Gaining Madness - LunarNeil/Call-of-Cthulhu-Campaign GitHub Wiki
The worsening mental health of an Investigator subjected to repeated psychological trauma is tracked as an increase of Madness, similar to how physical health is tracked as Damage.
Madness is tracked on the Madness Meter, which counts up from 0 (calm) to 20 (crazed) and can actually decrease naturally as a result of victory or forgetfulness. Madness does not necessarily manifest as frothing insanity, it would more accurately be thought of mental strain and the capacity for an individual to keep their grip on reality. Investigators with high Madness can appear entirely normal.
Unlike the Damage Gauge, which always returns to 0 when an Investigator has fully recovered, it is possible that Madness once gained will never go away. This is nearly always the cost of a Story the Investigator adds, giving themselves a permanent psychosis or increase to their Madness Meter to avoid a complete mental breakdown or unlock the secrets of magic.
Investigators regularly gain and lose Madness over the course of their adventures, so some degree of Madness gain will always acceptable. The real danger of Madness comes from how quickly an acceptable level of Madness becomes potentially dangerous, especially if a dramatic failure or a new revelation rob the team of their last shred of hope.
Despair can grip their already strained minds and drive them over the precipice of insanity forever.
Stability Checks and Increasing Mental Instability
Stability Checks are intense struggles of Investigator self-control. Madness is specifically mentioned not to cause a character to appear deranged or insane, but a loss of mental stability most certainly will.
Any time an Investigator is forced to make a Stability roll they will experience a terrible wave of anxiety that gives them a negative Instability modifier (-2 is normal) until they are able to calm down. Every subsequent Stability Check forced upon the Investigator increases their Instability (-2 becomes -3, then -4, and so on) until the point that they finally fail the check and have an incoherent outburst of emotion.
The degree to which a Traumatic Event affects your Investigator depends on how severe the Trauma was and the margin of success on your Stability Roll:
- Successful, by a large margin
If the Stability Roll is successful by a few margins and the trauma was not severe, the Investigator will be shaken, maybe horrified, but otherwise outwardly unaffected. They do not gain any points of Madness and will be able to shake off the jitters once they have a moment to calm themselves away from the source of the distress.
- Successful, by small or no margin
If the Stability Roll is successful by only a bare margin and the trauma is severe or rather personal, the Investigator will be shaken, mortified, and suffer an outburst of terror, rage, or despair. They will be nearly incoherent and almost impossible to calm down or reason with. If they have any mental Traits that compel their behavior during this time, such as a phobia, their self control will be compromised. They do not gain any points of Madness, and will be able to regain their composure once their outburst has passed and they are able to rest for an extended period.
- Unsuccessful
If the Stability Roll is unsuccessful, the Investigator will be gripped by a temporary madness and launch into an uncontrollable outburst of terror, rage or despair. They may be unable to distinguish reality from delusion, and can behave in extreme or unpredictable ways. If they have any mental Traits that compel their behavior during this time, such as a phobia, their self control will be nearly nonexistent. They will gain 1 Point of Madness, and can only regain control of their faculties after their madness has run its course and they are able to rest for an extended period.
###Removing Madness Points The Madness Meter is treated as permanent, but there are ways to repair the damage. Destroying a mythos creature can demystify it enough to ease the Madness. Ending a grave threat to mankind can give you new hope and erase several points of Madness. You can also spend Sanity Points to remove small amounts of Madness through long-term recuperation, which Wounded Investigators will be doing anyway. Desperate Investigators at the end of their Meter can expend Sanity to pick up negative Traits as a way to control the Madness, such as developing a dependence on alcohol or suffering recurrent bouts of amnesia that erase the memories of madness. All of these depend upon a Keeper's approval, but they can add a lot to your character development.