Random Medical Affliction

[kato13]

On the Morrow side of the forums, one of our members mentioned a recent gall bladder attack (and subsequent surgery) and I started thinking about the odds that a character or NPC would just get an affliction out of the blue.

I don't know if i ever have seen anything which would say afflict a character with appendicitis or such (depending on a series of rolls).

On the old site Targan/Major Po provided us with really neat Psychological Affliction tables (found here) and I was wondering if anyone had such a table for modern games or some type of house rule.

TIA

[jester]

Think about this, there are countless medical issues that will be a pain in the @$$ (hemroids litterarly) that won't kill you, but certainly cause you discomfort and quality of life. Other nasties a GM can throw at you;

Herpes...shouldn't of played with that whore in Krakow
Kidney Stones...caused from hard water....painful but temporary.
Hemoroids....reserved for staff NCOs
Plantars warts....painful irritating, but not life threatening.

Remember, people are no longer getting check ups, or getting preventative care or even over the counter meds like they did prewar. And basic sanitary measures are also a thing of the past.

I can see all manner of skin diseases too, scabies, life, dandruff and other issues for a lack of real soap and ability to wash yourself or your clothes right.

[Sapper31]

What about appendicitis? Apparently 1 in 15 people in the US get it, and it's pretty much a death sentence if you don't get prompt surgery and antibiotics. Always nice to have a useless organ which serves only as a ticking time bomb inside you.

[JHart]

The USN was worried about appendicitis cases on submarines in WW II. So much so they started training corpsmen on how to perform an appendectomy. I would thinks a well trained Morrow team medic would know how to do one. In T2K, depending on the location, odds are pretty good there would be someone who is capable of performing the surgery. It will certainly be harder to locate someone and won't be cheap, but shouldn't be an insurmountable task.

[Cdnwolf]

How about diabetes and other blood infections... like gonhorrhea.

[cavtroop]

Keep in mind the fun level of the game. As a player, it wouldn't be much fun to be doing your thing, making strides in the campaign etc, then suddenly, due to a random dice roll you're dead because you got appendicitis. Or through nothing you did, no decision you made, you're suddenly inflicted with the plague.

Random sicknesses like this wouldn't be fun at all unless they serve a significant plot-point - say you caught the plague - now you and the team are in a race against time to get to the old medical storage facility across the county, or you need to find a proper operating room to take care of the lung clot you got or something. But just inflicting random infliction on players wouldn't be much fun.

[Sapper31]

It's always nice to have an option like this in your back pocket as a ref though.

I was looking at the different weapons and considering probabilities and chances to hit. In 2.2, you walk a fine line between increasing probabilities to hit with the amount of single shots you make, vs diminishing (and negative) returns with recoil effects. Also, the probabilities of bursts vs. the fact its automatically an impossible shot.

Then I discovered that light machine guns are VERY overpowered. The fact you can fire huge volumes of bullets with very minimal recoil makes them wholesale killing machines. Even without the bipod, they are superior in all conditions. Then I thought "What if my players realize this and start abusing that fact? How can I stop this?". The worry being that part of the interest of this game is the wide variety of weapons and equipment. I don't want to lose that element because nobody wants to use anything but certain types.

Then I thought: If my players start min-maxing the game and achieving unrealistic success, time to abuse my power and tip the scales a bit. Getting cocky because you're mowing down entire platoons of enemy? Time for a burst appendix you cocky SOB!!!

[jester]

Introduce the concept of fatigue! Try holding an autorifle for more than a minute...heck, try holding it like a rifle for just 1 minute...most can't do it with a modern plastic rifle let alone an older one of iron and wood or a autorifle.

[Sapper31]

Originally Posted by jester

Introduce the concept of fatigue! Try holding an autorifle for more than a minute...heck, try holding it like a rifle for just 1 minute...most can't do it with a modern plastic rifle let alone an older one of iron and wood or a autorifle.

Well straying off topic..

The game makes no allowances for firing position except bipod values (which assumes prone). Even still, the M249 can fire a 10 round burst with 3 recoil (both standing OR prone w/bipod). A single shot from an M16A2 has 3 recoil.

This makes zero sense. Even the MAG GPMG fires a 10rnd burst with only 6 recoil. I'm a pretty strong dude and I've fired that thing standing (well the Canadian C6 which is the same) .. and you can't control it worth a damn beyond 20m unless you're set up with the bipod. The M249 is controllable standing yes (not more than an M16), but really shines deployed w/ bipod.

So you have to find SOME way to overcome this if players start abusing it. If that means fatigue or just fudging the numbers, so be it.







Anyway back on topic: another good use for rare medical afflictions is for a storyline.

Perhaps your players are in a position where they are fairly self sufficient: i.e lots of supplies, security, services, etc. A rare disease or affliction which is treatable only with special equipment / expertise could warrant an adventure beyond their current comfort zone.

For example, say a PC complains of shooting migraines which have come on recently. A medical character with Medical (Diagnosis) believes it could be a tumor, but a CT scan is required to know for sure. Unfortunately, hospitals aren't what they used to be. Rumor has it the hospital in City X may have one in functional condition.


but.. City X is under control of a dictator/marauders/feral raccoons. The players finally get access to the CT scan and determine there is indeed a tumor. Brain surgery is beyond the ability of any medical PCs, and to even attempt it would almost certainly mean catastrophic failure. One of the hospital staff believes Doctor Y, an accomplished Brain surgeon, may still be alive but he was drafted and sent to Location Z.

but.. Location Z is under control of a dictator/marauders/feral raccoons, and Admiral-General Barracus would never let his best doctor leave.

You get the idea...

[cavtroop]

Originally Posted by Sapper31

Anyway back on topic: another good use for rare medical afflictions is for a storyline.

Perhaps your players are in a position where they are fairly self sufficient: i.e lots of supplies, security, services, etc. A rare disease or affliction which is treatable only with special equipment / expertise could warrant an adventure beyond their current comfort zone.

For example, say a PC complains of shooting migraines which have come on recently. A medical character with Medical (Diagnosis) believes it could be a tumor, but a CT scan is required to know for sure. Unfortunately, hospitals aren't what they used to be. Rumor has it the hospital in City X may have one in functional condition.


but.. City X is under control of a dictator/marauders/feral raccoons. The players finally get access to the CT scan and determine there is indeed a tumor. Brain surgery is beyond the ability of any medical PCs, and to even attempt it would almost certainly mean catastrophic failure. One of the hospital staff believes Doctor Y, an accomplished Brain surgeon, may still be alive but he was drafted and sent to Location Z.

but.. Location Z is under control of a dictator/marauders/feral raccoons, and Admiral-General Barracus would never let his best doctor leave.

You get the idea...

Exactly what I'm talking about. Random debilitating illness isn't fun for the players. However, Random debilitating illness as a plot point can be lots of fun.