[Basic] Disadvantage of the week: Amnesia

[johndallman]

Amnesia is a mundane Mental disadvantage, about memory loss. It comes in two levels:

Total Amnesia [-25] means the player doesn't get to create the character, apart from the things that are visible in a mirror. The GM designs the character and holds onto the character sheet until memories are recovered in some way. Because the player doesn't know the character's traits, the GM will sometimes override the player's actions; the GM also makes all the character's skill rolls. IQ-based skill rolls are at -2 unless the GM feels that memory isn't important for that roll.

Partial Amnesia [-10] allows the player to create and play the character, but up to [-30] of disadvantages aren't on the character sheet and are assigned by the GM. The character doesn't know their identity, history friends or enemies.

Buying off Amnesia is only possible if you recover your memory, probably by some means related to its loss. This could have been Brainwashing, likely by an Enemy you don't remember, strange experiments or drugs, narrative-related magic, or a simple blow to the head.

Having Amnesia defined for plot purposes is worthwhile, even if players never take it. It shows up in GURPS supplements as an effect of bio-weapons (After the End), a tell-tale sign of Banestorm victims who've been dealt with by the Ministry of Serendipity or an enhancement to Mind Control. Bio-Tech deals with it as a side-effect of revival or cryostasis, but it can sometimes be cured. Fantasy has it as a Nuisance Effect of Lycanthropy and it has considerably potential for psychological Horror, showing up a lot in Madness Dossier. It's a possible effect of severe brain injuries in Martial Arts, and available as an ability in Powers and Psionic Powers. Space adds artificially induced Selective Amnesia, and Transhuman Space "shadow" mind emulations are often missing memories.

The only character with Amnesia I've ever played was in a game where characters were transported to another world, and lost a lot of memory of their origins. That is the right kind of way to use it; in the campaign plotline, rather than something a player picked for the point value. Have you ever used it?

[Kelly Pedersen]

Probably worth pointing out here the closely-related trait of Delusion (False Memories), detailed in Horror. Rather than the usual obvious Delusion where you believe something false or apparently-false that causes people to react poorly to you, you instead don't remember an important event and have false, innocuous memories in their place. It pairs extremely well with Partial Amnesia if whatever you've forgotten will not only affect the plot but also your own character traits.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

Rather than the usual obvious Delusion where you believe something false or apparently-false that causes people to react poorly to you, you instead don't remember an important event and have false, innocuous memories in their place.

You're the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful poster I've ever known in my life.

[evileeyore]

I've played and run Amnesia games a few times... most were just the "lack of past memories"* version.

Each time either the Amnesia wasn't that important (it was a plot lever to get the campaign rolling and was 'solved'** rather quickly) or it wasn't that important in that the past never came back to haunt anyone. I blame my GMs for the last one and myself (mostly) for the first (though I also didn't give the PCs points for the Amnesia as it was a 'setting switch' type thing).


* The only one I've ran that was Total Amnesia was a 'build your PC through their actions' style. So by the end of the third session the PCs sheets were filled out.
** I've made several amnesiacs over the years. Not once has the past ever ended up as an issue. I think the GMs just didn't want to play with it.

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

Probably worth pointing out here the closely-related trait of Delusion (False Memories), detailed in Horror. Rather than the usual obvious Delusion where you believe something false or apparently-false that causes people to react poorly to you, you instead don't remember an important event and have false, innocuous memories in their place. It pairs extremely well with Partial Amnesia if whatever you've forgotten will not only affect the plot but also your own character traits.

I did this once in a Horror game. The PCs went to dinner at a local diner (in separate groups as they were a disparate lot, but it was at the same time) and half-way through the meal, they woke up in the Emergency Room at a near-by hospital (along with several other diners). Sketchy looking interns and nurses were asking them and the other survivors what they could remember. A few characters couldn't remember anything, but most remembered a car smashing through a wall into the room and then... well they woke up here. It was a bit of a blur really*.

Except one of the other diners. He distinctly remembered a large furry or scaly thing smashing through the wall and it had bitten and clawed up people and, and... then he was sedated and the 'nurses' were worriedly checking everyone and making sure everyone knew that "trauma scan sometimes do that"...

The PCs eventually checked out a few days later... and compared notes. One clearly knew the "car smashing through a wall" was not a real memory... and besides their wounds were odd and healed too fast... so the PCs decided to go investigate...


* Each Player was given a different note card with what they remembered. The first one to be 'interviewed' had noticed that every NPC questioned had said "it's a bit of a blur really" so when he read his card, he just read it verbatim, along with that line to be funny (each note ended in that line). The second Player decided to play it cute and not read that last line. So I asked for a Will roll. She failed, and I told her to say the line.

Every Player immediately realized what was going on, realized the medical staff weren't really medical staff, and got extremely paranoid.



