Regardless of your external circumstances, you often feel drawn toward despair. Everything seems overwhelming, point­ less, and at best a fucking joke at the world’s expense. That feeling pervades each aspect of your existence: your attitude, your physical health, your relationships, and even – especially! – your approach to magick and all its manifestations. (See the

Mage 20 sections about Focus and the Arts, Resonance, Quiet,

and the Vidare perceptions of the Otherworlds.) TL/DR: It really sucks to be you.

Often viewed as a purely psychological issue (“It’s all in your pretty little head…”), chronic depression tends to be linked to physiological Impediments, as in the Physical Flaw of that name. This Flaw can also reflect the psychic aftermath of Paradox backlashes, Quiet episodes, Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, Mind-Sphere attacks, and other forms of trauma (break­ ups, violation, disaster, and the like), although trauma-induced depression is most often a manifestation of the Flaw: PTSD, referenced above. Regardless of its origins, the psychological element of depression is inescapable. The emotional weight of constant despair tends to sap physical vitality, which comes back around and inspires more depression. No wonder chronically

depressed people have a hard time “living life to the fullest.” On some days, just getting out of bed without falling into a crying heap is a challenge.

Story-wise, this Flaw influences roleplaying and character descriptions as suggested above. System-wise, it often requires you to make a Willpower roll when your depressed character needs to push himself beyond the depression. A successful roll means that he acts without hindrance. A failed one adds +2 to the difficulty of the primary task at hand, which could involve Attributes from the Physical (depression drains vitality), Social (undercuts relationships with other folks), or Mental (mental fuzz) categories, depending upon the situation. A botched roll means that the depression takes over and drops him into a deep black pit of despair in which he’ll be stuck for hours or even days at a time.

You can spend a Willpower point to shove depression aside, avoiding this roll entirely. However, as anyone who understands the analogy of spoons can attest, sooner or later you run out of Willpower points. (For those who are not familiar with the analogy, it’s the idea that you have a limited number of spoons to use each day; every task demands that you give up one spoon, and so you soon run out of spoons). The fact that people tend to get frustrated with your Black Cloud of Doom™ doesn’t exactly help matters much; hell, you’re more frustrated with that shit than anybody else is! So seriously – in all aspects of one’s life, Chronic Depres­ siontown is not a fun place to be… not even for fans of the World of Darkness.