Bioweapons

[Olefin]

Bio weapon attacks against large scale population centers - where you get 33-50% casualties or more - definitely did not happen in the T2K canon - stuff like that would have been mentioned for sure, most likely with the words "nuclear response" right afterward. I agree with Raellus - small scale may have happened - but anything that takes out huge swaths of population is not in the canon at all.

Having that used would move a story or sourcebook from possible canon into more the area covered by Twilight Nightmares and not into something that could be taken as canon.

Plus you go from a war that is horrific but where some kind of civilization survives to more like The Road where basically any kind of civilization would be finished for good - especially when you add in the effects already seen in the canon.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Olefin

Bio weapon attacks against large scale population centers - where you get 33-50% casualties or more - definitely did not happen in the T2K canon...

Not in the areas already detailed, no, at least not that are known at least.
The "beauty" of bioweapons is they can be mistaken for a natural event, especially in a T2K world where communications are limited, medical aid sparse and actual testing a distant memory.

Meanwhile, you've got Bears Den and the warhead in that which shows that bioweapons absolutely are included in the canon. That particular one was EXTREMELY mild though in comparison to most of the nasties the Soviets were working on and producing IRL. The Marburg virus has a fatality rate of up around 80% as it occurs naturally, and is transmitted through bodily fluids. The Soviet weaponized version is 100% with a run time of about a week before all the bodies organs basically liquefy, and even worse, and they've added in other vectors for infection as well through gene splicing, etc.

[Olefin]

Keep in mind thats a singular attack described in Bears Den - there is no sign of any mass attack using bio weapons on large scale areas - i.e. he is using it as a terror weapon on a single target that is pretty much isolated - much different than hitting England with anthrax or using a bio weapon on China's major population centers

It also depends where its used - a healthy population that suddenly starts dying from a bio attack is going to be pretty damn obvious - i.e. its one thing to have typhus spread in an area where order has broken down and people are dying from starvation - its another to have a functioning city suddenly start to have a mass typhus event - so hiding what you did depends on the scale of it

i.e. suddenly having huge areas of Australia and NZ having die offs from disease out of nowhere when the populations were still healthy is a mass bio attack - and those didnt happen in the canon - not before April 2001 when the canon basically stopped - and the V2.2 canon covered Australia and New Zealand - there was no mention of mass bio attacks

keep in mind the canon as written didnt specifically mention nuclear attacks in Africa - but it did mention that both sides nuked oil production facilities in lots of countries as well as some harbors that could support the war effort - thus when I did the East Africa Sourcebook I brought those attacks to life as to their African targets - i.e. that change was plausible as it supported the existing canon nuclear attacks on oil production facilities and also on harbors that could support the war effort

but if its just for a campaign that you are running feel free to do what you like - i.e. for individual campaigns people make mods all the time - heck my GM used Last Submarine to nuke the Ploesti oil fields - and that is definitely not to canon

[Legbreaker]

It's a clear indication they were available to be used.

Re nukes in Australia, there are notes in canon specifying Australia was not nuked. Africa is a different matter as there was nothing written one way or the other. You cannot use Africa to say what did or did not happen on another continent entirely. Likewise, you cannot use the absence of discussion of a topic to say it didn't happen - it's just not been discussed one way or the other.

[Raellus]

A ref doesn't need to actually use BW in order to include them in a campaign. They make a great Mcguffin or quest item for the PCs to locate, secure, capture, destroy, or even- heaven forbid- deliver (I'm thinking of Targan's Major Po stories with that last option).

[Olefin]

FYI as to Bear's Den - the biological agent he was going to use wasnt lethal - it was more to disable people for a certain length of time so they couldnt fight back when he made his move

The Virus: It takes approximately two hours from initial contact with the virus for the victim to enter the first stage of infection. This first stage of the virus can easily be mistaken for any number of things, including the common cold or the flu.

The effects of the virus are a slight rise in temperature accompanied
by very mild stomach cramps. In less than four hours the victim will enter the second stage where these symptoms will become greatly aggravated, causing the victim to dehydrate, become extremely chilled, and sweat profusely.

Perhaps the most dangerous effect of this virus, from a military standpoint, is that it causes a drastic loss of equilibrium. People affected by the virus will appear to be extremely drunk—they will be uncoordinated, at best, and immobile, at worst. This stage can last 12-18 hours. The third stage is a period of general weakness typical of flu-type illnesses lasting up to 24 hours

In game terms, anyone not in chemical warfare gear within a two-kilometer radius of the missile's detonation will have all his skills reduced to 10 percent and will receive 40 points of Stun Damage as the virus takes full effect.

Thus its not a lethal agent they were looking at using in Bears Den

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Olefin

FYI as to Bear's Den - the biological agent he was going to use wasnt lethal...

See my post below.

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

See my post below.

ah you mean you let the virus loose and its not going to be lethal - and it isnt - right to where it mutates and suddenly people start dropping dead left and right

[pmulcahy11b]

Smallpox started out as cowpox -- a minor disease caught primarily by milkmaids. And it mutated into smallpox in an estimated eight months. Before cowpox, it is believed that it was a plant disease -- the cows ate the plants and the pustules showed up on the cows' bellies and udders. Gives you an idea of how a minor disease can turn into a major pandemic in quick order,

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Raellus

A ref doesn't need to actually use BW in order to include them in a campaign. They make a great Mcguffin or quest item for the PCs to locate, secure, capture, destroy, or even- heaven forbid- deliver (I'm thinking of Targan's Major Po stories with that last option).

Yup - and thats a big part of both Bear's Dean and of your Rook's Gambit modules