Insanity discussion (archive)
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Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1999 23:57:04 EST
From: CrossMLK

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas regarding the following. I am currently running a SF campaign. Because of this the PC's have no idea they are actually involved with a DG/Mythos type activity. They believe they're in a standard SF campaign. It certainly makes encounters more interesting, no one yawns and says "Oh another horror beyond description." They are actually surprised and puzzled by many encounters.

But I digress. My problem is because of the above I am keeping track of sanity myself, the PC's don't even know it's an issue. However I need to convey to them when they've taken a step closer to the edge. The old horrible dreams bit is going to get old really soon. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to subtly let the players know they're losing their grip. Any ideas would be appreciated.


Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 09:30:09 -0500 (EST)
From: "Andrew D. Gable"

dreams bit is going to get old really soon. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to subtly let the players know they're losing their grip. Any ideas would be appreciated.

<old school>"Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge…"</old school>

Sometimes, I've been known to do things like momentarily make the player an NPC, and seize control of his/her actions. Just say, "you do this." It'll help cement in the idea of the character slowly losing control over their own actions, and at times can be quite effective.


Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 01:35:24 +1100
From: Rob Shankly

Greetings:

I make a habit of supplying different players with different descriptions of the same events, NPCs and items. I do this from the beginning of the game: sometimes openly, so that they get a little paranoid and suspicious, sometimes privately. I'm always 100% honest is discribing what the individual character *thinks* they are experiencing. In addition I make all the non-combat rolls in my games, and normally hide the results.

I should add that I keep PC's Sanity and Cthulhu Mythos scores secret too.

So when a PC starts to lose his grip, some of the descriptions provided to the player become a little "off". For example, if a PC was suffering a paranoid episode, I might roll some dice (results unimportant) and then tell the player that he can hear clicking noises on the phone, see furtive strangers following, taste odd metallic flavours in the water.

I find that players are more likely to believe this if it is presented to them as an immediate threat: they won't question the fact that one out of the four of them is convinced that a nearby tree is slowly creeping towards them. Despite the fact that the others can't see it.

They would rather panic (and assume that only one guy can succeed in "Spot Hidden") and run than ask obvious questions.

But I digress. My problem is because of the above I am keeping track of sanity myself, the PC's don't even know it's an issue.

Wonderful: this exactly the right way for things to be!


Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 09:54:10 -0600
From: Shane Ivey

However I need to convey to them when they've taken a step closer to the edge. The old horrible dreams bit is going to get old really soon. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to subtly let the players know they're losing their grip. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I believe the key is to analyze elements of the scenario which will be likely to inflict the greatest psychological trauma on the characters and write some notes on how this trauma generally might manifest; leave it general enough that you can tailor the actual manifestations (insanities) to the character afflicted and the specific circumstances of the trauma.

Presenting perceptions slightly (or wildly) different to each character is an outstanding technique; extend this to the way you describe events and the way you handle players. Typically, one may tend to give objective descriptions, not assuming any of the individual character's interpretations of what is seen; this is normally appropriate, but when a player-character is slipping over the edge you should feel free to work the character's mental processes into the description.

Have the player make a Psychology or Spot Hidden roll (or the equivalent in your game) when meeting someone new; with a success, add that the PC thinks the NPC is hiding something, is covering up after a quick threatening glance, or whatever. Unexplained use of "blind" skill rolls is a great and cheap way to worry the players, if it's not overused.

Tell the player that he or she is absolutely certain that an NPC (or another PC) is lying, or that some noise of engine or animal is somehow unnatural.

Take one particular player aside for "private" roleplaying more often than you do any of the others, whether or not the player develops or experiences anything noteworthy at the time, in order to get everyone thinking that something might be going on with that character.

You might also do a little research on how such events tend to affect witnesses or victims. Obviously we don't have many records (publicly available, at least!) of the psychological aftermath of encounters with Mythos nasties, but we have plenty of records and articles on witnessing and surviving various forms of catastrophes, whether they are natural disasters or animal attacks, or human violence through war or simple predation. Look for books, articles, and websites dealing with the psychological impact of catastrophe and the means of treating it. Look at the Internet newsgroups, too; there are plenty of alt.therapy groups and the like, some of them specifically dedicated to post-traumatic stress disorder (A.K.A. the Delta Green Retirement Plan, option four), which will provide some useful anecdotes to help you describe symptoms. (I would not recommend using such anecdotes for scholarly research, since you have no guarantee whatsoever that one will be genuine, but they are fine for gaming.)


Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 11:31:25 -0500
From: "Randall L. Orndorff"

But I digress. My problem is because of the above I am keeping track of sanity myself, the PC's don't even know it's an issue. However I need to convey to them when they've taken a step closer to the edge. The old horrible dreams bit is going to get old really soon. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to subtly let the players know they're losing their grip. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Ahem…S-P-A-C-E M-A-D-N-E-S-S!!!!

Let 'em have actual, honest to god halluciations, or claustrophobia that makes want to open up the airlock, so that they can "breathe". Also make it some sort of "unexplained syndrome" that spacers suffer from.


Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 19:46:04 -0500 (EST)
From: The Man in Black

Does anyone have any good ideas on how to subtly let the players know they're losing their grip. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Depending on the game system in use, you could implement some sort of "mysterious disadvantage" syndrome.


Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 18:41:12 -0500
From: Nightstar

But I digress. My problem is because of the above I am keeping track of sanity myself, the PC's don't even know it's an issue. However I need to convey to them when they've taken a step closer to the edge. The old horrible dreams bit is going to get old really soon. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to subtly let the players know they're losing their grip. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Get into the practice of overtly handing secret notes to the players. Allow the players enough time to read the notes and then take them back and destroy them (the notes, not the players). No player will know what another player's note said unless that player tells them and of course they wouldn't lie <wg>. Now when a player starts "losing it", feed him "distorted perceptions" by giving him misleading notes ("you notice your partner glaring at you when he thinks you are not looking" or "you hear footsteps following you", you can emphasize this by directing the player via the note to check an experience box for a perception skill.). If done carefully, your player's character will begin acting insanely with little direct manipulation from you. Eventually the other players will begin reacting to the insane player's behavior. This can be most enjoyable for the keeper when it works well!


Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 18:35:12 +0100
From: G_H_O

sanity myself, the PC's don't even know it's an issue. However I need to convey to them when they've taken a step closer to the edge. The old horrible dreams bit is going to get old really soon. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to subtly let the players know they're losing their grip. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I presume it would be the best thing you could do, is giving the players the creeps, not their characters. Let them make listen, spot hidden and dodge rolls. Tell them, that their characters feel like being followed, someone seems to stand behind the next corner and is waiting for them. But of course, when they try to sneak around the block and get the guy from behind, nobody is there! (Of course there never was anybody.) Try such nasty things and you`ll never need bad dreams again.

As for the make their characters to some kind of short-time NPCs.

I have tried this sometimes in many different groups, and it never worked out.

They began arguing like: "Hey I don`t like that, it`s mine!" and such. After that it led to me olosing sanity and the players growing angry, but if you like, try it!

The ideas of giving different descriptions to the players:

DO IT it`s really great when it works, which it does most of the time!


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 01:34:20 +0100 (MET)
From: Andreas Melhorn

Yesterday I read an article in a magazine about 'realistic' insanity rules in CoC. Insanity is something I neglected pretty much in gaming in the last years, mainly because I always play one-shots with pregenerated characters (if you only play any other month or so, that's the best thing to do, I think). Insanity degenerated sometimes to just another sort of injury, something that should not happen IMHO. I even wanted to drop insanity completely (mature players should know, when to be frightened), but my players cried: 'No — We love our madness!!'

So my question: How do you guys handle insanity in DG (or CoC in generel)?? I am not so much interested in rules and numbers, because I do not use the CoC rules, but how you incorporate madness into your game. It should be interesting to see how other people handle it. (And I bet that most of you have at least one story to tell, in which the madness of a PC or NPC caused a shocking — or hilarious — result.)

Ok, that's it for today.


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 14:16:42 +0100
From: Davide Mana

Andreas asked…

So my question: How do you guys handle insanity in DG (or CoC in generel)?? I am not so much interested in rules and numbers, because I do not use the CoC rules, but how you incorporate madness into your game. It should be interesting to see how other people handle it.

This one is going (hopefully) to kick up a whole lot of discussions, so, for starters, here's the way I've been doing it so far. I stick to the rulesbook mechanics when it comes to calculating SAN loss and other bean-counting - after all these years, I've learned a large chunk of the things by heart anyway. For Insanity (be it permanent or not), I try and avoid random determination and go for something that can somehow be linked to the first cause of shock.

In case of very brief bouts of madness, I usually take away the character's sheet from the hands of the player; the mad guy becomes an NPC for the few minutes (or so) that his condition persists. Then the sheet is handed back and the player has to face consequences <eg>.

In case of permanent insanity, or longer attacks, I generally inform the player privately, using a note - there's usually lots of notes (many of them duds) running around the table when things get hot. If he needs it, I let him check the relevant data about that particular affliction in Taint of Madness, to help him get an idea about how to roleplay the insane guy.

[all my manuals are wrapped in anonymous packaging paper, so that nobody's sure of what manual I'm checking or passing around at a certain moment]

And off we go.

I always use this method, and it came as quite a surprise for a few of my players when they joined my team: they used to play with a keeper that simply replaced insane characters with a fresh one as soon as insanity occurred.

In other words, he handled SAN points the same way he did with Wounds: 0 means out of the scene.

The guys were a bit disoriented at first ("I should… what?"), but later came to appreciate the possibilities (and the fun) that my method grants.

(And I bet that most of you have at least one story to tell, in which the madness of a PC or NPC caused a shocking — or hilarious — result.)

Two words: Multiple Personalities.

Cue to long reminiscence…

We're playing the Australian chapter of Masks of N. - and the last chapter of Great Old Ones at the same time (don't ask) - and one of the key characters comes unhinged in the middle of the frigging Great Sandy Desert, deep into the City Beneath the Sands.

His Sanity hits rock bottom and starts digging fast. No hope for a cure or a replacement, and I can't ask the guy to just keep out of the way for the next 5 or 6 games. But the shock's generic enough (and massive enough) to justify almost anything in terms of mental disorders. So I rule the guy escapes the horror by simply leaving the controls in the hands of someone else he's made up. Multiple personality disorder.

Fortunately, the player handling the character is a first class one that really loves a good joke (and a chance to increase the maihem). So I pick up 1D6 (4!) pre-rolled characters from a folder and hand them to him with a hastily scrawled note explaining what's happened. He gazes at the note and starts laughing. Then looks at the sheets and almost strangles himself on a glass of ale. He's a rude mechanic. But he's also an ice-cold surgeon, and old whining archaeologist, the quarterback of the M.U. Pods and a class conscious and spoiled British lady.

In the following games, whenever the character faced a shock (and this being the close of two big shot campaigns at the same time, shocks were 2 cets a dozen), an alternate personality simply replaced the main one (probably cringing in some dimly lit corner of his devastated brain), and tried to handle the situation as best as it could.

Incredibly funny - and I had to devise a way to handle the skills that the alternate characters theoretically knew but the character actually did not. The best part was this Siz 9/Str 10 chap acting as he was a Siz 15/Str 17 football killer and trying to intimidate some 20 rabid aboriginal cultists. Or when he tried operating on a fellow team-member (wounded and screaming "Kill him! For God's sake kill him, he's crazy!") using a mix of Mechanical Repair and First Aid and actually making it thanks to an unbeliavably timely 01 (and tons of cheek).

In the end the character survived the ordeal (along with 1/3 of the team), returned home (to Arkham) and was placed in therapy to recover.

At the moment, the shrink taking care of his case is cultivating great expectations for his own future carreer - not only he has found a first class case of multiple personality, but all said personalities share a coherent, highly detailed paranoid delusion among themselves _and_ with two other apparently sane persons (those that placed the guy under medical care from the start). He's writing a book about it (and will probably serve as our next campaign hook).


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 09:32:01 -0500 (EST)
From: "Andrew D. Gable"

I stick to the rulesbook mechanics when it comes to calculating SAN loss and other bean-counting - after all these years, I've learned a large chunk of the things by heart anyway.

One thing I ignore out-of-hand, because I think it's about the stupidest rule ever, is the Kill A Deep One And Gain Back 1D6 Sanity (tm) rule. Once you're insane, you're insane, at least that's how I run it. The only way you can possibly get back Sanity is if you manage to defeat Cthulhu or the infernal plans of Old Nyarly or something. And most of those things, we know how frigging unlikely they are.

