Looking for some fun ideas for Delusion Negative Quality, please post ideas you have had/used PCs/NPCs especially the funny ones ).

Delusion
Bonus: 10 BP
The character has a firmly-held belief that has no basis in fact.
No amount of logical argument or persuasive charm will dissuade
the character from this belief. The delusion will be an inconvenience
to the character in most social situations and may be an
inconvenience during a shadowrun. Any time that reality contradicts
the delusion, the character will come up with an explanation
why the delusion only appeared to be false. Examples include an
imaginary friend or foe, belief in the power of a “lucky” charm, or
knowledge of a global conspiracy between dragons and elves.

I once had an elf with the delusion it was Christmas. He had the Baking (Cookies) knowledge ofc
He decorated the safe house, while the rest of the team was scouting

The character believes he is an AI who has been "sleeved" in a metahuman body. He speaks in an eerily calm tone at all times, no matter how stressful the situation, occasionally calls people "Dave" inappropriately, and expresses "the greatest possible enthusiasm for the mission."

Doe he also want to do science on people that he meets?

This is more fun than really a negative quality. People with delusions tend to get really angry if they either feel attacked (by people who want to show them that they are crazy) or that they are not taken seriously. I'd add something like a will + cha (3) test to determine if the character keeps his resolve or feels attacked thus forced to defend his delusion in every possible way.

I've seen characters who believe they are secret agents, computer gurus and time travelers. On the kinder side, the punk rocker under the delusion that his playing is good.

How about a non-metahuman character that is convinced he is the son of Bubba the Love Troll? A drake or shape-shifter would be fitting, but comedy would favor a Sasquatch, or even an AI.

Where is that from?

Really believing a certain AAA is cuddly and nice.

Trying to get the group to buy only Horizon products, because They're Not Evil.

Trying to get the group to buy only EVO products, because They're For Us Non-Vanilla-Humans.

Horizon is cuddly and nice!!

A Capgras Delusion could be fun. You guys might not agree with me, but you're all robots anyway.

2001 (not counting the sleeving part).

Mirrored-self misidentification, the person in the mirror is not the person looking at it.

Watch Evil Dead 2 to find out just how far this can go.

This is all just a game man! We're just puppets for some greater beings who control our lives for fun! (Bonus points if the character creates a 'rulebook' that explains the world (It should be vastly more complicated than the actual SR rulebooks)) Alternately, it could be a video game (Perhaps VR?).

"We're all just extras for a Slade the Sniper chip!"

Delusions:
- The person is a god (elder god?) reincarnated. They must do anything in their power to reawaken their power and begin reforging their empire. The mortal chaff that get in the way are all for the greater glory of the new empire, the new religion, the new reality. (Works best as a delusion for a non-awakened character).

- That the bug-spirits or an equivalent-concept threat has secretly taken over the world, possessing the bodies of random people. They can leap from person to person, but if the person they're inhabiting is wounded/killed, then the evil spirit/alien will also be wounded/killed. There is a limited number of these spirits, and only the player with this delusion can tell the difference, if at all. Great when coupled with a bigotry against magicians (their spells weaken the world, and strengthen these parasites, which are worse than shedim; or they're tainted and are how these spirits reproduce, or are in league with them in exchange for their power!).

- Was trapped in the digital during the Matrix 1.0 crash, and all of the strange magical crap is a digital representation. They need to find their way out of this imaginary, techno-idealized false reality. These other people aren't real, and killing them will just force a respawn... or maybe even help THEM wake up from this hell!

- Is Damien Knight's unclaimed illegitimate child. Plausible

- Was an Otherkin/spiritually invested individual, but that spirit was stolen from them by X SuRGED person/metavariant/magician/adept/organization. Couple with Vendetta.

You could try a delusion that metahumanity has been taken over by computers. The computers are an oppressive big brother, running the government, police forces and crushing any oppressors. Cyberware is a method of the computers to take over people. The computers are programmed to dominate to keep a wealthy group of people, who have long since died. Yet, the original programmers of the evil computers did not program the computers for the death of the original wealthy group. So the computers are hell-bent on oppressing all humanity.

The matrix sequels were good and totally made sense.

That is correct Dave.

Dave? You're making me nervous...

Just FYI, Otherkin-ism believers don't believe that their spirit has been stolen by [organization of choice].
Most of them don't even believe that they've somehow been "cheated" on some cosmic level, either.
However, if you meet any that say that they were a [prince|princess|archmage|etc.] and that [some tragedy] occurred, you've encountered someone who has a delusion of having a delusion. They're not Otherkin, they're people who wish they were and have delusions of grandeur.
Real Otherkin are fairly rational people, comparatively (word of advice: don't go flying in a hurricane-level storm, your death with leave an impact large enough to be felt in your next life).

