Sanity loss isn't just a game mechanic

[mithriltabby]

weregamer’s Omniverse game (run using GURPS) involves time travel, the Illuminati, secret history, the occult, and all sorts of other things that tend to turn up in Suppressed Transmission.

Phaedrus (played by my friend Roger), the 4th century Neo-Platonic philosopher and wizard, has gained enough insight from our occasional interactions with extradimensional entities to research the first spell in a college that can deal with such phenomena. After long effort, he has a spell that can perform basic manipulations involving the fourth physical dimension— stunts like parity reversal (which can turn a right-handed glove into a left-handed one), unlinking chains without breaking the links, that sort of thing.

Jeff Katz (my character), has been working on integrating technology and magic— his current project is culinary alchemy, which is application of alchemical principles to the Alton Brown school of science-based cooking. (He figures that if he can work out the basics of mixing alchemical magic with physical chemistry on something as tech level neutral as cooking, he can write that up and let specialists work out alchemical plastics and metallurgy.) Jeff is currently operating under the hypothesis that if you can expose yourself to the sorts of events that create Mythos fright checks under controlled circumstances, you can become resistant to the detrimental effects of seeing these bizarre events.

So when Phaedrus announces that he has completed work on his spell, Jeff asks him to demonstrate it a few times until he can get semi-used to it. And then he hands Phaedrus a bag of sugar and says, “Can you parity-reverse that?” (Thus turning it into left-handed sugar.) A 5 lb. bag of sugar is just barely within the limits of the spell, so Phaedrus does so, and Jeff goes back to his alchemical kitchen, laughing... having used disturbing, mind-wrenching magics to create new cooking ingredients.

There isn’t a sanity stat in this game, but roleplaying does speak louder than dice sometimes...