Courage, Fears, and Traumas

Courage, Fears, and Traumas

Courage

Courage is the currency of the valiant and lucky. It is an abstract representation of a character’s spiritual energy and hope. Courage is an important currency in the game, allowing players to alter die rolls in their favor and even re-roll a poor result by taking Valiant Actions in and outside of Combat. This resource gives the players important agency over die rolls that are particularly important for their character and story.

When a character takes Spiritual damage, typically from fear attacks, they reduce their current Courage by the amount of damage they received. If this would bring their current Courage to 0 or below, their current Courage is set to 0 and they are now Frightened and gain a Fear. Hopeless. Characters can receive multiple Fear in this way if they keep taking Spiritual damage.

Courage is harder to recover than the other Reserves. It can be recovered by taking the Assess Conviction action after sleeping and resting in a safe location.  Additionally, an ally can spend hours taking the Share Spirit action while you both are resting in a safe place.

Fear

Fear points are an abstract representation of spiritual damage to a character’s spirit. While a character has any Fear, they are Frightened and take a Bane to all rolls. Anytime a character receives a new Fear, they must take the Confront Fear action (see below). Fear points can be removed by an ally taking the Comfort Fears action during Journey mode or by taking the Rest action and sleeping through the night in a safe location. Once all Fear are removed, the character is no longer Frightened.

Requirement: You have received at least one new Fear.
You confront your mounting fears. You take a Bane on this roll for each Fear you already possess (but not the one you just received).
Resolution: Resolve   

 – You confront your fears and remain brave.
 – As success, but you gain a surge of bravery, you regain  1d6 Courage.
 – You receive a Trauma and are now Losing Control. After the danger has passed, take the Supress Trauma action (see below) to see if any suppressed Traumas have reactivated.
If this would be your 4th Trauma, you immediately descend into madness and permanently become an NPC controlled by the GM. Courage cannot save you in this instance. Envision how your character loses control and falls into oblivion and madness.
 – As failure, but you are automatically Uncontrolled.

Losing Control

A character that is Losing Control is succumbing to their fears and descending into madness. They cannot take any actions and they must take the Losing Control action at the beginning of their turn each combat round. The Calm Ally action with the Inspire Skill can stop a character from Losing Control.

Requirement: Your turn begins during a combat round while you are Losing Control.
Resolution: Resolve   

 – You stave off madness for one more combat round.
 – You manage to pull it together and are no longer Losing Control.
 – You lose control of yourself and are now Uncontrolled. You enter a fight or flight reflex and fall under the control of the GM. You may fight without any regard for your own well-being, or irrationally flee until you feel safe from danger.
 – You faint from extreme fear and drop Unconscious.

Traumas

When a character receives a Trauma, roll  1d6 on the Trauma Table below.

Trauma Table

1d6	Trauma	Attribute	Description
1	Shaken	-1 COR	Anxious and fearful, worried most of the time.
2	Absentminded	-1 INT	Trouble focusing, lost in thought often.
3	Apathetic	-1 WIL	Loss of interest, slight death-wish.
4	Jaded	-1 CHA	Irritated and dismayed with most people.
5	Oblivious	-1 PER	Intrusive thoughts distract from the present.
6	Withdrawn	-1 EMP	Feel disconnected and prefer to be alone.

Each Trauma results in a modifier to a character’s mind or spirit Attribute. This is directly applied to a character’s current Attribute value, which will usually cause reductions in Skills, Resistances, and Reserves. When an Attribute is reduced by an Trauma, both the current and maximum Reserve values are reduced accordingly.

All Traumas are considered permanent. However, with the Treat Trauma action a Trauma is likely to become Suppressed. A Suppressed Trauma no longer reduces a character’s Attribute, but it remains on the player’s character sheet. Whenever a character fails a Confront Fear action, they must take the Suppress Trauma action for each Trauma they possess. They do not take this action until AFTER the current danger has ended.

Requirement: You have one or more suppressed Traumas and you failed the Confront Fear action. After the combat encounter has ended, roll a Resolve test for each suppressed Trauma.

Resolution: Resolve   

 – You manage to keep the Trauma suppressed.
 – The Trauma resurfaces and is no longer suppressed. The associated Attribute is reduced accordingly.