How much Insanity or Corruption would you award, if at all, and to which Lores?

Obviously such a thing isn't appropriate for Criminals & Cartels, but perhaps for the Horus Heresy especially?

What do you think?

It depends entirely on the content that is discovered/unlocked.

I wouldn't, it de-incentives players to take them. You get insanity and corruption from the sources that you use to correlate/learn information. Not the information itself.

Call of Cthuhlu would disagree with you ther ThenDoctor

On a more serious note though, I would agree that Forbidden Lore acquisition should only involve Insanity and Corruption if it is granted through some extreme circumstance. Examples could include gaining Daemonology from being mentally exposed to a Tzeentch daemon, or having Archeotech lore implanted into your brain by a radical Magos. In those cases though there would be no XP cost involved with the Insanity or Corruption gain subsituting the price.

Just an idea of course, per RAW since this is the Rules Question subforum there is no Corr or Ins gain from acquiring Forbidden Lores.

Call of Cthuhlu would disagree with you ther ThenDoctor

We don't happen to be on a Call of Cthulhu forum now do we. Different things entirely.

It depends entirely on the content that is discovered/unlocked.

" How much Insanity or Corruption would you award, if at all, and to which Lores?"

I wouldn't, it de-incentives players to take them. You get insanity and corruption from the sources that you use to correlate/learn information. Not the information itself.

I would say that their use and the knowledge is incentive enough, any potential Insanity and Corruption included. Neither I nor those that I play with would be outright turned off just because the acquisition of a Forbidden Lore had such penalties.

I would say that their use and the knowledge is incentive enough, any potential Insanity and Corruption included. Neither I nor those that I play with would be outright turned off just because the acquisition of a Forbidden Lore had such penalties.

You and I have had different experiences with how avidly players will avoid even the smallest negative thing happening to their characters.

You and I have had different experiences with how avidly players will avoid even the smallest negative thing happening to their characters.

I would agree if they've responded like that... Definitely strikes me as poor play, ngl. If anything, I get excited at those scenarios, as well as the potential consequences that occur - even if it results in death or detriment.

Some FL skills don't warrant Insanity or Corruption, but still have serious in-game consequences. Having knowledge of a cult's or faction's inner workings without being a member usually results in enough trouble ( once they're aware that the character has that information) from members trying to restrict the problem through recruitment or execution!

It is, of course, heresy to possess information classified above your clearance level anyway...

Some FL skills don't warrant Insanity or Corruption...

Forgive my impudence, but...

" How much Insanity or Corruption would you award, if at all, and to which Lores?"

I'd probably award a single point of insanity for anything relating to the nature of Chaos, weirder Xenos, or the hidden history of the Imperium, increasing the penalty with each increase in knowledge. Horus Heresy, for example - just knowing that anyone could rebel that strongly should be a shock to anyone who's been raised to revere the Emperor and his works. With higher levels ("What, you mean half of all Space Marines deserted the Imperium and Emperor they had sworn to protect? How is that even possible ?")

Same should come with anyone whose background is significantly different from what they're learning. If someone from an Ecclesiarchal world learns tech-lore related to the nature of the Omnissiah, or vice versa, they should at least have to take a test against insanity ("How can they believe that? And how can I possibly be taking it seriously?").

And if the lore is related to something that, if encountered, would require a test, it should also require at least a lesser test of the same nature. Studying the nature of a Fear-causing daemon should cause Insanity or Corruption tests, even without encountering it directly ("It does what ? To your what ? And the only way we can counter it is how ?"). Even reading the dread tome could trigger a simple Fear test ("I don't want to hear any more tonight, Daddy...")

Some FL skills don't warrant Insanity or Corruption...

Forgive my impudence, but...

" How much Insanity or Corruption would you award, if at all, and to which Lores?"

Any FL that proves an already known CL/SL false is worth at least (1d5+ IN bonus)IP (WP check to reduce by WP bonus), whilst FL(Warp, Daemonology) are worth 1d10- WP bonus CP as well.

Later advances are just 1d5-WP bonus (min 0).

I'm nasty enough that I require a WP check for SL(Occult) +20 as well, but that's just me ;-)

Just realised that I should explain my reasoning:

The more intelligent a character is, the greater the impact of the new knowledge as they are better able to appreciate the ramifications, hence adding IN bonus to the IP gained...

Adding IN bonus to IP gained is nasty and I like it. It also helps counter the situation where someone with Insanity of 80+ can no longer gain Insanity from regular Fear.

I haven't run any particular rules for gaining Insanity or Corruption from FL tests but I think that tying it in some way to the DoS on the FL test would help justify the gain. Maybe if a character gets a number of DoS on a FL test that is greater than their WPB forces an Insanity or Corruption test based on WP with a -10 penalty for each DoS greater than the character's WPB. The specific IN or CP gain would be a number of points equal to the DoF on the WP test. It helps tie in with the overall theme that knowing too much will shatter a person's mind or corrupt their soul.

I gave a player 2 insanity and 3 corruption for learning Forbidden Lore (Daemonology) from a dataslate taken from a Heretek which detailed the Heretek's research and findings on daemonic binding.

you could rule that ip or cp are awarded depending the level of the FL. one dot no point, 2nd 1 point , 3rd 1d5, 4th 1d10. just an idea