Horror: Power Corrupts

Power Corrupts

In a horror campaign, the GM may wish to make some or all supernatural powers inherently evil. The Black Magic rules in GURPS Magic provide one way of handling this for magic. Other options include the power tally used by Threshold-Limited Magic and the Spiritual Distortion of Assisting Spirits, both in GURPS Thaumatology, and the point-debt model of Meditative Magic in GURPS Fantasy – all of which could be interpreted as buildups of corrupting influences that might eventually lead the mage to develop "evil disadvantages" like Callous and Sadism. These approaches to the Dark Arts share one common feature: they free the practitioner from the immediate energy costs of his Arts but extract a far more severe price from him later on. Think of them as ways to convert some or all of the usual energy cost into a buildup of bad karma, alien taint, the Dark Side, Satanic influence, deformed p'o, psychic damage, or what have you. This Corruption – whatever its source – is resolved later on through such game mechanics as Will rolls, Calamity Checks, and conversion to disadvantages.

Any of the above systems could be extended to other sorts of supernatural abilities. Provided that the capability in question costs energy (usually FP) to invoke, adaptation is straightforward. For example, demons might gift a man with a silver tongue – the better to spread their lies. This would work just like Black Magic, but instead of casting spells at reduced energy cost, the "dark preacher" would use Enthrallment skills without their usual FP costs, thereby gaining Corruption. Other potential Dark Arts of this kind include the Imbuement Skills of GURPS Power-Ups 1 and the Energy Accumulating model of Path/Book magic in GURPS Thaumatology.

Some supernatural capabilities don't have associated energy costs, though. Examples include many cinematic combat skills (e.g., Invisibility Art and Zen Archery), the Effect Shaping model of Path/Book magic, and almost anything from GURPS Powers. For cases such as the first two of these, significant skill penalties are often involved, and the GM can allow the Dark Arts to diminish these in lieu of energy costs. Treat each -1 in penalties negated by the use of Dark Arts as a point of Corruption.

A similar principle applies to psionic abilities as described in GURPS Psionic Powers: treat each +1 to the psionic skill roll as a point of Corruption. For supernatural gifts demarcated in levels – like most psi abilities – one-time access to higher levels is available at a Corruption cost equal to 1/5 of the character-point cost that the user would have to pay for the additional levels, rounded up. For instance, a dark psi with Telekinesis 2 [10] could strangle someone as if he had Telekinesis 10 [50] for a mere 8 points of Corruption.

For the most part, none of these approaches work for the sorts of supernatural abilities that GURPS Powers describes. Those capabilities rarely cost energy to invoke and don't always require rolls to use – and what rolls they do call for are seldom penalized. If you care to dig into the guts of the system, you can relate abilities to energy costs through the Temporary Enhancements and Trading Fatigue for Effect rules in Powers, and then model Corruption stemming from use of those abilities using whichever system you like from among those mentioned above. A simpler method is to use the Corrupting limitation. Taking the limitation multiple times increases the amount of Corruption that each use of the ability causes.

This page has not been finished up!

Many Roads to Hell: A Sample Corruption System

This is a relatively simple yet harsh Corruption system for magical horror campaigns that make corruption, temp- tation, and the dangers of power a major theme. With minor tweaking, it can represent the loss of sanity in a cos- mic horror game. It presents sample answers to many ques- tions that the GM should ask when tailoring a Corruption system to his campaign.

Access to Corrupt Magics

Discovering how to cast Corrupt magics requires research or training in Hidden Lore of some kind, or sum- moning demons. If the warlock lacks Magery, this process grants it. Some monsters – and all demons – have innately Corrupt magic, but that doesn’t matter to them now. Alchemists might be able to create “elixirs of Magery” from the glands and blood of such beings.

Alternatively, make access to Corruption a campaign feature that has no character-point cost. Anybody can tap into Corruption when they need extra power!

Gaining Corruption

A Corrupt magus can claim “free” energy points to power any spell at the cost of adding an equal number of points to his Corruption total. The GM may impose a ceiling on these free points equal to six times the caster’s Magery level, send- ing him back to the blasphemous tomes or sulfurous penta- cles for more learning. Spells cast using Corrupt energy risk the Black Critical Table from GURPS Magic.

If bought at character creation, every 10 points of Corruption is a disadvantage worth -1 character point. Anyone – with or without Magery – can also gain Corruption by any of the following means:

Bad Places: Living in or traveling through a haunted house, a dark realm, or other Bad Place for a month adds 1d-2 Corruption. Some Bad Places add Corruption even faster; e.g., crossing the threshold of a lich’s tomb. Engaging in any kind of magical rite (except possibly holy prayer or fasting) in a Bad Place adds 1d Corruption.

Blood Money: Profiting from the sale of an evil idol’s eye, spending cursed pirate gold, and similar transactions adds a point of Corruption per $1,000 involved. Some horrid wealth is worse yet: Spending one of the shekels Judas gained for betraying Jesus might add 5, 6, or more points of Corruption by itself, above its street value!

