How to roleplay using "Adrenaline" while avoiding powergaming.

[Spades_Neil]

(This is currently a work in progress. Post critique below to better this guide.)


Now, adrenaline is a very real thing that should be included in extreme cases of life-and-death situations that are roleplayed out. However, sometimes it goes too far and becomes powergaming which is against the rules. In an attempt to both keep adrenaline as a realistic thing to include in roleplay while keeping it from becoming an excuse to cheat your way out of death.

Neil's Guide to Adrenaline Roleplay

First, let us define what adrenaline actually is.

Epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) is a hormone and a neurotransmitter. Epinephrine has many functions in the body, regulating heart rate, blood vessel and air passage diameters, and metabolic shifts; epinephrine release is a crucial component of the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system.

The major physiologic triggers of adrenaline release center upon stresses, such as physical threat, excitement, noise, bright lights, and high ambient temperature. All of these stimuli are processed in the central nervous system.

So now that we all know what adrenaline is, let's get started on its effects on roleplay. We've all heard the stories of incredible feats like a mother lifting a wreaked car off her trapped child, or a passenger in a burning vehicle tearing their seatbelt off to escape, or a hiker trapped under a sizable rock able to heave it off before it crushes him, etc... but they all hold something in common. Adrenaline is a short burst of strength and awareness. Not a long period of superhuman powers you use to crush all opposition. Most importantly, you're not going to be able to do it more than once. Even more importantly, you're still not going to be able to defy what the human body is actually capable of.

According to medicine, a muscle only uses about 35-50% of its potential energy. Picking up a car, for example, might sound like an incredible feat, or tearing a seatbelt from its base, but you need to consider the physics of the situation. Let's take the car scenario. It's not like the person picks it up and lifts it over their head like Superman. They roll it. That puts the weight of the object upon an axis which can be levered upon. Furthermore, the entire body can be used to lift such a large object. In fact, it must be used. You're using your legs, your arms, and most of your core muscles when you lift objects of any kind. That strength combines to be able to lift up to roughly your own body weight for most people on a normal day. If we follow the numbers I gave you, that means that you can roughly double your strength when under adrenaline. That's as far as you go, however. Beyond that, you're just not strong enough. End of story.

Plus, there's a good reason why the body uses only 50% of its potential energy. If it used more, you'd injure yourself. That extra 50%-65% extra leeway is so you don't end up tearing your own muscles.

An example of adrenaline roleplay done incorrectly.
Joe Waster has been ambushed by raiders! They seize him and tie his arms behind his back with some twine. In a last ditch effort by Joe to save his life, and with the help of a rush of adrenaline, he snaps the bindings and grabs one of the raider's rifles! They shoot him several times, but because of the adrenaline, Joe Waster manages to kill all the raiders and get back to town with his life where he gets proper medical attention!


No.
Let's break it down.

According to a 2006 report by the Aasgaard Company, a publisher in the training and conditioning field, an untrained 165-lb. man can bench-press an average of 119 lbs., while a novice of the same size, with limited training, can bench-press approximately 152 lbs. Similarly, a man who weighs 181 lbs. can lift approximately 128 lbs. with no training or 164 lbs. with limited training.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/380767-how-much-weight-can-the-average-man-lift/#ixzz1uUMk1Ixe

Now, let's assume adrenaline was in the works here. That'd make sense, right? Life or death situation. Let's round off those numbers to roughly 150 pounds of force (or 68.18 kilograms). That's the muscle strength of the entire body, however. Not just your arms, or legs. Your arm can curl with a force of 30 pounds, so two arms can move with the force of 60 pounds. If Adrenaline can basically double Joe's strength, then Joe can then snap a chord designed to hold up to 120 pounds of tension. That could be feasible. Twine isn't very strong. If given a piece of twine, I could loop it under my foot and lift up with enough force to break it if given some effort. However, even if Joe managed to break his bindings, maybe Joe could have ripped a rifle out of an unsuspecting raider's hands and popped off a few shots, but the adrenaline ends there. Either way they raiders will just shoot him anyway. Adrenaline doesn't make you bulletproof. I don't care if the rush makes Joe able to ignore the pain briefly, because they're still putting bloody holes in his body. So, Joe should have died.

