I really like the disease rules in Augmentation, which are an excellent way to simulate various diseases. I was wondering if anybody had come up with any homewbrewed illnesses?
Heres one I've come up with:
Necrotizing Fasciitis
Vector: Injury
Speed: 12 hours (4)
Penetration: 0
Power: 6
Nature: Bacteria
Effect: Physical Deterioration
A catch all name for an infection of any of a number of "flesh eating bacteria." Its vector is unusual in that an infection can only occur through an open wound or injury of some type. Typically due to an improperly sanitized wound, or unsanitary surgery. Most of the bacteria that cause Necrotizing Fascitis do not survive well outside of their home environments which makes treating a weapon to cause such an infection difficult.
The most deadly effect of Necrotizing Faciitis, is its ability to eat a characters flesh right off his bones. Every time the power of the disease is not reduced to 0 by the resistance test, subtract one point from either STR, BOD, or AGI at random. If any of these stats are reduced to 0 the character slips into anaphylactic shock, and if reduced to a negative number the disease is fatal. In addition the GM may apply a penalty to face-to-face social interactions to represent the disfigurement that comes with the disease. Since the infection is localized, amputation can be an effective treatment, immediately curing the infection.
While a rare infection Necrotizing Fasciitis can be incredibly deadly. Without medical aid fatalitie rate is nearly 100%, and even with medical aid it is well above 25%. Often times amputation of the effected part is the only effective treatment for the infection. Attributes lost to Necrotizing Fasciits can only be recovered through genetic treatment, replacement with cyber/bioware, or karma expenditure.
::edited corrected spelling grammar/whatnot, removed cha drain, and slight tweaked the stats to make the disease more survivable::
Full Version: New Diseases
Mmm, only suggestion I have is to take away the potential Cha loss from it. I know it makes sense to you, but Cha is a purely mental thing and has nothing to do with your actual physical beauity. You could be butt ugly and have a Cha of 8, and you could be really handsom with a Cha of 1. Cha is how you interact with people. The good looking girl that is a pain every time she opens her mouth is an example of the second type.
Now, what it can do, is give penilities for social interaction ala "Oh my god! Your cheek is missing!" or something else. This will usually have similar results, but you have to keep things like astral combat in mind. It doesn't matter how you look in the astral plane, it is your force of personality that counts.
*edit*
Note that this is also why cosmetic surgery never mentions anything about raising your Cha stat in augmentation, but it does mention you getting bonuses to social interaction.
Now, what it can do, is give penilities for social interaction ala "Oh my god! Your cheek is missing!" or something else. This will usually have similar results, but you have to keep things like astral combat in mind. It doesn't matter how you look in the astral plane, it is your force of personality that counts.
*edit*
Note that this is also why cosmetic surgery never mentions anything about raising your Cha stat in augmentation, but it does mention you getting bonuses to social interaction.
| QUOTE (Karaden) |
| Note that this is also why cosmetic surgery never mentions anything about raising your Cha stat in augmentation, but it does mention you getting bonuses to social interaction. |
Really? Hmmm ...
| QUOTE (Augmentation pg. 23) |
| Cosmetic Surgery To reflect the ability of cosmetic surgeons to beautify people, any net hits above the threshold on a Cosmetic Surgery Test may grant a +1 increase to Charisma. The maximum bonus obtainable from cosmetic surgery would be +3. |
and i thought you meant necrophile facists. 
Here's another one.
RAIDS
Vector: STD
Speed: 1 Month (4 with medical aid, otherwise incurable)
Penetration: -2
Power: 2
Nature: Viral
Effect: Immune System Degredation
RAIDS, or Rapid Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is a modern descendant of AIDS once the scourge of the 21st century is still alive and kicking today. Though curable with modern anti-virals attempts to vaccinate against it have proved ineffective due to the disease ability to mutate rendering the vaccine useless. The current strain is circulation is no longer a killer, however its weaker nature and rapid onset makes make the disease far more insidious. Unlike AIDS RAIDS can be transmitted almost immediately after infection and is much more likely to communicated through sexual contact (nearly 100% of the time).
RAIDS itself is very rarely fatal. However its primary effect the degradation of the victims immune system which can lead to other fatal diseases. Ever time the power of the disease is not reduced to 0 by the disease resistance test, the character gains a cumulative -1 penalty to subsequent disease resistance tests. If the disease resistance test is successfully in reducing the power to 0 it slowly regenerates itself reducing the penalty by 1.This effect is subtle and hard to notice. Every time the victim is subjected to a non-Aids disease resistance test they can make a Logic+Medicine (5-current penalty) to try and determine something is wrong, otherwise the disease remains undetected. Routine blood work immediately detects the disease.
