Aberrant RPG - Sleepless in Seattle

[BlueNinja]

The books don't have, anywhere, rules for going without sleep in the nova world. Considering the advantage that having an extra couple of hours each day can give you, especially given the kinds of things that novas come up with, I'm writing down how I think it should work.

All characters (baseline and nova) without Mega-Stamina can stay awake without penalty for a number of nights equal to half their Stamina, rounded down. This means that the toughest baseline can stay awake for only two nights without penalties. For each night beyond this limit, the character has a -1 die penalty to all actions, and if they are placed in a position or situation where they might fall asleep (such as a quiet moment in a chair, etc) they must make an Endurance roll to remain awake.

Example: Joe Baseline has Stamina 2, Endurance 1. To beat the newly-released Nova Combat: Kashmir, he decides to stay up around the clock. After the first night, he has no problem through the second day. Starting the second night, all of his actions have a -1 die penalty applied to them. During a few minutes when the game is loading a new area, Joe makes an Endurance roll on his two dice. He comes up with a 4 and a 7; he's safe until the next quiet moment.

Nova characters with Mega-Stamina have a higher limit. Nova characters start with the same number (Stamina / 2, rounded down) and add a number of nights equal to their Mega-Stamina. In all other respects (die penalties) it works the same. Novas with the Tireless enhancement get to apply both bonuses in regards to going without sleep. (Treat their Mega-Stamina as one higher, and grant +3 bonus dice to Endurance rolls.)

Recovering from a lack of sleep means that the character must spend a number of nights sleeping at least 6-8 hours equal to the number they spent with die penalties. The die penalties are eliminated after the first night of sleep, but if the character tries to go without sleep again, they return.

Example: Jane Nova has Stamina 3, Mega-Stamina 1 (Health). She can stay up for two nights without any penalties. While working on a project for DeVries, she had to go without sleep for four days (suffering a -2 die penalty to all actions on the last day). After her job is finished, she manages to get a full night of sleep, before being called back for another round of sleeplessness. Since she only had one night of sleep, after her first night spent awake again, she again starts suffering die penalties at -1 die per day. If Jane had been able to get at least two nights of sleep, she could have started her sleepless counter over.

Novas with Adaptability may pay 1qp per day to ignore die penalties from remaining awake; however, this reduces their QP regeneration, and the penalty continues to accumulate.

[SkyLion]

er...I dont think we really need rules for sleeping, and you have waaay too much time on your hands...

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But um, yeah, guess you were bored waiting for people to post in Trans-D! Okay. Well, The book does say that Novas with M-Stam 1 can stay awake for weeks on end, with no problem. Its kind of vague...Anyone with more, like Esteban, probably never sleep, unless they really want to. As far as staying up for 2 days before penalties...I think in RL its documented that even losing a few hours 1 night drops efficiency by 30% or something...

As long as you are making rules though perhaps you should include the use of stimulants. Theres caffiene and nicotine, over the counter no-doze, stronger perscription stuff and various militarues have given soldiers Coke or stronger drugs to stay awake for prolonged periods during battle...

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...but still....do we really need to make rules for sleeping? Thats what roleplaying is for...

[Alex Green]

Presumably a nova staying up weeks at Mega-Stam 1 has Adaptability.

Otherwise it's going to be a function of Endurence. As I recall every night without sleep imposses a +1 diff, presumably you roll Endurence to counter that.

So the typical nova with Mega-Stamina 1 can stay up every other night without a problem, and with lots of Mega-Stamina you'd only need to sleep once or twice a week.

[phoenix]

You also regain a Willpower dot when you get a good night's sleep. I think that's most of how the system tries to get it across.

[SkyLion]

Presumably a nova staying up weeks at Mega-Stam 1 has Adaptability.

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Incorrect. Go read the description of Mega-Stamina 1 again...

[Blue Thunder]

Don't forget the Tireless enhancement from the Players Guide, it comes in handy when staying awake without sleep.

[Alex Green]

Incorrect. Go read the description of Mega-Stamina 1 again...

