Another component has been added to the Dark Conspiracy core rules, in the form of Empathic Stress.
In a nutshell, we wanted a system whereby Empaths actively degrade during their careers as the strain of tapping into Dark Dimensions begins to have a very real effect on their bodies.
The way this is handled is by Empaths making a straight 2D roll (called a Mental Fortitude roll) every term in their career, the success of which depends what kind of Empath they are. Mystics are the weakest in empathic ability, and are likely to drift through their careers with comparatively fewer adverse effects (they are basically hippies, so there may be vast quantities of weed involved here...). Test Subjects, on the other hand, will find it extremely difficult to avoid Empathic Stress and are likely to come out of their (possibly very short) 'career' almost completely broken. Those Empaths in the military steer the central ground in this.
Every time an Empath fails a Mental Fortitude roll, they get to consult the Empathic Stress table.
Empathic Stress
The intention of this table is to give players who only want to 'skip' across these possibilities an 'out'. So, if you roll 2-4, you might well decide you do not want to be blind, so you just choose the complete hair loss, a physical representation of what has happened to you. However, there will certainly be players who want to dive into the role of this person deeply affected by these energies from another dimension, who has been effectively crafted into a weapon to defend humanity at terrible cost to themselves.
The aim is not to 'trap' players but allow a wide variety of playstyles - remember, the new Dark Conspiracy can incorporate anything from the deepest of terrifying cosmic horror with broken people doing terrible things for the best of reasons to a more light-hearted Buffy the Vampire Slayer in playstyles (even, you know, the Scooby Gang, not that we are recommending that...), or anything in-between. It is all about the options.
In a nutshell, we wanted a system whereby Empaths actively degrade during their careers as the strain of tapping into Dark Dimensions begins to have a very real effect on their bodies.
The way this is handled is by Empaths making a straight 2D roll (called a Mental Fortitude roll) every term in their career, the success of which depends what kind of Empath they are. Mystics are the weakest in empathic ability, and are likely to drift through their careers with comparatively fewer adverse effects (they are basically hippies, so there may be vast quantities of weed involved here...). Test Subjects, on the other hand, will find it extremely difficult to avoid Empathic Stress and are likely to come out of their (possibly very short) 'career' almost completely broken. Those Empaths in the military steer the central ground in this.
Every time an Empath fails a Mental Fortitude roll, they get to consult the Empathic Stress table.
Empathic Stress
| 2D | Physical Manifestation |
| 2-4 | The constant use of empathic powers begins to take a serious toll on the body of the empath. The empath loses the ability to speak, all of their hair, or one of their five physical senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, or taste). |
| 5-6 | Even the strongest mind can begin to buckle under the strains of powers best left untouched. Select one emotion (such as happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, or disgust). Whenever the empath experiences one of these emotions, it will always be at its maximum intensity. For example, anger becomes psychotic rage, fear becomes absolute terror, and happiness becomes delirious ecstasy. |
| 7 | Something seems distinctly ‘off’ with the empath, and few people can tolerate their presence for long. There is just something… creepy about them. All checks based on CHA suffer DM-1 while the empath is present. |
| 8-9 | The mind of the empath twists so that it becomes all too easy for it to lock onto a certain compulsive activity. This usually manifests as hoarding or engaging in what is effectively a forced creative outlet – an extreme desire to paint, to sing, write poetry, or scrawl graffiti perhaps. The empath will not be driven to perform this activity all the time, but the compulsion will always be present and must find release from time to time. |
| 10-12 | The empath gains a physical aspect of a Dark Minion. The Referee should choose a Dark Minion and allow the empath to select one aspect of its physical appearance. They gain this aspect as part of their appearance – this could be horns, warts, translucent skin, or something similar. Note that this does not grant any abilities of the Dark Minion, merely a hint of its appearance. |
The intention of this table is to give players who only want to 'skip' across these possibilities an 'out'. So, if you roll 2-4, you might well decide you do not want to be blind, so you just choose the complete hair loss, a physical representation of what has happened to you. However, there will certainly be players who want to dive into the role of this person deeply affected by these energies from another dimension, who has been effectively crafted into a weapon to defend humanity at terrible cost to themselves.
The aim is not to 'trap' players but allow a wide variety of playstyles - remember, the new Dark Conspiracy can incorporate anything from the deepest of terrifying cosmic horror with broken people doing terrible things for the best of reasons to a more light-hearted Buffy the Vampire Slayer in playstyles (even, you know, the Scooby Gang, not that we are recommending that...), or anything in-between. It is all about the options.
