Being trapped on an obscure storm-lashed Hebridean island with a group of strangers is, invariably, not always going to be the most pleasant of experiences. You might go hungry. You might get ill. You might start to wonder if you'll ever get off this blasted rock and back to the comforts of a hot shower and a warm bed. Other - worse - things might happen.

To represent the effect that being placed under this kind of strain has on a person, your character is subject to 'stress'. Stress is represented on your character page by the Stress Bar:

The most obvious effect of stress is to limit the ways in which you can use a character's talents when turnsheeting.

When a character is under stress, they are not at their best. Familiar pursuits are now more difficult, and jobs that they would have otherwise had no trouble performing become difficult. This, combined with the extreme conditions that the inhabitants of the island find themselves in, can make invoking certain talents when under stress hazardous.

Mechanically, this is represented in Tempest by certain talents becoming struck through depending on the amount of stress a character has accumulated. Talents which are struck through are not permanently lost, but attempting to perform a turnsheet action with a struck through talent is functionally equivalent to attempting that action with no relevant talent at all.

Characters will have a total of seven talents, some of which will be unavailable under certain levels of stress. Two talents will be available under any stress level, two will be available only when under low or moderate stress, and three will be available only when under low stress.

Click here for more information on talents.

In Tempest, stress comes from the following sources:

• Hunger
• Physical fatigue
• Sleeplessness
• Illness
• Physical trauma
• Emotional trauma

The methods for removing stress are often obvious, if not necessarily straightforward. For example, giving someone who is stressed from lack of food a good square meal is likely to make them feel a lot better. However, there may be non-obvious methods of removing stress, as well.

Removing stress may cause talents which were struck through to become usable again, as described above. This will be reflected on your character sheet.

Stress does not come with an inherent roleplay effect - you may choose to interpret how your characters react under stress as best you see fit. However, you should feel free to use your character's stress level as a guideline to help direct your roleplay if you would like.