Personal hygiene in RPGs

[V_K]

In tune with the times, the other day I was trying to remember an RPG that had a "stinky" or "smelly" debuff that lowered the character's Charisma and required soap to remove. Just as I was writing this post to ask if someone remembers what it was, it finally dawned on me that it was Drakensang. So I'll ask you another question - what other role-playing games can you think of where personal hygiene plays a role?

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[pomenitul]

I like how it only took you about 10 minutes, tops, to off-handedly list all these instances.

 

[Nano]

This thread made me think of a component in BG2's Romantic Encounters mod. Namely the one where you take a bath with Minsc and Boo.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

The Witcher 3. Gotta get yourself presentable with a bath and a shave before meeting Emhyr var Emreis, The White Flame Dancing on the Barrows of his Enemies, Emperor of Nilfgaard, King of Cintra, Lord of Metinna, Ebbing and Gemmera, Sovereign of Nazair and Vicovaro.

 

[jebsmoker]

having a bath and getting your garments cleaned in kingdom come: deliverance is extremely chill.

you can also get your depressed butler in queen's wish to give you a quick trim for the sake of looking presentable

 

[Reality]

You're going to have to crawl through those sewers and you're going to have to LIKE IT.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

I like how it only took you about 10 minutes, tops, to off-handedly list all these instances.

personal hygene is very important, also I believe that for rpg to be considered great, there need to be at least 1 toilet related quest

Toilet paper is a valuable commodity in Dead State.

 

[Fowyr]

Cataclysm DDA has a hair trimmer, soap and razor to shave yourself and washing board to clean your clothes.

 

[V_K]

Cataclysm DDA has a hair trimmer, soap and razor to shave yourself and washing board to clean your clothes.

But does it have any gameplay effect?

 

[Fowyr]

But does it have any gameplay effect?

Yep, when you wear filthy clothing (taken from zombies) your morale plummets, fresh haircut and shaving get you a morale bonus. Morale is very important for almost every action in the game. When morale is too low, you can't even craft simplest thing like roasted meat.

 

[Scruffy]

Scruffy show your worth, or ill strip you of janitor title

You know, one thing I always thought, as a fan of post-apoc games and books, was that no game or book really talked about one of the obvious pleasures of such a world: a warm bath and a dry towel and clean clothes. Of course, none of that would make for a good game, but at least hinting at it would make sense.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Raghar]

If heroes wouldn't be strongly resistant to bacteria, they are sprayed by blood and other stuff so often they would be dead. I also sincirelly doubt they have chance deep in mountain or month in sewers to get... Either they don't care about smell and other stuff, or all hero clothes needs to be enchanted to be able to remove any smell from them. For example to reduce chance to be tracked by dogs of police send after them by government before they would be amnestied.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Now I remember, Project Zomboid has ridiculous detailed mechanics involving personal hygiene.

 

[Filthy Sauce]

In Dark Souls 3, whenever you struck an enemy they would spray their ash 'blood' on you. If you rolled in water, it would clean that shit right off.

 

[taomcio]

Klamath's Bathhouse in Fallout 2 offers you several options for taking care of your hygiene

 

[V_K]

i have a feeling that there might be something in west of loathing but i cant recall.

Well, there's stench and sleaze damage types, but I don't remember if there's any special hygienic gear that defends against it.

 

[V_K]

Klamath's Bathhouse in Fallout 2 offers you several options for taking care of your hygiene

Yeah, I was thinking systemic hygiene rather than one-time scripted events.

 

[AgentFransis]

So not so much about hygiene but very much in the spirit of the times in NEO scavenger you can wear a rag on your face that gives you a chance to avoid contracting an airborne disease in certain locations and encounters. Over time it would get dirty and you could wash it but that has no gameplay effect as far as I know.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Wearing a mask made out of the stitched, stinky skin of ghouls in Fallout 3 makes other stinky ghouls friendly.

Edit: It's unhygienic to put ghoul skin upon your face, V_K.

 

[Nortar]

There are condoms in ATOM: RPG; and if you have them, some hookers could give you a discount.

 

[Lurker47]

in dos1 you could get smelly panties of finest gurl in town.