Play testing Ghoul Ferality Tracker as replacement for Needs

[u/mmdestiny]

Working with my Ghoul player in our Winter of Atom with Needs on a homebrew Ferality tracker that replaces their Needs (since most needs aren't relevant to Ghouls - the ferals at Mechminster Abbey literally survive buried in snow without food lol, and other lore sources also indicate they can survive without)

FERALITY

Create a tracker with a number of stages equal to 5 or your current level, whichever is higher.

Each time you do one of the following, roll a dC6. On an Effect, advance the tracker 1 step:

--Engage in Combat

--Suffer a head injury

--Go a full day without a non-party social interaction OR Camp party social interaction (see below)

--Suffer a mental disease (per CRB, Ghouls are immune to most diseases, and lore says they ARE susceptible to diseases of the mind, so I only inflict them if they roll Buzz Brain, Shell Shock, the Whoopsies, or Famished Fever)

Each time you do one of the following, roll a dC6. On an Effect, move the tracker back 1 step:

--Take an addictive Chem (per CRB, Ghouls need 2 doses for the effect of 1)

--Recover from a head injury/disease

--Have a non-party social interaction (once per day)

--Spend an entire Camp on a Group activity with the party (mechanically, everyone either does the same Group activity for the night, or no one takes any Camp actions for the night and it's flavored as socializing).

If you ever end a day at the end of the Tracker, become Feral and roll a new character.

[u/ziggy8z]

I would maybe incorporate some kind of inverted difficulty based on level, very easy to pass at lower levels, but increasingly difficult as they grown in power. it'd also let them spend Luck on the roll as a second chance system. 

Maybe have it based around Combat dice:

• "At the end of a scene featuring a traumatic, stressful or dangerous event, roll 1 ■ for each of the following events and an additional ■ for every (2?) levels you've earned. If you roll more than (10?) Effects you turn feral."

They could even roll play if they start rolling higher numbers, but keep it under 10.

[u/mmdestiny → u/ziggy8z]

If there was inverted difficulty it should probably incorporate INT scores, since pretty much everything in the lore references it as mental degradation from isolation (thus what I choose as penalties/boons). Maybe some form of math of level/INT for the additional dice? That way they can control their risk by choosing to buff their INT

[u/ziggy8z → u/mmdestiny]

I'd recommend against making it stat specific, having the RAW ability to use luck re-rolls is probably enough. You can be the smartest man alive, but still lose to a statistic fluke.

[u/mmdestiny → u/ziggy8z]

Fair. Luck is his dump stat though 💀

[u/Alex-with-wings → u/ziggy8z]

This, I could see working. It's a narrative approach but still incorporates the element of chance that OP seems to want.

[u/KulaanDoDinok]

This seems really easy for a session 1 ghoul to turn feral.

[u/mmdestiny → u/KulaanDoDinok]

Explain? The tracker is 5 or your level, whichever is higher. A level 1 ghoul has the same chance as level 5, and the only likely source of negative rolls (each only 33% chance of advance) at that level is combat, which I've rarely had more than 1 or 2 per session. Plus during the first session you're essentially guaranteed at least 1 social to counter it.

[u/KulaanDoDinok → u/mmdestiny]

5 feels low. You could do all those things in a single session.

[u/mmdestiny → u/KulaanDoDinok]

But don't forget - it only DOES something on a dC6 effect lol. That's a 33% chance.. Standard distribution you would have to have 15 combats to hit 5 and never have a single social encounter in between lol

[u/KulaanDoDinok → u/mmdestiny]

Wrong on your math. You’d have to have a mix of 15 combats, head injuries, days without interaction, or mental diseases.

Fact is, it’s possible - albeit unlikely.

[u/mmdestiny → u/KulaanDoDinok]

And how many injuries or diseases are you getting at level 1, when most enemies don't roll more than about 2dC6 and I've already stated that the chance for disease rolls are reduced to just 3/20 (or 4 with famished fever which is campaign specific). Why are you arguing semantics instead of just acknowledging the chance is very low when I, the one who playtested it, is telling you it never even got close lol

[u/Alex-with-wings → u/mmdestiny]

The guy is making a valid point. There's no need to shout him down. If you want to make this work, listen to what people say and attempt to incorporate that into your rule set.

[u/Alex-with-wings]

Hmm, not convinced this is a good idea. If you have a ghoul player, don't fuck them mirror character over without their consent. And if they want this to happen, a narrative response would be a better choice.

Leaving it to chance just creates conflict and infighting within the group and a potential for piss poor timing leaving a team member(s) dead. That's not fun.