Insanity

The effects of gaining Insanity Points take place after combat.

Degrees of Madness

A character is classified as having a certain degree of madness depending on how many Insanity Points they have. This classification gives a player a broad idea of the state of a character’s mind and how close to the edge he has become. A character’s degree of madness also determines the modifier that will apply to Tests taken to avoid Mental Trauma.

The Insanity Track
Insanity Points	Degree of Madness	Trauma Modifier	Disorders
0–9	Stable	n/a	None
10–19	Unsettled	+10	-
20–29	Unsettled	+10	-
30–39	Unsettled	+10	-
40–49	Disturbed	+0	1st–Minor
50–59	Disturbed	+0	-
60–69	Unhinged	–10	2nd–Severe
70–79	Unhinged	–10	-
80–89	Deranged	–20	3rd–Acute
90–99	Deranged	–20	-
100+	Terminally Insane—character retires from play

Mental Trauma

Mental Trauma represents the relatively short-term damage to a character’s state of mind that he suffers after experiencing a horrific or supernatural event. Each time the character gains 10 Insanity Points he must make a Trauma Test. This is a Willpower Test, modified in difficulty by how many Insanity Points the character has accrued in total (see The Insanity Track Table). If the Test is passed the character manages to cope with his experience without extra ill effect. If the Test is failed roll d100, adding 10 for every degree of failure, comparing the result to the Mental Traumas Table. The result is applied to the character in the aftermath of any encounter that inflicted the Insanity Points on him.

Mental Traumas
01–40	The character becomes withdrawn and quiet. The character is at –10 to all Fellowship-based Tests. This lasts for 3d10 hours.
41–70	The character must compulsively perform an action such as fevered praying, frantically cleaning a weapon, reciting verse, and so on, and pays little attention to anything else. All Tests that are based on Intelligence, Fellowship or Perception suffer a –10 penalty. This effect lasts for 3d10 hours.
71–100	The character is constantly fearful, seeing danger everywhere and extremely jumpy. The character gains a +10 bonus to all Perception-based Tests and is at –10 penalty to his Willpower for the next 1d5 days.
101–120	The character suffers from a temporary severe phobia (see Disorders). This effect lasts for 1d5 days.
121–130	The character reacts to the slightest stress or pressure by becoming extremely agitated. When performing any task that involves a Test, the character must first pass a Willpower Test or suffer a –10 modifier to the Test. If the character gets into combat, all Tests during combat automatically suffer a –10 modifier. This effect lasts for 1d5 days.
131–140	character suffers vivid and extreme nightmares whenever they try to sleep. The next day and for the next 1d10 days the character will be exhausted by lack of sleep and gains a level of fatigue. This effect lasts for 1d5 days.
141–150	The character is struck dumb and is unable to speak. This lasts for 1d5 days.
151–160	Extremely distressed and unfocused, the character refuses to eat or drink and looks in a terrible state. The character takes a –10 penalty to all Characteristics (no Characteristic can be reduced below 1) for 1d10 days.
161–170	The character temporarily becomes hysterically blind or deaf. This effect lasts for 1d10 days.
171+	The character becomes completely traumatised and virtually unresponsive. He can’t initiate actions but may be gently led. This effect lasts for 1d10 days.

Disorders

Gaining Mental Disorders

A new disorder (or a more severe version of an existing disorder) is automatically gained when the character reaches the Disturbed degree of madness, and each time the character has enough Insanity Points to increase his degree of madness by one more stage as shown on The Insanity Track Table. When a character acquires a disorder, the severity of that disorder will depend on his new degree of madness, as shown.
A character must have the preceding severity of a disorder for it to get worse, (so for a disorder to have become “Severe” the character must have the “Minor” version of the disorder first, with the exception of “The Flesh is Weak” that has no Minor version).

