by Siberian-Troll (архив) » 12 Jan 2006, 12:07
[b]BRAINWASHING[/b]
A favorite tactic of the military, religious cults, governments and teachers, brainwashing can range from simple repetition to a scientifically planned assault on the psyche. Also known under other euphemisms such as “thought reform,” “coercive persuasion,” “totalism” and “mind control,” planned brainwashing first emerged during the middle of the twentieth century when it was used on prisoners of war. Ever since, many government agencies, religious cults and other groups with a political or sociological agenda have been accused of employing brainwashing techniques to instill fanatic loyalty in their members or even their enemies. Though many of these allegations proved untrue, a few were well founded and often had tragic results. To combat this, counter-brainwashing methods known as “deprogramming” were eventually developed.
Brainwashing is often portrayed in the media as a way to “program” someone like a robot, either rewriting their belief system or instilling some Pavlovian response to commit some act that only the victim can accomplish, such as assassinate a heavily guarded leader. While such feats may not be possible in reality, the technique is far from useless to subversive agencies.
Through brainwashing, the human psyche can be beaten into subservience and lose its will to rebel against the forces restraining it. While some individuals are strong-willed enough to resist such abuse, others can willingly fall into a state in which the victim accepts his or her reconditioning as long as the stimulus (such as the authority figures, group or surroundings responsible) remain present. Removing the victims of brainwashing from these stimuli usually results in a gradual recovery of that person’s original values and personality, though some permanent damage may linger from the psychological trauma suffered in the brainwashing process. Others, however, may still cling to lifelong allegiances toward those who brainwashed them.
[b]CBT: RPG Rules[/b]
Brainwashing is a long drawn-out process, not merely a roll of the dice on a “brainwashing” skill. The most important factor in the process is the subject’s Willpower Rating (WIL). Training and experience can help, but the strength of the psyche is the most vital element of this procedure. The base time for each brainwashing session is one week, though taking more or less time can impose modifiers on the eventual Action Check. Additional modifiers may be applied as the gamemaster sees fit for the facilities and the condition of the subject. Techniques such as sleep deprivation, starvation and other methods frequently used in conjuncture with brainwashing may result in fatigue. These and other modifiers may be applied per the table on p. 17 of CBT: RPG.
To set the stage for each session, the brainwasher (considered the attacker) may make one Opposed Negotiation and Interrogation check against the subject per session. The results of these checks affect the final roll result (called the Session Result Check) used to determine the outcome of the session as the attacker’s logic or badgering helps or hinders his cause. If the attacker wins these opposed rolls, a +2 modifier applies to the Session Result Check for each successful opposed check, while each victory by the subject imposes a –2 penalty to the Session Result Check. These modifiers only apply to the session in which the opposed checks are performed. At the end of the session, the attacker performs the Session Result Check by making an Academics/Psychology or Career/Psychology Check against a TN equal to 5 times the subject’s current WIL, adding to the check the attacker’s current CHA and the modifiers described above. If the check is unsuccessful, the session is wasted. However, if the
attacker is successful, the subject’s WIL is lowered by 1 point. This process repeats until the subject’s WIL is reduced to zero or the attacker ceases. When the subject’s WIL reaches zero, he or she is considered “broken” and the attacker can spoon-feed his or her dogma to the subject, who will unquestioningly obey at this stage. The subject’s WIL then rises to its original value at 1 point
for every two weeks of continuous sessions. Though no further rolling is required in this period, the subject is considered fully brainwashed once his or her WIL returns to normal in this fashion.
A subject who has yet to be fully brainwashed may try to regain WIL. If the attacker is still present and continuing the brainwashing process, once every two weeks the subject may make a WIL Attribute Check, adding half the attacker’s CHA (rounded up) to the TN. A successful check restores 1 point of WIL. If the subject is not under the attacker’s influence or undergoing a session, this 1-point WIL restoration is automatic, requiring no check. A subject has not been successfully brainwashed until his WIL is completely drained and then restored to its original level.
Deprogramming works the same way as brainwashing, though adding negative conditions may have negative repercussions in the future. A subject who has gotten separated from his attacker or the attacker’s organization/affiliation may attempt to “self-deprogram,” reflecting the character’s own dawning realization that the beliefs he currently holds do not fit his true sense of self. In this case, the subject makes a Session Result Check as indicated above once for every week in which the attacker or any authority figures from the attacker’s organization have left the subject on his own. The target number is still 5 times the subject’s current WIL, but the subject’s original WIL score is added to the roll result. This roll, however, must be made like an Untrained Skill Check (whether or not the character has the relevant Academics or Career Skill), using 3D10 and taking only the worst two dice rolls for the result. A successful check reduces the subject’s WIL by 1 point, eventually breaking the programming once the character’s WIL reaches 0. After this, the character recovers 1 point of WIL per week without a check, so long as the attacker or his associates do not return to “reprogram” the subject.