Dramatic Systems: Derangements

[Xenia]

Derangements
Derangements are representations of a descent to madness: neither a goofy fun wackiness, nor the sobering and very real mental illnesses of the modern world, but something unique to the World of Darkness. They are debilitating and difficult, and some are even frightening. They should be played with scary seriousness, not as amusing quirks or silly, cartoonish behavior.

A character who possesses the Ability Empathy may spend 10 minutes talking to a person suffering from a derangement and make a static challenge using Wits + Empathy (difficulty 10). If she is successful, she may lower the target’s current Derangement traits by one. No character can be targeted with more than one successful application of Empathy for this purpose per game session. Your character cannot use this skill on herself to remove her own Derangement traits.

Derangements will be assigned by Staff as a result of scenes and experiences, and are not something your PC can start with, unless they are Silver Fang. The following system allows staff to work with you to build a custom derangement that fits the exact psychosis of your character.

Derangement Creation
Each derangement has a trigger: a situation, object, or condition that sets off that derangement. Storytellers should not name triggers that are extremely rare, and Storytellers should not assign derangements that do not meaningfully impact a character.

You may be assigned the same derangement multiple times, as long as there is a different trigger assigned to each for each.

Derangement Concepts
Most derangement concepts can be represented with more than one mechanic. For example, pyromania could make you entranced by fire, or it could compel you to start fires. Both are valid derangement options.

Think of the system for creating a derangement this way. If a character’s derangement trigger is water, the specific outcome and reaction will be different according to that character’s derangement type:

Incapacitated	When you see a significant source of water (a pond, stream, or erupting fire hydrant), you enter a fugue-like trance state.
Compulsion	When you are insulted, you want to drown things, preferably the offender. You will settle for sinking her prized belongings into a watery grave.
Phobia	When you see water, you become terrified and begin to desperately try to get away from the source.
Destruction	When under pressure, you try to drown people or other living things, using water to fulfill your dark desires.
Obsession	You will do anything to possess objects that resemble or glorify water. It is inviolably sacred to you.
Belief	You believe that the ocean contains evil spirits who must be pacified with blood sacrifices on the turn of the full moon.

Derangement Traits
While playing, when you encounter a situation that triggers your derangement, you have three options.

1. You can respond to that trigger with an obvious but mild derangement response, clearly roleplaying the day-to-day dysfunction caused by your derangement. If you roleplay in this way, you neither gain nor lose Derangement traits.
2. You can resist the compulsion to respond to the trigger and show no obvious sign of your derangement. If you do this, you must mark a Derangement trait on your character sheet.
3. . Lastly, you can respond to the trigger with a severe response, roleplaying the frightening and unstable depths of your character’s derangement. A severe response lasts for five minutes. Responding in such a way will eliminate all current Derangement traits on your sheet, resetting the character to 0 Derangement traits.

If a character reaches 3 Derangement traits (usually by resisting her derangement for too long), she is on the edge of a psychotic break. When her derangement is next triggered, you must roleplay a severe response. This response eliminates all your character’s Derangement traits, and her level resets to 0 Derangement traits. This is not the case for Silver Fangs, who can't go lower than 1 Derangement Trait at Adren and Athro, or 2 Derangement Traits at Elder.

If you have more than one derangement, any triggering of a derangement gives you Derangement traits, which are counted in total. When you reach 3 Derangement traits, regardless of which Derangement is next triggered, that trigger provokes a severe response and subsequently erases all Derangement traits accrued.

Derangement Descriptions
Derangement: Incapacitated
When you encounter your derangement’s trigger, you enter a state that makes coherent action impossible. You might fall into a fugue state, regress into the mindset of a child, or be paralyzed with unbelievable bliss.
Examples

• When you hear someone singing or telling tales of glory, you fall into a trance and listen with ecstatic joy.
• When participating in a rite or a moot, you fall into a state of blind ecstasy, reveling in the experience and your connection to the spirits.
• When someone yells at you, you regress to the memory of your childhood abuses, shivering and huddling in terror.

While affected by the Incapacitated derangement, you cannot take actions and cannot move. The effects of the Incapacitated derangement end if the trigger disappears (or leaves), after five minutes pass, if you take damage, or if another character aggressively targets you with a supernatural power.

Derangement: Compulsion
When you encounter your derangement’s trigger, you must perform some predefined action associated with your derangement. You find it difficult to take any other action until your Compulsion has been fulfilled.
Examples:

• When someone asks you a difficult question, you ramble, compulsively answering with complex mathematical descriptions.
• When you see small, unattended valuables, you compulsively put them in your pockets.
• When you see a group of similarly shaped objects, such as seeds, socks, or bricks, you are compelled to stop and count them.

