Hi everyone

My players surprised me with a plan to infiltrate a facility that I haven't thought of and now I need a little help.
I'm quite new to game-mastering and to SR4, so I hope my questions don't sound too stupid.
So situation is this: The team wants to bypass some security by going through the sewers. They know the area is heavily infested with feral ghouls (I established that because I thought they would then look for a safer rout to the target). So they are armed to the teeth and ready to rock.
My problem now is: From what I understand fluff wise ghouls are highly infectious. I want to give them a challenging fight. But I don't want to run the session after that with 4 ghoul characters. I could go the Resident Evil way and say 'You don't get infected even if you get bitten a bazillion times since you are the main characters' but that would be a bit cheap. Then again I don't want it like 'The ghoul sneezed in your direction, please make a new character for the next session'.
So how could I handle this and get the characters through this without making it look cheap?

If anyone had some advice, I'd be very thankfull

p.s.: we only have the SR4 Core Book, Streetmagic, Augmentation, Arsenal and Unwired. So if there are any rules in other books how to handle this, we don't have them at hand

The balanced technique that I've found is for the Infection to happen when the ghouls do physical damage with a melee attack, or if the PC glitches a damage soak test with the Ghoul in melee range.

Beyond that, if you want to reduce the infection rate--have the character make the resistance test:
3 Hits, they are fine;
2 Hits, they get a little sick but shake it off;
1 Hit, there is a lasting effect--light-sensitivity, carrier, etc.;
0 Hits, they are infected.
(This is similar to how the infection process worked in SR3)

These are all house rules, and not RAW.

have them buy Hazmat suits??!!

Have it be a tribe of hereditary ghouls that were born infected and so are not contagious.

Runner's Companion, p. 77
Born Infected
While most of the Infected are transformed later in life, the ghilani retroviruses can and do pass into the germ line, which means that the children of the Infected can be born with the Infected quality. Such “native” Infected characters are no different mechanically from any other Infected characters. They simply grow up afflicted by their condition. Only bandersnatchii, fomóraig, ghouls, and loup-garou can reproduce in this manner—banshees, dzoo-noo-qua, goblins, nosferatu, vampires, and wendigo pass the virus along in the germ line, and the fetus fails to develop properly. Characters that are born Infected are not carriers and cannot pass the virus on to others, though their children may still be born Infected. This can be represented by the Infertile Infected quality.

AH, who wrote the bit that made them so annoying has admitted they went abit OTT, this being the case toning them down seems fair


My house rule is only bites count and only if they wound IE physical damage

Please remember bite attacks suffer a -1 reach and damage of strength/2 no ap (or there abouts) so they are slightly less likely to do damage.

we houseruled the toxin vector from Contact to Injection. Very easy fix and very reasonable

Thanks everyone, those are some really usefull suggestions (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I say let the characters get chewed on. If they insist on taking the obviously dangerous route which I'm sure you over described as such, then let them meet the dire fate of their decision.

It has been stated by Ancient History (who wrote the entry on ghouls in Running Wild) that the RAW are too difficult and need to be changed/ adjusted.

but Ancient History is not likely to change anything in SR4A anymore

not only does the vector need a change to Injection
the Ghoul Strain needs a Power decrease to 6 (at least)

HougH!
Medicineman

Yeah.

Right; changing to Injection isn't enough by itself, because a claw or bite *is* Injection. Alternatively, you could houserule that O-Cells apply to HMHVV and all the PCs just have to go get their 'ghoul vaccine' beforehand.

O-Cells DO apply to HMHVV.They (and a genetic Immunisation treatment ) are the only protection (IIRC) against HMHVV
but its futile to try and get it once you're bitten/infected

He who Dances in advance
Medicineman

I think they don't (which isn't the same as thinking they *shouldn't*). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) But there's already a huge thread about that. I suggested that the GM allow it, so we're already on the same side.

A quicker, and easier, way to solve the matter is to simply have the ghouls keep on chewing. If they eat the PC's they can't get infected, right? No need to worry about a ridiculously high chance of infection if all that's left are the bones!

Drones are your friends when it comes to Ghouls. Especially if you have another drone ready to decontaminate them with C-Squared a half dozen times over.

Oh they'll get a good fight. I just don't want the propability that they are infected should they make it through in a condition to complete the run / retreat be ~99%

I think I'll make infection through bites only and decreasing the power of the disease

Thanks again everyone

What, they don't have gnawers with them to eat the bones?

They bought their tickets. They knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash!

“Buy the ticket, take the ride.” - Hunter S. Thompson

Ghouls are also dual natured.

One astral mage. Several stunballs. No problems.

Hazmat Suits and plenty of Anti-Toxin ware?

If you are nice, warn them on the hazards if they do a bit of legwork, and let them buy full body armour with chemical seals.



I second taking advantage of them being Dual Natured - mana barrier spell works nicely. You said sewers right? Cramped tight tunnels? Straight corridors? They can use it to their advantage with a well placed mana barrier, then have the team mow down the ghouls with guns.

Grenades might work as well, but would be a bit more dangerous - they can throw it back if they can grab it, or use a long stick to putt it back to the PCs if near enough, also, there's the "blast within confined spaces" rule.

Ghouls are also supposed to be blind. They rely on only hearing and smell. The players can either try to be very silent and mask their smells, or find a way to overwhelm the ghouls' hearing/sense of smell.

Alternatively, if you want to be evil, tell them they were bitten in the arm and they still have time to cut it off before being infected. Mwuahahahahah

Oh look, there's a discarded hacksaw in the corner...



They can get the arm replaced with a cyberarm, or get a vat grown replacement if they don't want to lose essence. But they'll still need to get through the rest of the run first.

It's a harsh lesson, but not something that cannot be fixed. And they'll learn better next time.

You forgot Astral Perception/Assensing. Since they are naturally dual-natured, they can use astral perception freely, without the -2 a human mage would get.