## Lucidity ### When to do a Lucidity check One performs a Lucidity check when the Game Master believes they have gone through something sufficiently traumatic to warrant a Lucidity check being called. Lucidity represents one clearness of thought, things which comrpomse this, such as items listed below, or other extreme things, the person should suffer some lucidity loss. For example: - Seeing a friend get killed - watching your leader get killed - getting attacked by an otherworldly thing - interacting with a creature from another [[Planes of Existence]] - Witnessing a lover cheat on you - Finding a dead body - Being arrested by a foreign nation - Interacting with someone who is vastly more powerful than you - Committing a crime - Basically any time a character does something that is extremely traumatic compared to their day to day life/compared to what they have been desensitized to. Thus a grizzled veteran may have to do a Lucidity check dealing with office work, whereas the previously sane office worker is doing Lucidity checks when they get dragged on a covert mission with a group of steel faced special forces operative who need no Lucidity check. #### What happens if you fail? If you fail the Lucidity check, reduce your Lucidity by 1D4 and adjust the modifier accordingly. If your modifier value changes, you gain a new Condition. Conditions are roleplay based fears or triggers for your character worked out between you and the GM based on the situation. The condition does not have to be debilitating or overly challenging, it might be small and very situation. If a characters [[RPG/RPG V1/Core Book/Main Rules/Lucidity|Lucidity]] modifier changed two levels, the condition is sever. A sever condition is more general and larger in size as well as impact on ones life, but simiarly should be based on the circumstances under which they suffered it. Having failed the check, the GM rolls 1D8 on the Madness table below, for the next 1D6 rounds you suffer the rolled effects: **Madness Table** | Roll | result Name | Effect | | ---- | -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 1 | Flee in Fear | The Character attempts to flee from whatever has caused their Lucidity loss | | 2 | Paranoia | The Character becomes CONVINCED that THEY are out to get the Character | | 3 | Emotional Outburst | Its all too much - the Character can't keep their emotions in check; they just explode out | | 4 | Reconsider a Contact | Something causes the Character to reconsider one of their existing contacts and see them in a new - often more demented - light | | 5 | Violence | The Character feels compelled to violence, even against their allies | | 6 | Physical Outburst | The Character just can't keep it in anymore and it explodes out physically. This might be punching the wall, kicking the trash can, going for a run, etc. | | 7 | Fall Unconscious | Its all too much - The Character passes out | | 8 | Amnesia | Its all too much - The Character forgets the last 1D6 * 10 minutes | ### Going Insane Lucidity is not a binary state - you are sane or you are insane - but instead the general ability for one to keep oneself together. Even at 1 or 0 Lucidity, a person may still 'be there' until something causes them to _snap_ and disappear. The descension down Lucidity is as follows: - 3-5 - Starting to Slip - The Characters grip on reality starting to go. They're still mostly here and now, but every now and then they're a bit more jaded, a bit more distant, a bit more inhuman, then before. It might be that their personality changes completely - from an anti-capitalist to buying a bunch of cheap knickknacks at a store - for a moment without reason, or it might be that they are simply living 'closer to their true self' and 'giving fewer fucks about what others think'. - Characters apply their Lucidity modifier to All [[Social Standing]], [[Education]], and [[Magic]] checks and associated skill checks. - 1-2 - Losing their grip - The characters grip on reality is fading. Their choices are not always sane, and may not make sense to anyone but themselves, but they're taken anyway! - Characters apply their Lucidity modifier to All [[Social Standing]], [[Attractiveness]], [[Education]], and [[Magic]] checks and associated skill checks. - 0 - Lost it - Once a traumatic event occurs, or there is otherwise a reason for the character to snap, they do so. They are insane. Give them over to the Game Master for a while. The Character may return with some Lucidity or not. - Until the event occurs, the characters grip on reality is fading fast. - Characters apply their Lucidity modifier to All [[Social Standing]], [[Attractiveness]], [[Charisma]], [[Intelligence]], [[Education]], and [[Magic]] checks and associated skill checks. #### The Snap The Snap is what finally triggers ones inLucidity. It might happen because of the death of a dear friend, or because its Tuesday, and you hate having to wake up early for work on Tuesdays. When you've lost it, at the start of every day make a [[Simple]] Lucidity check, if you fail, you've snapped. Otherwise continue on your normal day roleplaying your inLucidity. If you fail any Lucidity checks while at 0 Lucidity that's it - you've snapped and lost it. Your character blacks out and is now