GURPS On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

Now that Tactical Shooting is out, I think it is time to consider the other gritty side of combat. The psychological cost of being the designated killer. GURPS has some basic tools that may already serve the purpose of emulating these effects, but I think further consideration is required. Here are some considerations I think warrant mentioning:

TS' and MA's and HT's notes on Fright Checks caused by being shot at, losing limbs etc. most cover the 'victim' side of things. I'm surprised there is little to no consideration for 'WhatHaveIDone' fright checks, e.g. when a shooter reflexively headshots a pop-up target on a Wait, only to find it's a 12-y.o. boy after combat (but IIRC shooting an ally accidentally - different thing - has been mentioned somewhere).

While in theory, Reluctant Killer is there to simulate the behavior of a typical realistic normal person* when trying to target another person with a lethal weapon, more attention should be paid to people who don't have the trait. Notably, getting rid of it isn't exactly easy and free of side effects, even if it is fast. So, I'm considering that characters without RC in realistic campaign be required to instead have an Unusual Background and/or a certain number of points of Dis/Advantages (Flashbacks, Callous, and Combat Reflexes are three of the many).

Another problem is the process of buying off. The low absolute value of RC means that from a purely mathematical PoV, it is easy to buy off. But surely it's more complex than that. For example, how about a requirement to fail a certain number of Fright Checks sufficiently badly (enough for a psychological impact)?
Another topic of note is that a certain percentage of people get rid of RC relatively easily, and yet another percentage actually likes killing. I suppose belonging to those groups should warrant a Meta-Trait that includes an Unusual Background. The problem, again, is that the trait itself is worth only -5 points, which is likely minuscule with any reasonable Meta-Trait's sum of absolute trait values.

I really hope this gets the discussion running.
Thanks in advance!


* == 'A spherical horse in vacuum . . . '

[Kyle Aaron]

Never happen. Every time this comes up, gamers step forward almost unanimously to assure us that they could without compunction "if I had to" be a ruthless killer without remorse.

Plus, nobody wants to play GURPS: PTSD.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Kyle Aaron

Never happen. Every time this comes up, gamers step forward almost unanimously to assure us that they could without compunction "if I had to" be a ruthless killer without remorse.

Not everyone plays exclusively with people who couldn't understand psychology if it bit them on the rump.

Originally Posted by Kyle Aaron

Plus, nobody wants to play GURPS: PTSD.

I disagree. Four PCs have suffered memorably from PTSD in the course of play in two of my modern campaigns* and the arc of their degeneration and recovery (or not) has added incomparably to the experience of the game for me and the players.

*Out of a total of 10 or so PCs. Those who did not suffer from PTSD were either less suspectible to it for a variety of reasons or they died before having been in combat long enough to suffer serious psychological trauma.

[William]

Heck, I've got an utterly fantastic 15th-level D&D wizard who's starting to be terrified by it.

. o O (I can disintegrate people. Wtf? How is that power allowable to mortals?)

[William]

Also, in line with Molokh's original question, wasn't there a supplement for 3e that had a number of rules for several of the psychological effects of combat? I remember a reference to some shooting problem called "buck fever," and I think there might have been a combat fright table there.

[jacobmuller]

As for everybody having RK - well, I guess I'd accept that statement with the proviso, everybody normalised to western law-abiding ideals. Therefore, having everyone else count as Unusual would be logical.

As for charging a PC/NPC to not have a disadvantage: isn't the point cost the same difference? I mean, if it's "normal" to be #-5, then being "abnormal" costs you that 5cp; in effect, a relatively common, unusual background for 5cp?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by jacobmuller

As for charging a PC/NPC to not have a disadvantage: isn't the point cost the same difference? I mean, if it's "normal" to be #-5, then being "abnormal" costs you that 5cp; in effect, a relatively common, unusual background for 5cp?

No, it's more like the Unusual Background for having Invisibility in a world where the majority of people don't have Powers. Only less so.

[Sam Baughn]

If you consider Dave Grossman to be a reliable source, you can buy off Reluctant Killer by playing video games.

[NineDaysDead]

Originally Posted by Icelander

I disagree. Four PCs have suffered memorably from PTSD in the course of play in two of my modern campaigns* and the arc of their degeneration and recovery (or not) has added incomparably to the experience of the game for me and the players.

*Out of a total of 10 or so PCs. Those who did not suffer from PTSD were either less suspectible to it for a variety of reasons or they died before having been in combat long enough to suffer serious psychological trauma.

What game mechanics did you use to model this?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by NineDaysDead

What game mechanics did you use to model this?

For the first two, it was 3e, but the process was much the same.

Failed Fright Checks led to a series of Mental Disadvantages. Post-Combat Shakes. Lower Will. Quirks. Addiction. On the Edge. Etc.

Now, we've got one character who committed a brutal murder in cold blood and kept it a secret from everyone around him. The player roleplayed his mental anguish very well and I don't remember having assigned him any new Disadvantages as a result. He attempted to self-medicate in order to be able to sleep and to function when he woke up and spent the big finish of the adventure under the influence of MDMA. In any event, the character eventually confessed to a priest and to his lover and received competent psychological help, which also contributed to him overcoming much of his trauma.

The second, actually, shot his first person last session. He's a Reluctant Killer. Went through the whole first season of play without having any Guns skill or anything more combative than a fair ability at Saber Sport from his high school days. After it, he drove home in a daze, called in sick and took sleeping pills.

We'll see how it goes.