Captain's Log: Monolith 2e...Stress & Panic!

Hello everyone!

When I said semi-regular, I meant it! Actually, life's just been busy lately, and I've started a new job, so there's been little brain capacity for 2e work.

Today I wanted to share another new set of mechanics that I plan to add to Monolith 2e, and that is a system for Stress and Panic! Hopefully this helps with converting MoShip adventures as well as adds tools to the toolbox for more psychological or horror-focused situations, without being too dominating of a mechanic. I think the hardest part of these sorts of fear-based mechanics, for me, is that I don't want to take away too much player agency, but at the same time, sometimes sci-fi situations are terrifying, mind-bending, and stressful. And sometimes, when you have enough stress, you crack.

This new set of rules is intended to push player's WIL in the same way damage reduces their STR. And the way STR is reduced in combat, going through HP first, isn't the same as when a PC suffers STR damage out of combat, say from a trap, accident, or risky move. The idea of Stress is you give GMs another option for when a situation is mentally taxing, and Panic is how that manifests during combat. I thought keeping panic responses minimal and simple would be best. These are sort of generic responses, and of course GMs can make custom panic tables for unique adventures.

I took a lot of inspiration from Liminal Horror, which is a game I love! However, LH is designed around quicker descents into madness, so experiencing "Fallout" after failing a critical stress save would result in too much, too fast for a Monolith campaign. I still might explore the idea of something like Fallout being a potential result on the Panic table, but I think how I'm tying in some new Psionic rules (coming soon!) fits the vibe of Monolith's sci-fi adventure  vibes a bit better. And a GM can always add fallout options to their panic table, or swap panic with a full fallout table if it fits the adventure. In my opinion, fallout is very context dependent on the adventure's themes and tone. (LH also includes "stability" which is armor for stress/WIL. Interesting concept that I might toy around with as well.)

This all needs some wordsmithing, but this is the general concept.

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Stress

• Stress is the metaphysical or mental analog to damage (see Combat). It represents how terror, the weird, and supernatural effects impact the PCs. Stress may come as a result of narrative consequences, failed Saves, supernatural repercussions, or enemy powers. (Stress is written like damage, e.g. “1d6 Stress.”)
• In combat, Stress targets HP before reducing WIL (similar to how Damage reduces STR). Fictionally, this looks like stress and fear reducing a PCs ability to protect themselves effectively. When a player takes Stress to their WIL, they make a WIL Save vs Critical Stress. Upon failure in combat, PCs will Panic. 
  • If Stress in combat reduces a player’s HP to exactly 0, without additionally impacting their WIL (just like with Scars) the PC will randomly roll for a Psionic Gift. They will also be deprived until they are able to rest (or indulge their vice.)
• Out of combat, Stress directly reduces WIL. Like damage to STR out of combat, it is typically promoted by a save of some sort, usually in the case of a trap or environmental element. A character that is surrounded by enemies, enveloped by darkness, or facing their greatest fears may experience stress, with d6 being average and d12 being terrifying.

Panic

• Characters that take Critical Stress while in combat will Panic. 
• Panicked characters roll 1d6 on the Panic Effects table to determine their panic reaction. Players suffer from panic effects on their next turn, and recover from the effect on the following turn.
• PCs with Psionic Gifts also roll on the Psionic Resonance table when they take Critical Stress, along with Panicking.