In between my other reading, I've been plowing through The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories which is a collection of weird fiction short stories. This got me thinking. In a lot of those stories (Lovecraft Mythos stories would be one example) the protagonist is often an overly sensitive, artistic type of person. In a sense, these characters are the antithesis of the robust and daring hero of swashbuckling fiction. Thinking about this led me to wonder how to model such a character in Honor+Intrigue
Artistic Sensitivity Rating
Artistic Sensitivity Rating (ASR) measures the sort of febrile imagination and sensitivity to the outré embodied by many of the protagonists in weird fiction e.g. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Edgar Allen Poe. Artistic Sensitivity may allow a character to notice the weird and outré and even to sense things imperceptible to more insensitive personalities. The Game Master is encouraged to provide extra details or even feverish details either at their discretion or based on an ASR roll.
- Might and Daring provide inverse penalties/bonuses. So a positive Might or Daring provides a penalty and a negative Might or Daring provides a bonus. For example, Might 1 and Daring 2 result in a net penalty to ASR of -3, while Might -1 and Daring -1 result in a net bonus to ASR of +2.
- Savvy provides a bonus equal to Savvy/2.
- Flair does not affect ASR, providing neither a penalty nor a bonus.
- The Artistic Boon: Artistic provides a bonus of +1 to ASR.
- The Too Sensitive Flaw (see below) provides a bonus of +1 to ASR .
An ASR of 0 or less means the character is not sensitive and has no extra chance to sense anything unusual.
Examples
- Signoret [Might 1, Daring 3, Savvy 2]: ASR = -1-3+1= -3; is not sensitive.
- Gaston [Might 3, Daring 3, Savvy 2]: ASR = -3-3+1= -5; is not sensitive.
- Guy [Might 0, Daring 2, Savvy 3]: ASR = +0-2+2= 0; is not sensitive.
- De Chambre [Might -1, Daring 1, Savvy 1]: ASR = +1-1+1= +1; is sensitive.
New Flaw: Too Sensitive
You have the febrile imagination and sensitivity to the outré embodied by many of the protagonists in weird fiction e.g. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Edgar Allen Poe. You notice things imperceptible to more ordinary or insensitive personalities. Add +1 to your Artistic Sensitivity Rating (ASR) score. In addition you will always be sensitive to the outré even if your Artistic Sensitivity Rating is zero or negative. If your score is negative, treat it as equal to zero. In addition, you gain a bonus die on any ASR roll.
Doubles any ill effects of failed rolls vs. Terror or supernatural challenges.
You are likely to be afflicted with insomnia, melancholia, migraines, brain fevers or all of the above. Roll a die when you are required to do something important for the rest of your companions. If a ‘1’
comes up, you are under the effects of one or more afflictions. Roll 1d3 to determine how much Composure you lost. If you’ve lost all Composure, you are incoherently raving or have passed out!
Such characters tend to be artistic or bookish, solitary or reclusive and will often have the Cowardly, Delicate, Obsession, Phobia, or Vice (Addiction) Flaws and may have the Artistic, Learned, Nose for Magic, or Visions/Voices Boons.Doubles any ill effects of failed rolls vs. Terror or supernatural challenges.
You are likely to be afflicted with insomnia, melancholia, migraines, brain fevers or all of the above. Roll a die when you are required to do something important for the rest of your companions. If a ‘1’
comes up, you are under the effects of one or more afflictions. Roll 1d3 to determine how much Composure you lost. If you’ve lost all Composure, you are incoherently raving or have passed out!
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