The Severity of Disorders

All disorders are rated as being Minor, Severe or Acute in ascending order of effect.
Minor Disorder: The effects of the disorder manifest rarely or are experienced only to a small degree. Any Test to overcome the effects of the disorder gain a +10 bonus.
Severe Disorder: The effects of the disorder are stronger and may occur regularly. There is no modifier to Tests made to overcome the effects of the disorder.
Acute Disorder: The effects of the disorder are very strong and occur at the slightest stimulation. Any Test to overcome the effects of the disorder take a –10 penalty.

Types of Mental Disorders

There is potentially no end to the variety of unpleasant and unwholesome disorders that might afflict a character, and a few examples are presented here. GMs should also feel free to invent their own to suit the individual Player Character and the horrors they undergo.

The Flesh is Weak

Seriousness: Severe, Acute.
The character sees his flesh as weak and will constantly blame it for his failures and problems. He will also try to change and/or remove his flesh, becoming increasingly obsessed with surgical modification as well as bionic replacement.

Phobia

Seriousness: Minor, Severe, Acute. The character has a deep dislike and fear for a particular thing or circumstance. A phobic character must succeed on a Willpower Test to interact with the focus of his phobia. Enforced or gratuitous exposure to the focus of his exposure may incur Fear Tests. Examples of this disorder are:

Fear of the Dead

The character has an abiding fear and loathing of corpses and the dead, possibly due to the fact that sometimes they don’t stay dead…

Fear of Insects

Scuttling things with many legs are the character’s waking nightmare: faceless, numberless and hungry, forever hungry.

Obsession/Compulsion

Seriousness: Minor, Severe, Acute.
The character has a compulsion to perform a particular action or is obsessed with a particular thing. A character must make a Willpower Test not to act in a compulsive way or not pursue his obsession when the opportunity arises. Examples of this disorder include any of the following:

Kleptomania

The character compulsively steals small objects if he has the opportunity. Often the character attaches no value to such objects.

Self-Mortification

The character must scourge and whip his flesh on a regular basis (or after a particular event such as killing), in order to purge away the sin of his actions through pain.

Visions and Voices

Seriousness: Minor, Severe, Acute.
The character sees things that are not there and hears things that others do not. Acute sufferers may experience visions into which they are totally immersed.

Dead Comrade

The character hears the voice of an old friend now long-dead. At a Severe level, he may even have visions of his friend or converse with them, if his condition becomes Acute.

Flashbacks

The character relives traumatic moments from his life. The length and vividness of these episodes vary according to the seriousness of his condition.

Delusion

Seriousness: Minor, Severe, Acute.
The character suffers from a particular false belief that he has to act on as if it were the truth, despite his better judgement or evidence to the contrary.

Invulnerability

The character believes that he will never get severely injured, either through luck or divine providence. Such a character would have to pass a Willpower Test not to enter a ganghouse and throw insults and punches instead of exercising due caution, for example.

Righteousness

The character believes his choices are right and justified, no matter what the cost. Such a character might claim to be a Puritan despite using proscribed knowledge, or refuse to act subtly where it would otherwise be prudent to do so.

Horrific Nightmares

Seriousness: Minor, Severe.
The character suffers from vivid and reoccurring nightmares; trying to run from a black sun in the sky, or being imprisoned in an endless machine, for example. After any stressful day, the character must pass a Willpower Test in order not to succumb to his terrors while asleep. If he fails, the character will suffer from a single level of Fatigue on the following day.

Removing Insanity

With the GMs permission, a character may use xp to remove Insanity Points. It costs 100 xp to remove a single Insanity Point. A character may never go down a degree of madness and so will never lose their disorders. All buying back of Insanity Points should be properly represented as time and effort spent by the character in game. Possible ways of representing the removal of Insanity are:

• Prayer, fasting, penance and mortification of the flesh.
• Long-term palliative care.
• Recuperation in quiet and pleasant surroundings.
• Contemplation of the great holy works or other articles of faith (the Credo Omnissiah for example for Mechanicus characters).

Only the Insane Shall Prosper

The more insane a character becomes the less horrific things seem. After all, what are the monsters of reality compared to those one sees whenever one closes one’s eyes? If the first digit of a character’s Insanity total is double or more a thing’s Fear Rating the character is unaffected by it and does not need to make a Fear Test.