Unofficial errata for Infected in Running Wild Options

[Patrick Goodman]

Jason hasn't had the chance to sign off on this, but he did say he was cool with me posting it unofficially, so here it is: Errata for "The Infected" from Running Wild. Link is also in my sig. Enjoy.

[Dez384]

Any particular reason to nerf the viruses?

[Loch]

Because they're absolutely pants-on-head retarded as written?

[Medicineman]

Its a Great Idea
Thanks Patrick (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

I'm gonna share Your link with 4 German Forums If You don't Mind (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Hough !
Medicineman

[Halflife]

Because they're absolutely pants-on-head retarded as written?

Basically this.

I am a fan of the changes.

[Dez384]

Strains I and II are still going to kill you if you catch them, with strain II being the real danger. Strain III just gives you new life!

[Patrick Goodman]

Dez: Sort of like Loch said, though I'm not sure I'd have phrased it quite that way. HMHVV-III was bad enough, but when I really looked at HMHVV-II, I began to wonder why people weren't bitching and moaning about the impending loup-garou apocalypse....

I wanted to keep them dangerous (the penetration I recommend is still worse than VITAS-3, for instance, and diseases like tuberculosis and malaria still tremble before the HMHVV family), but not fucking insane. If there weren't a lot of in-game support for HMHVV-II really, honestly being that bad, I'd've nerfed that virus's power by a decent chunk. It could still happen, mind you, when Jason turns his eye toward it, but I just left its Power at fuckin' 13.

Anyway, yes, there was a reason for nerfing the viruses.

[Yerameyahu]

Good work, those problems were beyond obvious. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The loup-garou was just rarer, I guess; we definitely talked about how powerful it was in various threads.

[Patrick Goodman]

I'm gonna share Your link with 4 German Forums If You don't Mind (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Please do. Spread it far and wide!!

Strains I and II are still going to kill you if you catch them, with strain II being the real danger. Strain III just gives you new life!

Neither one actually kills you, though you do technically flatlline for Strain I. You just get a nice cardiac-shock-type resuscitation (I hate that word, I can never spell it right the first time through).

Strain II, as you noted, is the real danger, but it's rare. Ninety percent of the Infected population in the world is a form of ghoul. Of the remaining 10% of that population, 9 of 10 are Strain II, and Jarka-Criscione is a real bitch. Infection is almost guaranteed if you're actually injected with the virus. What saves us from a loup-garou apocalypse is the extreme rarity of victims to start with. Most people in the Sixth World have probably seen a ghoul, even if they've never met one. Almost nobody meets loup-garous, and not many more than that have likely even seen a picture of one of the damn things. The number of Strain II Infected worldwide only numbers in the tens of thousands.

That's what keeps Strain II in check. God help us all if a whole bunch of them got loose in a city or something, though.

Good work, those problems were beyond obvious. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The loup-garou was just rarer, I guess; we definitely talked about how powerful it was in various threads.

Hmmmm. Just because I don't remember it doesn't mean it didn't happen. So much talk of the ghoul apocalypse might have drowned it out.

[hobgoblin]

Why was only III changed to injection? The infection fluff reads basically the same for both III and II.

And would not the change to injection be enough to change the nasty of these infections? with it one would either be harmed enough to draw blood using one of their natural weapons or in some other way mix bodily fluids with them (ugh) for the tests to become a issue. My understanding is that they was written as contact because of a misreading of the disease rules when the Runners Companion chapter was written.

[Yerameyahu]

(edit) I see, you're asking why -II *isn't* Injection. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Makes sense to me, make it Injection: bites, clawings, etc.

[Mardrax]

Good work, those problems were beyond obvious. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The loup-garou was just rarer, I guess; we definitely talked about how powerful it was in various threads.

Mind if I put this up for election as understatement of the year?

Also: are my eyes deceiving me? Do I actually see a new errata? That Jason might actually look at and approve of? Wow. The times seem to be a'changing.
Great stuff Patrick.

[hobgoblin]

(edit) I see, you're asking why -II *isn't* Injection. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Makes sense to me, make it Injection: bites, clawings, etc.

