Blackouts Disadvantage

[Pursuivant]

This is a new disadvantage roughly modeled on the Amnesia, Epilepsy, and Split Personality disadvantages. It can be used to model episodic dissociative amnesia, certain types of epilepsy, and some types of disassociative identity disorder.

Blackouts (Mental)

-2, -5, or -10 points*

You suffer blackouts when exposed to severe stress, such as combat or a failed Fright Check.

A failed Self-Control roll means that you temporarily suffer from Total Amnesia and have no conscious control over your actions. "Blacked out" player characters temporarily fall under the GM’s control.

Cost of the disadvantage depends on how long your blackouts last. Base cost is -2 points if your blackouts last for minutes equal to your margin of failure, -5 points if they last for margin of failure x 10 minutes, or -10 points if they last for margin of failure x 1 hour.

Critical failure with a Self-Control roll means that you suffer the next higher increment of blackout. If you normally suffer Total Amnesia for hours equal to your margin of failure, a critical failure means that you suffer a blackout which lasts for days equal to your margin of failure.

When you recover you have no recollection of your actions while blacked out. Unless you “wake up” in a very different place or state than you were in before your blackout, you must make an IQ or Per roll to notice the “missing” time.

People who know about your problem might assume that you are crazy or supernaturally possessed and react negatively towards you, at -1 per every 5 character points the disadvantage costs. For example, if you black out for minutes on a roll of 12 or less, people react to you at -1.

Normally, blackouts are triggered by past severe emotional trauma. Many people with this problem also suffer from Split Personality. Blackouts might also be triggered by certain neurological disorders (such as Epilepsy) or supernatural causes.

Special Enhancement

Temporary Disadvantage (Variable): You suffer from an additional disadvantage which only manifests when you are blacked out. This is an enhancement equal to the percentage value of the absolute value of the disadvantage's base character point cost. For example, Alcoholism (-15 points) counts as a +15% enhancement, while Bad Temper (-10 points) counts as a +10% enhancement. Despite the fact that the enhancement value of the disadvantage is figured from its base cost, it is treated as being "always on" as long as you are blacked out. You get no self-control or frequency of appearance roll to avoid it.

Special Limitations

Alternate Trigger (Variable): Your blackouts are triggered by a stimulus other than severe stress. For -80%, the triggering condition is very rare or easily avoidable. For -60%, it is uncommon or fairly easy to avoid. For -40%, it is occasionally encountered and somewhat difficult to avoid. For -20%, it is commonly encountered and difficult to avoid. For -0%, it is very commonly encountered and impossible to avoid when it occurs, making it just as limiting as blackouts triggered by severe stress (at least for adventurers).

Partial Amnesia (-50%): You only suffer Partial Amnesia during your blackouts. While the GM still takes control of the blacked out character’s actions, the character retains their skills and memories. Once the GM has chosen the character’s general course of action, the character’s player might be allowed to make skill or attribute rolls for the character during combat or other hazardous situations. Afterwards, the character retains a vague recollection of their actions during the blackout and can roll vs. IQ-4 to recall specific details (but one roll per memory is allowed per day). Critical failure with a Self-Control roll means that you suffer Total Amnesia rather than Partial Amnesia in addition to a longer blackout period.

Predictable Behavior (-20% or -50%): You behave in a predictable fashion when you black out. This is a -20% limitation if you behave in a predictable but potentially dangerous fashion, or a -50% limitation if you act in a largely harmless or self-protective fashion.

[Tymathee]

As someone that suffers from stress-induced epilepsy, I applaud you for acknowledging its legitimacy, and to the extent it ought to have some representation in game mechanics.

From personal experience, it may warrant a Social Stigma. Other people and even bonafide health professionals are quick to throw accusations of fakery and attention-seeking behavior rather than believe you're genuinely suffering, and which creates a barrier to getting medical help when you need it. I remember some unfortunate circumstances where I needed to escape a particularly unsafe individual, and at the time I decided lying prone and silent on the ground was some appropriate solution (maybe it wasn't, but I was terrified and perhaps irrational in my thinking). EMTs arrived at the scene and came to the conclusion I was faking it (yes, of course, but I felt at the time I could not drop the act for my safety), took me onto the ambulance to the hospital. While on ride, they thought it was necessary to relentlessly verbally and physically assault me which quickly triggered a intense seizure. The doctors at the hospital were suspicious of me and reluctant in their willingness to care for me. I also remember another time as a teenager when my own mother was absolutely furious that I had a stress-induced epileptic seizure because it meant spending a lot of money for my healthcare.

So it's bad enough to have this Disadvantage in the context of it representing stress-induced epilepsy, because it will more likely then not have a Social Stigma attached to it whether you like it or not.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Tymathee

As someone that suffers from stress-induced epilepsy, I applaud you for acknowledging its legitimacy, and to the extent it ought to have some representation in game mechanics

Thanks, I was just trying to fill a hole in the GURPS disadvantage lineup. The original inspiration for the disadvantage was stress-induced disassociative amnesia, but I realized that the write-up could apply to many problems which induced similar symptoms, even if their origins were very different.

Sadly, your experiences aren't uncommon. Unless medics can confirm symptoms using tests or scans, they're quick to assume that the problem is psychosomatic, especially if symptoms are transient or don't always manifest in the same way. Broad-minded specialists might be more sympathetic. Laymen will be frightened by seemingly inexplicable and obviously out-of-control "crazy" behavior.

That's the reason for the built-in bad Reputation for the disadvantage, in the same way that Epilepsy or Split Personality carry bad Reputations. In some cultures, traits like Blackouts or Epilepsy can carry a Social Stigma ("Crazy"), as can any serious chronic mental illness.

People with "chronic but un-diagnosible" diseases might have an undeserved bad Reputation as hypochondriacs among medical professionals, but that's a different problem. (Real hypochondria is essentially a combination Compulsive Behavior and Delusion, modified by the expense and risk of constant medical treatments.)