Following the recent Gencon convention, I obtained a copy of Mothership, which is one I have been considering for quite some time. I have heard a great many good things about it, and I am always looking for newer systems with unique twists to the game. Happily, I was not disappointed, and I am working on a set of one-shot adventurers for the October/November time frame. More information to come on that.
One of the big systems in Mothership is the rules on Stress, or what would have been Insanity in Call of Cthulhu or other older games. This is a more modern interpretation of the issues that fear and emotions bring, and something I have seen in a number of other settings. The change in terminology also helps the concept really be applied to a lot of other situations – instead of implying “your mind is broken”, it is instead implying “your mind is overworked”.
Regardless of definition, the mechanic is simple. Each character has a stress value (starting at 2, maximum of 20), which will grow thru the game each time a skill or save is failed (adding one). Any time there is a shocking event (a party member dies, multiple people panic, the big alien threat jumps out, etc), the GM will call for a Panic test (the players can also volunteer for this). The player rolls 1d20, and if the roll is less than the current stress level, then they “panic” and suffer some effect – higher failure numbers are worse. Some effects are actually a benefit (adrenaline rush), and some are certainly bad (heart attack). But most are generic enough for easy interpretation, and there is enough variability to fit most storylines.
These mechanics are so simple and clean, and easy to plug and play into any system, that I am working to implement it into all our existing campaigns. Our Warhammer RPG campaign last night was the start of this – as the characters investigate the cultist plots, they began to accumulate stress. As they failed to get a good night’s sleep, the stress added in. And when they were surprised, they tested against Panic. It wasn’t a big change, but it felt very natural in the game, and worked really well. Once the group started focusing more on good sleep and rest, the stress dropped quickly, which certainly helped reinforce the world.
I plan to add the same definitely to our Traveller/Shadowrun game – I had always planned for a Fear mechanic, but didn’t have a good system. This fits the need directly. I am also pondering the same idea for our Pathfinder Kingmaker campaign, though Pathfinder does tend to much more super-heroic gaming, and it may not really feel right (except for specific scenes).
For the most part, my intent is to use this as appropriate – recovery is intended to be fairly quickly when the group is not deep in the dungeon. So during basic investigation and roleplaying, it will not be much of an issue. But once the group heads into the swamp to deal with the bogtopus, or into the sewers to deal with whatever threats are there, then stress starts to become an issue.
I am curious if others have tried something similar, and what experience you have run into?
Our group did express concerns over mechanics trumping roleplay – if the scene is scary, they should roleplay fear. And I grant that as a viable option for some players and groups. I have seen however that being rather inconsistent with players, based on background, perceived threats, etc. Our bogtopus fight with Larry is a good example – the group was rather eager to head back in to face an unstoppable beast, with their only primary concern was the damage it could do – not the inherent stress such a situation would create.
