Amnesia & You Options

[Ruby]

I'm creating an elf spider shaman with amnesia and my husband and I seem to have very different ideas of what qualifies for the flaw. I should be clear that this is for someone else's game where my husband is another player.

I wanted to go with the 10 point version where my shaman can't remember her past but knows her skills. When I told him that I was thinking of using the Crash as an excuse as to why she doesn't have any records to help her go by, he pointed out that "That's eight years.... I don't think you can call that amnesia if she's had that long to have a new life"

Personally, I think I can still take the quality and use that background (as cheap as it admittedly sounds). My main concern is how long would it take for her to become fluent in English as I decided her native language is Filipino.

[BishopMcQ]

8 years is plenty of time to become fluent if you have been immersed in the language. Depending on the age that the character was immersed in English, there may be more or less of an accent left.

Re: Amnesia -- If the Crash wiped out her permanent records and she was living SIN-less for the last 8 years, it could explain why she doesn't have any records. Alternatively, adding in Erased might also help explain why there's nothing on her. The event that caused the amnesia should be more recent than nearly a decade ago. Picking up and starting a fresh life without any support is hard but once you've had a year or five to put down roots, it is harder to tell that a person can't remember anything before a certain day. If the point is to not remember anything since before you were a teenager, now that the character is in her 20s, I don't think that's worth the points per se.

[Ruby]

I currently have her English at rating 4 but I wonder if she can still get by with it at 3? I'm being pretty firm about the amnesia thing with my husband. I want my character to be a possible plot device for the GM. My husband had suggested she can't remember past the last year but that doesn't feel like enough time to learn enough English to survive in Seattle. Maybe I should just get her a linguisoft or something.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

I currently have her English at rating 4 but I wonder if she can still get by with it at 3? I'm being pretty firm about the amnesia thing with my husband. I want my character to be a possible plot device for the GM. My husband had suggested she can't remember past the last year but that doesn't feel like enough time to learn enough English to survive in Seattle. Maybe I should just get her a linguisoft or something.

Plenty of time to learn a language...

[Krishach]

Just to clarify, the book is citing the condition of retrograde amnesia, or the loss of memory of past events.
I also don't see why this is even an issue. Amnesia patients retain the ability to speak, write, etc, as well as motor skills and route reflexes.
Wiki's are flawed expert sources, but this comes close to what I know:

However, there are different types of memory, for example procedural memory (i.e. automated skills) and declarative memory (personal episodes or abstract facts), and often only one type is impaired. For example, a person may forget the details of personal identity, but still retain a learned skill such as the ability to play the piano.

Examples:
Someone with total amnesia who trained in martial arts for 10 years and forgets about it will still react the same when attacked.
Amnesia patients who do not remember their name can still sign their name because it's a separate neural pathway.

Ever forget a phone number until you start dialing? That's the same idea.

Languages can be learned with conversational fluency (rating 3) in less than 6 months on average, if not immersed in the language. Many people take less than that. Immersion factors tend to speed things up even more.

Amnesia itself, as a condition, can be something that lasts forever, depending largely on why it occurred. Someone may remember things in days, weeks, years, or never.


As for the reason for the loss, that may be up to your Gamemaster. In our group, Amnesia patients have their backstory written by the GM, so he can actually make it a real determent worth 10 points.

From a GM perspective: can a past that is more than 8 years old come back to haunt a person in a way that justifies a 10 BP negative quality? I'd say yes. The negative quality for 10 BP never cites loss of current lifestyles or practices. That's the 25BP one.

[Halinn]

If you're set on it being Crash-related, but want it more recent, you could have gone into a coma, and only woken up fairly recently when the hospital decided to pull the plug.

[Glyph]

I don't see why the new language needs to be shoehorned into the post-amnesia time frame - she could easily be bilingual from before losing her memory. But I don't see why the amnesia couldn't have been a while ago, either. With the 10-point version, you can create a character normally, and you know what her abilities are - and so, presumably, does she.

So there is a span of time where the character discovered that she can shoot really well, that she is very allergic to soy products, that she knows a bit about hacking, and so on. During this span of time, the character has also presumably managed to get a place to crash, some fake ID, and a few useful contacts. Ten point amnesia characters should have a background, starting from waking up in an alley covered in blood (or whatever other circumstances they started out in), and going over how they got their life semi-together from there.

Eight years is still longer than usual for such a character, but it still leaves the main disadvantages in place. You don't know how this happened to you, you don't know who might know you from before, you don't know whether or not to believe someone when they claim to be your sister, former lover, or what have you. You can still have people looking for you, to finish the execution they botched, or to squeeze information that you don't remember out of you, or to move you along the next step of their diabolical plan for you.

[Ruby]

Ah good, I was guessing 'conversational' English would be 3 & that's an interesting idea, Halinn. I've been mulling over why she hasn't been slapped with a hospital bill and as I put it to another player "She kinda went through a Faye Valentine/Cowboy Bebop situation waking up." The Crash could very well account for there being no real record of her but after a few years and no one coming to claim her, the hospital went to pull the plug and she woke up.

I wanted control over her skills but an "out" on creating her detailed past. Partly out of laziness on my part but also as a way to make me feel like I could be part of the plot. Basically all I have decided was one of her contacts gave her a new name, helped her get back on her feet and taught her English.

[Halinn]

I've been mulling over why she hasn't been slapped with a hospital bill

Someone paid for it, then suddenly stopped a few years ago. That also gives the character some motivation - find that person and thank and/or slap him (depending on your personality (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

[Ruby]

I don't see why the new language needs to be shoehorned into the post-amnesia time frame - she could easily be bilingual from before losing her memory. But I don't see why the amnesia couldn't have been a while ago, either. With the 10-point version, you can create a character normally, and you know what her abilities are - and so, presumably, does she.