An example of adrenaline roleplay done correctly.
Joe Waster has been ambushed by raiders! They seize him and tie his arms behind his back. In a last ditch effort by Joe to save his life, and with the help of a rush of adrenaline, he snaps the frail, dry-rotted twine and sprints as fast as he possibly can while the raiders are off guard. The raiders open fire on Joe, but with such surprise and a bit of luck, they are unable to react in time to kill him. Joe escapes with his life. However, the strain on his muscles leaves Joe's arms very sore for days.

Adrenaline can push you to incredible feats, but at a consequence as defined earlier. There have been situations where people on adrenaline rushes, although while saving their lives, manage to tear muscles apart and cause severe damage to their body's muscular structure. Sometimes such damage becomes permanent. For that same reason adrenaline usually only works in short bursts. Let's go into another example.

An example of adrenaline roleplay done incorrectly.
On his way back to town, Joe Waster is met by another foe! An angry looking super mutant! Joe realizes he just trampled all over a small garden the super mutant had been using to feed himself and his clan. He's furious now. He bashes Joe Waster over the head with a shovel and knocks him out. He drags Joe off, but Joe regains consciousness because of adrenaline and pries the super mutant's hands off of him! The super mutant savagely beats Joe in an effort to subdue him, but the adrenaline in his body allows him to wrestle the mutant off and run away, despite bleeding from several blunt force strikes to his skull.

Well, for one, Joe got cracked in the head by a damn shovel. He's lucky if he wakes up at all. Adrenaline won't activate because Joe got knocked out. If anything Joe would be feeling dizzy as fuck with a horrible migraine like you couldn't imagine when he wakes up, and Joe won't be doing any fighting soon either. Though let's say he did wake up and struggle. Adrenaline doesn't let Joe withstand multiple whacks with a shovel or other blunt object, nor can adrenaline be used for continuous wrestling or fighting. Although Joe might be able to push off a super mutant for about ten seconds with adrenaline, the mutant's sheer size and power will sharply outlast Joe's adrenaline rush--at which point, said mutant folds Joe into a nice little human pretzel and crunches every bone in his body.

An example of adrenaline roleplay done correctly.
On his way back to town, Joe Waster is met by another foe! An angry looking super mutant! Joe realizes he just trampled all over a small garden the super mutant had been using to feed himself and his clan. He's furious now. He bashes Joe Waster over the head with a shovel and knocks him out. He drags Joe off, but somehow Joe regains consciousness mid-way though. It probably would have been best that he stay out... The super mutant grabs Joe's legs and threatens to break them. Joe grabs the super mutant's arm and yanks it off with all his might, but the mutant whaps Joe away and proceeds to break both his legs. He throws Joe on the ground and leaves him for dead, sneering, "Stoopid human!"

Now we get into the next interesting part. So far Joe has been having a shitty day, don't you agree? But there may yet be hope for Joe. Now, adrenaline should not be confused with what happens next. Joe is pretty badly injured, but we've all heard stories of people in dire situations being able to ignore pain to an extent. The brain does this on purpose. In situations of extreme trauma, the brain literally ignores pain for sake of survival. Ironically, only when the person is safe again, does the pain return. Our very own Mr. Pink for one was shot in the leg in real life by an idiot friend improperly handling a rifle at a shooting range, resulting in an accidental discharge. Mr. Pink's brain was aware of the trauma, but also still conceived the danger to be too much to be worth feeling the pain. He had enough time to scold his friend for being such a fucking moron with a deadly firearm. It wasn't until he walked the short distance back to his truck when suddenly his leg was enveloped in agony. Wondering why he was in such pain, he felt down to the source and discovered blood! Only then did Mr. Pink realize he had been shot.

tl;dr the brain can shut out pain if it has to for survival, but that doesn't make the injuries go away. You still need to RP those injuries. Let's continue with my third and final set of examples.

