Emotions as a game mechanic?

[PalladiumBrony]

This is a pretty common trope, pretty much in any Fantasy or Sci-fi setting, but it seems much more common in fantasy: How a character's emotions and state of mind affect their ability, and the world around them. I'd like to try and incorporate this into the system somehow, but I'm not sure how to go about it and would welcome advice. There's 2 major scenarios that tend to come up:

Magic is fuelled by emotion:

This is very common in fantasy fiction: A spell won't work, or won't work as well, if you're in the wrong frame of mind (example, Harry Potter's unforgiveable spells require unadulterated rage (Crucio) or an absolute, undiluted desire to kill (avada kedavra) in order to do anything, while in other universes, spells don't operate off a specific emotion, but they won't work unless you're calm). Could this perhaps be done with a Mental Endurance check if your character is experiencing any kind of unhelpful emotion? Fail and you can't summon up the spell?

Creatures feed off emotion:

Another very common trope: A creature that feeds off, or at the very least gains a measure of power from, the presence of certain emotions. Either the creature physically needs it in the same way most beings need food (a lack of emotion to suck would cause emotional or mental instability, lethargy or even death in some species), or it doesn't NEED it, but the more it has the stronger it gets. Many creatures with this need have some power that can simply incite the emotion in question (whether it be hate, love or fear), or have illusions and spells they can use to trick the target into feeling that emotion. A common trait is that after enough time being drained of your emotions, you'll fall into a coma and/or die, as if by sucking your emotions away, the creature is actually feeding on your life-force. Alternatively, perhaps having your emotions sucked out just leaves you a blank, staring husk, either fully functional but lacking any capacity to feel emotion, or in a sort of zombie-like state; fully conscious, but unable to realize that you need to move, feed yourself, or basically do anything that's not automatic like breathing.

[Library Ogre]

A nasty trick I've used is Empathic Transmission: Doubt at a spellcaster. Since being a spellcaster requires absolute conviction you can do it, throwing doubt at them is a good way to block them.

[Veknironth]

Well, this strikes me as something you can apply to characters or NPCs who have some innate ability. Characters with psionics, or innate magic might not be able to use them unless they are in a particular situation. It wouldn't work well with learned abilities - if they were blocked people wouldn't learn them.

The big difficulty is selling it to the player. Players, in general, don't like their characters having limitations.

-Vek
"Unless the emotion supercharges the ability."

[eliakon]

The problem with this that I have found is balancing it out. Its easy to make it either trivial (which either makes emotion powered abilities too easy to fuel) or to important (which can make it too easy to cripple people). The example of claiming that Empathic Transmission is a valid way to automatically disable spell casters by transmitting a new emotion that was made up on the spot that has an effect far more potent than any other listed one is a good example of this.
It is also a good way to turn the game from Role playing into Roll playing.
<player> "Okay, I want my character to be angry at the orcs for the atrocities in the village."
<GM> "Um, lets see, that's a d20 under your MA, with a +3 circumstance bonus for the dead kids"
Sorry, but NO
If I want my character to be angry, then they are angry. Likewise if I want to play a character who is flat and practically emotionless and doesn't feel strongly about anything then I should be allowed to do that too.

[Cr'Imson]

The problem with this that I have found is balancing it out. Its easy to make it either trivial (which either makes emotion powered abilities too easy to fuel) or to important (which can make it too easy to cripple people). The example of claiming that Empathic Transmission is a valid way to automatically disable spell casters by transmitting a new emotion that was made up on the spot that has an effect far more potent than any other listed one is a good example of this.
It is also a good way to turn the game from Role playing into Roll playing.
<player> "Okay, I want my character to be angry at the orcs for the atrocities in the village."
<GM> "Um, lets see, that's a d20 under your MA, with a +3 circumstance bonus for the dead kids"
Sorry, but NO
If I want my character to be angry, then they are angry. Likewise if I want to play a character who is flat and practically emotionless and doesn't feel strongly about anything then I should be allowed to do that too.

Agreed. I would also say that someone is not playing Orcs as Orcs. Leaving perfectly good food behind while on a raid? Especially the dead kids? No way.



Cr'Imson

[kiralon]

I have done it but I mostly only do it with anger, as that's easiest to tell. I'm actually DM'ing a character at the moment that lost her memory and thinks she's human, but when she gets angry (I make her roll % so she thinks its based on that though) she changes into a yin lord, and then back again when she calms down. She thinks its something she concentrates on but its when she gets angry, which is pretty easy to tell. She doesn't like small, cute or cuddly things getting killed, and gets angry when that happens, or if someone is very rude.

[Library Ogre]

If I were to get really invested in this, I might do something like emotion flags... you put up a given flag, and certain bonuses and penalties start to apply. It might be as simply as your Rage flag giving you a bonus to hit and damage, but a penalty to parry and dodge. Playing in character with your emotions would go towards XP, but tying them into defined mechanical effects could make their use attractive to the players.

Of course, you're also playing an Elcor RPG at that point.

[kiralon]

Generally emotions make thinks worse rather than better when you are doing things that need clear thinking. Enraging an enemy in a fight is a way to force errors so I have no problem giving bonuses if there are negatives to match, and fighting while really sad or happy isn't the best either. The player who turns into a yin lords negative is that if she bleeds each 1hp damage done of blood that hits the ground turns into a 20ft magical scorpion that wants to eat everybody and has an ultra poisonous tail stinger (one of the ways the campaign can be "won" is she can sacrifice herself where beastla is sleeping so beastla gets the fun of being eaten to death by a horde of giant magical scorpions with poison in their tail that can kill immortals, not that she has found that out yet. -Thank you glen-), so she is careful who she picks fights with and the healer follows her around everywhere.