2022 Unnatural Disorders and Mutations Jam

# Unnatural Disorders and Mutations Jam

A jam hosted by Sammy J, the Staggered Amusement Machine

For preservation purposes, the original PDF can be found here.

## Introduction

The Sanity and Disorders systems in Delta Green are interesting mechanisms, serving as both thematic/narrative ties to the Lovecraft lineage in addition to increasing the skill floor for veteran Agents. Unfortunately Disorders are only used to make our Agents feel worse to play, costing us the speed and pace of a session/Operation and decreasing the scope of interesting and characterful decisions.

However, the benefits of Disorders don’t need to come at the costs of fun and speed of play. The Unnatural is an avenue to plenty of interesting and fun phenomena and is the biggest threat to Sanity. If the Unnatural magically breaks your mind and inexplicably violates our understanding of reality, why can't it cause your body to regularly split in half whenever you're stressed, or cause alien parasites to crawl out of your pores and react to your emotions, or regularly teleport you to new places in a strange pattern, or make you dream of cities under the waves?

Why don't we make cooler Unnatural Disorders?

## The Jam

The objective of the jam is to create new and interesting Unnatural Disorders - strange Disorders gained as a result of hitting a Breaking Point from the Unnatural. These will be used as Disorders Handlers can pick from when an Agent hits a BP from Unnatural, alongside DID and Paranoia.

Because these Disorders are Unnatural, there’s no need to concern yourself with perfectly and humanely modeling a real-life mental disorder. There’s also no need to keep the Disorder strictly in the mind - the Unnatural defies our taxonomy of mind and body. Another way to think about these Unnatural Disorders is as Mutations.

### Submitting Unnatural Disorders

**Submissions are now closed.**

To submit, email me with the subject line “Unnatural Disorder Jam submission,” OR privately message me on Discord. In the message, you must include:

* A link to your submission,
* The submission’s name,
* A one-sentence teaser for the submission (if the submission has its own document),
* The name you want to be credited under.

It’s best to keep each individual Disorder/Mutation under one page in length.

Submissions close on Sunday, November 6th at 23:59 Pacific Standard Time. You can submit as many entries as you want.

### Examples and Inspiration

* Mutations - Three example Unnatural Disorders/Mutations I made for the 2022 N@TO Summer Jam.
* Fallout subsystem in the Liminal Horror RPG - the initial inspiration for this alternative/supplement to conventional Disorders.
* Mutations system from the Lost Eons RPG - physical changes for posthuman PCs that come with both mechanical drawbacks and benefits.
* Void Corruption and Cosmic Mutations in the Death in Space RPG - physical and psychological mutations caused by space magic in a dying universe.
* Annihilation (2018 movie) - The Shimmer produces some mutations akin to my proposed Unnatural Disorders: the ouroboros tattoo and its effects, Josie’s plant mutation, or Kane and Leina’s shimmering eyes and possible doppelganger status.
* mellonbread’s Fixed Delta Green Disorders and its sequel - alternative takes on existing Disorders. Possibly inspiring.

## Submissions

### Schizoaffective (dis)order by Pavel

Normally involving symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations or delusions, and symptoms of a mood disorder, such as depressive or manic episodes.  Schizoaffective Order follows these basic patterns of behavior and to an outside observer are indistinguishable.  However, with this Order, the individual is not hallucinating, rather they are seeing the “true world” as it really is.  Ley Lines, Communications Beacons, the Secret 5G messages, Signals from the Void coming in through their fillings.  This behavior is always with the individual - during acute episodes (triggered by any loss of SAN 2+ from the Unnatural) the person suffers -20 to all checks (except Sanity) as they are hard pressed to tell the material from the immaterial realities. Any other benefits, such as Unnatural insights, are Handler fiat.

### The Seed by Pavel

The Unnatural influences the world around it, warping the mundane into images and ideas that are beyond the grasp of rational intelligence.  You have been warped, a seed has been planted in your psyche, your mind has accepted the unnatural - a coping mechanism, a surrender, to survive you welcome the unnatural into your soul.

