I submit to the WoD and RPG playing public My sanity system for WoD.
 
This is in addition to the requirements from the Morality system (a la the Mage Wisdom system), please tell me what you think, I want to work out any kinks before I use it:
 
Sanity:
 
10 - Witnessing someone doing something selfish or illogical (5 dice)
 
9 - questioning your own POV (5 dice)
 
8 - Aknowledging the possibility of the supernatural (4 Dice)
 
7 - Acting on the possibility the supernatural is real. (4 Dice)
 
6 - witnessing someone/something obviously affected by the supernatural
(3 Dice)
 
5 - Being affected by the supernatural (3 dice)
 
4 - Affecting someone with a supernatural effect, being hurt by the supernatural (2 Dice)
 
3 - hurting someone with a supernatural force, witnessing someone dying from a supernatural force (2 dice)
 
2 - Killing someone with a supernatural force, witnessing proof of Something That Should Not Be (1 die)
 
1 - Witnessing someone affected by Something That Should Not Be. Attempting to use a Force of A Thing That Should Not Be (1 die)
 
0 - witnessing or being affected by Something That Should Not Be (0 dice ie a chance die)
 
Notes:
Sanity Six is a REQUIREMENT to attempt any supernatural effect. Use Mage, Vampire, and Werewolf power levels as guidance. It takes sanity 6 to do a 1 dot effect, 5 for a two, 4 for a three etc. All effects will require a ritual of some sort. All effects  will cost either a willpowr point or Willpower DOT depending on the effect. Willpower dots can be bought back at the flatrate of 7 XP. All effects are at the discretion of the ST (of course).
 
Anybody hit with a Sanity Zero affect automaticly loses 1 Sanity dot, they then have a chance die to not lose another.
 
Sanity cannot be bought back, however you can buy off derangements gained from sanity loss for 7 x dot. You must buy off the lower most level first. Example. Bob's Sanity is 5, he gained Codependance at sanity 6 and Megalomania at Sanity 5. Not wanting to be a megalomaniac anymore he buys it off for 5x7 XP (35), he can handle codependance for a little while longer.

Could have used a bit more explanation. I take it this is for a  WoD Cthulu thingamajig?  It took a bit of reading to make heads or tails of what you were doing.

That said, I find the first entry problematic. I mean, here I am, all saintly and sane and someone puts on mismatched argyle socks and fucks up my day... or if they litter? Gah.

I understand that you can't follow the typical 'internal' morality guidelines you are ripping off, but being shaken by selfishness in some random stranger? Rough. Only the truely sane would be hermits living the woods, isolated from all human contact. :confused:

To be honest, the WoD morality mechanics are probably not a good match for what you are doing. They are clunky when used for what they are meant for. Might be simpler to just rip the normal sanity mechanic from the CoC book and port it more or less straight in, like a subsystem unrelated to the rest of the game.  Use willpower to resist sanity loss, make a sanity maximum to use supernatural abilities, but other than that does it need to match up with the rest of the system at all?

Quote from: SpikeCould have used a bit more explanation. I take it this is for a  WoD Cthulu thingamajig?  It took a bit of reading to make heads or tails of what you were doing.

That said, I find the first entry problematic. I mean, here I am, all saintly and sane and someone puts on mismatched argyle socks and fucks up my day... or if they litter? Gah.

I understand that you can't follow the typical 'internal' morality guidelines you are ripping off, but being shaken by selfishness in some random stranger? Rough. Only the truely sane would be hermits living the woods, isolated from all human contact. :confused:

To be honest, the WoD morality mechanics are probably not a good match for what you are doing. They are clunky when used for what they are meant for. Might be simpler to just rip the normal sanity mechanic from the CoC book and port it more or less straight in, like a subsystem unrelated to the rest of the game.  Use willpower to resist sanity loss, make a sanity maximum to use supernatural abilities, but other than that does it need to match up with the rest of the system at all?

Thank you for the feedback. My reasoning: 10 Sanity is supposed to be very difficult to maintain, you are a perfect person whol lives in your perfect world; selfish thoughts and witnessing selfish or irrational behaviour gives you 5 Dice to resist degeneration(the best chance to resist you can get, you probably won't fail) remember, everything else below will drive you crazy much easier.
 
Your assessment that a hermit living in the woods all by himself with no contact with the outside world is the only way to remain completely sane in a Cthulhoid horror game actually reinforces that I think I did it right...
 
Remember, Sanity 10 can't even be reached by player characters in my ruleset. Your average Joe is Sanity 6-7. Although thinking about it now, I think I will allow them to buy Sanity at character creation.
 
I will try to clarify the rules a bit better. Maybe a second draft write up )

Hard to maintain? Try impossible!! Ha.. given that you technically can't buy up sanity with XP, 10 becomes essentially an appendix, that little wad of flesh that does nothing but occasionally gets infected and kills you? Yeah, that thing.

Unless you plan to start everyone at 'full sanity'... which I thought was sort of a CoC default, then having a ten is just there as book keeping right?