For Insanity (be it permanent or not), I try and avoid random determination and go for something that can somehow be linked to the first cause of shock.

As do I. Go insane after seeing Glaaki? Fear of needles comes into play. Insanity after meeting with Belial? The fear of people who've undergone extensive plastic surgery.

[Memories]

I have a player currently who is a researcher for the CDC (former USAMRIID). Briefly, she went to New Mexico researching the new emerging disease teratosomatosis (TS) in Operation MERRICK (some people with knowledge of obscure facts may be able to figure where *that* name came from). She also encountered a rogue lloigor while there, triggering the initiation into DG. But she also developed a phobia of reptiles…

What's the name for this phobia? I got ophiphobia (sp.), but that's just snakes. I'm thinking like herpetophobia or something.

(And I bet that most of you have at least one story to tell, in which the madness of a PC or NPC caused a shocking — or hilarious — result.)

Well, there was the player in my first COC campaign who *told me* what insanity he developed. He wanted to be a necrophile (why, I have no idea). So, being the weak-willed automaton that I am, I caved in to the demands. But, being an insanity, I ruled he could roleplay a little more and then the necrophilia would get too out of control and he became an NPC. Newspaper stories began circulating about "The Ghoul," who robbed graves and took bodies and such…eventually, the character who went insane was arrested for the crime.

BTW, is it just my e-mail again or is the list practically dead lately?
This morning, I had only one message from the list.


Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 00:36:15 +0900 (JST)
From: Jay and Mikiko Noyes

So my question: How do you guys handle insanity in DG (or CoC in generel)?? I am not so much interested in rules and numbers, because I do not use the

I think I've commented on this before, so forgive me if this is a repeat for you, but generally ignore the rule that says to give the character who loses 20% of his sanity in one hour x number of phobias. Instead, I've altered it somewhat. Instead of one hour, I make it one 'scene,' — be it five minutes, an hour, or a day — which involves, in my judgement, continuous stress on the players. When the 20% mark is exceeded, I take the player to one side and we work out the characters current mental state and devise an appropriate psychological trend. I usually do it in four levels. The first level is mild and is usually noticeable only by a perceptive psychologist. The mental illness increases with intensity until it becomes noticeable, then interfering, and then dangerous/intensely distracting.

For example, a person who begins to freak out when she finds that some critter has been gnawing on the throats of her best friend may behave in the following way:

Lev. 1: Associates the incident with an article she read that discussed rats and other vermin biting children in the inner city. She becomes disgusted at the sight of a rat and will not touch one for any reason.

Lev. 2: Tends to avoid places where rats might be. Cannot stand to look at rats and will run away screaming if one touches her. Has rat traps placed around her apartment.

Lev. 3: Obsessively interrogates people about their experiences with rats. Keeps a file on rat-bite cases around a given city. Obessively buys rat poison and traps. Sneaks into friends homes to fumigate them in the off-hand chance that the rats are sneaking into her apartment in their gear. Attacks people wearing Mikiko mouse ears.

Lev. 4: Constantly sees rats moving around her. Has stapled her pants legs directly to her ankles in order to be certain that rodents won't climb in. Is certain that rats are living in her stomach, and, if not watched carefully, will eventually sprinkle rat poison on her cereal in order to clean out her intestinal tract, which she is certain is completely infested.


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 11:39:43 -0500
From: William Timmins

I've generally run Insanity rules pretty much as is, with occasional experimentation.

One slight shift I've made, having had a decent amount of Psychology in college, is avoiding disorders that are typically genetic.

That is, schizophrenia and bipolar (manic depression) generally are biological in origin, though stress and events can trigger them.

Post traumatic stress disorder is the most likely disorder that agents will be subject to, attached to various phobias relating to the circumstances of stress.

From a psychological point of view, insanity due to Mythos exposure will be a very interesting pathology, distinct from more typical troubles in some characteristic way.

Most disorders that are non-biological stem from childhood trauma or war/violent trauma. The level of insanity that Mythos insanity provokes will appear in some respects like a biological or childhood disorder, but have different flavor.

That is, Psychiatrists helping investigators will be looking for root biological problems and for history that would explain the problem. I'd argue that any investigator who does not have a biologically triggered problem is therefore unlikely to receive much help from a psychiatrist who cannot be trusted with the Truth. ;)

Another point to be considered is that it is possible that an investigator DOES happen to have a biological predisposition to schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (or one of the others, nothing comes to mind right now), or a repressed childhood trauma that hasn't been manifesting.

Exposure to stress could then trigger these conditions.

Unfortunately, only the symptoms of biological disorders can be treated. Bipolar and schizophrenic patients can never be cured, only their symptoms suppressed. And, at least with schizophrenia, the condition tends to become more extreme over time.

In my Endtimes material (update coming Real Soon Now <TM>) I add in the concept of Familiarity, giving resistance to certain types of SAN loss.

In brief, there is Combat, Mental, and Creature familiarities. When an Insanity result of any sort is caused in one of the categories, the familiarity is checked (like a skill).

If the familiarity goes up when checks are resolved (familiarity fails, 1D10), the amount increased by is subtracted from SAN score (limit of Psychoanalysis). If SAN score reaches 0, further familiarity subtracts from max SAN.

Each category acts as 'armor' of value/10 (round UP) against SAN loss in that category.

It is possible for some types to raise familiarity as part of discipline and training, not causing a loss of SAN score. At chargen, such improvements cost 10x as much as other skills.

Training times are 10x to improve.

Combat familiarity protects against dead bodies, torture, and other aspects of violence. It is not uncommon among combat veterans.

Mental familiarity protects against spells and other conceptual SAN loss. Scholars and mystics may have some.

Creature familiarity protects against seeing What Must Not Be, and so forth. Investigators may gain this.

So, familiarity comes at a cost. You are helped in the short term, but it does not take a lot of familiarity to start being unable to have much SAN. With 10% Cthulhu Mythos, starting SAN score of 60, and 30% in every familiarity, SAN score is 0, and max SAN is 49%, with -3 SAN loss in every situation.

Which is cool, but having lots of familiarity likely means you are frequently missing SAN checks. Many SAN losses are as high as 6, 10, 20, or more. Ow.


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 09:03:57 -0800
From: Christian Conkle

So my question: How do you guys handle insanity in DG (or CoC in generel)?? I am not so much interested in rules and numbers, because I do not use the CoC rules, but how you incorporate madness into your game.

