How many people think about illness and/or pathogens in their games? I was thinking that someone- especially someone with "Weak Immune System" or a low body rating would be affected by a lot more than just the big evil deadly diseases. So why don't shadowrunners get colds? And if they do, does anyone impose modifiers? Because really, no one's going to shoot/run/think as well if they're sick. Even mildly sick.

Just pondering.

(badgerbadgerbadgerbadgerbadgerbadgerbadgerbadgerbadgerbadgerbadger)

I had some runners once who fell in some glacial waters Upon exiting the water, they ran around for several hours outdoors on a chilly autumn night. Needless to say, they all started taking penalties for being cold and just surly. When they made it back home, they all rolled Body and several of them got pneumonia. Already being on the run, the decker hired a buddy to cover for him and the mage pressed on, intent on finishing the run. With their decker replaced by a less skilled stand in and their mage suffering +2 to all target numbers from the illness, the run was a complete fiasco and the mage never made it out alive.

I never really decided how I felt about how I had handled that.

Sunday

I'd think the vast majority of illnesses would be easily curable, with the possible exceptions of some antibiotic (or whatever) resistant bugs.

Truthfully, diease and illness has never manifested itself in games I've played in, unless it was a central element -- like ghouls or vampires.

I don't have a personal opinion one way or the other -- except to make sure you have mechanics for broad-spectrum anti-biotics and similar, run of the mill medical procedures.

-Siege

So then you can grow all sorts of resistant bacteria? No thanks. Any of your stomach fauna that lives through this is going to be an uber-resistant badass of a bacteria. Hope they don't exchange genetic material with something else you come down with. Best actually check to see if you are sick first.

There was a discusison about the common cold on the old forums. I think accelerated fatigue (so you are at +1 after a while) was one of the systems for dealing with it.

Also, if the run is just a few hours, you can probably live better through chemistry, at least for 2-6 hours.

Given the kind of crap that can grow in a sewer, never mind the sewers of 2060?

Thanks, no.

It's the same reason why flooding is so dangerous -- "Stagnant pond water + raw sewage does not equal Evion" (Evion being expensive bottled water).

By the time you start manifesting symptoms, the bug(s) have already taken hold and your life is just gonna suck.

I would imagine the counter-infection procedures for 2060 might be more advanced than today's "broad spectrum" approach, but I'd still rather opt for that rather than a "wait and see" tactic.

-Siege

Considering the amount of problems with resistant bacteria today, I would assume that the broad spectrum approach will be out. Look for careful monitoring of the immune system to check for infection first. Then followed by antibiotic usage (which may be very carefully controlled).

Hmmm, bugs huh? Well apart from those nasty roaches etc. I've used colds and fevers for those teams who seam to like "adventuring" in the outdoors arenas, and who aren't prepared for them.

Generally theres exposure to cold/heat, taking a dip in contaminated water and imbibing the odd substance without going through health and safety regs on the medkit. Having the odd hangover and occasional spout of diahorrea can also be fun - especially if one of the NPCs is a practical joker with a load of troll-strength laxatives. (Or a spell to such effect that gets quickened and sent via ritual sorcery. Hmmmm [vegm])

Overall I only apply a couple of TN modifiers for minor ailments to represent lack of mental clarity, hallucinations, or physical symptoms like the shakes or sneezing. I expect my players to roleplay their way through the illness too or I mark down their Karma awards. Occassionally I add damage to the condition monitor, but then thats more for serious diseases like VITAS, meta-flu, and the screaming heebies.

With the amount of magical and advanced medi-tech out there in the Sixth World most ailments are short term inconveiniences rather than life threatening plagues. However, using the rules for cyber-rejection & stuff in Man & Machine (adapted for cancers etc.) and very rarely a bioweapon like Doom from Shadowtech can really make those runners sweat.

Also in sewars, you can bring in the hidden baddies like toxic fumes, diesel or other fuel floating on top of the water, stagnent air, which has interesting side effects. That is if you wanna be a real dick about it... hehe

Shadowtech sez: Antibac and zeta-interferon are your friends.

On that note, might I recommend Scampi, as well?

I like.. Kenya, was it? Though there are no tigers in Africa...

Definitely the best use of Kuala Lumpur France in a long while.

~J

I've seen things...I've seen them with my EYES!

I've seen things, they're often in disguise!

Like carrots, handbags, cheese.... damn forgot the rest

Carrots, handbags, cheese, toilets, Russians, weddings, Kuala Lumpur...

Pygmies and Stalin are in there too.

you left out "hamsters, planets..."

Squirrels doing good?
any way....
this is differant. but watch it.

Wow. How's that for going off-topic...

I've always thought that by the 2060s, most people would be so full of antibiotics and whatever else that common virii and bacteria wouldn't stand a chance. Normally, I only consider diseases in extreme cases.

Someone with very weak resistance, like only 1 or 2 dice to resist diseases, would probably be whacked with diseases slightly more often, especially if they go drudging through sewers and the like.

(1: Shoot annoying squirrel. 2: Shoot yourself.)

Rampant use of antibiotics just result in stronger strains.

I believe in medical technology advancing faster than diseases evolve.

So I'm a naive, optimistic moron. Whatever.

From what I've heard, children are getting ill more often these days. It's been theorized that it's because of the more sterile environments they've been kept in... in other words, because of the fear of germs. They don't swallow their proper amount of dirt, and therefore end up getting sick when exposed to worse strains of things...

So would Corp kids and stuff be getting ill more often than street kids? Sounds backwards, but interesting.

Only if they leave the sheltered areas of the Corp.

IRL, kids mingle with those of different status... ISR, corps regulate who you interact with.

Isaac Asimov's story Nemesis mentions this "isolationist" phenomenon among the space colonies.

However, I think corps would inoculate their workers with continuously updated vaccines for nearly everything... unless they want to encourage isolationism.

Given the current progression of virus and icky stuff development, antibiotics or their future counterparts will have to show an upward mobility in effectiveness.

As of right now, they're maintaining a straight line (visualize a line graph) with bugs slowly inching towards the line of antibiotics.

-Siege

The 'dirt theory', iirc, says that the immune system needs the 'practice' of beating up 'basically harmless stuff' so that it is ready for actually dangerous stuff. With the sterile environments of today, you don't get enough 'basically harmless stuff' so your immune system is not up to fighting off the worse things, so you get noticable sick more often. Some research has been done into whether you could get better immune response by feeding people small quantites of 'dirt' (really various bacteria usually found in dirt), the inital work looked interesting, but I'm not sure where it's gone since then.

oh man my players are so going to hate you guys for letting me see the badger thing. now it's gonna show up somehow when i gm and i guarantee it won't be pretty, maybe a pc death or 2 ::