Effects will vary to some degree based on the triggering event; however, there is a constant motivation that comes with The Seed.  The affected and infected character no longer fears the Unnatural, rather seeks it out to feed and further The Seed’s growth.

**Mechanics:** Reach Breaking Point.  Gain +2d4 Unnatural Skill.  Gain one ritual, appropriate to the situation (Keeper’s Choice).  Gain Disorder: Addiction (Hypergeometry).  Each time you lose 3+SAN to the Unnatural, gain +1 Unnatural Skill/3 Points Lost.  May not deflect Unnatural SAN loss onto a Bond, rather the character will welcome it in - helping The Seed grow.  Each additional breaking point lost (through Unnatural Exposure) increases The Seeds hold over the Agent - the Keeper will determine how this affects the Agent, but most likely hidden knowledge and forbidden rituals blooming within their mind (repeat initial skill and ritual gain - gain a Seed related issue {possibly a disorder, possibly a Bond, possibly a physical change} and become even more devout to The Seed.

**Role Playing:** Excessive interest in anything that will help them learn more about the Unnatural.  Rapidly deteriorating social sanity (odd behaviors, modes of speech, tics).  Will do everything in their power to stop the destruction of an Unnatural artifact, book, whatever.

#### Madness of Azathoth

> *If there is purpose in life, it is to fulfill the ultimate promise of all our wisdom, all of science. The universe shall perish, cold and unmoving after uncountable years of devastation. I shall do my part. I will make the world more empty, and none shall stand in my way.*
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When the music stops, a tiny fragment of your god awakens within you, granting you the single-minded purpose of destruction. **When you go temporarily insane, you always fight. During this time you can make an extra attack or fight back an additional time.** If there's no one to fight, you start mindlessly breaking stuff.

The consequences of this are impossible to deny- and why would you deny granting tribute to the greatest of all cosmic forces? **You cannot project on SAN tests caused by violence.**

#### Madness of Cthulhu

> *In your throes of madness, the herald of the end shows you the way things shall be when all comes to an end. When the Great Old Ones rise and the world ends, you will be prepared.*
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**When you go temporarily insane, immediately gain 1d4 points in unnatural and one other skill** as the maddening visions teach you new ways to shout and revel and kill.

The blood only quickens your descent into understanding. **When you lose SAN from violence, lose 1 additional point.**

#### Madness of Daoloth

> *You are lied to every day. The ugliness of the world is not put on display, but painted in pretty colors or swept into the shadows. But when the illusions presented as pure and truthful fail to satisfy, the covers and veils under which reality hides itself fall away in tatters, viewed through the labyrinthine crystal that is Daoloth.*
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Your vision is clouded. The Render can help you see the truth. **You can automatically see through unnatural and magical illusions.** Nothing will be spared from your gaze, and neither will you. **You can not project when the unnatural causes you to lose SAN.**

#### Madness of Ghatanothoa

> *As the ancient volcano god once ruled in Mu, so shall he break from his prison and rule again. To see his image is to court paralysis, rending physical the knowledge that before this authority you are a mere insect. But you have witnessed his terrible form in your dreams, and still walk this earth. You are an emissary of the unmoving authority of the first tyrant. Act like it.*
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Those inspired by Ghatanothoa to madness carry a small shadow of his authority. By calling upon this power and channeling the Tyrant, **you may lose 1 SAN and 1d6 WP, and force a human NPC to lose 1d6 SAN, 1d6 WP, and submit to your authority.** You can make them do one task for you each time you use this ability. They are aware of this compulsion, will likely tell people about it afterwards, and will absolutely both fear and hate you. Using this on a bond degrades it by however many points of SAN they were forced to lose.

If the victim goes temporarily insane, they may try to kill you, run away, or simply collapse to the ground- or they might follow your instructions, but in a more messy way. Pushing a human NPC to their breaking point will likely also result in them becoming temporarily useless, though they will also do what they were told after some time.

The downside to representing this authority is that people generally despise you. Using the ability will amplify this, of course, but even in everyday life there’s something about the way you carry yourself that makes people fear and hate you. **You’re a preferred target in combat, and people tend to talk to you like you're a cop. A cop they don't like.** They’ll still talk to you, for fear of reprisal, but they won’t enjoy doing it.

