<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Time for a rules interlude</div><div class="spoiler_body">The stress gauges.  Mmmmkay.  These are a tricky concept and by and large its not essential that you understand them - I'll just ask you for a roll from time to time.<br/><br/>In essence though they're a way of monitoring how much the vicissitudes of life are affecting you mentally.  A madness meter, if you will.<br/><br/>There are five of them - Violence, Helplessness, Isolation, Self and the Unnatural.  Each measures how well you are coping mentally with the appropriate type of stress.  A combat veteran might have become all but immune to the sight of dismembered body parts but will flip his lid if he gets trapped in an isolation booth for a day.  A magician, on the other hand, might not blink an eyelid at being transported to a parallel world where Austria-Hungary won the first world war but will running screaming if someone pulls a knife on him.<br/><br/>Each gauge has two types of "notches".  Failed and Hardened (f and h on your character sheets).  There are 10 hardened notches, 5 failed ones.  Hardened notches represent you growing used to the appropriate stress - the combat veteran.  Failed represent it taking a toll on your mental stability.  Neither are what you might call "good".  Filling up too many hardened ones means you are increasingly withdrawn from what makes you human, you become a sociopath.  Too many failed means your mind has broken, you go insane.  I'll explain the rules for those two states when they become relevant.<br/><br/>When I ask for a stress check, what I'm asking for is a roll against your Mind stat.  Success gives you a hardened notch as you absorb into your psyche whatever it is that is so disturbing, bringing you a step closer to a disconnect from humanity.  Failure means it "got through the shields".  You take a failed notch and choose one of three actions:<br/><br/>Panic - You run the fuck away from it.  As fast as you can.  Doesn't matter where, the goal is "away" not "towards"<br/>Paralysis - the deer in a headlights approach.  You might rock, maybe scream, but you stand rooted to the spot until its gone away.<br/>Frenzy - you fuck that thing's shit up.  You attack, smash and destroy.<br/><br/>You pick one of those three and stay like that until I tell you otherwise.  In some cases, one or more of them might not be relevant, use common sense.<br/><br/>There are ways of removing failed notches.  The only one likely to come up is "psychological first aid" - which is what Tannen is attempting with Bran.  Shortly (within an hour) after failing a check if someone sits down and helps you make sense of it then they have a chance of repairing the damage done to your mind.  In game terms, they make a check against something like "Counselling", "Psychiatry", "Good person to talk to" or other relevant skill.  If they pass their roll, you erase the failed mark.<br/><br/>A lot to cover there.  Takeaway points are:<br/>Roll Mind when I ask you to.<br/>If you fail, choose frenzy, panic or paralysis<br/>I will let you know when you can stop<br/>I will let you know, in vague terms, what your current state of mental stability is.  Thats down to you to roleplay to the extent you like - Im not actually going to force it on you but I do think its very interesting to play.</div></div><br/>He smiles kindly at Bran and nods encouragingly as he unwraps the bar of chocolate.  "Just throw the wrapper in the back seat, I'll clean it out later.  And if you want to talk to me then feel free.  It'll do you good."<br/><br/>He watches Bran for a moment longer then turns his attention back to Norm and Miyo, though still casts occasional worried glances at the boy.