Mental Illness in Savage Worlds

"Allegory of the Triumph of Venus", Angelo Bronzino (c. 1545)

“It shall be so. Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.”
- Hamlet

From Hamlet to Hannibal Lector, modern storytelling is obsessed with the insane. Some of humanities finest villains and most compelling protagonists have suffered from a mental illness. While the word insane is a broad definition of abnormal behavioral or mental patterns; mental illness defines various derangements that players in a role playing game can give their characters, a much needed, depth. Some role playing games address this subject brilliantly, but for Savage Worlds players, a lack of mental illness hindrances exists. If you are a player or a game master who is looking for a little depth for a character, below are some suggestions for adding mental illness hindrances to your game.

From my years of running games for various groups at conventions, I would like to express one point in particular: Insanity is never funny. Most truly mentally ill people don’t think that they are being humorous when they act out symptoms of their problem. Having a character who takes the Paranoid Schizophrenic hindrance just to have a reason to do odd random things for laughs is, in my opinion, a person who is more of a nuisance than a valuable contributor to the game. Even the Joker from the Batman comics has a serious undertone to his humorous acts.

New Savage Worlds Hindrances

Depression (Minor)

Whenever a character makes a critical failure, they must make a Spirit roll. On a failure, the character suffers from a sudden bought of depression and they suffer one level of Fatigue. (Major) Same as above, only the character receives a -4 penalty on their Spirit roll. This represents severe depression or melancholia.

Schizophrenia (Major)

The game master and the player must define a set of guidelines and behaviors for this hindrance. A particular trauma is the source of this mental illness and it is up to the player and game master to agree on what it is. Behaviors can include a belief that something or someone is out to get them, the player believes that they are someone that they are not, or the character hears taunting voices that terrorize them at important and stressful moments in their life. Whenever someone intimidates, taunts, or tricks the player and scores a Raise, the character enacts their behavior. A player can sacrifice a bennie to avoid the wave of a symptom.  The character also gets a -2 to all social rolls, as they are unpredictable and sometimes violent. If a character with this hindrance is in a situation where they are exposed to unsettling social agitation, like someone challenging their irrational beliefs, yelling, or trauma, the character must make a spirit roll at -4 to not flee the source or attack it.

Vocalization (Minor)

Whenever a character with this hindrance is in a dilemma or presented with a choice, they must make a spirit roll at -2 not to speak their thoughts out loud. Usually this hindrance is more annoying to your fellow party mates than harming, but there are times when a character knows important information and is pressed for it, that speaking their thoughts could be very detrimental.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Major)

A person with OCD uses a set of behaviors and compulsions to deal with the anxiety of guilt or trauma. The game master and the player must define a set of guidelines and behaviors for this hindrance. Once defined, whenever a character is presented with the source of the anxiety, the character must make a Spirit roll at -4 or engage in the behavior to release the anxiety.

Multiple Personality Disorder (Major)

A character with this hindrance has fractured his personality to establish new identities after a traumatic event, whether to deny or push off trauma  to “someone different.” The game master and the player should define the separate personalities and what emotional stress triggers their surfacing. In most cases of Multiple Personality Disorder the separate personalities are not aware of each other.

Fugue (Major)

For some reason or another, your character has experienced some sort of major trauma and has developed a a ritualistic amnesia to cope with the event. The game master and the player must define what this trauma is. Characters with this hindrance must make a spirit roll at -4 or fall into an automatic set of rituals and behaviors to remove the stress of the situation. If a character fails their roll, they might perform the same action over and over, wander in a straight direction with no stopping, or curl up into the fetal position and stare off into space.  A character must make another spirit roll at -2 to snap out of his fugue after performing his behavior.

Irrationality (Minor)

Whenever a character with this hindrance is presented with a situation of extreme tension or possible violence, they must make a spirit roll at -2. If they fail, the character must act crazy or over the top. When in this irrational behavior, a character cannot initiate violence, they can only threaten and insult. This behavior persists for the remainder of the scene. A character must make another spirit roll at -2 to take any action that will further defuse the situation.

Edited by Cassey Toi