#### Madness of Glaaki

> *It fell from the stars when the Earth was young. It contains within it a vast library of untold knowledge. It has lived ever since, and will continue to do so. You will not live forever. But you will live for as long as you do what you're told.*
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Glaaki rewards those who fall under his influence with a near eternal life. He enjoys a consistent roster of servants, and is loathe to relinquish them. **When you die, you revive at 1 HP but lose 1d4 POW as long as your body is still reasonably intact. When you reach 0 POW, you become a mindless, undead servant of Glaaki.**

In return for this security, Glaaki demands knowledge for its hoard. **After every home scene, the victim must give up either 1d6 unnatural or 1 spell.** If this price cannot be paid, they instead lose 1d6 SAN as their mind is assailed with the demands of their master.

#### Madness of Hastur

> *You strut and fret and do as you please upon the stage, and why shouldn't you? The audience adores you; the critics rave; and if the other actors shout and call you delusional, you can safely ignore them, knowing it's all part of the journey. If you don't like the script, tear it to shreds and write your own. You're the main character, this is your story, and damn anyone who thinks otherwise.*
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Stories are what define us. We see it in the news, on our social media feeds, psychology journals, and even in our own basic instincts. Reality is helpless before even a poorly spun tale. But you can do better. **You can spend 1d8 WP and SAN to flip the result of a roll.** For example, you could flip a result of 81 to become an 18.

Of course, the story of you is only told for yourself, and others have stories of your own. They are infinitely less interesting. **All Bond point loss from projection is doubled.**

#### Madness of Itla-shua

> *Whoever said that 'no man is an island' never met you. To stop being weighed down by the distractions brought by others, petty distractions that pull you from what's most important and dilute your focus. When you can step forth from your front door, and hear nothing but the wind, that is when you are truly free.*
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The Wind-Walker brings peace of mind. Billions of people occupy this rock, and their every whim dictates your life in infinite unknowable ways. To break from this cycle brings inner calm, and a leveled approach to a different understanding. **You never become temporarily insane from losing 5 or more SAN at once.**

This liberation comes only at the cost of your connection to humanity. **Before every home scene, your bonds decay by 1 point.**

#### Madness of Mordiggian

> *The sanctity of death is sacred to its keeper. The wrath of the Charnel God is terrible when unleashed, but rarely finds its way to the surface when his decree is accepted. Indeed, those who respect this will be rewarded.*
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It pleases the god of carrion to have more for the corpse pits. **You can never be revived from 0 HP, but your next agent gets 6 extra points to their attributes.**

#### Madness of Nyarlathotep

*Where the majority of the Outer Gods are immobile, sluggish, or slumbering, the Herald is dynamic. In the chaotic universal storm, he stands within the eye, seeing all. He will allow you to stand in his place, and watch the madness through his eyes. But when you return to your petty life, he shall be watching you, and tear you down in your moment of greatest triumph.*

By allowing the visions sent by the Herald into their mind, agents with this disorder can don the mask and see as the herald does; visions of the future, and with great certainty. They lose 1d10 SAN. Before the next home scene, **they can declare one roll an automatic critical success, regardless of skill**- no roll is required. This also means automatically winning if the roll is opposed. Activating this takes one full round in combat, though it may feel much longer to the user.

When this power is used, **all other critical successes before the next home scene automatically become critical failures,** as it amuses the Herald to toy with his puppets.

#### Madness of Qu-Tugkwa

> *The spark of wisdom ignites within you, burning out new passages into your brain and cauterizing memories into your mind. As you offer knowledge to her, she returns it to you. The incinerated words will stay with her for eternity, and when the time comes, so shall you.*
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**Mechanics**

Those who have fallen under the light of the Torchbearer know how to absorb knowledge faster than others. **By burning something until it is unreadable, you gain knowledge of its contents as if you had done a thorough cataloging.** This is easiest with books, but film burns readily as well, and a hard drive will become unrecoverable if exposed to enough heat. This does not convey understanding, with the exception of unnatural tomes, and you will likely need a test or skill to sort through your newfound knowledge.