I guess it DOESN'T need to be 'shoehorned' but I had this idea that she really didn't understand the doctors when she woke up and coupled with memory loss made everything really scary for her.

[Krishach]

it doesn't matter. Either situation, before or after, is completely plausible by modern medicine and learning standards; I assume shadowruns would be more efficient.

[StealthSigma]

I'm creating an elf spider shaman with amnesia

I couldn't get past the start because I parsed out part of it....

I'm creating an elf spider man with amnesia

[Speed Wraith]

My view from a GMing perspective is that I'd allow the Amnesia scenario as you presented. You're still getting the downside of it, provided your GM is the sort to take advantage of a blank slate like that. Yes, the character has a new life now, but the point of the low-level version of that quality, IMHO, is to give the character a totally unknown past. I consider it, "handing the GM a shiny present with a bow."

[Ruby]

@StealthSigma: Your reply had me laughing. Great thing to wake up to. However, I dropped the mentor spirit in the interest of more BP so her contacts wouldn't suck. Now she's just some Filipino mage.

@Speed Wraith: That's pretty much my reason for picking amnesia. I wan't to give the GM a shiny plot device on a silver platter.

I think with everyone's advice I can figure out a plausible 'history' for my elf. In fact my original logic was "She wakes up and by the start of the game it can be assumed she's at least in her late twenties... but she could very well be in her 60s, she doesn't know. There's potential for a very very huge blank."

[All4BigGuns]

My view from a GMing perspective is that I'd allow the Amnesia scenario as you presented. You're still getting the downside of it, provided your GM is the sort to take advantage of a blank slate like that. Yes, the character has a new life now, but the point of the low-level version of that quality, IMHO, is to give the character a totally unknown past. I consider it, "handing the GM a shiny present with a bow."

The GM should still be asking if you like a particular possibility they think of. It would still be your character, and thus you should have full veto authority.

[Yerameyahu]

Kinda defeats the point of not knowing about it.

[All4BigGuns]

Kinda defeats the point of not knowing about it.

Just because the character doesn't know, doesn't mean the player can't. The only time I think it's acceptable for neither character nor player to know is if the player is brand new to RPGs in general.

[Speed Wraith]

Yeah, but let's face it, player and character knowledge are very tough to keep separate in the middle of a session. Besides, as someone who is planning on taking amnesia for a 2050 game my group is working on, I wouldn't want the surprise ruined! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I suppose if you have a truly evil GM, you might need that extra control on your character to prevent abuse.

[All4BigGuns]

Yeah, but let's face it, player and character knowledge are very tough to keep separate in the middle of a session. Besides, as someone who is planning on taking amnesia for a 2050 game my group is working on, I wouldn't want the surprise ruined! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I suppose if you have a truly evil GM, you might need that extra control on your character to prevent abuse.

I just look at it that the way I suggested makes it cooperative whereas the GM dictating the background just makes the GM a puppeteer.

[bannockburn]

I just look at it that the way I suggested makes it cooperative whereas the GM dictating the background just makes the GM a puppeteer.

No, it does not. This is just your personal opinion, not gospel truth.
In fact, handing a GM this chance can also mean that you as a player are too lazy to do your background (not Ruby, just a general example (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ) , you trust your GM implicitly to work up a compelling storyline for you and your group or that you're somewhat of a masochist ... Or even a mixture of everything. YMMV.
It's a thin line for the GM to walk, though, not to make the whole campaign about the amnesiac character.
If I, as a player were to present my GM with this opportunity, I really would not want him to work this out with me, apart from maybe the barest framework. I'd love the surprise and I'd gobble up, whatever the GM (who is fully in his rights to feed me whatever he wants, without having to be called a puppeteer) presented me with.

[Ruby]

I'm pretty good about not acting on any metagaming I may do. I'm pretty much giving the GM free range to invent her past as long as it doesn't conflict with being awakened and having all her essence. We'll see how he takes my character's amnesia when the game starts.

[Speed Wraith]

I just look at it that the way I suggested makes it cooperative whereas the GM dictating the background just makes the GM a puppeteer.

Sure, but if you take that quality, you're surrendering a portion of your character's life to the GM voluntarily, not turning them into some marionette that the GM can simply yank a string on to make something happen. No, that's what Deep Cover is for (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting editorial control over the character's back story in an amnesia situation, but I wouldn't personally want it that way. As I said before, that would ruin the surprise. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[All4BigGuns]

Sure, but if you take that quality, you're surrendering a portion of your character's life to the GM voluntarily, not turning them into some marionette that the GM can simply yank a string on to make something happen. No, that's what Deep Cover is for (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting editorial control over the character's back story in an amnesia situation, but I wouldn't personally want it that way. As I said before, that would ruin the surprise. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Don't you mean Judas? Deep Cover is the one where you know about it.

If you wanna give full control over, that's on you. *shrug*

[Yerameyahu]

Partial control. It's 'full control' over one (passive) part of the character. But yes, that's the point: it's on you. It's no good saying that the GM should definitely be telling you all the fun surprises and letting you veto things, because that depends on what you want. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Don't you mean Judas? Deep Cover is the one where you know about it.

If you wanna give full control over, that's on you. *shrug*

By Definition, Taking Amnesia IS Giving control to your GM. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
If you want Veto rights, maybe you should be drawing up your own background to start with.