspected Corruption

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Originally Posted by Adelus View Post
Aspected Corruption changes the system up only in that some Corruption comes from specific different sources - what these are could be whatever fits your campaign. Elements, different gods, moral codes, etc. You keep track of how much aspected corruption is accumulated, and apply effects appropriately for that aspect; working with Angelic beings may make you more honest and upstanding (and fanatical...), and the spirit vessel of a volcano god might find themselves developing a short temper and irritable disposition. While this could also be used for non-horror settings, it can still have a place where there are various spiritual nasties with different mannerisms, or even for infectious behaviour from certain monsters (gaining a taste for meat after several close calls with werewolves, etc.)

One thing I was wondering though was how accumulating from several aspects would work; would the most abundant override others? Would certain aspects neutralize each other, or could people accumulate personality changes from all of them, suffering rapid changes in behavior due to their warring aspected psyche?
I really like the idea, and had already thought of including it in my game (in fact the text at the end of the section mentions alternative aspects, like Chaos).

One thing I thought though would be that certain causes of Corruption should be capped (as in you can't ever be more Corrupted by those things than N Corruption Points). I would always specifically exclude any such capping on accumulated Corruption for use of any powers (or Magery spell use) if the Corrupting modifier was applied.

It also would have been nice if the idea of Resistance and Immunity to Corruption would have been included. I'm assuming since Fear is generally considered Common, that Corruption would also be such. Maybe Resistant at the +3 or +8 levels would add to your Will roll, or else alternatively deduct from any Corruption Points earned in a given time period. Resistances / Immunities to Aspected Corruption would be bumped down as sub-categories of Corruption, much as they would be for the individual causes of Corruption as they are listed. Probably only truly cosmic beings should be allowed the Immunity to Corruption.

Alternatively, Susceptibility to Corruption (or an Aspected, or Cause of, Corruption) might be interesting and a way to build characters with loads of "inner demons" more prone to the darkness (or whatever) within. Again, either a penalty to their Will roll or maybe a bonus to Corruption earned each time period.

The text also mentions certain creatures attacks inflicting Corruption Points equal to lost HP. But there is no mention of how to build that. Initially I thought maybe any power (or ST, for physical ST-based attacks) with Corrupting that causes HP loss might inflict Corruption on the victim as well as the attacker, but that sort of makes it have a less negative value to the attacker (and what if you wanted to build a character that harmed others in a way that Corrupted them, but wasn't similarly Corrupted by using the attack?).
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Old 05-16-2011, 02:20 PM   #8
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Default Re: [Horror] Aspected Corruption

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Originally Posted by JCurwen3 View Post
It also would have been nice if the idea of Resistance and Immunity to Corruption would have been included. I'm assuming since Fear is generally considered Common, that Corruption would also be such. Maybe Resistant at the +3 or +8 levels would add to your Will roll, or else alternatively deduct from any Corruption Points earned in a given time period. Resistances / Immunities to Aspected Corruption would be bumped down as sub-categories of Corruption, much as they would be for the individual causes of Corruption as they are listed. Probably only truly cosmic beings should be allowed the Immunity to Corruption.
Be careful how you apply Immunity to Corruption as it could essentially give someone free unlimited energy to cast spells or whatnot...
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Old 05-16-2011, 02:46 PM   #9
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Default Re: [Horror] Aspected Corruption

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Be careful how you apply Immunity to Corruption as it could essentially give someone free unlimited energy to cast spells or whatnot...
Certainly - I wouldn't allow a PC to get the energy from Corruption. Or alternatively if the wanted abilities or spells that caused Corruption but were Immune, I might make it cost Derangement (maybe -2 or -3 per Corruption), or else cause a permanent Will loss instead (basically I wouldn't say "no" - I think that's generally bad GMing - but I'd say "yes, but...").
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Old 05-16-2011, 06:09 PM   #10
Adelus
 
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Default Re: [Horror] Aspected Corruption

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Be careful how you apply Immunity to Corruption as it could essentially give someone free unlimited energy to cast spells or whatnot...
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Originally Posted by JCurwen3 View Post
Certainly - I wouldn't allow a PC to get the energy from Corruption. Or alternatively if the wanted abilities or spells that caused Corruption but were Immune, I might make it cost Derangement (maybe -2 or -3 per Corruption), or else cause a permanent Will loss instead (basically I wouldn't say "no" - I think that's generally bad GMing - but I'd say "yes, but...").
Thinking about this, I can imagine a few ways to handle this.

Immunity to Corruption does not mean free points; if you have an outright immunity or resistance to its corrupting effects, then you probably are also barred from accessing power and energy from that font.

That said, Resistant (<Aspect> Corruption) would be a nice thing to bestow on people who have gone rather far down a particular path; they've gone far enough to either prove their loyalty or their derangement, and now opposing forces can't quite make a dent in them.
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