So what? The listing under Mega-Stamina 5 says that you can bounce missiles.

A level of mega-stamina lets you stay up weeks if you have Adapt.

5 levels of mega-stamina let you bounce missiles if you have a forcefield.

[metaphysician]

Well, if you have Mega Stamina 5, Resiliency x2, and Durability, you could probably ping a smallish missile. . .

[Alex Green]

Well, if you have Mega Stamina 5, Resiliency x2, and Durability, you could probably ping a smallish missile. . .

True (portable anti-tank is 10[8] so that would ping for a point of juice).

But if we're allowed to add in enhancements then we're back to having Adaptability for staying awake.

[SkyLion]

So what? The listing under Mega-Stamina 5 says that you can bounce missiles.

A level of mega-stamina lets you stay up weeks if you have Adapt.

Yeah...but you are making that up...

[phoenix]

Yeah. It doesn't say "you can practically go for weeks without sleep". And Adaptability says you don't need sleep at all.

[Alex Green]

Yeah. It doesn't say "you can practically go for weeks without sleep". And Adaptability says you don't need sleep at all.

The flavor text is grossly inaccurate for every attribute. It's marketing, not mechanics.

[SkyLion]

I dont know about that Alex. Supposing that it was though? Id rather err in favor of the flavor (!) than try and make more rules for every nuance. Storyteller games are meant to be fluid and loose. I bought the game cuz I saw the ad "What would you do with the power of a God?" Then I read the setting and loved it. If we are going to rules monkey it Id say make it closer to what the flavor intends....Common for Novas to outpace fighter jets, take away the screwy gadget rules and the Science and Technology Division. Let Novas be Novas for God's sake and stop trying to define and Nerf everything to fit into some backwards DnD Level 1 mentality...

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I think another Eon member said it best:

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Is anyone else enjoying this thread as much as I? ,,

I bet you don't see this level of debate on those puny D&D forums.

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Choose Novas. Choose Taint. Choose moxinoquantamine. Choose a big f**king railgun. Choose eufibre, chrysalis and the Null Manifesto. Choose getting busted by Proteus and ending your days in a Bahrain cell wondering what the hell happened. Choose Aberrant.

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Or words to that effect

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::ultracool

[Alex Green]

Lets just look at what the book says.

Mega-Str is pretty accurate.

Mega-Dex: (3) "Whenever you run by someone, they can barely see you - all they feel is the wind".

With Enhanced Movement (which we wouldn't give them since we aren't giving out enhancements), he could run 60 mph and so something like this. Without EM he's stuck at 15 mph.

Mega-Stamina: (5) "Missiles practically bouce..."

(Previously mentioned... and we also have the sleeping example)

Mega-Perception: 1, 2, 4, and 5 are all probably wrong. #1 is even an example of the wrong stat (Int).

Mega-Intelligence: 1, 4, and 5 are all probably wrong. And once again for #1, we have an example that specifically seems to point to an enhancement (Mathematical Savant).

Mega-Wits is mostly roll played, but again 3 is wrong. Novas with mega-wits 3+ are subject to surprise attacks... although there is an enhancement which helps a lot.

Mega-Appearance 4 is interesting because Hellen of Troy was presumably a baseline, so one could argue that Mega-App 1 is more than she.

Mega-Manip: 1 is interesting since it, once again, seems to refer to a specific enhancement (Trickster). 3 seems to refer to Mega-Chr. 4 has the same problem that Hellen did, Odysseus was probably a baseline.

Mega-Charisma: 1 is wrong. 2 is extremely iffy if not wrong. 3, 4, & 5 are questionable or refer to specific enhancements.

So Mega-Strength is pretty accurate, but 6+ of the others appear to refer to specific enhancements.

[metaphysician]

4 has the same problem that Hellen did, Odysseus was probably a baseline.

Not in our campaign! *eg*

More generally speaking, just because an enhancement is applicable, doesn't mean that the mega-attribute doesn't provide benefit. I'd expect anybody with Mega-Int to do much better at math than normal, for example.

