This week, I thought I would try to test mechanics for my setting. I drafted a few characters with different mental health diagnoses, and each one gave a different debuff to that character.
Depression: +2 fatigue starting, +1 fatigue on failure.
Anxiety: +2 fatigue on failure. +1 fatigue on success to a random stat. Reaching max fatigue in a stat causes +3 fatigue in 2 random stats.
ADHD: cannot attempt the same thing more than twice in a row without trying something else. Any time a switch is made, +1 fatigue to the previously attempted stat.
Results:
These debuffs relied heavily on the implementation to work the way they did. I may end up scrapping this idea and go with a narrative driven game instead. This had, perhaps due to my modern day framing, perhaps due to mechanics, a bit too much of the desired effect. Players became less interested in trying to play these characters because they felt it too difficult to make meaningful progress.