coolness under fire...
 

So I was looking through my recently purchased v1 PDFs (about damn time. I haven't been able to put my phone down to stop reading them.) and I was reading the section about coolness under fire. It seems a little... Mild for what a soldier would experience or suffer during combat. Now obviously you don't want your character to have a psychotic breakdown every time a gun goes off, but I think the mechanics need to be expanded. Idk how v2/2.2 handles the psychological/PTSD/panicking aspects of things, but I was wondering if any of you had addressed this before. Me and me best friend had devised a game similar to t2k(before we aware of its existence) and we had our own mechanic for PTSD.

Targan and Major Po posted a great table of mental illnesses a while back.

I would use it (with modified die rolls) in any modern campaign with quite a bit of combat.

Ooh, thanx. I'll have to look at it later, when I have PC access. I do most everything from my phone.

Interesting. I wonder if any systems have ever covered Asperger's?

Game Mechanic fro Asperger's Syndrome? I don't think so
 

I have not seen it as a game mechanic; you could probably model some aspects of Asperger's in GURPS. Certainly, I have known people who use such behaviors in their characters.

Note that Asperger's is a spectrum, ranging from barely noticeable behaviors across to those who can barely function to handle their daily physical requirements (feeding themselves, cleaning themselves, etc), much less interacting with other people. So, I'm hard pressed to see a game mechanic to cover it in T2K - or any system for that matter.

You could make a rule set of an individual's behavior, but no two would necessarily be alike.

What was it you wanted to try to model?


Uncle Ted

I wasn't planning on modelling it myself (I'm aware it's a big spectrum). There are certain traits in some systems that could be used, definitely.

As I read it, CUF isn't meant to represent psychic damage from combat, but it does the same thing as initiative and/or training levels in most other RPGs or wargames. It is a limit on actions per turn for a character. IMO, it's one of the most intriguing and useful rules in the game.

Ok, when explained like that it makes more sense.

Twilight 2013 did Coolness right in my opinion. They have "Threat Conditions" which add up. When your Coolness is exceeded; You begin to hesitate. You can even end up "suppressed" (and unable to act), or be forced to give up or retreat. Each threat condition is 1 point. Threat conditions add up and you can reduce your own "Threat Level" by killing enemies, or having friends show up.

Examples of Threat Conditions include but are not limited to (1 point for each):
Being under attack
Being personally attacked
Attacked with automatic weapons
Attacked with explosives
Being wounded
Having friends wounded

Examples of Threat Condition Reductions include:
Allies show up
TANGO DOWN!
Your attackers outnumbered
Your attackers outgunned (pistols verses rifles)

The list goes on and on. The effects on initiative, skill checks,etc... are well thought out. I highly recommend the system.

Seems do-able, but a bit extra book keeping.

I just give my players .40 bullets or poker chips as "threat tokens." they add them up during the Declaration Phase of Initiative and I apply the penalties for that round (if any). I then add or subtract "threat tokens" at the end of the round. Exceeding your coolness results in an initiative penalty. Exceeding Coolness X 2 means you hesitate for that round unless you succeed at a WILL check (WILL X 2 -"Threat Tokens" over 2xCoolness). 3 X Coolness will cause an automatic Hesitation and may cause a Retreat if the WILL check is not made. It actually takes longer to explain than to employ.

There was a fun attribute for NPCs in the old TSR Commando RPG: Break Point. You roll on percentile dice, and multiply by the indicated multiple (x2, x3, whatever), and if the enemy reaches their break percentage, they retreat. It would translate to a sort of mass hesitation every round, with a small chance of not hesitating, and having an automatic worst initiative roll.

When in the hospital at Wally-World, we had fun and therapy in T2K (of course I took it with me!) playing characters based on our own mental illnesses. The staff frowned when we got too deep, but didn't stop us, agreeing that it had theraputic value.

Twilight 2013 also has rules in it for "Psychological Injuries," including rules for using the Psychology skill to cure it. I'm not a fan of the base Reflex System, but 93 Games Studio did do several things well in the game.