Madness

The girls who awoke within this ruined world, possessed of their own memories and wills, are constantly tormented by madness. Their Fetters become twisted, and so the Dolls are driven insane. The list below describes some of the events within the game which may result in gaining Madness Points.

• Taking a Madness Point to reroll a die
• Failing a Madness Check
• At the end of each round during the Battle Phase
• Losing the target of a Fetter (usually a Treasure)
• As the cost of a Maneuver

Madness and Broken Hearts

Each Fetter can hold up to a maximum of 4 Madness Points. If any Fetter reaches its limit of 4 Points, the Doll enters a state of Madness. This state continues until the number of Madness Points upon that Fetter is reduced to 3 or less.

At the time Madness arises, various effects will begin occurring depending on the Fetter causing it. Please see the Fetter Table in the "Doll Creation" section for more details.

If all of a Doll's Fetters accumulate 4 Madness Points, and they receive additional Madness Points which they are unable to hold, that Doll enters a Broken-Hearted state. The sisters of a Doll who is Broken-Hearted cannot make Conversation Checks targeted at her (though she can still make checks targeted at them.)

If all of the sisters become Broken-Hearted, the Session immediately comes to an end. Skip directly to the Ending in the End Phase. Additionally, these Dolls cannot be used again in future Sessions.

Those sisters are now no more than mad corpses who wander the world. To the Necromancers, they are beloved dolls no longer, but merely pieces in the game played by them. If they are lucky (or perhaps unlucky), in future Sessions with other Dolls, the mad Dolls may appear once more as enemies...

The Descent into Madness

Taking Madness Points to Reroll

If not in a Broken-Hearted state, a Doll may take one Madness Point upon a Fetter of her choice to reroll a Check. If there were Skills or other modifiers affecting this Check, apply them likewise to the new roll.

If the second roll is a failure as well... she's welcome to reroll as many times as they want. However, if she does so, she must apply all Madness Points taken to the same Fetter. If that Fetter enters a state of Madness, she cannot reroll again.

Additionally, Conversation Checks and Madness Checks cannot be rerolled.

Changing Fate

Dolls who possess wills of their own, upon those moments they seem about to plunge into hopeless failure, can risk placing strain upon their convictions and emotions... in order to change fate itself. It is this power which allows them to disobey the Necromancers and walk their own paths.

This seems to simply be an in-universe explanation for the above rule.

Madness Checks

When Dolls are witness to a horrifying spectacle or realizations, the Necromancer can tell them to roll a Madness Check.

Madness Checks are much the same as other Checks, but one cannot take a Madness Point to reroll them. Additionally, during the Battle Phase, Support or Hinder Maneuvers cannot be used to affect the roll.

If a Doll fails the Check, they take one Madness Point upon a Fetter of the player's choice. However, they cannot choose a Fetter if it is already in a state of Madness.

Depending on the situation, the Necromancer may choose to apply a modifier to the Madness Check, much as can be done with Action Checks. For instance, those witnessing a horror they have experienced in past sessions may have an advantage against it. On the other hand, if one has just discovered information more dreadful than she could possibly imagine, it may be more likely to drive her mad.

When a Critical Success is rolled on a Madness Check, if that Doll's sisters are also rolling Madness Checks, she may reassure tham and allow them to add a modifier of her own Check Result - 10 to their die rolls. However, if a Critical Failure is rolled, in addition to taking a Madness Point the Doll must damage a Basic Part of her choice. Consider this a self-injury inflicted in her panic.

Horrifying Scenery

Occasionally, sights and revelations can be more alarming than facing strong enemies in battle. When one makes an Action Check in order to find something, it's no given that what you find will be something of benefit to you.

Rounds of Combat

Each time a round ends during the Battle Phase, participating dolls take one Madness Point. Note that if the Dolls fulfill the Victory Condition, the present Round is not considered to have ended and they do not take any additional Madness Points.

Losing the Target of a Fetter

When people lose something they feel strongly towards, they cannot remain calm. Dolls have hearts just as people do. That is why when they lose the targets of their Fetters, their hold upon their sanity slips.

If the target of a Fetter is lost, that Fetter takes a Madness Point. However, if the Doll is already in a Broken-Hearted state, it does not.

Note that even if the target of a Fetter disappears, the Fetter itself will not. For as long as the Doll remembers their memories with that person, she will remain within her heart. Madness will only set upon the Doll if the target is completely destroyed and they will never have an opportunity to meet again.

Furthermore, Fetters towards one's Treasures may generate additional Madness Points.

Fighting Against Madness

Conversation Checks

These are checks that may be performed during any Phase, as the result of a Maneuver or at the Necromancer's discretion. In order to maintain their sanity, it is essential that someone (or perhaps something) is present for the Dolls to hold conversations with.

If a Check of this type is successful, a Doll may remove some of the madness she has accumulated.

