Copyright 1997 By: Chris Van Deelen chrisv@nucleus.com Disease in The Morrow Project The following article was written, using a modified disease system from FGU's Aftermath game system. It has been converted to be used in The Morrow Project. A disease can be broken down into three basic formats: acute, episodic, and chornic. For game terms it will be A, E, or C. Secondly, a disease will have up to four different vectors, or methods of infection. They are Aerosol, Subcutaneous, Gastric, and Dermal. For the game, they will be listed as AE, SU, GA. and DE. Third, a disease will have a virulence number. The higher the number, the more powerful the disease. Fourth, the disease will have an incubation period. This could be anything from instantaneous, to several months or years before the disease begins to take effect. Fifth, the disease will effect a certain attribute, or number of attributes, such as Dexterity, Constitution, etc. The attributes act as a guage on how long the disease will effect the character. Finally, the disease will have a cycle time. This is how long the time is between attacks on the characters constitution. Virulence Table 1 1 2 1D3 3 1D4 4 1D6 5 1D8 6 1D10 7 2D6 8 2D10 9 3D6 10 3D8 An acute (A) disease will subtract its dice modifier from the affected attribute at the end of each cycle. The character must then work with the attribute at its reduced rate. When the attribute reaches 0, the crisis of the disease is reached. In Episodic (E) disease, keep track of all the dice modifier rolls. Once the total surpasses the Attribute score, an episode occures. Reduce the target attribute by 25% each time. Once the attribute reaches 0, the crisis stage is reached. Finally, with a chronic (C) disease will take effect at the end of its incubation period. This effect will remain until the character throws off the disease, or the time limit on the duration of the disease runs out. If a target attribute is specified, it will be decreased by the Virulence dice modifier for the duration of the disease. The attribute will return to normal at the end of the disease. The vectors are as follows: Aerosol (AE) The infection is airborne. Any character within a number of meters equal to the virulence group who breaths the air is subject to infection Subcutaneous (SU) The infection must be gotten under the characters skin by such means as an animal bite, wound, injection, etc. Gastric (GA) The source of infection must be taken internally through such things as contaminated drink or food. Dermal (DE) Simple skin contact is required. A garment that protects a character from the initial source of infection may later contaminate the character if it still carries the contamination from the original contact. Dealing with the Disease When a character is first exposed to a disease, a Constitution roll is required. Roll a D20, and add the disease's virulence group number. If the roll is equal, or less than the characters constitution, the character has avoided contracting the disease. If the roll fails, oh boy. Once infected, the character has a chance to throw off the disease during the incubation period. the attempt requires the character to make a successful treat disease roll. It is subject to the same modifier as the constitution roll. Take the virulence group, and multiply it by five. Thus, if the disease is virulence 3, it adds +15% to the skill roll. If the treat disease roll is successful, the character is allowed a second, unmodified constitution check to see if they are able to throw off the disease. If the character takes Universal Anitbody's, subtract the virulence group times 5, and then roll the dice. Again, a virulence group 3 would subtract 15% from the Universal Antibody's roll, bringing it from 80% to 65%. If the roll succeeds, the disease is thrown off. At the end of the incubation period, the first effects of the disease will appear. If the disease has no cycle, these effects will remain in force until the character makes a con check against the disease , or the disease has run its course. A con check may be made at the beginning of each day. Once the disease is no longer active in the character's system, the effects of the disease will disappear or he will be able to start healing the effects. The exact result will be dependant on the exact disease. If the disease has a cycle, the character is allowed to make a con check at the end of the cycle time before the disease's advance is determined. If the die roll is successful makes it by more than half the required amount, the disease is thrown off. Example A character with a Con of 16 is infected with a virulence group 3 disease. He rolls a 1 on a D20. This is more than half (hell, he made it by 13 taking into account the disease's virulence group). If it falls into the range between half, and exactly the roll he needed, the disease is held in check. Example, the same character with a con of 16 rolls a D20 and gets 12. This is above half, but below the target number of 13. The disease is held in check. If the roll fails, the disease runs its normal course. Once the disease is thrown off, the character can then go about recovering from the disease. When a victim is making his con check at the beginning of a day, or at the end of a cycle, he will receive modifications to the number needed for a successful check as follows: * if a character makes a successful treat disease roll, modified as usual by the disease's virulence group, a +1 bonus is recieved to the characters con. * If a broad band antibiotic is administered, a plus equal to its strength is recieved. * If a specific antibiotic is administered, a plus equal to the specific efficiency against the disease is received. * If the character is wounded badly (more than 25% of its SP/BP) a penalty of -1 is added to the characters con check. Day's Advance This is the total number of points gained from the virulence group in a twenty four hour period. Example, a virulence group 3 disease with a cycle period of 6 hours advances 8 points (4 1D4 rolls during the twenty four hour period). Crisis Point of the Disease When an acute disease has reduced its main target to zero or below, when an episodic disease has a cumulative total of its dice rolls that exceeds the