Roleplayer #28, April 1992
Playing With Your Mind
by Nigel Findley
Yes, the worldbook of the Great Conspiracy has been a long time coming.
Don't ask why -- there are some things you don't want to know.
But it's out at last. And among the secrets that it reveals are the following
high-tech ways to play with peoples' minds.
All of these devices can be useful in a campaign that's not Illuminated
. . . at least not overtly so. The amnesia drugs and Mind Control Laser,
in particular, make good McGuffins . . . gimmicks to get an adventure started.
Suppose the PCs find evidence that somebody has developed a new high-tech
way to play with people's minds. It doesn't even have to be the
Secret Masters. Either Madison Avenue or Hollywood would have a lot of use
for the Mind Control laser, for instance. But the plot complications will
come thick and fast as various forces try to get their own hands on the
secret -- and the original owners use it to defend themselves!
Chemically-Induced Amnesia
Currently, there are no drugs that will specifically erase memories without
causing other, more widespread effects (such as cell death, palsy, etc.).
This need not be true in worlds with higher Tech Levels, of course. The
Illuminati might have access to advanced
technology, and could possess such drugs. Two powerful memory-altering
drugs, both TL8, are described below. Both must be injected (either intravenously
or subcutaneously) to take effect, and neither is addictive. Neither is
currently illegal, simply because the authorities don't know these drugs
exist (though using them on someone would probably constitute assault).
One dose is 50 milligrams. These drugs can only be acquired from
certain conspiratorial groups, and they'll be very unlikely to
sell them.
The GM is free to bring these drugs into lower-tech campaigns as well. In
a fantasy campaign, they could be alchemical potions. In any game, they
could be secret herbal preparations brought at great expense from the edge
of the Galaxy/heart of the Amazon basin/secret Shawnee medicine garden/Crazy
Willy's ganja patch.
Lethe
Lethe ("forgetfulness") induces total amnesia. The subject loses
all memories of everything that happened before the dose was administered.
The base duration for this memory loss is 4 weeks. At the end of this period,
the subject makes a roll against HT-5 each week to shake off the effects.
On a successful roll, the subject's "lost" memories come flooding
back. On a critical failure, the memory loss has become permanent; the character
is considered to have acquired the Total Amnesia disadvantage, and can only
buy it off with character points.
Oblivio
Oblivio (Latin for "forgetfulness") is chemically very different
from Lethe, and induces temporary retrograde amnesia. For each dose -- to
a maximum of four doses -- the drug temporarily wipes out 3d weeks of the
subject's memory record, starting at the moment the drug was administered
and counting backwards. Thus, if the subject is given three doses, he forgets
everything that happened in the 9d weeks before the drug was administered.
The drug also renders the subject instantly unconscious for 10d minutes.
The drug has a base duration of 1d+6 days. After that period, the subject
rolls every day against HT-1. If he succeeds, his memory comes back immediately,
although in most cases he will never recall the period one hour before the
drug was administered. If he rolls a critical success, however, he does
remember that one-hour "window." If the subject ever rolls
a critical failure, the temporary amnesia becomes permanent.
The maximum number of doses that can be administered at one time -- safely
-- is four. A fifth dose requires the subject to make a HT-4 roll or become
comatose for 20-HT hours, and suffer 3d damage plus 1d of additional damage
for each dose after the fifth.
Agents will sometimes want to maintain this kind of temporary amnesia
beyond the base duration. This requires multiple administrations of Oblivio.
Each time the subject receives the drug, the GM must secretly roll the base
duration for that particular administration (i.e., 1d+6). The number of
doses he received in that batch is considered to be still in effect for
that time. If he receives more doses before that time is up, to bring the
total number of "active doses" up to 5, the subject will suffer
the effects of an "overdose" as described above.
For example: An agent gives Smith three doses of Oblivio. The GM rolls the
duration (1d+6), for a result of 12 days. The agent wants to maintain Smith's
amnesia; obviously, he doesn't know how long the first three doses will
last. After 8 days, the agent is getting very nervous: he figures Smith
could snap out of it at any time. He sneaks into Smith's place and gives
him another three doses. Unfortunately for Smith, the first three doses
were still in effect, and the new administration raises the number of "active
doses" to six. Smith must roll HT-4 or pass out for 20-HT hours and
suffer 4d of damage (3d base plus 1 d for the 6th dose).
"Unlocking" Implanted Information
So the Illuminati have locked important information in the subconscious
of an unwitting dupe. How does one un-lock that information?
Mental unlocking is tricky, requiring much skill. Only those with either
Interrogation or Psychology can even try it (no default skill use allowed).
The procedure is a Contest of Skills between the inter-rogator's Skill (either
Psychology or Interrogation) and the subject's IQ (modified by Strong or
Weak Will). This is even if the subject wants the interrogator
to succeed. "Truth serum" type drugs, like pentothal of sodium,
Will decrease the subject's effective IQ by -2. Each attempt takes one hour.
If the interrogator makes his roll and the subject fails, the implanted
information is released normally (whatever "normally" is for the
specific case). If the interrogator rolls a critical success and the subject
fails, the implanted information is released normally and the subject
gains full conscious access to it, even if this wasn't part of the original
programming. If both rolls fail or both succeed, the attempt is a failure.
If, however, the interrogator fails the Skill roll and the Subject succeeds,
any secondary programming that might be in place is triggered. The result
could range from the subject permanently forgetting the implanted information,
to his going insane, or even to a bomb implanted in his head detonating.
Finally, if the interrogator rolls a critical failure and the subject rolls
a success, the information in the subject's head is totally lost and unrecoverable.
Plus, the subject suffers some kind of mental imbalance, equivalent
to any mental disadvantage that the GM sees fit to apply. This condition
lasts for 2d weeks.
The Mind Control Laser
Strictly speaking, this device is a maser, not a laser, since
it employs microwaves instead of visible light. The projector is about the
size of a beer can, but it must be attached by a slender cable to a battery
pack about the size and shape of a briefcase. When in use, the projector
heats to a temperature of about 100° C (212° F), requiring that
it be mounted on a tripod or something similar.
The projector produces a conical beam of microwaves with an effective range
of 300 feet. The beam is not tightly collimated. At 150 feet the beam has
a diameter of 20 feet; at maximum range it has a diameter of 40 feet. It
is totally invisible, and can penetrate up to six inches of stone or brick;
less dense materials, such as wood, drywall, plaster, etc. offer no resistance
to the microwave beam. Any ferrous metal of more than a quarter-inch thickness
totally blocks the beam, however.
Any human caught within the beam must make a Will roll each minute or be
highly suggestible to any authorita-tive statement for however long the
individual is within the beam plus an additional 1 d minutes. During this
time, any authoritative statement is treated as a posthypnotic suggestion
(see Hypnosis on p. B56). The beam's intensity -- and hence
its effectiveness -- diminishes with range. A subject's Will roll has the
following penalties, depending on range:
0-50 feet 0
51-100 feet +1
101-200 feet +2
201-300 feet +3
In addition, if the subject is wearing a special protective helmet composed
of a titanium-beryllium alloy, he receives an additional +10 bonus. (Jury-rigged
protection like a skullcap made of aluminum foil can give a +1 bonus if
the GM is feeling generous. A skullcap of beaten gold is even better --
+4 -- because it's more conductive.)
The briefcase-sized battery pack contains enough power for 5 minutes of
continuous use.
The mind control laser is TL8 (sort of). It is not considered illegal, since
nobody who writes the laws believes such a thing exists.
(Back to Roleplayer
#28 Table of Contents)