An example of adrenaline roleplay done incorrectly.
Today is going pretty badly for Joe Waster. His legs are broken, but through the MAGICAL POWERS OF ADRENALINE he stands upright and walks back to--
NO.
Joe's legs are fucking BROKEN. I don't care how much you can't feel how much they hurt. THEY'RE STILL BROKEN!


An example of adrenaline roleplay done correctly.
Today is going pretty badly for Joe Waster. His legs are broken, and he can see how horribly they've been mangled. There's even bone sticking out. Yet, the pain is barely noticeable. He knows he's injured, in fact he's scared to move. It's almost surreal the manner in which he's been mutilated, and yet he's able to see it for himself. He was going to die here if he didn't at least get to the road. He does his best to drag his body to a near by road. Now all he can do is wait and hope to God someone finds him. To Joe's overdue luck, an NCR patrol stumbles upon him in minutes. They bring in some medics to carefully carry him to safety. As they lift him and begin to walk off, finally the sheer agony hits him. He screams and cries in gruesome pain until the medics dope him up with so much Med-X that his whole body is numb. They are forced to amputate what's left of his legs, leaving Joe in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, but he is fortunate enough to spend his days in the relative safety of the NCR-controlled town he lives in. Joe also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder until the day he dies due to his experiences.







Anyway, I hope that gives people some guidelines to work with.
In conclusion, use adrenaline SPARINGLY, and only in the most dire of situations. When you do use it, it is only available for a very brief burst of energy. Adrenaline doesn't make you impervious to injury either. You must still roleplay your injuries, even if you might not feel them right away. Don't abuse the use of adrenaline to "win" every RP encounter you come across. It's probably best to always double-check OOCly with your partner to ask if they'd allow you to do this.

Post below your opinions of this thread with any constructive feedback you can offer to improve it further.

[Madcombat]

Adrenaline is quite a difficult thing for some people to roleplay, though I think you've hit the nail on the head for this one.   I think however people need to remember, it only works for a brief amount of time and it doesnt come often.

[Paintcheck]

I think your examples are going to lead to a lot of "I can break these cuffs" situations.

Adrenaline doesn't make you super human and I think a lot of your "Correct Uses of Adrenaline" still border on powergaming.

[jaik]

I think your examples are going to lead to a lot of "I can break these cuffs" situations.

Adrenaline doesn't make you super human and I think a lot of your "Correct Uses of Adrenaline" still border on powergaming.

This is true. Adrenaline doesn't even last longer than a few seconds and he guy would probably be shocked and then knocked out because of the pain.

[Khorn]

Spades, you don't need to use rude words in titles. Sounds like you're accusing someone of powergaming.

[Spades_Neil]

I think your examples are going to lead to a lot of "I can break these cuffs" situations.

Adrenaline doesn't make you super human and I think a lot of your "Correct Uses of Adrenaline" still border on powergaming.

This is true. Adrenaline doesn't even last longer than a few seconds and he guy would probably be shocked and then knocked out because of the pain.

I've made some small edits. Critique is appreciated. How would you guys re-word it?

[Ragolution]

Just a bit of caution to add.

Where it says they can lift 150 pounds, they mean LIFT and nothing else. Humans don't have enough physical strength to break a steel wire that can take 300lbs of tension. Lifting is pretty much 10x easier than any other action other than dragging which is 100x easier.

Just saying you should clear that up or people are going to think they can kick people in the leg and break it like a twig since the leg bones can take between a 150 and 300 lbs impact.

I realise it was, at its best, an example, but it's not an idea you want to give them.

[Spades_Neil]

Just a bit of caution to add.

Where it says they can lift 150 pounds, they mean LIFT and nothing else. Humans don't have enough physical strength to break a steel wire that can take 300lbs of tension. Lifting is pretty much 10x easier than any other action other than dragging which is 100x easier.