Never mind me, though, I'm biased against WoD's morality system...

The rest of your list seemed spot on, just that ten spot.

This is my homebrew ruleset for Sanity for the World of Darkness. This is inspired by and meant to represent the Sanity Systems found in Cthuloid horror and Unknown Armies games.
 
Sanity replaces Morality on your Character Sheet. This heirarchy of sins is meant to be IN ADDITION TO the heirarchy of sins in standard WoD Morality, which I did not include in this write up.
 
Sanity:
 
10 - Witnessing someone doing something selfish or illogical (5 dice)
 
9 - questioning your own point of view (5 dice)
 
8 - Aknowledging the possibility of the supernatural (4 Dice)
 
7 - Acting as if the Supernatural existed.
 
6 - witnessing someone/something obviously affected by the supernatural (3 Dice)
 
5 - Being affected by the supernatural (3 dice)
 
4 - Affecting someone with a supernatural effect, being hurt by the supernatural (2 Dice)
 
3 - hurting someone with a supernatural force, witnessing someone dying from a supernatural force (2 dice)
 
2 - Killing someone with a supernatural force, Witnessing proof of Something That Should Not Be (1 die)
 
1 - Attempting to use a Force of A Thing That Should Not Be (1 die)
 
0 - Witnessing Something That Should Not Be (0 dice ie a chance die)
 
Notes:
Sanity Six is a REQUIREMENT to attempt any supernatural effect. Use Mage rotes, Vampire disciplines, and/or Werewolf gifts as guidance. It takes sanity 6 to do a 1 dot effect, 5 for a two, 4 for a three etc. All effects should require a ritual of some sort. All effects  will cost either a wilpower point or Willpower DOT to activate depending on the effect (ST discretion). Willpower dots can be bought back at the flatrate of 7 XP (maximum= Resolve + Composure). All effects are at the discretion of the ST.
 
Anybody hit with a Sanity Zero affect automatically loses 1 Sanity dot, they then have a chance die to not lose another.
 
Sanity can only be bought at character creation for 3 x dot. In game, if you lose a point of Sanity it cannot be bought back, it is gone forever.  However, you can buy off derangements gained from sanity loss for 6 x dot + therapy. You must buy off the lower most level first. Example. Bob's Sanity is 5, he gained codependance at sanity 6 and megalomania at Sanity 5. Not wanting to be a megalomaniac anymore he buys it off for 5x6 XP (30), he can handle codependance for a little while longer.
 
Therapy is any kind of Psycho therapy, Psychiatry, talking things out with your Wife, Meds etc. Therapy equals 6 hours a week for two weeks for a minor Derangement, 1 month for a major.
 
Results of Sanity:
 
This is by no means a complete definition of the different Sanity scores, it's just here give you an example of the type of charcter that has this kind of score.
 
10 - You are a saint. The pinnacle of Sane. The Dalai Lama. Some one who, probably since birth, has led a ascetic and introspective lifestyle.
 
9 - You've managed to maintain a sheltered and safe lifestyle. Went to school, didn't hang out with the "weirdos". Never ben in a fight. You probably work  some menial job, like editing auto repair manuals.
 
8. You liked watching the X-Files, it was a cool science FICTION show. You wonder what the world would be like if aliens really did Exist.
 
7. Agnostic, your average Joe. You had a Wiccan girlfriend once. You don't believe in that crap, but there was this one time...
 
6. Your everybody's "Weird" friend. You might wear a runestone necklace or pray to God "just in case". You claim you were talking to this crazy lady once and she disapeeared right before your eyes. Nobody believes you, you barely believe yourself.
 
5. You tried this spell you found in a book at the library, it said it would bring you something you want, you were hoping it would bring you money. After you cast it, no money came. However, two nights later someone threw a bicycle through your window and stole your TV. However, it was the your bike that was stolen when you were five.
 
4. You probably forget to bathe. Your eyes are deep and intense. You know Magic, the Devil, God and anything that hasn't been disproven probably exists. You find it hard to relate to people outside the same situation you are.
 
3. Those guys who wrap themselves in tinfoil have got it all wrong. The need Gold foil, and it needs to be fastened with copper guitar strings and silver bells. That's how you protect yourself from THEM. At least for a little bit.
 
2. Your eyes are either always closed or always wide open. You quote the Necronomicon in Sanskrit in casual conversation at the grocery store when you buy smokes. You look like a homeless Mr. T, as all your amulets jingle and clang wherever you go. You use seven different languages, some forgotten, whenever you speak.
 
1. "NNAMTAALAKU? Yeah I've heard of him, you're pronouncing his name wrong though, he told me it's actually pronounced..."
 
0 - renders you character unplayable, he's either the plaything of some unknowable horror, a catatonic mess, perhaps a raving lunatic, or maybe he understands the universe at a level so incomprehensible no player would be able to roleplay it. Regardless, hand your character sheet to your ST to do with as they wish.