Using this ability on a tome means instantly resolving the appropriate SAN loss (this can lead to temps) and gaining any unnatural rating the tome would convey. The spells may be learned later.

Using this on mundane books allows you to automatically fail the roll when improving skills in a home scene, if you spend a standard acquisition finding the right reading material.
Unfortunately, the Living Flame demands fuel. **Whenever you spend WP to project or use a ritual, spend 2 extra points.**

#### Madness of Shub-Niggurath

> *Let go of civilized pursuits for a time. Turn away from the sounds of the city and the electric lights, and run wild under the ancient light of the stars. You'll never find the answers while surrounded by walls. Return if you must, but never forget where you came from.*
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When the goddess touches your mind, primordial parts of your brain come alive and your animal mind roars to life. **You gain a +20% bonus to all rolls made while temporarily insane.**

It is easy to slip under the allure of the goddess at ill-considered times. **You become temporarily insane when you lose 4 or more SAN at once, instead of five.**

#### Madness of Tleche-Naka

> *When the spiders have ensconced your brain in their webs, and the line between the waking world and the land of dream shimmers and fades, you reach the beginning of an epiphany. The world is a unknowable tapestry, threads looping in and out of reality, woven into the cloth of existence out of the formless cosmic thread- and when the Weaver has touched your mind, you can begin to tug on the strings yourself…*
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You see connections where others see nothing. Crackpots call this psychometry. **By touching something and spending 1d4 WP and SAN, you can sense a connection between it and a related object or person.** This gives you a solid clue related to the object, a person that used it, or something else at the discretion of the GM.

Depending on the object this may include further SAN rending visions, so be careful picking up a murder weapon or strange trinket. If the ability doesn’t derive anything useful, no spend is made (though the clue may not be obviously useful at first).
Your ability to understand these connections comes at a cost; **when you lose SAN and roll a die, roll again and take the highest result.**

#### Madness of Tsathoggua

> *The Sleeper is not an active deity like the Herald or the Prisoner. Those who seek his wisdom must seek him out, and when a guest visits, those that amuse him are always invited back. Repeat visitors to the black depths can learn a great deal from listening to their new friend, safely tucked away from the troubles of the world above. But beware, for those who prostrate themselves before the sleeper seldom overcome their sloth.*
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Agents with this disorder may always **Study the Unnatural** during a home scene by communing with Tsathoggua. **This requires expending 1d6 SAN and gaining an equal amount of Unnatural points.** If the Agent gained 5 or 6 points, they may instantly learn a ritual of their choice, with the approval of the Handler and all the penalties that go with it.

All this learning comes at a cost. The Agent becomes sluggish and slow, **always going last in the combat order.**

#### Madness of Y'golonac

> *It started as a simple deviation from the norm, a small change that has compounded. You are unrecognizable, and it is likely for the best. Those who knew you before would be disgusted. They stopped calling months ago. Your new friends are few, for few derive enjoyment in the same way you do. Feast on their taboos, wallow in your own filth, and stay far away from those who despise you.*
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The mob hates you, and you're happy to let them- even the ones who used to care for you. You'll do fine without them. **When you lose a Bond, you automatically pass the associated Helplessness roll. Adapting to Helplessness costs no POW.** If you are already adapted, gain +3 POW.

Venturing forth to meet with others is dangerous. They may try to pull you away from your sanctuary. **You cannot create or improve bonds, with the exception of Delta Green bonds.**

#### Madness of Yig

> *The Serpent regards you with indifference at first. When you make an offering, its demeanor changes. Are you sincere? When you prove you are, you are welcome here. We will take care of you, as you should take care of others. Never cross them. Never cross us.*
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The Father of Snakes is above all a community leader- he is kind to his chosen people, and that means you and yours. **You may reroll and take the higher result to gain Bond points when Fulfilling Responsibilities, and add +3 to all newly created Bonds.**

