4e Ghouls and the Krieger Strain Options

[Glav]

I was reading up on HMHVV on the 6th world wiki, and curiosity got the better of me. Where can I find stats on ghouls and how the HMHVV Krieger strain works in 4th edition? Is there such a place? The wiki said mere fluid contact was enough...would anyone here be so kind as to elaborate?

Thanks so much in advance, I really appreciate it!

[Patrick Goodman]

Start with Runner's Companion and finish with Running Wild. Between those two books, you should get a pretty good working knowledge of HMHVV in SR4.

[MJBurrage]

As I understand it; the fluff has always described the Krieger Strain as so virulent, that any contact with infected bodily fluids by someone with even a scratch, could lead to infection. I.E. even a drop of infection getting on a wound could cause infection.

This is somewhere in-between the game mechanics for "injection" and "contact". Ancient History—presumably based on the previously existing fluff—added "contact" as an official infection vector in the 4th Ed. write-up. Unfortunately having the Krieger Strain actually be transmittable by any skin-to-skin contact means that just a touch brings on the inevitable ghoul apocalypse.

For playability, I would sugest going back to just injection vector. If you really want it dangerous, then only make it contact if the ghoul and the other person both have wounds.

P.S. for the curious, AH himself has said his mea culpa on this one.

[Sidney]

Playability does come into.. well.. play. In the game I am in, a player was looking to "let go" of his character and our GM used fluids even though some of us had come into contact with Ghoul juice. As much as I like to joke about becoming a Ghoul, can't say I looked up specific rules.

[hobgoblin]

my impression is that a scratch from long nailed ghouls may be enough. Especially if said ghoul recently licked those fingers for some reason.

want to hunt ghouls, bring military armor with enviro-seal, just to be on the safe side.

[jimbo]

my impression is that a scratch from long nailed ghouls may be enough. Especially if said ghoul recently licked those fingers for some reason.

want to hunt ghouls, bring military armor with enviro-seal, just to be on the safe side.

Kentucky Fried Metahuman is finger-lickin good!

[Rasumichin]

want to hunt ghouls, bring military armor with enviro-seal, just to be on the safe side.

I'd prefer spirits, drones and projecting mages dropping manaballs on their dual-natured asses. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
Better safe than sorry.

Admittedly, i always houserule the vector to Injection.

Otherwise, a zombie apocalypse would already have happened in the setting (goodbye Lagos- no, goodbye all of Subsaharan Africa), given how infectious the disease is and with what certainty the transformation occurs.

The drastic advances of the ghoul rights movement that have been part of the setting since first edition (see NAGtNA's Chicago chapter) would be hardly justifiable under these circumstances, yet they have not been retconned, but advanced further.
So i go for the less drastic change and declare Strain III only slightly more contagious than HIV.

BTW, it's not Krieger strain anymore.
It's Strain III and the victim develops Krieger's syndrome.

[hobgoblin]

yep, as even tho injection talks about damage dealing being needed, its used for such weapons as narcojects...

[Patrick Goodman]

BTW, it's not Krieger strain anymore.
It's Strain III and the victim develops Krieger's syndrome.

It's still referred to, more often than not, as "the Krieger strain" by most laypersons and more than a few of the experts out there. Terminology changes, but the changes come slow and hard most of the time.