Drugs/consumables and addiction

Maybe you remember we discussed this for a little while on #2238 once. I would like to bring the discussion to the forum.

My inspiration for this suggestion is in the Shadowrun 4th Edition Core Rulebook, which among other things offers information about certain drugs of the Fourth World, their effects, and even some advice on how to roleplay a character's trip or addiction to each of them. It includes many suggestions about how addiction could affect a character (when it comes to finance, social relationships, etc.), a system of "addiction levels", withdrawal, overdosing, etc.

All of this is probably too complex to include in a computer RPG, and of course it can be difficult for the player to role-play a trip or addiction. The setting is also very different (probably no high-tech hospitals, clinics or rehabilitation places) But it could be interesting to make drugs have "strange" and unexplained effects in the game. A possibility that came to my mind is that, if it is not impossible or too hard to code, the player might suddenly see he can only choose one option in some part of a dialogue while his character is high on a certain drug, or is suffering its addiction and needs to consume some more, instead of being able to choose from 2-3 options if he was "clean". This way, the game would force the character to face the consequences of consuming drugs.

For example, a NPC might ask the PC for some money to buy a Nuka-Cola, and if the PC is addicted to the drink, he/she would have a not so nice reaction that would affect the NPC's opinion on him/her, at least slightly. The effects would of course vary depending on how "strong" the drug or consumable item is. The really hard stuff, like Psycho, could even change the character's behaviour and make him become aggressive or at least make it quite hard for him/her to communicate in an "acceptable" form (this we could see in the original Fallouts as Psycho reduced Intelligence).

Also, some NPC's might dislike people who do drugs and hate the PC if they somehow find out he/she has consumed/purchased certain chemicals they consider "bad" - or could suspect the PC is addicted to something (because of physical characteristics, most probably), which could impact on "first impressions". These situation would then trigger alternative dialogue trees and offer other ways to interact with the community or group, etc.

If the general idea sounds attractive, I suggest not spoiling what effects each drug would bring, so players can find out themselves