RAIDS infection while no longer at epidemic proportions remains a serious problem in 2070. An estimated 33% of all sex workers are infected with the disease, some of whom have likely caught, cured, and recaught the infection several times. Metahumans with more robust immune systems, such as orks, dwarves, and trolls may be infect with the disease for long periods of times without ever realizing it. In addition while blood and tissue donations that go through the legitimate medical sources are routinely scanned, those through other sources are not. So a small, but not insignificant (maybe ~5%) chance of acquiring the disease through second hand black market parts/bioweare exists.
RAIDS
Vector: STD
Speed: 1 Month (4 with medical aid, otherwise incurable)
Penetration: -2
Power: 2
Nature: Viral
Effect: Immune System Degredation
RAIDS, or Rapid Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is a modern descendant of AIDS once the scourge of the 21st century is still alive and kicking today. Though curable with modern anti-virals attempts to vaccinate against it have proved ineffective due to the disease ability to mutate rendering the vaccine useless. The current strain is circulation is no longer a killer, however its weaker nature and rapid onset makes make the disease far more insidious. Unlike AIDS RAIDS can be transmitted almost immediately after infection and is much more likely to communicated through sexual contact (nearly 100% of the time).
RAIDS itself is very rarely fatal. However its primary effect the degradation of the victims immune system which can lead to other fatal diseases. Ever time the power of the disease is not reduced to 0 by the disease resistance test, the character gains a cumulative -1 penalty to subsequent disease resistance tests. If the disease resistance test is successfully in reducing the power to 0 it slowly regenerates itself reducing the penalty by 1.This effect is subtle and hard to notice. Every time the victim is subjected to a non-Aids disease resistance test they can make a Logic+Medicine (5-current penalty) to try and determine something is wrong, otherwise the disease remains undetected. Routine blood work immediately detects the disease.
RAIDS infection while no longer at epidemic proportions remains a serious problem in 2070. An estimated 33% of all sex workers are infected with the disease, some of whom have likely caught, cured, and recaught the infection several times. Metahumans with more robust immune systems, such as orks, dwarves, and trolls may be infect with the disease for long periods of times without ever realizing it. In addition while blood and tissue donations that go through the legitimate medical sources are routinely scanned, those through other sources are not. So a small, but not insignificant (maybe ~5%) chance of acquiring the disease through second hand black market parts/bioweare exists.
You'll notice that that is an optional rule, and steps quite out of line with anything that you'll find anywhere else. No other example in all of the books provides a direct corilation to improving your looks improving your Cha. After all, if Cha could be adjusted that easily, then people could just put on a good looking disguise and instantly go from Cha of 1 to Cha of 5 or 6. Why would anyone bother with actually getting any points in Cha if they just need a good enough mask to get the same or better effect.
I didn't make the rule. I was merely responding to your post where you erroneously claimed that Augmentation 'never mentions' a bonus to Charisma in relation to cosmetic surgery.
| QUOTE (Fortune) |
| I didn't make the rule. |
Neither did I/ I really honestly have no idea where it comes from. My best guess is that it's the result of an editor being overly cheeky with a subsystem. The rest of the book is written in line with page 122 of the Basic Book, in which being romantically attractive gives you a +2 bonus on social skills (but affects your charisma in no way).
Since everyone on the project of Augmentation agreed in principal to work up cosmetic surgery in that way, I literally don't know where that optional rule came from. I don't know who penned it or why it made it into the final draft. I did not see it in a near-to-final draft, for example.
---
Anway, I'm glad that people like the Disease Rules. Diseases are lots of fun, and paring it down to the ones we used for Augmentation was hard. There are books of just diseases that are longer than all of Aumentation for example.
-Frank
| QUOTE (Fortune @ Dec 7 2007, 02:06 AM) |
| I didn't make the rule. I was merely responding to your post where you erroneously claimed that Augmentation 'never mentions' a bonus to Charisma in relation to cosmetic surgery. |
I know, I was just pointing out that it is compleatly off with anything in any of the other books, as FrankTrollman backs me up on that.
The point here is that you should change the potental Cha loss to a penelty in social interaction, heck, even substitue a -2 penelty perhaps, missing part of your face after all is -very- upsetting to people you are trying to talk to. Of course a proper mask(disguise) or some such could likely be used to cancle out the penelty untill you can get properly cured and healed.
*edit*
P.S. like how you did AIDS, good work.
Wait shouldn't AIDs be curable after a month via the cure disease spell? Granted if immune system damage is already done it wouldn't be able to cure that.
| QUOTE (Nasrudith) |
| Wait shouldn't AIDs be curable after a month via the cure disease spell? Granted if immune system damage is already done it wouldn't be able to cure that. |
Well, Cure Disease gives additional dice to resist a disease based on hits. So depending on how powerful a disease is, you might not be able to afford the services of a sufficiently skilled magician to shake it.
