There are two ways to gain temporary insanity cards in WFRP, but the interactions between them aren't completely clear.

Insanity rules when Willpower is distressed and the character gains stress:

1) Check if the character has already gained a temporary insanity in this encounter.

2) IF the character has NOT gained an insanity this encounter, test to see if they gain one now.

3) IF the characters HAS already gained an insanity this encounter, it grows deeper by placing one tracking token on it!

No Problem!

The "Strain and Insanity" rules

1) Each time a strained character gains a point of stress or fatigue, he gains a fresh insanity card.

2) Each time a strained character gains a point of stress or fatigue, they also place one tracking token on the most recent insanity gained.

My inferences on the interactions between these conditions:

a) Strain will never cause more than one tracking token to be placed on an insanity, because it always generates a fresh insanity card when it triggers.

b) If a strained character ALSO has distressed Willpower, both effects will trigger. They will gain a new insanity and two tokens will be placed on it. (You could argue timing on this, but meh.)

c) A character who has just become distressed / strained does not risk insanity, they have to already be strained / distressed before gaining a fatigue or stress token will trigger a breakdown.

Does this match up with your interpretations?

If you are Willpower distressed and absorb more stress: Add 1 token to your most recent insanity; if you have no insanities draw one instead. If the traits match to your situation you keep the insanity, if not, you discard the insanity.

If you are strained (both fatigued and distressed) and you absorb stress or fatigue: Draw a new insanity until you draw one with a matching trait. In addition, add 1 token to your most recent insanity.

At the end of the act, check Willpower. If you don't generate successes equal to the insanity tokens, it is permanent.

I personally feel that the strained rules supercede the willpower distressed rules; i.e. the strained condition is worse and a player may receive insanities from the most powerful condition being met. Thus, in my interpretation, b is incorrect, while a and c hold.

HedgeWizard said:

I just realised something very strange... the more sever condition Strained has less chance of generating a permanent insanity. The reason is that you just keep drawing new insanities, and since the tokens are put on your most recent insanity you only ever get one token on any insanity (since next time, you draw a new insanity and put a token on that one).

With the weaker condition, distressed, you only draw new insanities if you don't have any. That means that continue to stack tokens of the same insanity, making it much more likely to become permanent.

I agree that as written, that's what it says, but I think the intent is that if you are strained, you apply the token to your LAST gained insanity, and then you draw a new one. Definitely something to be addressed in a FAQ.

Freiduin said:

Yes! This is why the rules hurt my head!

Hedge Wizard's idea that one condition trumps another would be a simple solution. We'll see how FFG handles it.

HedgeWizard said:

The order of events is vague, yes. When in doubt, I just follow the text from top to bottom

But even under your interpretation, Freiduin's point would still stand. Each subsequent trigger would put a tracking counter on the insanity before it, leading to a string of 1-counter insanities.

The question has been put to FFG - we'll have to see what they say.

I think it's likely that Strained is meant to work in a similar fashion to WP Distressed. That is, you put a token on any insanity you already had, then draw one insanity for it (which could lead to you having two temporary insanities from this encounter), and after that just add tokens to those insanities instead of drawing new ones.

But we'll see what FFG says.

I'm with Juriel, it looks to me like that's what they were going for, they just didn't word it as well as they might have.

If you become strained before you before your willpower is distressed (Possible if your willpower isn't your lowest mental characteristic) you will gain a temporary insanity from being strained, and that insanity will build up tokens as you gain stress/fatigue. When your WP becomes distressed, it won't add an insanity, it'll just keep cranking up the insanity from being strained.

On the other hand, if your WP is distressed first, then you later become strained, you'll gain a second insanity, and the second insanity is the one that will gain tokens from then on.

Also, there could be other effects that cause insanity, such as special creature attacks or even just GM shenanigans.

Basically, where it says 'each time the character suffers a level of stress or fatigue' should probably say 'the next time ...'

Chipacabra said:

This is also a sensible interpretation.