Because a Gamer has a roll for everything:
The Loneliness Check:
This check is made by rolling a number of 10 sided dice equal to your Stamina + Integrity (the latter being more a function mental resilience than any aspect of morality) (for most people that’s about 6 or 7, for athletes and particularly resolute people that’s about 8 dice, for priests, Olympic athletes, astronauts and introverts that’s 9 or 10 dice) and looking for 7’s or higher on each one, these are called successes. Count the number of sevens you find and compare their total to the difficulty set by the modifiers and conditions below. 10’s indicated on the dice each count as TWO successes. 1’s have no meaning on their own unless there are no successes on the dice otherwise…then you botch. That’s bad and explained below. The roll should be made every week or so - more frequently during the springtime or the Christmas holidays.
Modifiers to difficulty (these are cumulative):
completely alone in the house +1
been alone in the house for more than 16 hours +1
knowing there is a party or get-together going on, but you can’t get there +1
(this includes movie premieres, outings to dinner or conventions)
being so broke you can’t pay attention +1
not having seen friends in over a week +2
not having heard from friends in over a week +2
not having seen another human being in more than 24 hours +1
long time since last being shown physical affection +2
inability to get around much on your own +1
not having left the house recently +1
You have a pet -2
After determining your total modifiers, make the roll and compare it to the chart below:
Successes rolled above the difficulty number: Result:
1 Sometimes you’re a little blue, but
2 You're not feeling especially badly at
3 People would be nice, but who needs
4 Look, you see people during
5 You would be perfectly comfortable
Successes rolled below the difficulty number: Result:
1 You feel a pang of lonesomeness, but it
2 It gnaws at you sometimes -
3 You're likely to start calling
4 You start calling up talk radio
5 Your loneliness is like
On a botch, you become truly desperate for human company, with an eagerness and excitement that leaves you looking and sounding like a cross between someone on Speed and Peter Lorre. You will clutch desperately at any chance to be in the company of anyone - mailmen, door to door salesmen and even Jehovah's Witnesses will come to avoid you like the plague. Not even Grandma will return your calls anymore….