Illnesses are for poor people.
1 month is a little fast, given that HIV usually takes 8 years to develop into AIDS without treatment. The average Body 3 human would need to get 2 hits on a Body test 96 times for that to work out, statistically very improbable, though in reality it is the most common outcome.
The virus may have mutated to work faster over time. It does state in his write-up that it mutates often which makes vaccination rather ineffective.
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) |
| 1 month is a little fast, given that HIV usually takes 8 years to develop into AIDS without treatment. The average Body 3 human would need to get 2 hits on a Body test 96 times for that to work out, statistically very improbable, though it reality it is the most common outcome. |
Fair enough. I considers this when sating it up, but I figured any disease with a speed of 1 year would be to slow acting to have any game effect (even if it was accurate). I'll adjust AIDS in 'RAIDS' to compensate. Just consider the virus to have mutated to be faster acting.
| QUOTE |
| Wait shouldn't AIDs be curable after a month via the cure disease spell? Granted if immune system damage is already done it wouldn't be able to cure that. |
Its not listed in the rules but I figure ANY disease (even the incurable ones) can be treated through the use of magic, nanotechnology, or genetic engineering. I would rule that if you can reduce the diseaes power to 0 by any of these methods it is cured next time it comes around. The problem with any of these methods is that they are all pretty expensive. I've also modified the disease to let the immune system damage slowly come back.
Also diseases that deal stun damage can also be lethal as the damage can stage over to physical if left unchecked.
| QUOTE |
| Mmm, only suggestion I have is to take away the potential Cha loss from it. |
I understand what you are saying, it's certainly gameable either way. I may go ahead and adjust it in line with the recommendation though.
Anyways, here's another one.
Staph
Vector: Injury
Speed: 1 Day (2)
Penetration: -6
Power: 4
Nature: Bacteria
Effect: Nausea, Malaise, Stun Damage
XRSA or Extensively drug Resistant Staphylococcus aureus is perhapses one of the most common infections in the world. By some accounts over 25% of the worlds population is infected with it at any one time. Most of the time a Staph infection is not serious, manifesting on the skin as pimples and the like. However if the infection is internalized through an injury, it can become extremely deadly and is still one of the number one killers in hospitals today.
A descendant of drug resistant MRSA and VRSA variants XRSA is resistant to virtually all anti-biotics in existence. Which makes treating it difficult. In fact modern techniques focus around bolstering the bodies immune system to fight the infection off. The (meta)human immune system is relatively adapt at fighting the infection and so can cure it on its own given enough time.
Serious Staphylococcus aureus infections are generally only contacted through improper medical treatment. As the (meta)human immune system is quite capable of containing the infection on the skin. However Staphylococcus aureus widespread nature and resilience to disinfection make such an infection a minor (but real) risk even at first rate medical facilities (~1%). In less upstanding medical facilities the risk is considerably greater.
Here's a fun one for your runners who insist at living at squatter or street lifestyle.
Scabies
Vector: Contact/Lifestyle
Speed: 1 week (4)
Penetration: 0
Power: 4
Nature: Parasite
Effect: Malaise
Scabies is caused by the mite, Sarcoptes scabiei which burrows under the victims skin and lays its eggs causing irritation and a allergic reaction in most victims. The rash and bumps that break out all across the victims body are both irritating, and psychologically disturbing as the victim realizes there are in fact tiny insects living on and inside his skin. Victims of scabies may incur and additional -1 penalty to face to face charisma based test due to the unsightly rash and constant itching. While not highly contagious, Scabies can be contracted through prolonged physical contact with an infected person or sharing infected clothing or bedding.
Scabies is endemic in the homeless and squatter population, despite being relatively simple to cure with over the counter insecticides. This can be attributed to an over-reliance on home remedies which may not be effective and a general lack of sanitation which often leads to re-infection. At the GM's option a failed Edge (1) test for those living at squatter and a failed Edge (2) test for those living at street indicates re-infection with the disease. The GM could optionally also require these test each month to see if someone living at these levels acquires the infection.
Scabies
Vector: Contact/Lifestyle
Speed: 1 week (4)
Penetration: 0
Power: 4
Nature: Parasite
Effect: Malaise
Scabies is caused by the mite, Sarcoptes scabiei which burrows under the victims skin and lays its eggs causing irritation and a allergic reaction in most victims. The rash and bumps that break out all across the victims body are both irritating, and psychologically disturbing as the victim realizes there are in fact tiny insects living on and inside his skin. Victims of scabies may incur and additional -1 penalty to face to face charisma based test due to the unsightly rash and constant itching. While not highly contagious, Scabies can be contracted through prolonged physical contact with an infected person or sharing infected clothing or bedding.