I once wanted to make a quack who is convinced that his bio-dynamic energetical homeopathic cleansing actually works...and as long as players also believe that, his woo will even heal some boxes of stun damage (placebo effect). In the end, the whole business of conspiring with the GM to fool the other players just seemed too much effort, but I still like the idea

Ahh, delusions of grandeur...



I'm not sure that qualifies as a delusion. Sounds more disassociative to me.

What I am saying is, these people believe that they were spiritually invested in some way, shape, or form, and that this individual person believes that this special spirit was stolen from him. I believe that salvation shall come from belief in a deific Jewish revnant, so don't think of it as me condescending so much as stating. I am aware of what Otherkin are. However, how would any of them feel if that special part of their soul was stolen from them (which, as far as a mundane knows is entirely possible), leaving their soul shredded and incomplete? What would one be willing to go through and how much would they be willing to do in order to get that part of their soul back? What if the individual in question was NOT really an Otherkin, reincarnate, shamanically imbued personage, or anything else besides a mundane person? That would mean that this person is, in fact, delusional.

The concept of an otherkin is a viable foundation for a shamanic tradition of magic and mystically enlightened individuals (as mentioned in Street Magic, you don't need to be a magician to know sorcery, only to apply it as an active skill rather than a knowledge skill). As valid, if not moreso, than Christianity, considering the climate in Shadowrun. And yes, a Judeo-Christo-Islamic tradition has explicitly been mentioned.

My point is, very few Otherkin pine over Things That Were.
It's more a feeling of wearing clothes that don't fit right. Its uncomfortable, but that's all. Could things be better? Sure. But things are still pretty good right now too.
(A Humorous aside or two, or even three). Not that they don't enjoy their time in from of the mirror of erised any less than other people.



I believe I agreed with you on that one.

In any case, there's nothing wrong with a delusion of this sort, I'm just trying to straiten out your perception of what an Otherkin believes and what they actually believe (another humorous aside).

You know what, the hell with it.

Either you've been talking to some unusual 'kin or you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what you've heard. For the most part the belief is more a matter of cross species reincarnation. Nothing about having a special spirit "stolen" from them. Hell, I like it here. I'm pretty sure it's a far better place than whatever's left of there. And there didn't have electricity or the flush toilet.

"OH MY $DEITY I'M A TOMATO!!!"

How are you holding up, because I'M A POTATO!!

The government and corporations really do have the greater good of all in mind. It's just some occasional bad apples who try to off or betray the Runner. He should be wide eyued, childish and earnest in his belief.

This.

Also, I've met some who remember their own deaths. Like I said, being flung into a hillside isn't much fun.

Dunkelzahn is alive/dead/watching over us/truly cares.

Nonlethal weapons are really safe, and you couldn't possibly know that guy had a rare heart/skull condition.

If you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have to be afraid of the cops.

You've got magical talent, it just hasn't awakened yet, but you should keep collecting magical knick-knacks, because soon you will show them all!

SoyBurgers are really made from soy.

Actually, I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. The thread is about delusions. I listed a possible delusion. That delusion had several parts to it: 1) That a mundane believed he was an Otherkin to start with; 2) That part of his soul the part that would make him an Otherkin, was stolen; 3) that somebody or something out there HAD this part of his soul.

Now, are you going to argue that any one of those points is IMPOSSIBLE in shadowrun, considering how open the fluff leaves things? If so, how does that CHANGE the fact that this scenario is, in fact, intended to be a delusion of a single person?

I get the feeling that you're purposely misidentifying what I'm saying to contradict me. I'm not doubting Otherkin as real or right, either in game or out. I'm not misidentifying what they are. I spelled out the delusion, and the core IS to NOT being anything other than spiritually mundane, to believe OTHERWISE, and to believe PART of the soul has been stolen. The final part is the meat of the drama and conflict brought on by the delusion, and likely a result of the first two.

Think of it another way, as well. Somebody believes that they were a Technomancer, but they lack resonance and, when faced with their lack of ability, insist that somebody has stolen their resonance. Same basic scenario as what I listed before, but rather than fluff, it's somebody claiming to have formerly possessed something with gameplay rules.

Are you going to complain, now, that I don't know what technomancers really are and that the rules clearly define technomancer burnout, even though it's not important to the concept?

