Stress Reactions in RPGs

I don't think a single Role Playing Game treats fear and the stress reactions one has when placed in a dangerous or threatening situation; the Sanity system of Call of Cthulhu certainly fails to do this. This is a shame, but I suppose it is very difficult to design a game mechanic that would succesfully simulate those effects.

I have recently began experimenting with Minimalistic Call of Cthulhu, a House Rule variant of CoC that uses only the rules regarding Sanity, simply discarding all other rules. Not replacing them with others, but simply doing without rules for the most part. It is especially with this sort of Minimalistic CoC that I write about Stress Reactions, but I suppose players of all sorts of RPGs can make use of the following. And indeed it is Players, rather than Keepers, that I write this for, because without rules for stress reactions, it falls on the Players to roleplay their characters as they go through the kind of stress discussed here.

Characters in RPGs tend to find themselves in extremely stressful situations, where their health or lives (or perhaps even worse) are being threatened. At least in horror RPGs the players characters are also usually unaccustomed to such situations to begin with, and thus lack the benefit of training to help them through the ordeal. Even professional soldiers are not immune to stress. Player Characters tend to be unusual people, but I'm afraid this is mainly due merely to the failure of the game mechanic rather than the anyone's specific intent. It takes a good roleplayer to get into character and have his character act realistically, rather than in the heroic fashion that a typical power gamer or rule lawyer is likely to have him act.

To get in character better, spend some time alone, imagining (honestly!) how you would feel in various situations. For example, imagine landing in an unfamiliar, seemingly empty subway station at 2 a.m., possibly in an unknown city. Walking towards the exit you hear crude chatter coming from ahead. Perhaps a group of aggressive looking young men are approaching. This should make you feel uncomfortable. What if they see you, surround you, and start acting aggressively toward you? Unless you are extremely stupid, you would be scared. That means, you would be under stress, and you would almost certainly react to that stress in some ways, whether you can imagine those reactions or not. I am writing this precisely so that you would have a better idea of how you might actually react to significant stress.

Below I list some typical or likely reactions caused by experiencing a truly stressful situation. I leave it up to you to choose what to do with the knowledge of them -- the reactions a character will have in various situations are likely to vary by situation (and prior events) and by the individual to great extent. Also note that stress is not experienced only by the victim of an attack, but also by the attacker. The following list is based in great part on my martial arts training, limited as it may be. Wikipedia has been useful as well.

Typical stress reactions:
- tunnel vision: loss of peripheral vision, focused foveal vision
- tunnel hearing: it may even be difficult to hear one's own name being shouted nearby when one's focus is on the threat
- panting, difficulty breathing normally
- feeling of weakness, powerlessness
- impaired fine motor skills, reduced dexterity
- inability to think clearly and logically, mind focused on the immediate threat
- possibly inability to comprehend stimuli, and disorientation
- pain threshold significantly raised (you may fail to notice even serious injuries)
- sweating and flushing
- "freezing", being unable to make decisions or even to move
- trembling
- nervous laughter

The symptoms appear fairly quickly, although probably not within seconds. They probably disappear in a couple of hours. It is possible or even likely that there will be difficulties accurately recalling details of the event. Even describing the attacker correctly can prove impossible.