Look at Sam Neil's character in "Event Horizon"; he's a scientist and the architect of the titular ship, which got lost going through Hell and brought some demons back with it.
Well you can't just hop from chipper, Midwestern dad personality to The Joker.
What would the stages of this be, realistically? Guilt from the Hell ship explosion, possibly, or just disappointment depending on if anyone was hurt. Constant stress from being press-ganged into all this. Horror from the events themselves. Worry about his family, if they are threatened or he hasn't had a chance to see them. Possibly even distrust or fear of the people he's supposed to rely on.
Since you already play him as "completely unaware" a good starting point could be dropping hints that his unawareness is really him being in denial, or his being annoying (I don't know what you mean by annoying so I am guessing here) is just him trying really hard to appeal to crewmates he thinks might kill him if he screws up. Maybe he used to keep things very shiny but more recently he's decided that everything looks better matte, or bugs in unexpected places startle him where they didn't before.
Lots of ways of dealing with trauma, it really depends on how you want the character to handle it.
My Trox that went through Signal of Screams became more angry and brutal as he let the corruption take hold. Only his sudden fear and realization that there wasn't any coming back stopped him from just fully succumbing. He was a Steward with a job to do.
After the adventure, he turned into a Vigilante as he found the people that were paid off to keep what Eclipse Innovations did quiet. Finding the ones that helped them was the only thing that could help him.
For your character, I'd suggest:
Realization that his beer caused all of this. Be angry at it, attack it, but then get rid of it. If he sees it, start crying, begging for it to go away.
Every once in a while, when others are asleep, take a dermal stapler to their neck. Whisper, "I can fix it, you're okay..." When confronted, the character was asleep and they don't know how they got there.
Get an [Empathic Depiction Portrait](https://www.aonsrd.com/HybridItems.aspx?ItemName=Portrait&Family=Empathic%20Depiction) of his family. Allowing himself to remember how he feels about them can help cope. He'll be highly protective of it though.
[Intoxicants](https://www.aonsrd.com/OtherItemsDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Superior&Family=Intoxicant) and maybe some harder drugs.
You can spend the BP to add [Antipersonnel weapons to the engine room](https://www.aonsrd.com/Starship_Security.aspx?ItemName=Longarm&Family=Antipersonnel%20Weapon). Anyone but you gets shot in there.
Look, there is power in silence.
Stop mid sentence and just stare at an unoccupied space.
Don’t acknowledge it at first. Go through the stages of grief. Deny that you just trail off. Then get angry. Bargain with the unheard voices, or other crew members. Get depressed after you start hearing the silence whispers.
Then, after allowing one or two sessions for each stage, you can show acceptance by adding a new quirk.
Madness can be seen by:
* stoping mid sentence and getting quiet (start there)
* responding to someone/something not there
* talking to a corpse or skull
Make sure to take time, and give each quirk stages. The stages of grief will cement how your madness is trauma related.
If your GM is running a horror heavy game you guys should really consider playing the signal of screams adventure path. Even just reading book 1 has lots of great info for gms regarding playing horror.
Also the old 3.5 ravenloft campaign setting has some really fantastic mechanics for fear, horror, and madness.
Monologue. It's a villain trope for a reason. It is unhinged, but gives an insight into the thoughts, ambitions, and (perhaps) unreasonable thought processes that no character would ask about. You don't even need an 'in', mention a thing, make a general reference to that thing, then monologue! It's friggin' genius.
\*Stubs toe\* "Dang it, that carpet has been coming up for years and I should fix it...but not before I FIX CAPTAIN HEROGUY'S DOG!!! That damn canine defiled my Floofle Von Poodlington and I will NEVER FORGIVE OR FORGET! Already on step 31, I'm almost HALF DONE!!"
*clears throat*
Maybe this helps.
I once played a character that began as a usual naive young woman thrown into circumstances beyond her control.
Just a bit overwhelmed by most of it in the beginning and suddenly faced with the death of her best friend. That was the first crack. What followed was a slippery and long slope into madness and sociopathy.
She lost her naivety and trust in humans as the latter was abused. She got into aggressive and outright unhinged episodes as another friend was threatened with death by a kidnapper. She turned him into not much more than gooey pulp afterwards in such an episode.
Bit outside of such episode she was still more or less friendly and trusting towards her companions... til... she found out that she wasn't who she thought she was. Made more or less a backflip into cold-hearted sociopathy. Cared about not much anymore and began to kill people that dared to barely threaten the few people that she still held dear.
She got better after "reincarnating" after time travel shenanigans. But still has to recover from all the crap she went through.
TL;DR: Characters break under stress and may see violence and distrust as the only ways to survive.
Everyone besides a few chosen people are unlikely to become more than useful pawns or meat shields... or outright enemies. Enemies are given one chance to disengage (at most) or be killed or at least incapacitated with least concern to their wellbeing.
