TOC
CHAPTER 11: ENVIRONMENTS AND HAZARDS
Acid
Not the style of rock, nor the kind that gives you visions, but rather the kind that melts you down, eyeballs and lungs first if it’s a heavily corrosive atmosphere (though technically that’s covered in the next chapter - understandable).
Acids can cause damage through direct contact, and if there’s enough of it around and you’re enclosed or close enough, cause damage breathing it in.
Corrosive acids deal 1D6 damage per round of exposure, except in the case of total immersion (such as into a vat of acid), which deals 10D6 damage per round. An attack with acid, such as from a hurled vial or an animal’s acidic spittle, counts as a round of exposure.
The fumes from most acids are poisonous. Those who come close enough to a large body of acid to dunk a creature in it must make an Average (+0) Endurance check or take 1D6 point of damage. All such characters must make a second Average (+0) Endurance check one minute later or take another 1D6 point of damage.
It’s also pointed out that creatures otherwise immune to acid may nevertheless drown in it. As applicable.
Carrying Capacity
The baseline at 1G is up to 2K/strength is “light load” - and thus no penalties. This means an average strength of 7 can carry up to 14kg (about 30 Lbs) and be effectively unencumbered. Medium load is up to 4x strength in KG - or 60 Lbs - suffering a DM of -1 on all physical skill checks and moving at 75% of their normal speed. Anything above that up to 6x strength (about 92 Lbs for Str 7)is a heavy load. This is the most a character can lift overhead / overhead press. Your speed is still 75% but there is now a -2 DM to physical skills.
Anything above that up to 12x strength, but you can only move 1.5 meters/round. This is up to 94 kilos, or 207 Lbs.
Pushing and dragging is based off the heavy load weight, but is effectively up to 30x strength in Kg, at half speed, and modified by ground conditions/friction.
Diseases
While only several are listed, they encompass a generic bioweapon, a flu, anthrax, and pneumonia. The procedure is make an endurance check at the listed DM to fight off the disease. Otherwise take the listed damage, and check again in the number of hours/days/weeks.
Temperatures
A chart of various temperature ranges and examples, with how much damage to apply to an unprotected human, and how often.
Fire
Straightforward rules but the GM should be aware that there are metals/etc that burn even without oxygen. Airframes, munitions, and spacecraft components may be more difficult to put out than simply evacuating to a vacuum.
Falling
1d6 damage per 2 meters fallen, modified by gravity, plus a note that you can cross reference the world size to get the gravity, which will apply a modifier.
Aside - worlds are in the next chapter.
Poisons
A very short sample table with a couple examples, and basically handled as diseases, though with a much broader range of possible effects.
Radiation
This actually gets two fairly long paragraphs - most of a column - and a couple tables.
First of all - lifetime dosage is factored in and is purely cumulative barring antiradiation treatments. Going into a more detailed breakdown of the body flushing out long term damage is likely way too fiddly.
As best as I can understand the table, active exposure would be close or direct exposure to a radiation source or contaminant including a shielding leak, as opposed to general radiation in an area. The general described level of radiation determines the dosage in rads, either over time for general irradiation, or an immediate dose plus dosage over time for active exposure. You then look at your accumulated radiation dose to determine the amount of damage, and similar to poisons and sickness, have to check for damage again at regular intervals until an endurance check is passed.
Starvation
Dehydration checks start in a number of hours using a baseline and a character’s endurance score, after which you start taking worsening endurance checks to avoid damage. Starvation checks also get worse, but start in three days.
Suffocation and Vacuum
Suffocation differentiates between insufficient oxygen (1d6/minute) vs utterly being without air (1d6/round).
Vacuum doesn’t cause you to immediately explode or freeze - your body is decent at containing pressure and your heat reserves won’t radiate away fast enough to make it a priority. However, the pressure drop does cause a risk of the bends, requiring a Very Difficult endurance check on the third round and future rounds to avoid incapacitation. Being exposed in space without protection (vacc suits count as protection) is also the equivalent of being in a highly irradiated area.
And yes, you are utterly without air. Even if you have an air supply, you still have to deal with the bends, etc.
Weather
The rules are short and sweet:
Driving wind, rain, snowstorms and so forth give a –1 DM to ranged attacks from poor visibility and a –1 DM to ranged attacks from environmental interference. Sensors can be used to avoid the visibility penalty. Extremely high winds and torrential rain can inflict a negative Dice Modifier of –1 to –4 to all skill checks.
Conclusion
The rules are sufficient to cover a number of situations, and in conjunction with the guidelines of how poisons and diseases work, sufficient to give you an idea on how to deal with anything else that comes up.
Ursula of Ulm
For those who have enjoyed Pilum Press books like Thune’s Vision, The Penultimate Men, Death Flex, and of course Shagduk, Pilum Press is gearing up to publish the sequel to Shagduk, Ursula of Ulm, Keep your eyes peeled.
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