Jack's London - Sanity and Clarity

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== Sanity and Clarity ==
When I last played this as according to the book, players found the Clarity system as written to be a bit hard to understand. What did Clarity really represent? Why did certain actions cause Clarity loss but not others and why was it tied in with morality.
In a futile attempt to fix things I've given it a lot of thought and divided up clarity into two seperate stats:
Sanity and Clarity.
Sanity is about how mentally stable you are and sanity is lost by things happening to you (as in the Cthulhu Mythos). Lose this and you gain derangements.
Clarity is about how you act and what you do. Particularly in how much you resemble your abusers. If you kill or torture, then you're edging yourself closer to acting like the Gentry. Lose Clarity and you don't go insane, instead you get a choice. You can take penalties to your social rolls as you become increasingly sociopathic or you can gain fae-like flaws (such as being repelled by the sound of chuch bells or having to count spilt grains of rice and other such issues)
=== Sanity: ===
What traumatic experiences they have had, hallucinations and contact with the true fae (Things that happen to you.)
This comes in three parts:
* Traumatic events, (particularly if It reminds you of Arcadia),
* helplessness
* Isolation.
Loss of Sanity causes you to gain derangements as your mind slowly shatters exactly as per the morality system in the book. The below are just some examples of things that could shock you at each level.
* 10. Minor unexpected life changes. Don't see anybody you know for a whole day.
* 9. Being threatened, blackmailed or discovering that people have been spying on you for a long time. Going a day without human contact.
* 8. Failing catastrophically at something important (e.g. getting a botch on a life or death roll). Spend three days without talking to anybody.
* 7. Serious unexpected life changes (e.g. Losing your job or a friend dying). Being assaulted with unexpected violence (e.g. getting beaten up) Being briefly in an asylum or being otherwise locked away. Experiencing vivid hallucinations (Usually through drugs)
* 6. Discovering that your memories have been tampered with. Going a week without human contact. Being in an environment that strongly reminds you of where you lived in Arcadia.
* 5. Being seriously assaulted (e.g. getting stabbed, shot or being beaten hard enough to break bones). Being unable to meaningfully communicate with those around you for a prolonged period.
* 4. Extreme unexpected life changes (pregnancy, losing one’s home, etc.) or a near death experience. Going a month without human contact. Being completely lost.
* 3. Being Enslaved or being briefly possessed or terribly betrayed. Prolonged exposure to the Hedge (for a week or more), exposure to things that make you doubt the physical world is real.
* 2. Being Tortured for a day or more or seeing people that you care for deeply, get brutally killed. Being treated like a stranger by those closest to you. Brief contact with the True Fae or Arcadia.
* 1. Your mortal life and identity are completely destroyed or altered. Long term possession. A month in total sensory deprivation or being trapped in a paralysed body unable to communicate. Intimate or prolonged encounters with the True Fae or Arcadia.
* 0. Being Captured by the True Fae again.
=== Clarity: ===
Their connection to the mundane world, broken when they act like the fae.
Three parts:
* Treating others as less important than yourself (usually things that would be considered crimes).
* Self-deception
* and acting like the fae.
Loss of Clarity makes you more like the Fae and gives you their weakness of predictability. Treat this as per morality but instead of derangements you either take social penalties as you become a sociopath or you get Fae Frailties (Banes and Taboos).
* 10. Inconsiderate acts (e.g. verbal insults or being obstructive to another) Telling White lies about who you are. Using fae magic for trivial tasks or dream-walking
* 9. Minor selfish acts that do not cause any harm. Breaking a minor promise or commitment. Using Fae Magical items.
* 8. Recklessness (e.g. injuring another person, by a careless accident) or breaking an honestly made promise. Changing a major allegiance such as your court.
* 7. Indirect harm to others (e.g. Theft or ruining a reputation) Secretly gratifying a dark urge that is incompatible with your normal identity (e.g. Blasphemy for somebody who defines themselves as faithful, or a racist dating a minority.)
* 6. Direct harm to others (e.g. any non-fatal violence in self-defence, fighting Loyalists and Fetches who are known to be hunting you is usually considered self-defence even if pre-meditated). Lie to conceal some aspect of your personality from a close friend or loved one who trusts you implicitly. Revealing your true form or using obvious magic in front of normal mortals.
* 5. Supporting direct harm to others (Conspiring to murder or supporting human gladiatorial fights, letting somebody bleed to death if you could easily help them) Deliberately act contrary to your Virtue (e.g. a person who defines themselves as being honest taking a bribe to lie) Breaking a sworn vow
* 4. Accidental or indirect Life-ending (e.g. Manslaughter, murder in self-defence) Deliberately deceiving a loved one or close friend in a way that will cause them certain and terrible pain if they find out. (e.g. concealing an affair from your wife or secretly selling secrets to Loyalists.)
* 3. Life-ending crime (Life-ending means Murder, Rape, Torture or similar) with a good justification or kidnapping. Leaving a loved-one or close friend to die or throwing an unprepared mortal into the hedge. Breaking a magically enforced sworn vow (e.g. promise before the Wyrd)
* 2. Life-ending crime (e.g. Murder, Rape. Torture or similar) seeing proof that something you deeply believe in, is a lie.
* 1. Utterly Perverse or Heinous crime (e.g. Needlessly sadistic murder or rape) Deliberately destroy something that you consider important. e.g. Selling out to the Fae or burning down your family home or killing a loved one.
* 0. Perverse or heinous crimes on a massive scale. (e.g. Genocide or serial murder) Voluntarily going back into slavery in Arcadia.
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