The Last Gasp and Stress/Derangement

[oneofmanynameless]

The stress/derangement system from Horror seems like it's sort of based on the same Fatigue/Injury dynamics as HP and FP in base. But it also, like those, fails to model long term stress accumulation the way those fail to handle long term fatigue accumulation. Has anyone visited this topic and worked out any sort of crossover between how you'd implement similar changes to the Stress and Derangement system to the changes implemented to FP by The Last Gasp? If not, how would you do that?

(I really don't know if this is an articulate post. Ask for clarifications if it doesn't make sense!)

[johndallman]

It's not quite what you're asking for, but Mad as Bones, in Pyramid #3/103 Setbacks is worth a look.

[oneofmanynameless]

Cool. I'll check it out!

[Christopher R. Rice]

Designer's Notes here. :-)

[oneofmanynameless]

Ghostdancer, as usual, your work is changing my gaming life for the better. I'm in the process of rebuilding my entire game with these rules.

[lordabdul]

Does anybody have some experience about "Stress and Derangement" vs "SP/LSP" (from that Mad as Bones article), and what are the pros/cons of each?

I'm going back to a CoC campaign and I'm not sure yet what sanity rules to use.

[Celti]

Originally Posted by lordabdul

Does anybody have some experience about "Stress and Derangement" vs "SP/LSP" (from that Mad as Bones article), and what are the pros/cons of each?

I'm going back to a CoC campaign and I'm not sure yet what sanity rules to use.

I will freely take credit for prompting Ravenpenny to write, long long ago, what would become Mad as Bones due to my dissatisfaction with Stress and Derangement. 😀

Stress and Derangement are very much focused on insanity, whereas Stability Points are more comprehensive — you lose Stress and Derangement from Fright Checks, madness-inducing auras, and Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. You lose Stability Points from anything that requires mental exertion, from sustained mental focus, to maintaining self-control, to holding yourself together throughout a combat — not just from fear.

In my opinion, Stress and Derangement is much more thematically (and cinematically) driven towards (and appropriate for) cosmic horror games, while Mad as Bones is suitable for nearly any game that desires the grittiness of keeping track of your characters' hour-to-hour mental stability.

[lordabdul]

Yep I think you're right -- The SP/LSP system is a bit more generic, but mostly because it's not thematically linked to the "horror" genre. I think you can, up to a degree, use the S&D system for non-horror things, where you would accumulate stress very fast, and that translates to PTSD-type disadvantages when you start getting Derangement. You just wouldn't have any "Sanity-Blasting Fright Checks" if you don't have any cosmic horror/eldritch monsters.

Checking back on both rules, I think I'm going to go with the S&D rules. They're more fitting since I'm running a horror campaign, and the only thing I don't like about them is the "average of S and D" as a penalty to Fright Checks (I don't find this very elegant in terms of game design). In comparison, there's more I don't like about the SP/LSP rules... but I'm definitely stealing ideas from that article about situations and penalties that I can apply with the S&D rules!