character's score in the disease's main target, or when a disease reaches a specified stage with a chronic disease, the patient has reached the crisis point of the disease. The character is allowed one last con check to eliminate the disease, at the cons value cut in half, - the virulence factor. No modifications are allowed. If the character fails the roll, he has died of the disease. If the roll is successful, the character may begin recovering. Disease Symptoms This section presents typical disease symptoms and the effects on the character with the disease. Not all diseases will have symptoms as severe as these. Many disease will have these type of symptoms but their effects will not be great enough to warrent an effect on the character Coughing fits. This is handled the way nausea is, except instead of being physically ill, the victim suffers from bought's of coughing. The victim is unable to take any action during this time, and any movement is cut in half. Hey, have you ever tried to walk while you were coughing up your lungs? The fits last exactly the same length of time as the nausea. Dizziness: When the disease's advance is greater than 1/3 of the characters con, the character's movement is at half value, and if the character is on treacherous ground (rubble, ice, etc) the character must make a Dex check every minute game time to avoid falling down Dystopia: When the advance is greater than 1/3 of the characters con score, the effective light level for that character is reduced. Example, good light becomes dim, dim light becomes poor, poor light becomes no light. Fainting: Strenuous activities such as combat, running, climbing etc will require a Con check after a number of rounds or minutes equal to 25% of the characters Con. Example. If a character has a con of 16, he/she will be able to fight for 4 rounds before having to make a Con check. If the character fails, he falls unconcious for a number of minutes equal to the virulence group of the disease. If the character does make the check, they can continue to act for another amount of rounds equal to 25% of the characters Con. Headaches. The headaches will occur at the beginning of the cycle time, and will last for the duration of the disease (until it is thrown off). These come in three intensities. Mild headaches cause a -10% to all skill rolls, but the victim is still able to react normally. Medium headaches will reduce all skill rolls by 25%, and the victim must make a con check every time he does something strenuous. If the roll fails, the victim must stop because he/she is overcome by nausea (as described under nausea symptom). Sever headaches will reduce all skill rolls by 50%. The character will be suffering so badly, they will be unable to do just about anything. Simple walking will cause the character to make a con check (with a negative equal to the virulence of the disease). If the check fails, they will suffer from nausea. If the roll critically fails (a natural 20), the character faints from the pain (as described under fainting). Lesions: The day's advance of the disease is the chance in 10 of lesions developing on a random location. Any damage taken on that location will expose the character to infection/ Nausea: Exertion as described in fainting or a successful attack on the torso, throat or head will require a Con check to avoid a fit. The character experiencing a fit of vomiting will be unable to perform any action for a period in minutes equal to the virulence group of the disease. The character will remain incapacitated until he/she makes a successful Con check. Dry heaves are a bitch! Pain: The disease's advance for that day act as a negative percentage to all skill and attack rolls attempted by the character. Paralysis: The specified extremity will take damage equal to the day's advance of the disease. This damage is not permanent, or real. When the total DP of the extremity are exceeded, the extremity is paralysed and cannot be used. When the disease is cured, the character regains use of the extremity. Puerpera: The character's blood is slow to clot, though not so bad as a case of haemophilia would make it. But he will tend to bleed from open wounds and suffer sever bruising from non-cutting blows. Basically, when the character suffers a puncture, or a cutting wound, the character will lose 50% more BP per turn than normal. Rhuematoid Condition: The effects of this symptom vary by the location affected. If it affects the legs, the characters base movement is cut in half. If the disease's day's advance is greater than 1/2 the characters con, the movement is reduced to 25% of normal. If the symptom effects the characters arms or hands, all skills requiring the use of the hands are reduced by half. If the total of the day's advance surpases half of the characters current Con, the skills are reduced to 25% of normal. Tinnitus: The day's advance of the disease is the percentage times two reduction to any skills the character tries to use, due to ringing in his or her ears. Example, a character suffers 7 points advance during the day, so the character suffers a -14% to any skills. Ulcerations: The day's advance of the disease is the chance in 10 that the character iwll develop ulcers on a specific location. This should be determined by making a hit location roll. If the character receives any damage to an ulcerated location he must make a Con check, or the pain will cause him to faint (see fainting). The character is also exposed to infection. Weakness: When the disease advance is greater than the 30% of the characters Con., his STR. and Dex. are reducued by 25%, and suffers a 20% negative to any skill rolls. When the disease's advance is more than 50% of the Characters Con, the stat reduction is 50%, and the negative to skill rolls is now 40%. Recovery from Disease When a character throws off a disease or survives a disease because it has run its course, the character will receive 1D10 points per virulence point of phantom damage. this damage is just from exhaustion and general weakness. For every 1 hour of full rest, the character regains 1 point of this damage. It is just a measuring gauge to see how long the character takes to fully recover. Symptoms will be recovered from in a number of