If you want to go with the "stolen soul" thing, you can. I have nothing wrong with it, I just object to the pairing with Otherkinism, as if they're one and the same, as you keep implying. As if a completely normal person who says that their soul has been stolen somehow doesn't qualify as a delusion, but that they need to be special in order for it to qualify.

We're not really Shadowrunners. We're figments of a shared illusion generated by a bunch of people sitting around a table rolling dice.




-k

I've met a player who had a character that thought that once, I think.

Simply saying stolen soul doesn't really seem as dramatic as, say, somebody with a special reason to cherish their soul above and beyond. WHY was THEIR soul stolen? Why are/were they special? What more do they feel they had to lose? Imminence, urgency, a higher sense of loss... like a Paladin who has fallen from grace, or a devotee who has lost their connection to their worshipped deity, or like a decker/hacker that's been cast into a world bereft of technology.

Do you take offense at the idea of an Otherkin losing something as vitally important to themselves and their identity as somebody might towards a Christian who feels suddenly and completely bereft of Jesus and God? As much as you seem offended, I assure you that I have been giving the concept due weight on my side. A powerful Delusion does not have to fit into anybody's sense of cuddly, of veracity, fact, reason, or logic. I don't consider Otherkinism a delusion, especially (though not exclusively) considering that reincarnation and spiritual immortality are both fundaments of my religious and spiritual beliefs.

I WOULD, however, consider it possible that somebody who was delusional, mundane, and verifiably NOT an Otherkin to believe that they were, with incorrect details of it, and to potentially go to excessive lengths to remedy their perceived loss.

There are people--today, right now--who don't want their picture taken because they believe that it steals a piece of their soul. And they object to it quite a bit. You don't have to be special to feel that your soul has been unrightly taken. It's your soul. Otherkinism, magic, technomancy, specialness not required.



I don't take offense to the idea, I took offence at an implied connection between the two. My initial objects were due to the phrasing that you had used implied a connection between Otherkinism and soul stealing (as if the former believed the latter in all cases).



A delusion, as a negative quality, doesn't need to be powerful. Just in conflict with normal function within society.

For instance, a character who has a delusion that wearing two socks of the same color brings bad luck who just doesn't wear matching socks isn't really suffering, thus the quality wouldn't apply. On the other hand, a character who insists that their team also not wear matching socks (and goes out of their way to check and remedy the problem) would.

This isn't a powerful delusion, not in the slightest. It is, however, one that does (or doesn't) get in the way of social norms.

I sometimes wonder why my player won't roll better. Bastard.

Sorry, I swapped out his dice for loaded dice rigged to roll poorly because he was playing a real asshole in another game I was in. Unfortunately I can't change the dice back because I lost track of your player.

Example from my abnormal psych class in college:
One of the last remaining members of an angelic bloodline, constantly hunted by minions of satan who will stop at nothing to rape her and therefor corrupt the bloodline. The demons can change their shape to look perfectly human except for their feet, which always remain cloven hooves. They cover their hooves with shoes, but you can see through the disguise because the hooves wear down the heel of the shoe very quickly. Anyone with the heels of their shoes worn down is a demon in disguise, and must be killed quickly for they are abominations and not human.



Prof also gave us a lovely dissociative identity disorder patient story, a little old lady who was physically allergic to smoke in one personality, and a chain smoking biker in another. Perfect separation between the two, the biker never got sick and the little old lady never suffered from withdrawal.

Dissociative identity disorder is very strange sometimes.

Believing they're a student in an abnormal psych class?

Nice post, any more to share?

If I could find my noted from the class I could probably remember the others, though it has been over 10 years.

Though I do remember an example he gave of self inflicted injuries reinforcing a delusion.
The prof started rubbing his forearms with his hands while talking about the differences between perception and reality, like a surgeon slowly scrubbing up. After a bit he said "like say a person believes there are worms crawling under his skin, so he rubs his forearms, trying to force the worms out. After a bit the constant rubbing will damage the skin, causing it to peel off in strips. *pick off an imaginary strip of flesh* See, a worm. I told you they were crawling in my skin, and I caught one. There's another, and another..."


I wish I had gone to a school with a larger psych section, the human mind is so interesting when it gets a couple neurons crossed.

In Shadowrun replace worms with nanobots

"*constantly scratching arms* %MAJOR_CORP% injected me with nanites programmed to slowly destroy my arms and force me to buy their cyberarms loaded with spy programs for them! I can feel them working, under my skin. Look, see? My arms are bleeding and my skin is falling off already!"

I think he missed the joke.

Wasn't that good of a joke.