Mental instability and Zalanthan characters

[IssacF]

I'm not entirely sure what's being "discussed" here but here are my 2 cents in regards to "mentally unstable" individuals surviving in Zalanthian society:

They either fake it (in this case, fake being 'normal') until they make it to a position of power or authority where their mental instability (so long as it was kept in check or a heavily guarded secret) wouldn't affect them, or they are found out and usually dealt with.

It's kind've hard to broach the subject, personally, though. I figure, those who act like psychotic murderers who run around knifing people usually get dealt with by the militia. That's the kind of roleplayed insanity that I think is silly and doesn't really have a place in Zalanthas, so seeing players whining about how their psychotic knife-murderers are ruthlessly hunted down gets no sympathy from me.

What I like to see is players taking a character's instability and making it work for them.

Amos enjoys hurting others. Amos knows that, in Zalanthas, hurting others without purpose usually gets you killed. Instead of running around the alleyways, knifing the random child/prostitute, Amos decides he wants to be able to enjoy his killings without having to hide.

So he joins the militia. Serves dutifully when under scrutiny. Obtains a position of authority.

Then murders, in the name of the Highlord.

That sounds like an interesting concept. I might not roleplay that as it isn't my kind of concept but I met some characters that fit that description.

[Harmless]

I play mentally unstable characters frequently. Good dark fantasy stories always have some kind of mental instability in their important characters. If I don't come up with a concept that will make a PC mentally unstable when rolled up, what will eventually happen is other people's RP will instill in my PC some degree of insanity before long.

Nobody stays innocent in this game world, with all of the corruption going on.

I know for sure that my mental instability gets staff approval, too, as I report it to them and they respond usually with a "thanks for the update. Good work. You're making plots." Etc.

The key is toning it down and making it consistent. And, usually, it's easier to do if you build up to it; start with a hint of insanity, see how you can feed it and grow it in time into something truly monstrous.

[IssacF]

I play mentally unstable characters frequently. Good dark fantasy stories always have some kind of mental instability in their important characters. If I don't come up with a concept that will make a PC mentally unstable when rolled up, what will eventually happen is other people's RP will instill in my PC some degree of insanity before long.

Nobody stays innocent in this game world, with all of the corruption going on.

I know for sure that my mental instability gets staff approval, too, as I report it to them and they respond usually with a "thanks for the update. Good work. You're making plots." Etc.

The key is toning it down and making it consistent. And, usually, it's easier to do if you build up to it; start with a hint of insanity, see how you can feed it and grow it in time into something truly monstrous.

I like that. Might think of it for my next concept.