Generally, I throw minor horrors (Byakhees, Funguys, Greys, people's goiterous necks exploding, etc.) at my PC's to begin with, so SAN loss is minor and slowly increases. Therefore, SAN losses range from about 2-4 at a time. I think the most that was ever lost was 6 or 7 in any one Zap. I even threw in a vision of the King in Yellow with a full 1d20 loss (I think), and the player rolled a 3!

Anyway, with such slow, steady sanity loss, I let the madness creep in. I start by telling the players of their general malaise they feel. I do it subtlely. I'll have them wake up from a nightmare and feel depressed. I'll start out the scenario with the PC alone in a bar or in their apartment with a bottle of scotch. I'll emphasize the aloneness they feel while walking down the city streets. I'll begin alienating them from their DNPC's and each other.

Often, just to get the player in the appropriate mood, I'll describe a dream they have. Usually, their dreams consist of disturbing imagery, not to shock or frighten, just to creep them out. Dreams of having sex with their sister/brother/father/mother (I always use REAL player information for this, it's MUCH creepier). Dreams of eating bugs or feces. Masturbating while watching a killer rape, kill, and subsequently flay a 7-year-old girl.

Things that would turn Jung's stomach. I try to tailor the dreams or random thoughts for each player, so it's important to know the player well beforehand. You never know when one player might get excited at watching a friend rape and kill a 7-year-old, especially if you go to Berkeley.

In any case, the madness is a slow, steady progression starting with depression, alienation, anxiety, and eventually leading towards full on paranoid schizophrenia, which isn't hard because the players are paranoid enough.


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 12:16:45 -0600
From: Shane Ivey

On how we handle SAN in Delta Green:

I'm ambivalent toward CoC Sanity rules: I think they are a terrific idea, but for 17+ years they have lazily skirted the edges of the actual psychological theory which even a hobbyist (let alone an undergraduate) could learn. Only in CoC 5.5 does PTSD get any decent treatment, for instance; and shizophrenia and "multiple-personality disorder" were handled at the most cursory, hence uninformed, level. Not to be overly harsh, but the SAN rules were a ground-breaking development in roleplaying games, and they were simply not given enough attention, let alone research.

But enough ranting.

I do stick with the rules when it comes to assigning SAN losses; I let the dice do the talking. It's in the interpretation where I most often depart from the book. Generally I will try to fit the madness to the situation, whether temporary or indefinite. Temporary insanity will usually manifest in terms of "fight or flight," with the character's reason and self-control collapsing under the weight of panicked instinct. Indefinite insanity will depend heavily on the circumstances: some pathologies manifest most often from acute shocks, while others result from chronic trauma.

Another member commented on the time frame in which indefinite insanity can develop (i.e., a "scene" rather than a strict hour). I just throw the time frame out the window: when you lose 1/5 of your SAN, you earn an indefinite insanity, period. Even if it takes 20 years to do it. (This changes the type of bookkeeping required, but that is not much trouble.) I decided this based on some good, long, and utterly unpleasant reading on childhood trauma and abuse and its aftereffects, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociative disorders (multiple personality, et al). These are textbook, real-life cases of what the game would describe as the loss of significant amounts of SAN due to consistent and protracted abuse; having the trauma occur over a lengthy period, rather than all at once, does not let the victim off the hook, so to speak. The same can be observed for PTSD resulting from war, crime, or captivity; the point is that chronic trauma, suffered over years, can lead to what the game defines as insanity.

As for recuperation, I'm fairly generous and flexible; within limits, a character can recover SAN simply from living a relatively quiet and stress-free life, not strictly by visiting a psychotherapist on a regular basis; though therapy will increase the recovery. (As a rule of thumb, I'll allow recovery of 1 SAN a month with a Luck roll, or 1d3 with Psychoanalysis.)

Someone already raised the interesting question of how exactly psychoanalysis would proceed for victims of the Mythos; DG offers a unique response, in that it almost certainly employs a psychologist or two who will accept as truth the horrors told by their patients so they can help them accept the events and cope; or else they consider such treatment too great a risk of exposure, and simply liquidate an investigator who has been driven irrational by his or her experiences. Conventional treatment for PTSD would otherwise call for the patient to "get past" the delusion of supernatural encounters and face the "reality" of the trauma which "actually" occured, perversely requiring repression and any number of resulting pathologies.

Wheee! (As it happens, this subject is an element of my next DG short story. I was hoping to bring it up anew, but, what the heck.)


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 14:36:35 -0500
From: "Randall L. Orndorff" <ten.maertsthgil|dnar#ten.maertsthgil|dnar>

Agent "Multiple Personalities" Jay and Mikiko Noyes wrote:

Lev. 4: Constantly sees rats moving around her. Has stapled her pants legs directly to her ankles in order to be certain that rodents won't climb in. Is certain that rats are living in her stomach, and, if not watched carefully, will eventually sprinkle rat poison on her cereal in order to clean out her intestinal tract, which she is certain is completely infested.

Hope this is of some help,

Help? Thank god you wrote this in time. Now I just have to buy some pesticide and metamucil, and everything should be just fine…Blah!!!


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 15:41:02 -0500
From:Graeme Price

Help? Thank god you wrote this in time. Now I just have to buy some pesticide and metamucil, and everything should be just fine…Blah!!!

Hmm. Just remember to unstaple the trouser legs before taking the metamucil…. I'll say something more serious later, when I'm a little less stressed out!


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 18:06:00 -0800
From: "Mark McFadden

Will wrote:

In my Endtimes material (update coming Real Soon Now <TM>) I add in the concept of Familiarity, giving resistance to certain types of SAN loss. In brief, there is Combat, Mental, and Creature familiarities. When an Insanity result of any sort is caused in one of the categories, the familiarity is checked (like a skill).

And then went on to give the workings.

Some excellent points.

We need the rules to reflect the familiarization that comes with experience. The Homicide detective, paramedic, forensic pathologist and combat photojournalist are going to react to the dismembered corpse in the library a bit differently from the avuncular antiquarian, Goth chick, Postal Inspector and NSA cryptographer.

On the other hand, the occultist, anthropologist, restricted stacks librarian and Mythos studying dilettante are going to handle the realization that all of this stuff is real a bit better than the Marine Recon sniper, the coroner, the BATF agent or the electriacl engineer.

