Alcohol('s) rules! ;-)

[Carlos]

Hello everybody,

One of my players' characters is a heavy drinker. Before attempting to create my own rules about the effects of alcohol, I'm sure this must have been covered somewhere before. Could anybody point me to the right material? Thanks.

See you,

Carlos

[RosenMcStern]

It is in the old supplements for Fantasy Earth from the '80s, surely "Land of Ninja", and IIRC "Vikings", too. Unfortunately these two fantastic supplements have been out of print for decades.

[Carlos]

Thanks, that's what I was looking for. They cover the short term effects. If his character keeps drinking, I'll have to think about long term effects.

[MrJealousy]

I dont see it in LoN but its there in Vikings!

Works something like this...

POTency for Alcohol is accumulative.

Each type of alcohol has a POT from 1 to 9, each POT point that PC drinks comes off skills and INT & CON.

Each time POT exceeds a multiple of PC CON they have to make a CON x 5 roll. Failure means PC feels sick (two failures in a row mean PC vomits), Fumble means PC passes out.

Something like that anyway... its been a while!

[Al.]

I dont see it in LoN

'tis in LoN as well (p 69 in my GW published all-in-one version)

Al

[Carlos]

Actually, I've read in - Yog-Sothoth for Lovecraft & Cthulhu - that CoC - Secrets of Morocco also includes rules about the effects of alcohol.

[Dyvim Matt]

Normally, I try to avoid creating new rules and just adapt an existing rule to the situation, if possible. For alcohol, I usually resolve drunkenness the same as fatigue, depending on the game system I run at the time. For BRP, I would probably play it the same as poison POT, but subtracted from Fatigue points instead of Hit Points. The point at which you start getting skill penalties is the point where you start being drunk per se.

Or, have the player actually drink as much of the same drinks as his character. Surely the player will start being incoherent and clumsy, which will reflect on his character's behaviour. What could possibly go wrong?

[Carlos]

I've ended up making my own rules by mixing the ones published in Runequest - Vikings and Call of Cthulhu - Secrets of Morocco and adding a bit myself. The fact that the characters will be visiting a couple of gambling houses in the next adventures may mean that I'll need this rules often...

• Potency of alcoholic drinks
  Each alcoholic drink has a potency per unit (0.5 litres). When a character drinks, this potencies are accumulated.
  
  Alcoholic drink potency
  Drink Potency*
  Watered beer/ale 1
  Weak beer/ale 2
  Strong beer/ale 3
  Mead 5
  Weak wine 3
  Average wine 6
  Strong wine 9
  potency may vary by as much as 3 points depending on brewer.
  
  On the other hand, the accumulated potencies are reduced by 2 units per hour.
  
• Effects
  Each time the accumulated potencies increase to a multiple of the character's average of CON and SIZ, the player must succeed on a roll average x 5 - the accumulated potencies or otherwise increase one level.
  1. Lightheadedness
     The first time the player fails the roll, all percentile rolls will be made at -10.
     
  2. Inebriation
     The second time the player fails the roll, all percentile rolls will be made at 1/2.
     
  3. Drunken stupor
     The third time the player fails the roll, all percentile roll will be made at 1/5.
     
  4. Unconsciousness
     The fourth time the player fails the roll, the character falls unconscious.
     

[*]Recovery

• Lightheaded, inebriated or in drunken stupor
  If the character is lightheaded, inebriated or in drunken stupor, he/she will recover after sleeping or otherwise he/she will decrease one level after 2 hours without having had to roll because of drinking alcohol. If the character has reached drunken stupor, he/she will be at -10 the next day unless the player rolls average x 5.
  
• Unconscious
  If the character falls unconscious, he/she will remain so for 1D10 + 2 hours. After that, he/she will sleep for 1D10 + 2 hours. The character will be at -10 the next day unless the player rolls average x 5.
  

[*]Skill Drinking (25%)

The use of this skill represent the character's conditioning and approach to drinking. The skill is rolled before the character starts drinking. A success provides a temporary +2 to the character's average, increasing his/her probabilities of remaining sober or avoiding hangover. A critical success provides a temporary +4 to the character's average.

[cjvs]

how did the house rules work out for you Carlos?