They may sweep the traces from my memory, but my body remembers. -- from Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia is a mental, mundane disadvantage representing a serious loss of memory.[1] Partial amnesia implies you know a few things about yourself, but have large gaps in where you've been or what you've done. Total amnesia is more of a "GM surprise" scenario where you only know about yourself from what you can see in a mirror.
There's also selective amnesia, where someone knows their skills ad background, but certain memories are blocked or erased.[2] The smallest form is quirk-level Amnesia, where a character only has a "blank spot" for one specific event, be it a Summer of Love or a harrowing supernatural event.[3]
Cost: -1 (one specific thing),[3] -5 (Selective),[2] -10 (Partial) or -25 (Total)[1]
Source of Amnesia[]
"This here is called a neuralyzer, it's a gift from some friends from out of town." -- Agent K, Men in Black (1997)
Amnesia is often a source of drama and mystery--in fiction, it's seldom the result of something as simple as a bop on the head. Amnesia can be a side effect of being caught in a Banestorm[4], being cursed by a wizard[4][5], or struck by a psionic mindwipe[6][7]. Smaller, quirk-level amnesia can be the result of a Mindwipe device[8] or long-term use of a Forgetfulness elixir.
Psionic Powers p.62 introduces a "Mindwipe" Affliction (advantage) of this disadvantage, with a "feature" that it applies retroactively (backward).
As A Hook[]
"Missing time" is a common hook in UFO tales,[9] and shows up in gothic settings as a result of trauma/madness.[10]
See Also[]
- Amnesia often overlaps with False Memories if some parts have been engineered over older memories
- List of Advantages
- List of Disadvantages
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Basic Set, p. 123
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 GURPS Space, p.221
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Power-Ups 6: Quirks, p.10
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 GURPS Banestorm, p. 185
- ↑ see Permanent Forgetfulness curse
- ↑ see Affliction Examples
- ↑ Psionic Powers, p.62
- ↑ Supers, p.81
- ↑ Horror, p.8
- ↑ Horror, p.143