When your derangement is triggered, you suffer a -3 penalty to all attack test pools until you fulfill your Compulsion or until five minutes pass. This penalty persists even if the opportunity to fulfill your Compulsion passes. For example, when a compulsive liar tells the whole truth, she might spend the next five minutes distractedly imagining what she should have said. Defense test pools are not penalized by the Compulsion derangement.

Derangement: Phobia
When you encounter your derangement’s trigger, you become terrified and must leave the area. Although it is normal to be frightened of things that can hurt you, such as fire, sharks, etc., a Phobia is an irrational, overwhelming condition.
Examples:

• You fear touching mold or anything else considered dirty and potentially Wyrm-tainted.
• •You fear anything dead that moves, such as vampires or ghosts.
• You fear open spaces and cannot bear to be outside a closed-in area.

When your derangement is triggered, you must leave the area and retreat to somewhere safe. To willingly stay within three steps of your derangement’s trigger, you must spend 1 Willpower per turn. If forced to stay within three steps of your derangement’s trigger, you will attack whoever or whatever is preventing you from leaving the area; you must try to escape by any means necessary.

Derangement: Destruction
When you encounter your derangement’s trigger, you feel the urge to cause destruction or harm.
Examples:

• You need to be the “alpha” werewolf in any social situation, or you respond with violence.
• You gain sexual pleasure from demeaning others or from being demeaned, and struggle to engage others intimately without causing them egregious harm or vice versa.
• •If you fail at any sort of physical activity, such a tripping; falling from a climb; or failing at a challenge, especially in front of others; you must destroy some object of value to feel better.

When the Destruction derangement is triggered, you must cause harm — either mental or physical. The target of your aggression doesn’t have to be the same as whatever triggered it, but that is the most satisfying course of action.

Derangement: Obsession
When you encounter your derangement’s trigger, you must possess or control it.
Examples:

• You are the ultimate collector of lost tribal artifacts, and when you discover one, it must be yours.
• The minions of the Wyrm are hiding secrets that might be the key to defeating them, and you won’t rest until you find out what they’re concealing.
• A relative has dishonored your family name, and you can’t rest until you redeem yourself from her shame.

When your derangement is triggered, you must attempt to acquire that which you are obsessed with. Any time you find yourself within five steps of your derangement’s trigger, you feel the urge to acquire it by any means available. You immediately gain one Derangement trait, unless you take specific steps towards possessing or controlling it.

Derangement: Belief
You perceive the world differently than most people and respond poorly when your beliefs are challenged. Many individuals have strong beliefs, but characters with the Belief derangement take their beliefs to the point of delusion and do not trust people who challenge their thoughts.
Examples:

• You are the most qualified person to lead your fellow Garou in any situation. Anyone who says differently is a mindless fool.
• Water removed from the source carries a curse, and gazing upon a reflection in an artificial container will show you your death.

Anyone who challenges your belief, attempts to convince you that you are wrong, or who mocks your belief is considered either an enemy or dangerously stupid. Anytime you’re forced to work alongside such a person, you suffer a -2 penalty to all attack test pools throughout the duration of the partnership. (You spend a great deal of energy looking over your shoulder.) This penalty applies whenever you cooperate with such a person. Your animosity toward triggering individuals need not be permanent — they can attempt to alter your character’s opinion by offering a physical and verbal apology, so long as it is genuine. This method only works once per night; if the offender repeats the transgression, the character will not believe a second apology, no matter how sincere it seems.

Sample Derangements

• Ritual Freak (Compulsion): Anytime you meet up with two or more of your packmates, you feel the urge to perform a ritual (normally the Rite of Cleansing).
• Ritual Freak (Destruction): Anytime a ritual fails, you feel the urge to drive anyone who might be responsible insane.
• Megalomania (Belief): You’re the most competent person in the world, and anyone who disagrees shouldn’t be trusted.
• Megalomania (Destruction): Anytime someone challenges your authority, you get violent. If you can’t attack the person who insulted you, you break inanimate objects instead.
• Glossal (Phobia): You are frightened of speaking clearly, fearing that enemy spies are watching you at all times. You will only speak in riddle, rhyme, and vague innuendo. If forced to state information clearly, you become convinced “they” are about to attack, and you will flee.
• Multiple Personalities (Belief): When you smell incense, your personality shifts and an ancient ancestor takes hold. Red Fang will rekindle the Impergium at long last.