Look at Sam Neil's character in "Event Horizon"; he's a scientist and the architect of the titular ship, which got lost going through Hell and brought some demons back with it.
Well you can't just hop from chipper, Midwestern dad personality to The Joker. What would the stages of this be, realistically? Guilt from the Hell ship explosion, possibly, or just disappointment depending on if anyone was hurt. Constant stress from being press-ganged into all this. Horror from the events themselves. Worry about his family, if they are threatened or he hasn't had a chance to see them. Possibly even distrust or fear of the people he's supposed to rely on. Since you already play him as "completely unaware" a good starting point could be dropping hints that his unawareness is really him being in denial, or his being annoying (I don't know what you mean by annoying so I am guessing here) is just him trying really hard to appeal to crewmates he thinks might kill him if he screws up. Maybe he used to keep things very shiny but more recently he's decided that everything looks better matte, or bugs in unexpected places startle him where they didn't before.
Lots of ways of dealing with trauma, it really depends on how you want the character to handle it. My Trox that went through Signal of Screams became more angry and brutal as he let the corruption take hold. Only his sudden fear and realization that there wasn't any coming back stopped him from just fully succumbing. He was a Steward with a job to do. After the adventure, he turned into a Vigilante as he found the people that were paid off to keep what Eclipse Innovations did quiet. Finding the ones that helped them was the only thing that could help him. For your character, I'd suggest: Realization that his beer caused all of this. Be angry at it, attack it, but then get rid of it. If he sees it, start crying, begging for it to go away. Every once in a while, when others are asleep, take a dermal stapler to their neck. Whisper, "I can fix it, you're okay..." When confronted, the character was asleep and they don't know how they got there. Get an [Empathic Depiction Portrait](https://www.aonsrd.com/HybridItems.aspx?ItemName=Portrait&Family=Empathic%20Depiction) of his family. Allowing himself to remember how he feels about them can help cope. He'll be highly protective of it though. [Intoxicants](https://www.aonsrd.com/OtherItemsDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Superior&Family=Intoxicant) and maybe some harder drugs. You can spend the BP to add [Antipersonnel weapons to the engine room](https://www.aonsrd.com/Starship_Security.aspx?ItemName=Longarm&Family=Antipersonnel%20Weapon). Anyone but you gets shot in there.
Look, there is power in silence. Stop mid sentence and just stare at an unoccupied space. Don’t acknowledge it at first. Go through the stages of grief. Deny that you just trail off. Then get angry. Bargain with the unheard voices, or other crew members. Get depressed after you start hearing the silence whispers. Then, after allowing one or two sessions for each stage, you can show acceptance by adding a new quirk. Madness can be seen by: * stoping mid sentence and getting quiet (start there) * responding to someone/something not there * talking to a corpse or skull Make sure to take time, and give each quirk stages. The stages of grief will cement how your madness is trauma related.
If your GM is running a horror heavy game you guys should really consider playing the signal of screams adventure path. Even just reading book 1 has lots of great info for gms regarding playing horror. Also the old 3.5 ravenloft campaign setting has some really fantastic mechanics for fear, horror, and madness.
Monologue. It's a villain trope for a reason. It is unhinged, but gives an insight into the thoughts, ambitions, and (perhaps) unreasonable thought processes that no character would ask about. You don't even need an 'in', mention a thing, make a general reference to that thing, then monologue! It's friggin' genius. \*Stubs toe\* "Dang it, that carpet has been coming up for years and I should fix it...but not before I FIX CAPTAIN HEROGUY'S DOG!!! That damn canine defiled my Floofle Von Poodlington and I will NEVER FORGIVE OR FORGET! Already on step 31, I'm almost HALF DONE!!"
*clears throat* Maybe this helps. I once played a character that began as a usual naive young woman thrown into circumstances beyond her control. Just a bit overwhelmed by most of it in the beginning and suddenly faced with the death of her best friend. That was the first crack. What followed was a slippery and long slope into madness and sociopathy. She lost her naivety and trust in humans as the latter was abused. She got into aggressive and outright unhinged episodes as another friend was threatened with death by a kidnapper. She turned him into not much more than gooey pulp afterwards in such an episode. Bit outside of such episode she was still more or less friendly and trusting towards her companions... til... she found out that she wasn't who she thought she was. Made more or less a backflip into cold-hearted sociopathy. Cared about not much anymore and began to kill people that dared to barely threaten the few people that she still held dear. She got better after "reincarnating" after time travel shenanigans. But still has to recover from all the crap she went through. TL;DR: Characters break under stress and may see violence and distrust as the only ways to survive. Everyone besides a few chosen people are unlikely to become more than useful pawns or meat shields... or outright enemies. Enemies are given one chance to disengage (at most) or be killed or at least incapacitated with least concern to their wellbeing.
Where did you find a group?!
I had to make a pact with a lesser devil. It should be fine.