under the GM's control. The GM may choose to give it back, or the character is just gone. #### Lucidity Loss from Augmentation Some augments cost you Lucidity to install. These tend to be the more extreme, inhuman, augments. These cost Lucidity because they serve to further separate you from the 'real' world. It is not that you are less human, or that you see yourself as less human, more that you are literally, physically, less able to differentiate cyberality from reality and as such you become stuck in between. ### Restoring Lucidity One can restore Lucidity in a number of ways: talking to people, taking drugs, venting to contacts, and seeking professional help. #### Talking to people Talking to those immediately around you restores 1 point of Lucidity, assuming it is done within 24 hours of the point having been lost, and the person talked to went through the same or similar events. _For Example, the player characters talking after encountering a [[vampyr]] for the first time will restore one Lucidity to each character._ #### Taking Drugs You want to do stuff the quick and easy way. Maybe you don't have time to see a therapist, maybe you don't have friends you trust enough to vent to. Point is, you need a way out that you can do on your own, and drugs is it. Pop some pills and make it all go away. To do this see the [[Anti-Depressant]] item. #### Venting to Contacts Talking to those you went through the trauma with is one thing, but venting to the people who you _really_ know, love em or hate em, is another thing. Restore 1D6 Lucidity by seeking out one of your contacts and venting to them. Maybe you write a letter to your mentor detailing your troubles, or maybe you hate-stalk your high school asshole, find out they're on the same planet as you, realize they go a bar not too far away from you. Then you head down there, and beat the ever loving snot out of them. Either way, you've vented your problems to someone, and now that someone else has to deal with it. Work with your Game Master to figure out which contact you vent to, and how you vent to them. Make sure that you explain to your game master how you vent to them, and preform a relevant [[Attributes|Attribute]] or [[Known Universe Skill List|Skill]] check, the effect of which should be added to the 1D6 rolled for Lucidity points restored. You can only vent to one contact a week. _Note to GMs: This can often be a fun side quest for a player during a solo session, or a small party side adventure when wanting to take a break from the main campaign._ #### Seeking Professional Help The best way to deal with trauma is to seek professional help. Maybe its just the local bar keep, or maybe its a cybernetically enhanced therapist with empathic powers, either way it helps more then anything else. While this is the most costly way, it is also the best way, restoring 1D12 Lucidity per session, and you can have as many sessions as you can pay for. The cost of a session should range depending on the 'quality' and tech level of the world. A low tech back water where the Character is venting to the bar keep might be as pricey as the bar tab - maybe 100 credits but lasts a whole night. On a high tech world with the previous mentioned empathic enhanced therapist, it might run 1000 credits but last only an hour. If a Character is getting higher quality service and wishes to pay to go longer, they should be given some kind of benefit, ranging from a +1-6. Here is a table of example options for seeking professional help including their name, description, tech level, time, cost, and modifier: | Name | Description | Tech Level | Time | Cost | Modifier | | -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------- | ---------- | ------------- | -------- | | Neural Therapist | A therapist that uses advanced neural technology to access and adjust mental states, emotions, and memories. | 18 | 1 hour | 8,000 credits | +6 | | Dream Therapist | A therapist who uses advanced dream analysis and manipulation techniques to address mental health issues. | 16 | 8 hours | 6,000 credits | +5 | | Psychopharmacologist | A specialist in advanced psychiatric medications and treatments for complex mental health conditions. | 14 | 30 minutes | 4,000 credits | +4 | | Holocounselor | A virtual counselor that uses holographic technology to provide mental health support to individuals. Can be called up on a ship | 9 | 1 hour | 3,000 credits | +3 | | Xenopsychologist | A psychologist who specializes in alien psychology and cross-cultural mental health issues. | 12 | 1 hour | 2,000 credits | +2 | | VR Therapist | A therapist who uses advanced virtual reality technology to simulate and treat mental health issues. | 8 | 1 hour | 2,000 credits | +2 | | Hypnotherapist | A therapist who uses hypnosis to address mental health issues and help clients achieve personal growth. | 7 | 30 minutes | 1,000 credits | +1 | | Empathic Counselor | A counselor who uses advanced empathic abilities to provide emotional support and guidance. | 6 | 1 hour | 500 credits | +1 | Note: The time and cost values are just suggestions and can be adjusted according to the game master's discretion. The modifier values represent how much extra Lucidity points are restored by each professional help session.