Scabies is endemic in the homeless and squatter population, despite being relatively simple to cure with over the counter insecticides. This can be attributed to an over-reliance on home remedies which may not be effective and a general lack of sanitation which often leads to re-infection. At the GM's option a failed Edge (1) test for those living at squatter and a failed Edge (2) test for those living at street indicates re-infection with the disease. The GM could optionally also require these test each month to see if someone living at these levels acquires the infection.
Anyone want to take a stab at mental illnesses using these rules (with adjustments as needed)?
Electro-Gonorrhea
Vector: Contact
Speed: 6 Hours (Until Cured)
Penetration -5
Power: 3
Nature: Bacterial
Effects: Arcane Resistance, Malaise, Electrical Secondary Effects, Stun Damage
Caused by an awakened variant of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Electro-Gonorrhea is spread when bacteria-laden pus is introduced into a body cavity , most commonly through sexual contact. It usually infects, the vagina, cervix, urethra, bladder anus, throat, or sinuses and is most often spread by sexual contact.
Electro-Gonorrhea is feared due the the bacteria's ability to generate high voltage electricity. A single Neisseria electro-gonorrhoeae bacterium will use a deadly electrical charge to protect itself from a host's immune cells, kill anti-bacterial nanites, and burn through condoms. Alone, it wouldn't be noticed. But a sizable colony of electro-gonorrhoeae discharging all at once has the effects of a taser, forcing the host to resist (power)S damage and suffer electrical secondary effects.
Vector: Contact
Speed: 6 Hours (Until Cured)
Penetration -5
Power: 3
Nature: Bacterial
Effects: Arcane Resistance, Malaise, Electrical Secondary Effects, Stun Damage
Caused by an awakened variant of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Electro-Gonorrhea is spread when bacteria-laden pus is introduced into a body cavity , most commonly through sexual contact. It usually infects, the vagina, cervix, urethra, bladder anus, throat, or sinuses and is most often spread by sexual contact.
Electro-Gonorrhea is feared due the the bacteria's ability to generate high voltage electricity. A single Neisseria electro-gonorrhoeae bacterium will use a deadly electrical charge to protect itself from a host's immune cells, kill anti-bacterial nanites, and burn through condoms. Alone, it wouldn't be noticed. But a sizable colony of electro-gonorrhoeae discharging all at once has the effects of a taser, forcing the host to resist (power)S damage and suffer electrical secondary effects.
..hmm, I'm going to have to dig out some of my old med journal CDRs tonight. 
Electro-Gonorrhea sounds painful. I sure don't want it!
All the previous diseases have been things you could infect a PC with. This is one you probably shouldn't. Unless you want to bring back that old "not much time left to live" disadvantage (which I always hated). Can't recall its name. Anyways:
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Vector: Injection (Special)
Speed: 1 Week (Incurable)
Penetration: Untreatable
Power: 4
Nature: Prion
Effects: Mental degeneration
Most diseases can be cured fairly quickly with modern medicine. Even those that are not can almost universal be dealt with if Magic, Nanotechnology, or Genetic Engineering. Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (or CJD) is one of the only, if not the only absolutely incurable diseases in existence in the 6th world. It is caused by Prions, tiny self-replicating proteins within the brain. These tiny disease causing agents become part of the victims Aura, making magical treatment ineffective. They are too small to be effectively combated with nano-machines, and to similar to other brain proteins for genetic engineering to make the body resistant. All treatments are completely ineffective.
Thankfully CJD is very rare in metahumans, effecting only one out of a million or so naturally, and being almost impossible to transmit. However a strain of CJD known as Advanced Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (or AVCD) it has been cultivated for use as an effective assassination weapon. Unlike typical CJD, AVCD starts to take effect fairly rapidly, manifesting in a manner of weeks instead of years to decades.
Transmission is still difficult. While it is possible to transmit CJD or AVCD via either injestion of contaminated material or injection, these methods are not guaranteed to have rapid effect and may manifest years to decades later if at all. However if AVCD is injected directly into the Cerebrospinal fluid it is virtually guaranteed to take effect in a manner of weeks, and is 100% fatal. After the disease takes effect the victim usually only lasts a few weeks to a few months at most.
The effects of CJD are both subtle, debilitating, and humiliating. CJD causes fairly rapid brain degeneration. Each time the power of the disease is not reduced to 0, the victim looses a random point of either logic, charisma, reaction, willpower, or intuition. If any of these stats are reduced to 0 the victim falls into a coma, and at negative levels they die. Points lost in this manner may not be recovered by any means except karma expenditure or genetic restoration, however mental degradation is generally to rapid for these to be an effective treatment. CJD is also subtule and hard to detect (most blood test do not check for Prions) victims recive a -2 penalty on diagnostic tests.
