Mettle is one of the primary character stats in SEALAB. It represents mental health and stability in the face of challenging and harrowing situations. Characters may gain Mettle throughout the game through combat and other stressful situations. When a character’s Mettle stat reaches 6, they must retreat from the situation that has scared them or caused their stress threshold to be met. You may not participate in activities or perform skill checks as long as your Mettle is at 6.
There are a couple of ways for characters to regain Mettle.
1. Locate a character that has the Specialized Skill: Mental Health. Engage in 15 minutes of role play with the character. After 15 minutes, the character may perform a skill test using their Mental Health skill. A successful pull from the test bag means that the character receiving mental health treatment subtracts 2 Mettle.
There is no limit to the number of times a person with the specialized skill can use their skills during a game period. The number of times a person will utilize their specialized skill depends on their own wishes and desires to role play. Just because a person has a skill to help you, it doesn’t mean they will. There are multiple characters in game with this skill.
2. Head to the recreation area and engage in 15 minutes of reading, puzzles, or game play. After 15 minutes, all characters engaged in the activity may subtract 1 Mettle with no skill test required. The activity players are engaged in must support all participants to grant the stat recovery. Two people may play checkers together. Eight people may not play solitaire together for the benefit.
Characters may only use the recreation area to recover Mettle once per game period.
3. Affection and physical gratification can help alleviate stress. Players may negotiate a scene for their characters to engage in that will help them alleviate stress and recover mettle. The players will leave the immediate game space to spend some time in “their bunk” for 15 minutes. There is no obligation to hang out outside of the game space with the player of the character who is the object of affection in the exchange. After the game absence requirement is met, the characters may subtract 1 Mettle.
Characters may only use physical gratification to recover Mettle twice during the entire game.