You may decide one day it isn't worth it. You may betray them and do violence of the mind or body and break the covenant over your knee. You may feel the poison of Yig's curse as your blood turns black and oozes like tar in your veins. **When you lose a Bond point, it costs HP instead of WP** (This may mean starting the next session missing a few HP). **When you lose a Bond, it costs HP equal to the SAN loss.**

#### Madness of Yog-Sothoth

> *There is beauty in the grandiosity of creation, in the fact that we are standing here now, alive and well, but for some that is not enough. They wish to find the reasons, to sail beyond the map of science, and dive headfirst beneath the churning waves of the cosmic ocean.*
> *To them, the firmament says "Welcome."*
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The Keymaster knows the mind of humans must be altered to bear the weight of its cosmic revelations. **You can become adapted to the Unnatural without hitting 0 SAN, in the same manner as violence or helplessness.** Losing sanity from reading a tome also counts as a check for this. If you adapt, lose 1d10 SAN and add the same amount of unnatural.

Beware, though, for once you have crossed this threshold, there is no return to ignorance. **You can no longer regain SAN in any manner.**

### The Lonely One by mellonbread

> *The light beam envelopes of our minds were drawn from their course like water circling a drain, away from the Library of the Bat and into the singularity.*
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> *A voice spoke in our minds, though there was no air to carry it, and I recalled the Peg Legged man's admonishment in the small room under the junk shop.*
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> *"There is a warning for seekers of the path. Shall I read it to you?"*
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> *He had smiled as he turned the pages of the beaten silver book, knowing I would not recall it until after it was too late to return.*
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> *"You don't get to bring friends."*
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> *The dreaming minds of my colleagues were cast into the dark. I alone was allowed to proceed into the archives.*
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All SAN damage is converted to bond damage until your bonds are all broken. You cannot fulfill responsibilities or form new bonds.

### The Great Devourer by mellonbread

> *Baron Sushen ignored his heat ray pistol. He tossed aside his sword and threw off his helmet so he could unfurl his jaw. He leaped from the shotgun seat of the chariot and his body seemed to swim through the air like sperm soaked in carrion, corkscrewing and elongating until it penetrated the soft ovum that was the flabby body of the God Priest.*
> *The thing, for which thought and action were one and the same, raised a questing hand and contemplated a reality where the flying car overhead did not exist, and the man-thing that had penetrated its body was merely a figment of its imagination.Then the Baron exploded out of its body, mouth full of its Godflesh, and it died.*
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You can restore SAN lost in combat by dealing damage, at a rate of one per point of HP damage dealt. This cannot raise your SAN above whatever it was at the beginning of the encounter. You cannot restore SAN using therapy.

### Volatile Motivation Disorder by Staggered Amusement Machine

The Unnatural can shatter and warp one’s values and ideals. Whenever an Agent suffers Temporary Insanity or hits a Breaking Point, the Agent picks one of their remaining Motivations to transform into its opposite. For example: if a Motivation was “Protect my family,” that Motivation is now “Hurt my family.” In addition, Willpower and SAN rewards from that “opposite” Motivation are doubled. If the Agent tries to ignore this “opposite” Motivation and work towards the original Motivation, any resulting Willpower or SAN rewards are now penalties. So if the Agent worked towards “Protect my family,” they lose 1 WP instead of gaining 1 WP.

The original Motivation can be restored with Therapy - in addition to going into remission on a Critical, an Agent can instead choose to forgo any SAN gained from Therapy and instead revert the Motivation.

### Protective Projection by Staggered Amusement Machine

Whenever an Agent suffers Temporary Insanity or hits a Breaking Point, their consciousness begins to defensively escape from the Agent’s body. The Agent’s consciousness is free to move around the surrounding space, unobstructed by physical boundaries.

While untethered, the Agent’s consciousness can spend a Turn to “hop” into a different conscious body to control. The Agent rolls POWx5 or Ritual Activation against the target’s POWx5, reducing both’s WP by 1D4. If the Agent wins the contest (and has WP remaining), the Agent takes control of the target body for a number of Turns equal to the WP spent, while the target’s consciousness lapses and “blacks out.” While possessing the target, the Agent retains their Skills and mental stats (INT, CHA, SAN, etc), but uses the target’s physical stats (HP, STR, DEX, etc). Once time is up or the target’s body falls unconscious, the Agent’s consciousness is forced out. The Agent can attempt to “hop” back into that body or find another body to “hop” into.