But, on the other psuedopod, after you've seen 'leventy-three Deep Ones blow'd up good, they've pretty much lost their shock value.

BUT….(IMHO) no one ever, ever builds up a tolerance for the presence of GOOs. As I play it, the madness-inducing fear you feel at the sight of a GOO is not because they "do not belong", but because you are within their field. They radiate telepathic "static" that is toxic to humans. Everyone in the area is terrified, the dice rolls are to determine how you cope with terror. Even the cultists are terrified, they adapted to the horror by going insane and becoming cultists.

Therefore, I'd perhaps do a one time Sanity check for the first sighting of a Grey, but then familiarization kicks in. But I don't let anyone get used to being around Mi-Go.


Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 11:59:22 +0900
From: "David Farnell"

So my question: How do you guys handle insanity in DG (or CoC in generel)?? I am not so much interested in rules and numbers, because I do not use the CoC rules, but how you incorporate madness into your game. It should be interesting to see how other people handle it. (And I bet that most of you have at least one story to tell, in which the madness of a PC or NPC caused a shocking — or hilarious — result.)

As Davide said, this should spark a lot of useful discussion. In fact, I was thinking about it myself, but didn't want to bring it up as I'm SUPPOSED to be too busy to post. Anyway, mechanics-wise, I do it pretty much like the book. I tailor long-term insanities to the situation, but I do often make a random roll for brief moments of insanity. i don't bother with rolling for duration, though—I just let the character recover when the horrible situation is over and they feel safe again.

I like the idea that characters would get used to minor horrors, especially dead bodies (all surgeons, combat vets, etc, should be used to that), but also minor creatures like Deep Ones and Ghouls. "Gods" and forbidden knowledge (tomes) can never be "gotten used to." See Timmins' EndTimes campaign for some good rules on this kind of thing.

As far as recovering SAN from killing monsters, actually, I like it, simply due to the fact that I like long campaigns with long-term characters. This is just a way to keep the same character in play longer, letting them regain a little of their balance. Also, most of my players right now are beginners, and part of the fun for them is "rewards" in the form of increased skills and recovering SAN. hey, it keeps them happy.

In DG, so far I have two PCs with long-term insanities. One is an FBI profiler who witnessed a porn-shop owner transform into Senor Sock (aka The Bloated One). She now has a pretty bad case of anorexia nervosa. I've been kind—she can lead a relatively normal life with therapy, but I force a roll vs. current Sanity every time she encounters fat people or anything Mythos, and then she stops eating. After a couple days, her stats start going down.

Since they're presently trapped in a cave with a giant, 4-armed bodybuilder (yes, THAT adventure!), she's got no opportunity for therapy to bring her out of it, so she'll be wasting away pretty badly.

The other read the original French version of The King in Yellow (the ONLY remaining copy), and he's prone to falling into pits of despair. I allow him to ward off the worst of these moments through superstition: his grandmother is a Louisiana hoodoo woman, and she's provided him with lots of charms to ward off the darkness. Of course these charms have no real magic in them, but he believes they do, and thus comfort him. But he's quite likely to go over to the King when they get further into this campaign. Just wait til he finds out Carcosa is REAL, and his charms don't do anything. (I had him read Shane Ivey's "Blacker than Black" to give him a good taste of what he's feeling inside, and what his dreams are like.)

The thing I was thinking about is what happens when people reach 0 SAN. Let's get a side discussion going on that. I see it as achieving a true understanding of the cosmos (not in knowledge but in attitude). That's why all the old insanities picked up during the descent disappear (can you imagine a cult leader with a fear of snakes? sure would make fighting them easier). Those insanities are only reflections of the human mind fighting to hold on to its humanity in the face of the cosmic truth. People with 0 SAN are therefore no longer human—they have lost an essential naivety and are now a sort of monster. They need not necessarily go over to the Mythos—many just sit in the corner and drool. It is certainly possible for the Truth to shatter the mind, especially if it comes on too fast. Again, Mind and Sanity are not equivalent. Sanity is a component of Mind; Mind can survive without Sanity.

One last question: What should be DG's policy on agents who are "losing it"? The abovementioned profiler will be lucky to get out of the cave alive, much less with SAN intact, and she's pretty low on SAN now. She won't last much longer, and it'll be pretty obvious to anyone that she's not going to keep it together much longer. She likely be meeting her CO, Agent LAURA—what should LAURA do? Yank the poor woman and replace her, mid-mission? Tell her to pull herself together and soldier on?


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 19:05:09 -0800
From: Lech Von Oxen

As far as insanity in CoC, I generally use the rules to give me guidelines of what direction the afformentioned failed San check will push the story. For instance:

<possible spoilers ahead…>

While fubling their way through TUO's The Revival, the players (one of whom, upon meeting two Gnoph Kehs, was now stuck in his room, shaking in the fetal position and whispering "the snow…" over and over) decided to show one of the more suspicious passengers something they had found in the trains engine. The presented the small Scandanavian with the forged eye he was planning to use to summon Ithaqua and sacrifice the train to his deity.

The passenger, enraged by his now foiled plans, shifted into his natural form — a Serpant Man. The two players rolled SAN checks and one failed with 6 total loss … just enough to make things interesting. Instead of some phobia cropping up for reptiles, or falling into the standard comatose state (See above), the character blinked quickly and suddenly there were TWO Serpant Men in front of him.

While the still-sane character fought the Serpant Man in the cabin's close quarters, the They're All Around Me, Everywhere, I Say!! (TM) character shot at both SM. This ended in a Resevoir Dogs-type of ending with the two characters pointing pistols at each other. Unfortunately (for him, great for me), the one who went crazy ended with a shattered shoulder that plagued him for the rest of the campaign and, more importantly, the players had crossed into a realm where the greatest paranoia was not facing Things From Beyond but, instead, The Guy I Thought Was My Friend But Obviously He's Willing To Shoot Me When Things Get Weird So Now I'm Not Sure If I Trust Him.

From then on, the tone of the campaign and its players spun downward. It all got paranoid and every character was freaked whenever the other guy even *looked* like he was thinking something strange. For me, that's a successful campaign.

John Carpenter's The Thing is an excellent expose' on where sanity loss takes the average joe. Sure, the strange things are strange, but it's the guy who you thought was on your side and now seems willing to end it all that is even scarier.


Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 03:01:34 +1100
From: Rob Shankly

Often, just to get the player in the appropriate mood, I'll describe a dream they have. Usually, their dreams consist of disturbing imagery, not to shock or frighten, just to creep them out. Dreams of having sex with their sister/brother/father/mother (I always use REAL player information for this, it's MUCH creepier). Dreams of eating bugs or feces. Masturbating while watching a killer rape, kill, and subsequently flay a 7-year-old girl. Things that would turn Jung's stomach. I try to tailor the dreams or random thoughts for each player, so it's important to know the player well beforehand. You never know when one player might get excited at watching a friend rape and kill a 7-year-old, especially if you go to Berkeley.

"it's important to know the player well beforehand"

Oh boy. Is it ever, if you are going to go _that_ far! I'm quite sure that CC is careful with the psychological battering he puts his players through, but just in case there's someone less conscientious reading this, PLEASE BE SENSIBLE. What Christian does with his players obviously works for them, otherwise they wouldn't play his game any more. But it isn't for everyone:

I know a regular roleplayer who has a clinically diagnosed case of arachnophobia. The real thing, this lady has undergone therapy for a condition that MAKES HER ILL. There is no way I even mention spiderweb when she's playing.

Please don't go to the kind of level Christian is describing unless you know what you are doing, and who you are doing it to.


Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 03:01:42 +1100
From: Rob Shankly

Another member commented on the time frame in which indefinite insanity can develop (i.e., a "scene" rather than a strict hour). I just throw the time frame out the window: when you lose 1/5 of your SAN, you earn an indefinite insanity, period. Even if it takes 20 years to do it. (This changes the type of bookkeeping required, but that is not much trouble.) I decided this based on some good, long, and utterly unpleasant reading on childhood trauma and abuse and its aftereffects, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociative disorders (multiple personality, et al). These are textbook, real-life cases of what the game would describe as the loss of significant amounts of SAN due to consistent and protracted abuse; having the trauma occur over a lengthy period, rather than all at once, does not let the victim off the hook, so to speak. The same can be observed for PTSD resulting from war, crime, or captivity; the point is that chronic trauma, suffered over years, can lead to what the game defines as insanity.

As many others have noted, the insanity must be related back to the trauma. Random generation is a no-no. It can pay to have prepared notes to give players, explaining the symptoms experienced by their characters. If you make a habit of giving out notes, especially in "weird" game situations, this leaves the other players in the dark about their comrade's new status.

Relating to Keeping techniques, I frequently find it useful to simply present the player of an insane character with different descriptions to those I give other players. I have never really liked taking aside players and telling them "Your character is now mad". Some players cannot act that well, and often they are so attached to the character that they overeact (I think out of a sense of outrage). Finally, I feel it spoils the tension for the player: everyone knows that in CoC your beloved PC invention can go insane, and as the moment approaches players really get wound up- giving them the bad news is a let down. I would rather leave them worried.

As an example, if Bill's character were to become dendrophobic (fear of trees), I would not take Bill aside and tell him to start playing an insane person. Instead, I would start slipping Bill notes, warning him that his character sees subtle movements under the bark of nearby trees, as if muscles flexing. The character sees razor edged leaves, glistening with blood in the setting sun. Trees might eventually lurch towards him. Gardeners are part of a cult, worshipping the ravening forest. All of this would be supported by evidence given to Bill alone.

If the other players come to believe Bill is getting information that they are not, then they might start to listen to him, ignoring their own characters experiences. It is always nice when the sane characters start to heed the mad…

This technique can't be used all the time. It is also fun to take temporary control of a PC and then give the character back to the player, who has to sort out the mess you've made. Of course, this assumes the players aren't well practised due to their own messes.

When it comes to really massive Sanity losses, or to characters slowly reduced to levels so low they cannot really function any more, I tend to allow quiet retirement. My first Keeper loved taking our insane investigators and turning them against us, but I have never felt comfortable with that. Once or twice that is an amazing story tool, since the new enemy is so knowledgeable about the remaining characters, but as a regular event it is silly. Shrieking basket-cases who used to be staunch comrades are a nice reminder of the characters frailty, in any case. They can also be re-used as NPCs.


Date: 24 Nov 1998 17:19:19 GMT
From: "Jacob Busby Bsc." <ku.vog.stnah|BJCDTI#ku.vog.stnah|BJCDTI>

One last question: What should be DG's policy on agents who are "losing it"?

Interesting point. In the eyes of DG a loose cannon represents a security risk. Possible answers:

.44 lobotomy. Probably best for NPC's rather than PC's. Mental asylum. Who's going to believe her? Take her off the case and never give her another. ("I can see that this is affecting you personally, Lisa, that's why I'm taking you off the case for your own good") Let her soldier on. Unlikely - dangerous security implications for her and her cell but if she's the only hope they have then DG has no choice. Propaganda. Send her on phony/low level missions and pump her so full of disinformation that if she is caught no-one can tell the truth from the lies.


Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 18:50:13 +0100
From: Davide Mana <ti.loi|eed.rotcod#ti.loi|eed.rotcod>

Greetings.

On the subject of agents slowly (or not so slowly) going downhill, Jacob Busby offered the following options…

  • .44 lobotomy. Probably best for NPC's rather than PC's.

Agreed.

After all, why waste human resources when you can find a use for them still?

  • Mental asylum. Who's going to believe her?

MJ12?

But we cannot ignore the possibility of a DG-run institution for burned out agents. Did any of you sign one of those "Retirement Policy" thingies when you were enrolled?

  • Take her off the case and never give her another. ("I can see that this is affecting you personally, Lisa, that's why I'm taking you off the case for your own good")

This could be the average procedure for characters that are showing first simptoms of mental disorders, or simply plain stress. Which implies another point: your Cell-mates are supposed to keep a close eye on you.

Now - do field guys have to fill in questionnaires about their team-mates status after operations? Or is it much more casual than that… This point can become critical (see below); it involves a lot in terms of interpersonal relations within the cell structure, and the so far never adequately covered matter of trust between cell-members.

  • Let her soldier on. Unlikely - dangerous security implications for her and her cell but if she's the only hope they have then DG has no choice.

Unless you send her to the first line in high-risk operations. If she pulls it it's a success and she's gained the right to carry on, if she buys it she fell in the line of duty: no embarassement, no unpleasantries. But I agree, it's unlikely in most cases.

