Writing Every Day 08: Fatigue

Man am I tired. Strangely enough, I didn't really do anything all day. Most of my work day involved driving to and from, proofreading text, writing different text, and running a playtest game. None of those compare with the physical labor I've performed at previous jobs, but the end result is the same: I'm exhausted.

Plenty of RPGs have a system to model fatigue. Characters who push themselves too far for too long can suffer from a number of different consequences. In some games, the character suffers from an increasing penalty to his or her rolls. Others have a fatigue track with unique penalties at each step along the way. Some treat fatigue as a kind of damage that whittles away at their vitality. The end result is usually a character that becomes decreasingly effective over time until they are taken out, incapacitated, or even dead.

Several systems I've seen have physical fatigue, but I've encountered fewer that make allowance for mental fatigue. Now, not every system is appropriate for this. Staying up late or being mentally exhausted isn't likely to make me suffer damage—directly. A mentally fatigued character might slip up more, though, or make worse decisions, and get into situations they would normally avoid.

Not every game wants or needs a fatigue system. In fact, it can be a detriment to certain games. High heroic games where the PCs are paragons of combat, magic, et cetera might not need to worry about the bone-deep weariness that comes from an all day march. Other games beg for a good fatigue system, though. I wouldn't want to run a game set in the trenches of the Great War without having something to represent the exhaustion the characters would experience from constant stress and battle.

In any case, I don't want fatigue (or any system, really) to stand as a barrier between the players and the game. Like encumbrance, a subject I might talk about at another time, it can become an irritating hurdle the players have to spend extra time worrying about before they get to the "good parts" of the game. If the system is at the heart of the story I'm telling though, I want one that can easily model physical, emotional, or mental drain on the characters.

For a good idea of a game where I would want a decent fatigue system, check out the Dan Simmons book The Terror. Set in an arctic wasteland, the characters are forced to endure physical and mental strain. If I were to run a game set in the world of the novel, I'd definitely want something that let me chip away at the characters both mentally and physically, though I'd want the system to be shared between the two. Something where the ultimate consequences—freezing to death, starving, going mad—were determined by the source of what finally put the character over the edge.

Sorry if this one is a bit rambling and repetitive. I'm just so damn exhausted. See you tomorrow, when I hope to be a little less fatigued.