All the previous diseases have been things you could infect a PC with. This is one you probably shouldn't. Unless you want to bring back that old "not much time left to live" disadvantage (which I always hated). Can't recall its name. Anyways:
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Vector: Injection (Special)
Speed: 1 Week (Incurable)
Penetration: Untreatable
Power: 4
Nature: Prion
Effects: Mental degeneration
Most diseases can be cured fairly quickly with modern medicine. Even those that are not can almost universal be dealt with if Magic, Nanotechnology, or Genetic Engineering. Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (or CJD) is one of the only, if not the only absolutely incurable diseases in existence in the 6th world. It is caused by Prions, tiny self-replicating proteins within the brain. These tiny disease causing agents become part of the victims Aura, making magical treatment ineffective. They are too small to be effectively combated with nano-machines, and to similar to other brain proteins for genetic engineering to make the body resistant. All treatments are completely ineffective.
Thankfully CJD is very rare in metahumans, effecting only one out of a million or so naturally, and being almost impossible to transmit. However a strain of CJD known as Advanced Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (or AVCD) it has been cultivated for use as an effective assassination weapon. Unlike typical CJD, AVCD starts to take effect fairly rapidly, manifesting in a manner of weeks instead of years to decades.
Transmission is still difficult. While it is possible to transmit CJD or AVCD via either injestion of contaminated material or injection, these methods are not guaranteed to have rapid effect and may manifest years to decades later if at all. However if AVCD is injected directly into the Cerebrospinal fluid it is virtually guaranteed to take effect in a manner of weeks, and is 100% fatal. After the disease takes effect the victim usually only lasts a few weeks to a few months at most.
The effects of CJD are both subtle, debilitating, and humiliating. CJD causes fairly rapid brain degeneration. Each time the power of the disease is not reduced to 0, the victim looses a random point of either logic, charisma, reaction, willpower, or intuition. If any of these stats are reduced to 0 the victim falls into a coma, and at negative levels they die. Points lost in this manner may not be recovered by any means except karma expenditure or genetic restoration, however mental degradation is generally to rapid for these to be an effective treatment. CJD is also subtule and hard to detect (most blood test do not check for Prions) victims recive a -2 penalty on diagnostic tests.
Actually, there is a canon disease in the book that reduces charisma via destroying skin: The Bedlam variant known as Ravage.
Not that I'd mind if you guys swept that info under the rug, mind you, but just saying...
Not that I'd mind if you guys swept that info under the rug, mind you, but just saying...
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) |
| Effects: Arcane Resistance |
What exactly do you mean by arcane resistance? Does that mean cure disease has less of an effect on it or that they gain resistance to all spells?
It means the disease's power is doubled for the purposes of determining the Force required for Cure Disease to be effective and magical preventative measures operate at only 50% effectiveness.
MaxMahem: One week seems a little short for a prion disease. Unless you were going for some kind of awakened strain or something. Generally prion disease have long incubation periods (months to years).
I have a very hard time believing a disease like CJD would pose any problem in a setting like SR. It's just prions, they are not immune to scienctific breakthroughs (It should be remenbered that in SR you can rewrite the complete genetic structure of a person. You can reset a 80 year old to 20 years, you can make asians into caucasian).
Artificial and awakend diseases are plausible, but anything like this seems just odd. Would destroy my suspesion of disbelief.
Also, why exactly don't metahumans get CJD? To me they seemed genetically very similar to humans, only those magic-genes are diffrent that make them dwarfs, trolls and stuff. Seems rather odd, too.
You should create funky bio weapon grade diseases and VITAS wannabees. Not convert realworld diseases. It's really odd.
btw, hyzmarca has the right idea how to do this. made me chuckle.
Artificial and awakend diseases are plausible, but anything like this seems just odd. Would destroy my suspesion of disbelief.
Also, why exactly don't metahumans get CJD? To me they seemed genetically very similar to humans, only those magic-genes are diffrent that make them dwarfs, trolls and stuff. Seems rather odd, too.