Conversation Checks may be performed during the Adventure Phase or End Phase towards other Dolls (or perhaps Savants or Necromancers), so long as the Necromancer permits. However, a Treasure or someone in a Broken-Hearted state may not be chosen as the target. Broken-Hearted Dolls may still perform Conversation Checks of their own towards targets who are not Broken-Hearted.

Prior to making the Check, the Player and Necromancer must confirm that the total Madness Points removed during this Phase does not exceed the number of Fragments of Memory recovered. If with this Conversation Check, the Madness Points removed would exceed the number of Fragments of Memory recovered, the Check may not be made.

The Check is made in the same fashion as an Action Check, with a success allowing one Madness Point to be removed from the Fetter towards the target. One cannot take a Madness Point to reroll them, nor can Support or Hinder Maneuvers be used to affect the roll. Conversation Checks can only be performed during the Battle Phase as the result of a Maneuver. If the Players hold a particularly lively or emotional conversation, the Necromancer may award them a modifier of +1~3 to the Conversation Check. This is to encourage the Players to have their Dolls engage in vivid Dialogue. The Necromancers should give generous bonuses to Players when they roleplay excellently.

When a Critical Failure occurs on a conversation check, something special happens. After rolling a ten-sided die, consult the Fetter Table and change your relationship towards the target of the Conversation Check to the type of Fetter you rolled. You cannot change or reroll the result of this die. Thus, someone you once thought of as a friend may suddenly become the target of your hatred.

Likewise, if you score a Critical Success on a Conversation Check, you may roll to change the Fetter type if you wish (it's fine if you don't want to.) If you would like to change your relationship, this effect may be desirable..

Conversation Checks are one of the few ways to remove Madness Points. During each Phase, one should perform as many Conversation Checks as they can and remove Madness Points up to the limit their Fragments of Memory allow. However, if you have no Madness Points left, there's no need to make Conversation Checks.

Defeating Savants

Under terms the Necromancer specifies, it may be possible to recruit a Savant as an ally. Not all Savants are slaves to the Necromancers. It is possible she will become one of their sisters if they are able to calm the madness consuming her heart.

Broken Hearts

If all of one's Fetters have accumulated 4 Madness Points, that expresses the fact that she has gone completely crazy. Savants and Necromancers may not have broken hearts in the sense that Dolls do, but at the Necromancer's discretion it may be wise to treat them as if they did.

Removing Madness

Each Doll is initially able to hold only 3 Madness Points upon each Fetter. If one has to make many Madness Checks, the possibility that they will succumb to Madness is high. Any time that one is given has the opportunity, they should make Conversation Checks.

Fragments of Memory

All Dolls begin with two Fragments of Memory.

During a Session, they may acquire additional Fragments of Memory during the Adventure and End Phases. They may recover these when they explore places related to their past or do things related to their past.

The number of Fragments of Memory a Doll possesses is the upper limit to the number of Madness Points they may remove during each Phase. To acquire Fragments of Memory, Dolls should fulfill their Karma and acquire Favor Points. During the Session, Players are encouraged to actively search for their past.

The maximum number of Fragments of Memory a Doll can possess is 6. It is possible to recover Fragments of Memory beyond this, but they will not affect the amount of Madness Points that can be removed during each Phase. Please record having seven Fragments of Memory and beyond merely as a note in the Doll's background.

Their Own Past

For more information on when the Necromancer should give out Fragments of Memory, please see the Necromancer Section.

Treasures

Upon creation, all Dolls possess a single Treasure. These are beautiful, memorable, or important things that Dolls find as they wander the world. As Sessions occur, Dolls may come to acquire additional Treasures.

During the Adventure Phase or End Phase, if one explains their reasons to the Necromancer and he permits it, one may keep an object they have found as a Treasure. They should place it in a Location of their choice as a Part.

However, since Treasures are treated like other Parts, they can take damage and be destroyed. If a Treasure is destroyed, the target of the Fetter has been lost, and the Doll takes a Madness Point upon their "Dependent on Treasure" Fetter.

Treasures are not considered to be either Basic Parts or Reinforcement Parts. For that reason, they cannot be recovered during the End Phase (as is explained later.)

On the upside, when one has Treasures, at the end of the Battle Phase, they may remove one Madness Point from a Fetter of their choice for each undamaged Treasure they have. In particular, this is necessary to remove Madness upon the "Dependent on Treasure" Fetter, which cannot be removed by other means.

However, one may not recover from Madness Points in excess of the number of Fragments of Memory they possess. If one has already used Maneuvers to remove Madness Points during the Battle Phase, these count towards the same limit.

The fate of their Treasures decides whether a Doll will succumb to despair or be saved from it. Take care not to acquire too many Treasures and to protect them.

Additional Treasures

The Necromancer does not have to be generous in allowing Players to acquire new Treasures.

Recovering with Favor Points

From the end of a Session until the beginning of the next one, you may spend 4 Favor Points to remove a single Madness Points.

Maneuvers

Certain Maneuvers may inflict Madness Points as a Cost or remove them as its effect. For a detailed explanation, please see the previous section on Maneuvers.