  • Propaganda. Send her on phony/low level missions and pump her so full of disinformation that if she is caught no-one can tell the truth from the lies.

So you turn her to a Friendly-like status. This one I like best of all.

But let's not forget that in some cases, hopefully most of them, expecially if we can reach the agent before it's too late, then the best line of action is to provide first class medical and psichological support. Better to patch-up an expert agent and then use him as a back-up element than retire him altogether.

Forget what the paper-pushers tell you.

Field Agents are precious.

No agency or service that forgets this simple truth can stay afloat long in the biz.

Expecially in an off-the-record show like Delta Green, where personal experience is much more important than training, each agent becomes invaluable.


Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 10:09:05 -0800
From: Christian Conkle <gro.lerwn|CelknoC#gro.lerwn|CelknoC>

Don't forget there's always the La Femme Nikita-esque response of assigning Agent VICTOR or Agent ANDREA to come in and act as a sort-of backup.

Agent LAURA taps her case files into a neat stack and places them to the side on her desk. She looks at Agent LISA sternly. LISA squirms momentarily in her seat while LAURA removes her reading glasses and clasps her hands together. "Lisa, I see this mission is affecting you personally. I have no other choice but to put in a request to assign back-up to your investigation. An agent ANDREA will meet you in Groversville tomorrow morning."

Agent LISA, having heard rumors from other, older, DG agents, shudders.. "No, please.." Catching herself mid-blurt, she regains her composure and eases back into the chair. "I.. I can handle it."

Agent LAURA is undeterred. She gets up from her chair with an audible sqwonk. She crosses her arms. "I'm sorry. I feel there is no other alternative. Things have already gone too far. I've given you too many second chances already." LAURA walks across her office and opens her door. The clatter of keyboards and din of office work filter in from outside. The harsh flourescent light beyond is cold and uncaring compared to the warm incadescent glow of the richly appointed office.

LISA solemnly rises and and gets her coat. She slowly walks past LAURA out of the office. LAURA tersely adds "I'll expect a full Case Report Friday afternoon." before closing the door.

The next morning, LISA is alone in her rental car, parked outside of a truck stop off I-75, crying, occasionally slamming her fists into her steering wheel.

Another car comes up the off-ramp and slowly enters the gravel parking lot. LISA's fists clench around her steering wheel. She tries to hold back her sobs, but is unsuccessful. The other car's door opens up. An attractive blonde woman in a long black coat and dark ray-bans exits the driver's side. For a moment, her coat catches a gust of wind and becomes a dark cape billowing behind her. The blonde woman is wearing a dark Italian women's business suit with long collared white blouse. She slowly covers the distance across the gravel lot to LISA's car and gets in the passenger side.

LISA is inconsolable. She is rocking back and forth in the driver's seat and sobbing. "No No No! I.. I can do it.."

The blonde woman fixes her gaze forward, not even looking at LISA. "Drive."

LISA hesitates, stops rocking and looks at the blonde. Her lower lip sucking under her upper teeth. She watches the blonde for any sign of emotion or understanding.

The blonde turns her head toward LISA and, more forcefully, adds, "Drive, or I'll kill you."

Sorry, I know it's trite, but I couldn't help myself. Just got caught up in the scene…


Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 21:41:33 +0100
From: Florian R. Hanke <hc.tentej|eknahf#hc.tentej|eknahf>

Often, just to get the player in the appropriate mood, I'll describe a dream they have. Usually, their dreams consist of disturbing imagery, not to shock or frighten, just to creep them out. Dreams of having sex with their sister/brother/father/mother.

I probably wouldn't go that far, but using dreams is a good (and often used by me) idea. Have you ever tried to write down "important" nightmares your friends had? Wait half a year and then bring it back on them, usually with good results. People won't tell you but dreams are normally taken very serious (at least with my players), so play with them…

What's fun too is have the characters live through a dream (nightmare) and then slowly blend/fade into reality, which isn't much better. E.g. The zombie night-train attack in "The Plantation" in "Mansions of Madness" or the abduction in "Convergence", they'll never know whether they're just dreaming or not. Hmmm…, I read about something similar in the preview of countdown: "Where your worst fears are applied science" - Any inside information on this??? I really want to know!

BTW:

As I normally run 1920s games, how do you guys handle sanity in Delta Green - this was probably discussed already, but I always wondered whether I should lower SAN loss for 1990s investigators, after all, we *might* just be a bit more blunted towards things… If you saw a Deep One, would you be scared or think of it as a good disguise?


Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 13:16:24 -0800
From: Joseph Camp

"…An agent ANDREA will meet you in Groversville tomorrow morning."

Agent LISA, having heard rumors from other, older, DG agents, shudders.. "No, please.."

When you scamps get to talking you're worse than a sewing circle.

I'll have to forward this to Andrea. She'll be…well, she'll be.


From: Shane Ivey


Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 18:59:56 EST

"Do you expect me to talk?"

"No, Mister Hanke! I expect you to reply!"

BTW: As I normally run 1920s games, how do you guys handle sanity in Delta Green -this was probably discussed already, but I always wondered whether I should lower SAN loss for 1990s investigators, after all, we *might* just be a bit more blunted towards things… If you saw a Deep One, would you be scared or think of it as a good disguise?

I run it exactly the same. I think the existing max. SAN loss rules work well enough for government work: the most you can lose from one critter or event is the most you can ever lose from that same critter or event; once you've lost 6 SAN from Deep Ones, you're "safe" from further Deep One SAN loss (unless they do something new to screw your head, of course). If you've already lost 6 SAN from witnessing or suffering violent trauma, then you're "safe" from further trauma-related SAN loss unless the loss is higher than 1d6.

So, if you want to play a character who is "immune" from being freaked out by violence, then we can work it out ahead of time: if it is appropriate to the character's background, dock the appropriate amount of starting SAN and you're good to go.

As for us 1990s folks being more jaded to witnessing mere Deep Ones, I keep the SAN losses exactly the same. Most of us in real life KNOW that there are no malevolent and intelligent undersea societies which are millions of years older than any existing human society, right? And we KNOW that there's no such thing as magic, and that there's certainly no eons-old deities lurking at the bottom of the Pacific waiting to rise and conquer the world. Well, what if we suddenly found out we're wrong? And if we were quite certain that no one else would ever believe it? And that we will almost certainly be ridiculed, humiliated, and/or committed to the psych. ward if we insisted on trying to convince people? I think there's plenty of room in modern investigators for SAN loss from Mythos critters!


Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 19:32:04 -0500 (EST)
From: The Man in Black

Good Morning, David Farnell. The person you are looking at is the Man in Black. As usual, he will be your pointman. This reply, should you choose to accept it, will be disavowed by the Secretary should you or any of your IMF team be killed or captured. This email will self-destruct in seven seconds…….

One last question: What should be DG's policy on agents who are "losing it"?

If she's a danger to the mission, then a 9mm pension is in order, if she's a liability to the mission then a restful vacation is in order, if neither then she should suck it up and keep on truckin'.

Personally, I recommend that LAURA take no chances, always pull the trigger. Always.

Editor's Note: further elaborations on this line of thought are presented in a separate document.


Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 01:53:00 +0100 (MET)
From: Andreas Melhorn

David wrote:

The thing I was thinking about is what happens when people reach 0 SAN.

One thing happens in any possible case: the mind of the person that reaches SAN 0 is altered permanently and in a bad way. He (or she) gets mentally ill without any hope for cure.

For most PCs this is the end of the game. With an illness like that it is impossible to live without help, they are a danger for themselves and for others. A few are lucky enough to be able to continue a 'normal' life with proper medication after a long therapy. Probably they are even able to continue to do investigations but that should be very complicated for them and the group and even more dangerous as it is usually.

But what about the cultists?? Most of them lead a fairly normal life with SAN 0. I think one explanation could be that it is possible to get 'attuned' to the Mythos. The mind of a person is confronted with something that it can't handle and 'decides' to worship the thing that Must Not Be. Look at some of the real life sects. People are doing pretty insane things and are not gibbering idiots. If they are introduced in the cult step by step in a previously planded way they are brainwashed somehow. The mind snapps and the cultist probably doesn't even realize the change, he just lives in constant fear of the being that he worships.

When a PC reaches 'the big zero' the Keeper should decide what happens to the character. If it happens in the middle of a story and their is no chance to exchange the character it would be advisable to make up a madness that is still playable so the player can stay in the game. I decide these things usually out of the situation.

And he wrote:

One last question: What should be DG's policy on agents who are "losing it"?

Again it depends on the situation. In another post someone (sorry, forgot the name) wrote about phychiatrists who work for DG. They should be trained to handle it. I think most of the time insane people are locked away and treated there. Noone wants them to talk about what they saw. If they are able to continue a 'normal' life afterwords they can leave. I guess, DG is working with a few institutes for the criminal insane where they can put insane people (and probably can get rid of them).


Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 02:23:39 +0100
From: Florian R. Hanke

As for us 1990s folks being more jaded to witnessing mere Deep Ones, I keep the SAN losses exactly the same. Most of us in real life KNOW that there are no malevolent and intelligent undersea societies which are millions of years older than any existing human society, right? And we KNOW that there's no such thing as magic, and that there's certainly no eons-old deities lurking at the bottom of the Pacific waiting to rise and conquer the world. Well, what if we suddenly found out we're wrong? And if we were quite certain that no one else would ever believe it? And that we will almost certainly be ridiculed, humiliated, and/or committed to the psych. ward if we insisted on trying to convince people? I think there's plenty of room in modern investigators for SAN loss from Mythos critters!

Ok, ok, so the SAN loss is rather for the understanding of the existence different "societies", rather than for just looking at the critter, as it is meant in the book. So the SAN loss comes slowly as the understanding comes (same day, a week later, …) and the consequences that come with it. I like that, makes for some nice paranoid/delusional roleplaying. I think, I'm going to apply the same losses, but in a different way…

Somehow this all works with people like me and you, but somehow with agents it's different - as they have professional help (psychiatrists) in dealing with sanity shattering events, they themselves can probably develop a professional view of the Mythos-critters, but not the Mythos itself, *never*. As they are semiprofessional "Mythos-fighters", they can probably look at a picture of a critter provided by another agent in the Ice Cave(tm) professionally, without the SAN loss. There will be one when he/she actually sees the thing.

I think I'm going to lower the critter SAN losses a little, but then, to balance a little, I'm going to make the "understanding-of-a-part-of-the-Mythos" much higher. One reason is that in the 1990s people - as Shane wrote - think humanity knows all, no white spots on the maps anymore, every part unknown is now covered - we know everything. Well, at least almost.

This is very different from the situation in the 1920s, where the new discoveries concerning space/time were made and in turn inspired Lovecraft - expeditions were made, and so on…


Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 11:26:04 +0900 (JST)
From: Jay and Mikiko Noyes

If you saw a Deep One, would you be scared or think of it as a good disguise?

Buddy, I can't speak for everyone, but I'd wet my pants and then:

A) Cower in abject fear (default mode)

B) Run like hell (preferred)

C) Say a pithy tag line and paint his bulbous forehead with my laser sight

(option available only with some advance planning)


Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 22:42:17 -0500 (EST)
From: The Man in Black

Attention; Jay and Mikiko Noyes, use of this email or any other Military Intelligence Bureau service(s) constitutes consent to monitoring:

If you saw a Deep One, would you be scared or think of it as a good disguise? Buddy, I can't speak for everyone, but I'd wet my pants and then:

[wussy non-macho posturing redacted]

And here I thought people who live in Japan liked Sushi. Mmmmmm, deep one onagi…


Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 13:57:30 +0900 (JST)
From: Jay and Mikiko Noyes

And here I thought people who live in Japan liked Sushi. Mmmmmm, deep one onagi…

Saa, Taro-chan, why does this sushi taste so oddly of pork?


Date: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 10:46:15 GMT
From: Peter Miller

If she's a danger to the mission, then a 9mm pension is in order, if she's a liability to the mission then a restful vacation is in order, if neither then she should suck it up and keep on truckin'.

That's downright suicidal. A happy agent is a sane agent, and agents who know that they're fellows might gun them down if they lost it are not going to be happy. After all, it's not easy to gauge how far gone you are (even if you know you're going mad) so they'd be forever keeping an eye on each other. Before you know it, you get rampant paranoia and things start to look like the final scene in _Reservoir Dogs_.

Personally, I recommend that LAURA take no chances, always pull the trigger. Always.

Looking at this attitude and the fact you always seem to be on point duty, I can't help but put two and two together and conclude that your cell-mates might be trying to tell you something… :)

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