Yep, the errata makes -II have lower penetration, but otherwise stay the same. But -III, having much the same fluff regarding infection danger, gets both a new vector, a change in penetration and a lower power.

[Patrick Goodman]

I didn't change the vector of Strain II because of numerous past in-game references to it being spread by contact. Looking back, I can see where Injection would make a lot more sense, since those references were generally made by unreliable sources. Watch this space; I'm not above making that change. I'll let you know.

[Patrick Goodman]

Okay, the change about the Strain II vector's been made and published. Give Google Docs the chance to update the published version, which should be within the next couple minutes. Current version of this is v1.1, which should be shown in the updated version.

[Jhaiisiin]

I dunno. I remember in the old Paranormal animals of NA, the shadowtalk seemed to highlight that they were infectious through mere contact.

[Yerameyahu]

since those references were generally made by unreliable sources

I guess. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Patrick Goodman]

Just remember, my initial compulsion was to keep it at Contact, and I can just as easily go change it back. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) It's all unofficial right now anyway, and I'm trying to get a feel for what people think and feel is right. It's not carved in stone; the change was made because someone made a reasoned argument. That said, I really don't care for the change and I'm just kind of seeing how things go for the moment.

We'll see how it shakes out, but don't be surprised to find that change gone in future.

I dunno. I remember in the old Paranormal animals of NA, the shadowtalk seemed to highlight that they were infectious through mere contact.

That was one of my sources, the old entry for the loup-garou in PANA. Left it plenty up in the air, but I liked it.

Haven't made any more changes, and probably won't just yet. Gonna let it sit and see how it gels, see what the feedback on that change is.

[Yerameyahu]

This is just me, but I feel like vampires, werewolves, and ghouls are properly infectious via bites, etc. Not touch. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Patrick Goodman]

And that's one in favor of the change to Injection, and the most compelling part of the argument for the change. It makes sense.

Sometimes this balancing act between making sense and keeping some of the original flavor is a pain in the ass. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) My personal feel is to lean towards the flavor, but as I said, the Injection vector does make more sense.

I'll be over here grumbling a bit if you guys need me for anything...though I really should get back to work, I suppose. Stupid day job....

[Hamsnibit]

Speaking about infecteds :
The new infected strains which are mentioned in running wild have nowhere mentioned how the infection affects the attributes like it was described and statted in runners companion.
Namely the Gnawer, Grendel, Harvester and Mutaqua forms.
You could derive attribute alteration from the given examples, but still ...
Is there anything like a table or something other crunchy stuff about this?

[Patrick Goodman]

That was more or less intentional, but I suppose when I get home I can find my notes and cobble something unofficial together for you. It's an easy enough chart to create when I have my notes with me. Deriving the mods is easy enough, since I assumed when I wrote them up that they were dead average members of the appropriate metaspecies and then applied the mods, so you could do it yourself if you lack patience.

That said, I didn't design the Infected introduced in the Running Wild article as playable, and have no intention of producing Qualities to make them so. I'll cheerfully show you the mods I used, but I'm not going to make it easy on you to make them playable, since I think that's a Really Bad Idea.

But a chart like the one on Runner's Companion p. 79? Easy peasy.

[Udoshi]

Patrick, thank you for following the good example Critias set with his unofficial errata. Knowing the developers give a shit makes a huge difference.

I, personally, would love to see your Unofficial Works collected in one spot(like google docs). The stuff you wrote for Infected Heights and Weights come to mind as a good example.
If its not too much to ask, putting all that stuff in one place would, frankly, be awesome.

[Patrick Goodman]

I can probably make something like that happen.

[MJBurrage]

Mr. Goodman's material for Running Wild has been on the Shadowrun Wikis for some time.

• HMHVV • Gnawer • Grendel • Harvester • Jabberwock at the Sixth World Wiki
• HMHVV • Gnawer • Grendel • Harvester • Jabberwock at the Shadowrun Wikia

As for the virus' vector. As I recall the old descriptions of "contact" made the point of saying contact with an open wound. To me that seems "injection" more than "contact" since it is entering through the wound, not the skin.

What about making it injection normally, and contact only if the uninfected person has physical damage.