Once the Agent’s body is safe or the cause of the SAN loss is defeated/gone, the Agent’s consciousness is free to return to its body.

### Corrective Perception Disorder by Staggered Amusement Machine

Some human minds adapt to protect themselves from the Unnatural. While the Agent has this Disorder, SAN loss from the Unnatural is halved (rounded up), as are any points gained in the Unnatural skill (also rounded up). In addition, the Agent does not gain Temporary Insanity from Unnatural SAN loss.

As part of this adaptation, the Agent’s perception is “corrected” to censor Unnatural cognitohazards. The source of Unnatural SAN loss, which is anything that costs 1+ SAN loss from the Unnatural, is imperceptible to the Agent visually or aurally, depending on if the source of Unnatural SAN loss is visual or aural. The source of SAN loss is visually obscured by a rectangular black mark or blur, or is aurally replaced with a constant 500 Hz sine wave. Whenever the Handler first describes the source, the player of the Agent with this disorder must plug their ears or otherwise avoid the description correlated with the SAN loss. Second-hand descriptions that don’t cause SAN loss (such as by fellow Agents or in-character scratch notes) are uncensored.

Surprisingly, Agents retain effectiveness when dealing with a source of Unnatural SAN loss, facing no penalties to attacking or locating it. However, Agents do receive a -20% penalty when trying to Dodge attacks made by those sources. In addition, it’s impossible for an Agent to make a Called Shot against those sources.

Socialization and information-gathering can be awkward. It’s impossible to sign with, or read the body language of, or read the written text of visually-obscured sources of Unnatural SAN loss. It is also impossible to listen to the speech of an aurally-obscured source of Unnatural SAN loss. However, it’s also impossible for aurally-obscured sources of Unnatural SAN loss to charm, persuade, or deceive the Agent, and it’s impossible for visually-obscured sources of Unnatural SAN loss to visually distract the Agent.

### La Plaga by Staggered Amusement Machine

A quasi-symbiotic parasite has made a host of the Agent. Whenever the Agent loses half their current HP or would become Temporarily Insane, the parasite emerges and takes partial control. The Agent must pick one of the following three options:

* **Fight**: the parasite configures itself to defeat the opposition. The Agent’s head and arms explode to reveal monstrous, dangling, and impossibly strong limbs. The Agent receives a +20% all attacks while in this state, and Unarmed Combat attacks deal **1D6 damage (AP 3)** and always deal 1 damage (AP 3) on failed Unarmed Combat rolls. This new form inflicts **1/1D6 SAN loss** from the Unnatural on any observer. For the parasite to retreat and the Agent to regain their original head and arms, the Agent must inflict a total of **30 damage and wait 1D4x6 hours**.
* **Flight**: the parasite stretches the Agents skin and skeleton into a more aerodynamic form and replaces the Agent’s legs with its own. The Agent receives a +20% to all attempts to flee and dodge incoming attacks and pins while in this form. In addition, the Agent’s speed is doubled. In addition, the Agent can burrow through walls and the ground, costing 1 WP for every 3 meters. This new form inflicts **1/1D6 SAN loss** from the Unnatural on any observer. For the parasite to retreat and the Agent to regain their original form, the Agent must reduce their **WP to 0**.
* **Freeze**: the parasite “soaks” through the Agent’s skin and calcifies, trapping the Agent in a cocoon. The Agent cannot take any actions requiring their limbs, and must roll to move. While in this state, the Agent receives a **+5 Armor** bonus and Lethality attacks always fail. The transformation inflicts **1/1D6 SAN loss** from the Unnatural on any observer. For the parasite to retreat back through the skin, the Agent must be submerged in an acid for 5 hours. An ally must roll Science (Chemistry), with failure inflicting **1D4 damage** on the infected Agent due to acid damage.

Every time an Agent undergoes this transformation, their HP and WP maximums are each reduced by 2. These maxima will return to their original values during the next Home Scene.