You should create funky bio weapon grade diseases and VITAS wannabees. Not convert realworld diseases. It's really odd.
btw, hyzmarca has the right idea how to do this. made me chuckle.
| QUOTE (Method) |
| One week seems a little short for a prion disease. Unless you were going for some kind of awakened strain or something. Generally prion disease have long incubation periods (months to years). |
Generally you are right, Prion diseases (even those that are transmitable) due to end to have fairly long onset periods. However this is not a typical Prion disease but at strain that has been carefully cultivated to take effect much more rapidly. Also for maximal effect large quantities of it are injected directly into the Cerebrospinal fluid facilitating infection. There is some precedent for this Varient Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease starts effecting people around the age of 20 instead of much later in life, so it is possible for the disease to take effect more rapidly.
| QUOTE (Malicant) |
| I have a very hard time believing a disease like CJD would pose any problem in a setting like SR. It's just prions, they are not immune to scienctific breakthroughs (It should be remenbered that in SR you can rewrite the complete genetic structure of a person. You can reset a 80 year old to 20 years, you can make asians into caucasian). |
Its certainly possible that they could have developed a cure, but we have no reading on it either way. Prion diseases are very rare, it may not have been worth the mega-corporations time or money to develop a cure for it. Also while it may be possible to rewrite large portions of a persons genetic structure, that doesn't necessarily mean they are able to perform the fine mesh kind of coding that might be necessary to make someone immune to CJD. And even if they could, that doesn't mean anyone has put the time and money into actually doing it. IN any case I already listed my technobable reasons as to why CJD (and AVCD) have not yet been cured, make of them what you will.
| QUOTE |
| Artificial and awakend diseases are plausible, but anything like this seems just odd. Would destroy my suspesion of disbelief. |
We have different preferences then. I find awakend or advanced forms of current diseases to be more compelling then new and completely unknown ones. I have no problem believing the Megacorps could engineer a new strain of an existing disease that was resistant to treatment. I should also point out that a good chunk of the diseases in Augmentation are of this nature as well.
| QUOTE |
| Also, why exactly don't metahumans get CJD? To me they seemed genetically very similar to humans, only those magic-genes are diffrent that make them dwarfs, trolls and stuff. Seems rather odd, too. |
Not sure where you are getting this from, meta-type makes no difference in vunerability to CJD (or AVCD). Other than Dwarfs, Orks, and Trolls immune systems being naturally more robust (higher BOD), giving them slightly better odds. In fact I'm pretty sure I always used metahumans instead of humans when using that term...
| QUOTE (MaxMahem) |
| Its certainly possible that they could have developed a cure, but we have no reading on it either way. |
It's called Cellular Repair.
| QUOTE |
| Thankfully CJD is very rare in metahumans, |
That's what you wrote. Weird.
| QUOTE |
| Prion diseases are very rare, it may not have been worth the mega-corporations time or money to develop a cure for it. |
They are rare, but some other reseach might have gotten a breakthrough that allows to negate the effects of the prions. It's just a disorder, not an alien invasion.
Whatever, if you want your campaigns to focus on beeing sick, that's your call. And your players of course. But you should come up with non-real world stuff. Stuf that kills so fast, that treatment is difficult, not because no one has found an antibody. They can actually build the antibodies from scratch (or at least it's feasible they can).
I think it also might be amusing, if those bigwig CEOs get they Leonization treatment (a financial sinkhole) and afterwards die of CJD. Because no one bothered to learn how to rewrite faulty proteins.
I liked scabies and staphs... the latter are real bitches IRL...
how about something lighter? Like some kind of flu...
Cheers,
Max
how about something lighter? Like some kind of flu...
Cheers,
Max
Malicant, these diseases are just ideas, brainstorms and the like. Just because someone comes up with a disease that you do or don't agree with doesn't mean they're running their game as some disease-ridden cess pit. Constructive criticism here is welcomed. Attacking someone for posting an idea and updating a modern, deadly disease to 2070 is a little uncalled for. If you can't believe such an item would exist, it's simple: Don't include it in your game, and move on.
The flu's already in Augmentation.
true!!! I do not not why I had not seen it! well... that makes augmentation an even better book.
Cheers,
Max
Cheers,
Max
@Jhaiisiin
Well, those are not Ideas, those are real-world diseases. And the explanation for them to still exist is pretty weak. So I bash in an say it's not a good idea and throw in some ideas how to make more believable diseases.
I just can't stand it when things don't make sense in the context of the game-world.
Well, those are not Ideas, those are real-world diseases. And the explanation for them to still exist is pretty weak. So I bash in an say it's not a good idea and throw in some ideas how to make more believable diseases.
I just can't stand it when things don't make sense in the context of the game-world.
Oh, and that part I get. Just part of your post came across as an attack-the-poster kinda deal. Things seem really cordial on these forums, so I figured you didn't intend it that way.
Besides, pointing out flaws is always a good thing. Makes usevil overlords gamers rethink our plans.