I did this for another game, more CoC based (but still GURPS) that had a Player who wanted to have magic, when I was explicitly forbidding magic. So I gave it to him. And secretly gave him the delusion that he had magic and it worked... and clued in the other Players of what was really going on so they'd help keep the charade going as long as possible. The Amnesiac/Delusional PC didn't catch on till the end of the game. He loved it. A few other Players weren't as enthused, but it worked. Not sure I'd ever try it again, bit of a miracle it worked the first time.

Originally Posted by malloyd

Call the police and get professional medical help. This is actually a bit of a problem with Total Amnesia - characters with it by definition don't remember any reasons why this might not be a good idea, so many of them ought to do something like this. Which isn't going to lead to an *adventure*.

Did this one as well, it wasn't a dumpster though and the PCs did immediately go to the police and then the hospital... and along the way a few PCs overheard just enough to start cluing them in that they couldn't trust all the Police or hospital staff... or other people in general...

It was Secret Alien Invasion Horror game where the Reptilians had successfully infiltrated and taken over, but didn't like just killing people, they preferred to erase and modify memories. The PCs had woken up laid out in a warehouse strapped to gurneys and managed to free themselves and escape before their captors returned. They had distorted fragments of memories, not enough to know what was going on, but enough (that they wisely didn't mention to the cops or doctors) that they knew something was going on.

This also wasn't a 'total amnesia' game, the amnesia wore off by the time they were released form the hospital as they were able to remember who they were, but not how they ended up in the warehouse. The memory implants were not 'taking hold' properly so they had fragments of two sets of memories, which began at first as 'inconsistencies' with what they remembered (the false memories were what they thought were their real memories).

Interesting game, never managed to finish it properly. It just sort of wound down and petered out.

[Orsino]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

...Each time either the Amnesia wasn't that important (it was a plot lever to get the campaign rolling and was 'solved'** rather quickly)...

"Solved" is a good word. These Disadvantages are requests for mysteries to solve in play, and an implied pledge on the player's part to investigate. If we're demanding the GM design all or part of our backgrounds, we need to do our best as players to uncover those secrets so that effort won't be wasted--not just to fill out the character sheet, but to make good story.

It's a lot of work for that GM. Whereas the honor system is fine for other players who are making their own voluntary control rolls, the GM is going to need to puppet you a bit. S/he'll make secret rolls for you, and direct you to hang back, invert, or lunge for certain activities that your character is attempting. Maybe you spent points in First Aid or doctoring, but if Callous is one of your secrets, the GM should belay your attempts at a good bedside manner, or urge you to move on from danger despite the presence of wounded innocents. Eventually, you figure it out and start making your own control rolls and decisions, taking back that duty from the GM.

Rule Zero says we should also make that journey fun for the other players, too, and not just use Amnesia as an excuse to be an uncooperative jerk/snowflake.

[Humabout]

I've used Total Amnesia as a mandatory disadvantage to intro into a game (with some very trusting players). They woke up in a strange facility and had to use clues on their persons to sort out who they were, and they had a lot of fun discovering their identities while dealing with the effects of a government black site experiment and conspiracy.

It was also the first time I saw anyone with Contact Group (Conspiracy Forum).

As for play, the players were great at falling into a group and working together to survive and figure out who they were. They also knew going in they'd all have amnesia and were cool with not making their own sheets. I think they wanted the challenge of rooeplaying random PCs.

[RogerBW]

The closest I've come was with Selective Amnesia: my AI character in a Transhuman Space game has memories that start with its applying for political asylum within the EU. It's worked out that it did something for the TSA during the war, but has no idea what.

(Arguably this could have been done as the Partial version but as far as I remember the GM and I didn't feel that the lost past should come up as a major important element in the game.)

For comic effect, it would occasionally come out with lines like "oh, this reminds me of that time that null pointer exception".

[Celti]

I've fairly often played characters with Partial Amnesia — it's a great plot hook and my GMs have never seemed to mind. Total Amnesia is somewhat rarer, but has still seen a great deal of use in my group's games — one of the GMs in our group has a small tendency to, if we're taking too long arguing about what sort of campaign we're wanting to do next, say "You all wake up naked, in a dumpster, with Total Amnesia. What do you do?"

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Celti

"You all wake up naked, in a dumpster, with Total Amnesia. What do you do?"

Call the police and get professional medical help. This is actually a bit of a problem with Total Amnesia - characters with it by definition don't remember any reasons why this might not be a good idea, so many of them ought to do something like this. Which isn't going to lead to an *adventure*.

[Leeland]

Haven´t played with it thus far.
But if my dungeon fantasy character ever dies i will just give my GM a picture of an Iron golem and tell him i have total amnesia.

Wanted to do that for a long time...