Corrupt Wounds: The bites, weapons, or talons of some creatures – demons, wraiths, vampires, and alien horrors especially – carry Corruption. Every point of injury received from such a monstrous opponent adds a point of Corruption.

Derangement: Every -1 in Derangement (p. 142) accrued adds a point of Corruption, as the sufferer beholds Evil’s grim glory.

Learning Hidden Lore: Every character point spent to gain Hidden Lore adds a point of Corruption. Some tomes – especially grimoires, or dark books used in Path/Book Magic – might carry Corruption even if they don’t teach Hidden Lore directly.

Using Cursed Artifacts: Using a cursed artifact for a mun- dane purpose adds 1d-2 Corruption. Using it for a ritual function (e.g., in a ceremony) or for an evil reason adds 1d Corruption. Using it to power or cause a supernatural effect adds Corruption equal to the energy points needed to cast the equivalent spell.

Vile Encounters: Eating human flesh or evil sentient fruit, sleeping with succubi, or otherwise mingling your life force with monstrosity costs 1d-2 Corruption per incident.

These consequences may be common knowledge, revealed in play by NPCs (“Go ye not to the graveyard on St. John’s Eve, lest ye be curst by Belial!”), or discovered only on a successful roll against Occultism (or Hidden Lore).

The GM keeps track of each PC’s Corruption total in secret, and is encouraged to lie like a demon when asked for a current total: “No, you feel fine. Better than fine! Your moral clarity is unimpaired.”

Effects of Corruption

Corruption is visible in the bearer’s aura. Saintly, divine, or otherwise anti-Corrupt beings react to Corrupted individuals at -1 per full 25 points of Corruption.

Every week, anyone with even a point of Corruption must roll against Will at -1 per full 10 points of Corruption. Failure con- verts Corruption to negative char- acter points, at -1 point per full 25 points of Corruption. The GM may use these points to lower self-control rolls for “evil” disad- vantages like Sadism or Bloodlust, chip away at “good” dis- advantages like Honesty or Pacifism, impose penalties on Reputation or influence rolls with good or pure individuals, lower skills in combat against corrupt entities (half the cost of lowering the skill), impose penalties on Fright Checks or Will rolls to resist possession or similar, add quirks, cause afflictions, or add full-on disadvantages from Lecherous- ness to a demonic Patron (and associated Duty).

Once someone has 125+ points of Corruption, the GM may convert it into negative character points regardless of the Will roll. Then again, the GM might allow the Corruption to build up until one final blowout, even if the player fails his roll!

Converting Corruption points to disadvantage points does reduce the subject’s running Corruption total, as the foulness reshapes him into a (briefly) more stable condition.

Cleansing Corruption

There are three major ways to cleanse oneself of Corruption:

Meritorious Act: A major virtuous and selfless act (as adjudicated by that person’s gods – which is to say, by the GM) cleanses 25 points of Corruption.

Penance: The Corrupt individual must isolate himself from his everyday life and spend every waking moment in prayer or meditation. This requires a daily roll against Meditation. At the GM’s discretion, it may also require guidance from a suitable priest, mystic, or guru. While committed to this regime, the penitent cleanses 4 points of Corruption per day. No cleansing is possible on any day when he fails a self-control roll.

If Thy Hand Offend Thee, Cut It Off: Certain tomes speak of a ritual by which all the vileness in a man can be local- ized in a single body part, such as a hand or an eye. One who performs that ritual (which is up to the GM to create and the PC to hunt down) can swap out Corrupt disadvan- tage points (or unassigned Corruption total, at the usual 25 points per -1 character point) for points in One Arm, One Eye, One Hand, etc., and then remove the offending body part with a blade. This is a great opportunity for the GM to introduce the severed body part as a monster (see Independent Body Parts, p. 15) – or as a villain!

At the GM’s discretion, bathing in a holy pool, or drink- ing from the waters of Lethe, or divine intervention may cleanse some or all Corruption. Less virtuously, one’s evil might be painted into a portrait, drained into an emerald, or otherwise shifted – at the very great risk of acquiring a doozy of a bad Destiny (p. B131). Any such cleansing probably requires as much time and effort to arrange as the equivalent penance would, however.

Other Corruptions

Depending on the campaign cosmology, other power sources might be inherently (or potentially) Corrupt. Apply- ing the Corrupting limitation to such a source makes yet another way to rack up the points. The powers of Order, Chaos, and even Heaven might “corrupt” the indiscrimi- nate user, warping him into something more to their taste. Use the negative character points from Corruption to trans- form him into a Grey, a Thing Man Was Not Meant to Know, one of the Unseelie, or an implacable and inhuman angelic weapon – any of which could be grist for a horror campaign driven more by alienation and isolation than by corruption per se.