Opium, whiskey, insanity

[NON]

Hi
I'm considering implementing drugs/alcohol to stave off insanity in Infra Arcana.

Would be cool to hear some ideas how it could work, what the penalties could be (addiction should of course be a risk).

I'm thinking it should reduce the long-term insanity for a cost of temporarily lowering your aiming/dodging/searching/whatever. And every time you use it, a variable counts up (invisible to the player, except maybe some occasional message when it gets above certain levels). The higher this number is, the higher chance for getting an addiction every time you use it.

Addictions would be a "thing" similar to phobias and compulsions. A pop-up appears telling you that you have it. For alcohol for example, you could have increased shock rate and terrible aim (shaky hands) when you don't drink

Give ideas please

[Legend]

Alcohol could make you bleed worse/longer. Could also make you more susceptible to disease. Maybe even temporarily lower your health?

I think I like the idea of adding the drugs/alcohol to balance with sanity. Hard to really tell if it will work though until it has been tried out. It also fits the theme considering some authors of the time/type, many of which had alcohol/drug addictions. Poe comes to mind for one.

Too much drugs and booze could also eventually have adverse effects on your sanity. Possibly hallucinations.

I think the main thing is that drugs/booze should not have to be a necessary thing in the game to take, but rather something you can choose to take along with the risks in order to ease your sanity in dire moments.

Booze could also be used to throw like a potion maybe which could amplify the effects of the flare gun, cocktail, flame weapons, etc.

[NON]

Alcohol could make you bleed worse/longer. Could also make you more susceptible to disease.

Why? Is that a thing that alcohol does to people? Never heard of that

Hard to really tell if it will work though until it has been tried out.

It's like that with most features. But this seems like a funny/cool thing to include, and it will help establish the theme and setting more. Just need to get the mechanics right.

It also fits the theme considering some authors of the time/type

Drugs are mentioned in some Lovecraft stories. Sometimes as a method to cope with something horrible in the past.

Too much drugs and booze could also eventually have adverse effects on your sanity. Possibly hallucinations.

Sure

I think the main thing is that drugs/booze should not have to be a necessary thing in the game to take, but rather something you can choose to take along with the risks in order to ease your sanity in dire moments.

Yes this is what I was thinking too. It seems a bit sleazy if drugs and alcohol became a too central part of the game.

Booze could also be used to throw like a potion maybe which could amplify the effects of the flare gun, cocktail, flame weapons, etc.

I'll probably implement booze as a potion. So these things will practically come for free. But I'm not sure what you mean by amplify? More damage and/or burn duration? I suppose it could be helpful against really tough enemies. But against zombies and cultists for example, molotovs are already a bit overkill as it is

[requerent]

Alcohol actually helps prevent disease. True story.

[Chex Warrior]

It would be cool if certain drugs could help with spell casting, and generally increase stats. However as a disadvantage, taking certain drugs could reveal new horrible kinds of monsters (like in the Hounds of Tindalos).

[NON]

Those are awesome ideas! But for now I'm asking more for how the core mechanics of the drugs should work.

[kraflab]

If you drink substantially in a short amount of time you should be able to black-out and lose memory of recent past and future events, thus removing the insanity caused by an event.  The downside I guess would be reduced combat ability or some vulnerability during this time.  I think the mechanic of getting completely wasted after witnessing a truly horrific event would be pretty interesting.

[NON]

If you drink substantially in a short amount of time you should be able to black-out and lose memory of recent past and future events, thus removing the insanity caused by an event.

I'm not keeping track of individual events like that. I believe in keeping it simple:
Quaff one whiskey reduces insanity by X% but gives Y% to-hit penalty for Z turns. Something like that

Fainting could be an effect of too much drinking though

Since fainting does a toughness check, it would be hilarious
"You quaff whisky. The world is turning black...  You resist fainting!"

The toughness ability could also be used for resisting addiction 

[Legend]

Alcohol thins the blood. That's why I suggested that too much could make you bleed longer.

As for having alcohol amplify fire, I was thinking of flammable types of alcohol such as used in the cocktail, than could maybe make an enemy burn longer or with a little more damage when doused with alcohol before being set on fire. Or, if you throw it against the ground, then light it on fire (or vice versa), it could expand the effected area.

[NON]

Or, if you throw it against the ground, then light it on fire (or vice versa), it could expand the effected area.

That sounds like a really cool trap. But I'm doubting that pouring a bottle of whisky on the ground and lightning that on fire would cause a mayhem of destruction Wouldn't it just make some tiny flames? Or am I wrong? Does anyone know? If this is anywhere near a plausible strategy in real life, then I will not hesitate to add it to the game.

[Krice]

If alcohol has only negative effects why would you drink it in the game? It doesn't make sense. What I did with alcohol is that I made it the only way to recover hit points (in Teemu), but it makes you confused (even dead) if you drink too much. I think it was such a brilliant idea and I'm seriously underrated as game developer.

[NON]

? ? ?

No one has talked about alcohol only having negative effects! It's primary use would be to reduce shock and/or insanity. It could also remove fear.

[Krice]

No one has talked about alcohol only having negative effects!

Oh? Well, please, continue then.

[Darren Grey]

Perhaps there could be more in-depth fire mechanics.  As in certain horrors and creatures are averse to fire, so spilling some liquor on the ground and lighting it could be used as a repellant.

However in truth alcohol burns very quickly and does little more than minor damage if spread on skin.  The health effects to a person from drinking are also minor in the short term, unless ingesting a very huge dose (which would cause you to vomit and maybe faint anyway, preventing you from causing real health damage).  Dizziness and such would make you less skilled in combat at high doses, though many people are fully capable of effective violence when drunk.

The key thing would be the effect on sanity.  Alcohol would help the mind deal with sanity, and maybe increase confusion resistance, but make one more susceptible to sleep attacks and reduce accuracy a little in combat.  In the setting I would say that the more you use alcohol to avoid insanity the more you come to rely on it and become less sane whilst sober.  Many things in the game would cause a sobering up from the sheer horror of them, and you'd have to hit the bottle often to keep your mind from shattering, whilst overall weakening your mind a bit more with every swig.

[NON]

Thanks Darren, that's a very informative post. Could you speculate similarly on opium please?
Do you have any clue what would be the differences/similarities with alcohol (in terms of game mechanics, and real life effects)?