Force Sensitives and Flashburning

[CRMcNeill]

It is a rare but recognized phenomenon in the SWU that the mind of a Force adept can be damaged by traumatic incidents, such as a particularly vivid Farseeing, or a character's first brush with the Dark Side. The concept is introduced in I, Jedi, but is expanded upon in the Darth Bane series.

I'd like some ideas from the forum about how the concept of Force-based mental trauma can affect a character, as well as some ideas for rules for introducing the effect in gameplay. In particular, I'm interested in the idea from the Darth Bane trilogy, whereby a character's progress in developing their Force skills can be stunted by a particularly powerful or traumatic encounter with the Force, one that they are not mentally prepared for.

Thoughts?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Urban Spaceman]

Hmmm. It's an interesting idea, and I think there's a few things that could be done with it.
I'd link it to the psychology of the character and the nature of the trauma in some way
A character could have a subconcious fear that use of their powers will cause harm to their friends, which manifests as not being able to use the Force at all (until it's dramatically right).

Another scenario might be one where use of the Force causes the character pain.

Or even one where they have become reliant on using the Force all the time, even for mundame things (why reach out for a chair or a cup when you can make it come to you?). This could get out of hand very quickly, and lead to temptation to the Dark Side.

Anyway, just some random thoughts there.
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"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."

[Bren]

We had a Jedi PC who as a very young child had used Telekinesis to lift her baby brother up to grab a cookie jar, had failed the roll, the baby fell and broke his arm. (Maybe the jar fell on it or it was way high up, I don't recall all the details.)

Her grandmother (who was a formidable and not very friendly lady) then blamed the child for breaking his brother's arm. She may have feared it was an intentional attack. "Never, never do that again!"

The events were linked in the child Jedi's mind causing her to suppress her alter ability. This was actually her strongest ability (we tend to categorize force users as being naturally stronger in one ability or another), but it took some roleplaying, finding a good teacher, traumatic in game experience, and whatnot before she was able to unlock her suppressed alter ability. The arc seemed interesting to me and the player.

Note this was all played out in the 1990s back when Jedi could have families and before the days of prequel movies, midiclorians, and baby-napping Jedi.