[BlueNinja]

TBH, the main reason I don't want Adaptability to simply provide with infinite sleeplessness is that I think it's already overpowered. You already get the ability to ignore virtually all environmental conditions without spending juice, plus bonus dice against poison and disease, plus going without food and drink.

Sky: I wrote this up the other night partly from boredom, partly because I figured it was something that should have been worth a paragraph (at least) in the core book or APG. I know it doesn't match reality terribly well (given the effects of actually going without sleep) but it's a close approximation.

As for going without sleep for weeks ... you can come pretty darn close with these rules. Stay up just long enough that you don't accrue die penalties, get one night's sleep, stay up again. The only thing you do without is Willpower regaining.

[SkyLion]

TBH, the main reason I don't want Adaptability to simply provide with infinite sleeplessness is that I think it's already overpowered. You already get the ability to ignore virtually all environmental conditions without spending juice, plus bonus dice against poison and disease, plus going without food and drink.

Sky: I wrote this up the other night partly from boredom, partly because I figured it was something that should have been worth a paragraph (at least) in the core book or APG. I know it doesn't match reality terribly well (given the effects of actually going without sleep) but it's a close approximation.

As for going without sleep for weeks ... you can come pretty darn close with these rules. Stay up just long enough that you don't accrue die penalties, get one night's sleep, stay up again. The only thing you do without is Willpower regaining.

Well...To be fair Esteban never sleeps. In lieu of that he does maeditate pretty frequently, which is actually more effiecient (In real life even there are people who dont sleep, but meditate for like 4 hours. Im sure it takes a master for that kind of thing (as its basically likie controling you biorhythms/brainwaves but thats why I gave Esty 5 dots in it...)

[Blue Thunder]

(In real life even there are people who dont sleep, but meditate for like 4 hours. Im sure it takes a master for that kind of thing (as its basically likie controling you biorhythms/brainwaves ...

Impossible. Sleep is essential, and no one can continue living without it. These people you mention aren't actually meditating for 4 hours, they're sleeping for 4 hours in an alert state. People can be alert while asleep (look at soldiers, or people in war-zones or the wilderness), but the body needs sleep, and you cannot hold out on sleeping forever, because your body will force itself into sleep eventually. And I'm talking deep sleep. Some people have been known to go for over a week without sleep, but they do eventually fall asleep. The human body performs a variety of needed functions while sleeping, it is not just simply "regaining energy" for a few hours; your body does all kinds of stuff. And I'm talking non-controllable stuff, that no matter how hard you concentrate, you cannot effect or trigger. I don't care how much of a "master of the mind and body" someone is, they cannot just voluntarilly enter an REM state. Your brain enters an entirely different state when sleeping, one that cannot be attained while awake, or meditating.

In real life, anyway. Not Aberrant.

[SkyLion]

There is more in Heaven and Earth, sir, than is dreamt of in your philosophy...

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There are two physiological effects that occur while sleeping. Both relate to the nervous system. One is the activation of the parasympathetic nevous system....the rest and repair or rest and digest state of neuro-function.

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The other is that Brainwave activity enters Delta waves. This is the period of your deepest rest. There are no dreams and it is known to have the highest regenerative effects...ie the you sleep realy well and are invigorated. The brain periodically rises into REM activity at a higher level but those are usually short bursts and happen in the majority towards your time of waking.

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Both of these neuro-physiological effects have been obsreved and recorded in experiments with among others, Shaolin monks. Of course it may just be semantics, but these monks are sitting upright and can regain instant...and calm (ie not snappiong awake into sympathetic mode) wakefullness.

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Of course it may just be a matter of semantics really, but Id like to put it out there that none of us know everything and some of us have seen some pretty incredible shit people can do in this world. The party line would have you believe that all is well and accounted for but there are many mysteries yet unsolved and we still do not know the true limits of human potential...evolution strives onward...

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My Node hurts now...

[Alex Green]

The army is experimenting with drugs that reduce, drastically, our need for sleep. I think NPR did a segment on it. But note that "reduce" is not "eliminate".