Just saying you should clear that up or people are going to think they can kick people in the leg and break it like a twig since the leg bones can take between a 150 and 300 lbs impact.

I realise it was, at its best, an example, but it's not an idea you want to give them.

I was thinking about that a few minutes ago. I'll need to rephrase that. The human body, that is the combined muscle strength of legs, core muscles, and arms, could lift an object of 150lbs... but that doesn't mean your arms alone could do the job.

I'll do some quick research to correct this, or at least re-word it so they understand what I mean.

EDIT: So far the number I've come up with is a single human arm can "curl" about 30lbs of weight. Combined, that'd be roughly 60lbs. If we follow the example of "doubling" strength with adrenaline, that's roughly 120lbs, which is dramatically less than the example I used. I've made some corrections. Replaced ropes with twine. Tell me what you think of them.

[Khorn]

I think the whole thing is going a bit far. The point is, people are trying to call on the power of adrenaline to get out of impossible situations.


Thing is though, you make a guide, most people won't read half of it.
If someone does something that feels like powergaming, players should take it up with an admin.

[Paintcheck]

I think the whole thing is going a bit far. The point is, people are trying to call on the power of adrenaline to get out of impossible situations.

That, 100%. You are overthinking the fuck out of all of this and the only thing it will result in is "Spades' guide said I could..." when some fucking retard (of which there are no shortage of on the internet) decides to go into "Adrenaline blood rage rawr rawr anime!" and bitch about it. If people are powergaming admin the shit out of them. A guide doesn't help, and this guide may actually hurt because of how it almost encourages powergaming.

[ZainMenloe]

I think the whole thing is going a bit far. The point is, people are trying to call on the power of adrenaline to get out of impossible situations.

That, 100%. You are overthinking the fuck out of all of this and the only thing it will result in is "Spades' guide said I could..." when some fucking retard (of which there are no shortage of on the internet) decides to go into "Adrenaline blood rage rawr rawr anime!" and bitch about it. If people are powergaming admin the shit out of them. A guide doesn't help, and this guide may actually hurt because of how it almost encourages powergaming.

Gotta agree with Paint on this. Some of the people who have difficulty understanding RP is about story and interaction and not keeping your items. I have never used 'adrenaline' in any of my RP's, and honestly I don't plan on it (Especially not on a FORP server where adrenaline doesn't help squeezing the trigger of a gun).
However, the other side of things. The guide can help the people who RP correctly as it does give the limits to how far adrenaline can go. I didn't no a lot of the statistics up there, and its nice knowing that adrenaline can basically double your strength for maybe 5 seconds at the most.

All I can say, is I hope the good RPers see this, not the bad ones.

[Madcombat]

I think the whole thing is going a bit far. The point is, people are trying to call on the power of adrenaline to get out of impossible situations.

That, 100%. You are overthinking the fuck out of all of this and the only thing it will result in is "Spades' guide said I could..." when some fucking retard (of which there are no shortage of on the internet) decides to go into "Adrenaline blood rage rawr rawr anime!" and bitch about it. If people are powergaming admin the shit out of them. A guide doesn't help, and this guide may actually hurt because of how it almost encourages powergaming.

Gotta agree with Paint on this. Some of the people who have difficulty understanding RP is about story and interaction and not keeping your items. I have never used 'adrenaline' in any of my RP's, and honestly I don't plan on it (Especially not on a FORP server where adrenaline doesn't help squeezing the trigger of a gun).
However, the other side of things. The guide can help the people who RP correctly as it does give the limits to how far adrenaline can go. I didn't no a lot of the statistics up there, and its nice knowing that adrenaline can basically double your strength for maybe 5 seconds at the most.

All I can say, is I hope the good RPers see this, not the bad ones.

Education is always good for bad roleplayers, its just up to us to apply the information to them correctly so they may learn that information correctly.  But yeah, as you was getting at; I do hope this factor is used correctly.