Just part of your post came across as an attack-the-poster kinda deal. Things seem really cordial on these forums, so I figured you didn't intend it that way.Besides, pointing out flaws is always a good thing. Makes us
One of the oddities of the Fifth World is why more diseases don't seem to target different meta variants more selectively. Given that disease exist today that preferentially target certain ethnicities and the relatively large physical differences in metahuman physiology it seems odd that such diseases have not been introduced to the setting. Out side of HMHVV I can't think of any others. Until now that is. So I've got a new McGuffin to throw in your campaigns!
Orc Mumps
Vector: Contact
Speed: 1 Week (2)
Penetration: 0
Power: 4
Effects: Malaise, Sterility
One of the most disturbing new viruses to arise since the Awakening is 'Orc Mumps' a variant of the Mumps virus which preferentially targets Orcs. Mumps (along with Measles and Rubella) was though eradicated in 2040 and there had been no outbreaks until 2069 when the first cases of 'Orc Mumps' hit. Leading Orc community leaders to launch allegations of attempted genocide, and angry accusations to be hurled at the Humanis Policlub and their Alamos 2000 'action arm.' The disease true origin is, as of yet, unknown. Outbreaks have been limited as of yet, but medical professional agree that it is a disaster waiting to happen.
As disease go Orc Mumps is relatively benign, which is why it can be so devastating. Infection in Orcs generally leads to a mild fever, parotitis (painful swelling of the saliva glands), and oophoritis or orchitis (painful swelling of the reproductive organs). While painful, the disease usually runs its course in a week or so, granting the subject immunity to further infections. However while orcs (due to there more robust immune system) generally seem to find the pain of orchitis or oophoritis manageable, it is in fact much more serious then similar infections in other metatypes, as sterility results in nearly 100% of cases in Orcs (compared with a rate of maybe 5% in other metatypes). In game terms, any time the power of the disease is not reduced to 0, sterility occurs. Treatment of the resulting sterility is only possible through cellular regeneration genetic treatment.
While anti-virals are fairly effective against Orc Mumps, the disease progresses so fast that they generaly are not used. Orcs in general are also less likely to have access to health-care and these anti-virals in any case. The old vaccines for mumps have proved to be ineffective against this variant and as of yet no new vaccine has yet been developed to combat it. Orc Mumps is highly contagious, being transmitted by infected saliva, or objects contaminated by this saliva. This is exacerbated by Orcs dental protrusions (tusks), which causes some of them to droll more profusely. Cases are not common in other metatypes, but they can become carriers (infection generally leading to a low grade fever and nothing else).
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There you go. The ways you could use this in your game should be fairly obvious. Who developed it and why? And the deployment of a vaccine to prevent orcs from being annihilated. Alternatively, you could use this as a reason to cut down on Orc birth rate, so that they don't outnumber us all in the next generation or so. Not to bad to infect a player with either as its in game effects are mild (the player may or may not care about sterility, but runners should have the money and connections to get it treated if they do). And makes a good plot hook.
Orc Mumps
Vector: Contact
Speed: 1 Week (2)
Penetration: 0
Power: 4
Effects: Malaise, Sterility
One of the most disturbing new viruses to arise since the Awakening is 'Orc Mumps' a variant of the Mumps virus which preferentially targets Orcs. Mumps (along with Measles and Rubella) was though eradicated in 2040 and there had been no outbreaks until 2069 when the first cases of 'Orc Mumps' hit. Leading Orc community leaders to launch allegations of attempted genocide, and angry accusations to be hurled at the Humanis Policlub and their Alamos 2000 'action arm.' The disease true origin is, as of yet, unknown. Outbreaks have been limited as of yet, but medical professional agree that it is a disaster waiting to happen.
As disease go Orc Mumps is relatively benign, which is why it can be so devastating. Infection in Orcs generally leads to a mild fever, parotitis (painful swelling of the saliva glands), and oophoritis or orchitis (painful swelling of the reproductive organs). While painful, the disease usually runs its course in a week or so, granting the subject immunity to further infections. However while orcs (due to there more robust immune system) generally seem to find the pain of orchitis or oophoritis manageable, it is in fact much more serious then similar infections in other metatypes, as sterility results in nearly 100% of cases in Orcs (compared with a rate of maybe 5% in other metatypes). In game terms, any time the power of the disease is not reduced to 0, sterility occurs. Treatment of the resulting sterility is only possible through cellular regeneration genetic treatment.
While anti-virals are fairly effective against Orc Mumps, the disease progresses so fast that they generaly are not used. Orcs in general are also less likely to have access to health-care and these anti-virals in any case. The old vaccines for mumps have proved to be ineffective against this variant and as of yet no new vaccine has yet been developed to combat it. Orc Mumps is highly contagious, being transmitted by infected saliva, or objects contaminated by this saliva. This is exacerbated by Orcs dental protrusions (tusks), which causes some of them to droll more profusely. Cases are not common in other metatypes, but they can become carriers (infection generally leading to a low grade fever and nothing else).
---
There you go. The ways you could use this in your game should be fairly obvious. Who developed it and why? And the deployment of a vaccine to prevent orcs from being annihilated. Alternatively, you could use this as a reason to cut down on Orc birth rate, so that they don't outnumber us all in the next generation or so. Not to bad to infect a player with either as its in game effects are mild (the player may or may not care about sterility, but runners should have the money and connections to get it treated if they do). And makes a good plot hook.
How and when to infect your players!
Well I've got a good collection of diseases out there, so I thought it might be nice to give some guidlines as to when and how to use them in your campaigns.
Necrotizing Fasciitis - This one is nasty, think twice before letting it loose. I would inflect it on a critical failure in a black-market clinic. It could also result from any kind of serious (6 boxes or so) laceration from a highly infected weapon (probably most thematicaly appropriate for some sort of Toxic mage). You may or may not want to allow a body/edge test in this case. Note that amputation of the affected limb may be the only effective treatment in some cases, so place the injury accordingly. It is a good excuse to get cyberwear as well.
RAIDS - The effects are minimal. High body Orcs, Trolls, and Dwarves may not even notice it! So feel free to dish it out when ever players engage in 'high-risk' behavior such as sex with prostitutes or sharing needles. Optionally you could inflect it if a player critical glitches an Edge(1) test after a transplat/major surgery in the black market.
Staph - While this could be fatal, the average character is only likely to be put down for a week or so (though it might be close). I've dished it out on critical failures on First Aid checks, and on glitches on Black Market surgery.
Scabies - If you have players living at street or squatter levels I HIGHLY recommend inflicting them with this. The penalties are minimal, but high uncomfortable to most PCs. Call for an Edge(2) test for street or Edge(1) test for squatter (you may have to increase the threshold depending upon your campaign), every month until they get the point. Living on the streets has consequences! This is on of the mildest (yet most disturbing) ones.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - A McGuffin (plot device) which I don't recommend inflecting on players. As written it is 100% lethal, though it may take some time to take effect. It is designed to be a nasty way of assassinating higher up execs who might be immune to everything else, and could get treatment for anything. If your playing with the 'on borrowed time' disadvantage this might be a way to go. A high body player could last some time with it, but will eventually kick the bucket.
Orc Mumphs - Either a McGuffin (plot device) or optionally a means to control Orc population in your setting (in which case you can inflect it willy-nilly). The effects on PCs are minimal so don't be afraid to infect them with it as a plot hook.
Hmm... later I might come up with some guidelines for the book diseases as well.
Well I've got a good collection of diseases out there, so I thought it might be nice to give some guidlines as to when and how to use them in your campaigns.
Necrotizing Fasciitis - This one is nasty, think twice before letting it loose. I would inflect it on a critical failure in a black-market clinic. It could also result from any kind of serious (6 boxes or so) laceration from a highly infected weapon (probably most thematicaly appropriate for some sort of Toxic mage). You may or may not want to allow a body/edge test in this case. Note that amputation of the affected limb may be the only effective treatment in some cases, so place the injury accordingly. It is a good excuse to get cyberwear as well.
RAIDS - The effects are minimal. High body Orcs, Trolls, and Dwarves may not even notice it! So feel free to dish it out when ever players engage in 'high-risk' behavior such as sex with prostitutes or sharing needles. Optionally you could inflect it if a player critical glitches an Edge(1) test after a transplat/major surgery in the black market.
Staph - While this could be fatal, the average character is only likely to be put down for a week or so (though it might be close). I've dished it out on critical failures on First Aid checks, and on glitches on Black Market surgery.
Scabies - If you have players living at street or squatter levels I HIGHLY recommend inflicting them with this. The penalties are minimal, but high uncomfortable to most PCs. Call for an Edge(2) test for street or Edge(1) test for squatter (you may have to increase the threshold depending upon your campaign), every month until they get the point. Living on the streets has consequences! This is on of the mildest (yet most disturbing) ones.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - A McGuffin (plot device) which I don't recommend inflecting on players. As written it is 100% lethal, though it may take some time to take effect. It is designed to be a nasty way of assassinating higher up execs who might be immune to everything else, and could get treatment for anything. If your playing with the 'on borrowed time' disadvantage this might be a way to go. A high body player could last some time with it, but will eventually kick the bucket.
Orc Mumphs - Either a McGuffin (plot device) or optionally a means to control Orc population in your setting (in which case you can inflect it willy-nilly). The effects on PCs are minimal so don't be afraid to infect them with it as a plot hook.
Hmm... later I might come up with some guidelines for the book diseases as well.
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