days equal to the disease's virulence group. Symptoms such as lesions and ulcers cause actual damage (1D3 dp per ulcer or lesion) and these will heal as a normal wound would. Attributes that have been reduced by the disease will recover at a rate equal to 30% of the Characters Con score per week. Example, a character with a Con of 18 will regain up to 6 lost attribute points per week. Infection A character may be subject to infection if he takes damage from the bite of an animal, or wounds suffered from a dirty weapon, or if the character doesn't take the time to keep him or herself clean. Once the character is exposed to an opportunity for infection to set in, the PD makes a secret Con save for the character. This throw should be made if the character hasn't been properly treated after taking the wound (example, first aid, or cleaning the wound and then covering the wound with a steril bandage). Once the character is infected, recognizable symptoms will appear once the character is supposed to heal a wound. First, the wound will become inflamed and pussy. The character will not heal any damage at this time. At the end of each twenty four hour period, the character is allowed another Con check to see if they are able to throw off the infection. If it succeeds, the character has beaten the infection, and can begin to heal normally. Administering antibiotics will allow the character a +3 to their Con check to throw off the infection. On top of that, the wound must be kept clean, and the bandages must be changed at least twice a day. If this isn't done, the character suffers a -1 to his or her Con check. If, during this time the character is unable to throw off the infection, and he or she rolls a 20 on the Con check, gangrene will set in. Gangrene negates the characters ability to make Con checks. Gangrene has an initial virulence group of 1 which will increase by one each day. Each day, the PD will roll the virulence dice. When the total of the dice rolls exceeds the characters total Con, the character dies. Each day a character with Treat disease may attempt to halt the progress of the disease. The skill check is reduced by half unless a number of medical units equal to the virulence group are used during the treatment of the disease. If the check succeeds, the gangrene is halted, and reversed. The character can then begin healing the damage normally. At this time, the points accumilated from the virulence dice are taken as normal damage, and must be healed normally. Immunity from Disease Any character who has once had a specific strain of an acute or episodic disease will be immune to that strain in the future. In game terms, this means that a character who has made his Con check after the first effects of the disease have evidenced themselves will automatically make his Con check when exposed to the same disease. Specific Disease's in The Morrow Project When PSI is called for below, it is because TMP dosen't have an attribute for either Intelligence, or Willpower. It is just a quick fix until the thrid edition comes out (if ever). My reasoning behind this is that Psi is a good guage for a characters will power. With the above rules, the disease will be described in the following method: Vector, format, target(s), incubation period, virulence group, cycle time. 1. Anthrax DE or AE-(A)-CON-1D3 Days-3-2 days-Lesions, Nausea, Pain There is also a chance that the disease will cause the loss of facial and head hair. When the disease is cured, roll a Con. check. If it fails, the character is permanently bald. Once this disease has been overcome, the character is immune to it. 2. Pneumonia Plague AE-(A)-CON-2D6 Hours-3-3 Hours Nausea, Weakness, Fainting, coughing fits Once the disease passes the 30% of the Con score. in its advance, the victim will just go into delirium until death or healing takes place. 3. Pneumonia AE-(A)-CON-1D3 Hours-3-3 Hours Pain, Weakness, coughing fits The victim has a chance of infection if exposed to any kind of wound while suffering from pneumonia. There is also a much milder form of the disease, with a Virulence of 1 and all the time periods above given in days, not hours. This is often called "Walking Pneumonia." Victims of exposure or damage to lung tissue can develop the disease without any apparent exposure to a carrier, as most humans carry the pneumococcus dormant in their lungs, ready to become active if the immune system of the victim is weakened. 4. Rabies SU-(E)-DEX-1D3+5 Days-5-1 Day Rheumatoid condition of arms and legs. Nausea, Pain, Medium headaches Rabies is transmitted by the bite of a rabid animal. 5. Hepatitis GA or AE-(E)-STR-1D3 Days-3-1 Day Weakness, Nausea, Dizziness. 6. Brain Lighting AE-(A)-PSI-2D6 Hours-3-1 Hour The sufferer will complain of sever headaches once the advance has wiped out half of his will score. He will become insane and require restraint if he is not to run madly about at random once the disease has reduced the Attributes below 30% of its value. 7. Eyeburn SU-(E)-PSI-1 Day-2-12 Hours Dystopia, Medium headaches If the Crisis is not survived, the character is still alive, but his optic nerve has been destroyed, leaving him permanently blinded. The disease is transmitted by the bite or claws of infected animals. It seems to be a mutant form of Rabies, which has become specific to the tissues of the optic nerve. 8. Zombo Plague DE-(A)-PSI- 24 Hours-2D2-24 Hours Dizziness When the characters PSI reaches 0, the character becomes a Zombo, unprogrammed. This disease is not lethal in itself. If the character does not throw it off at the crisis point, he will become a Zombo. The character has no intelligence, no skills, and must be retaught everything from eating, walking, using the toilet, etc. 9. Littleton's Bane AE,DE-(E)-STR-1 Hour-3-1 Hour Patients experiences fits of homicidal mania and will seek to kill anyone present during the fit. Victims show a tendency to prefer hand to hand attempts on their victims. If no others are present, the victim becomes suicidal. 10. Spotted Plague GA-(A)-DEX,-48 Hours-2-24 Hours. 11. Botulism GA or SU-(-)-DEX, CON-1D3 Hours-10-10D6 Minutes. Pain, Nausea, Dizziness, Paralysis Botulism is contracted from eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water. Boiling or cooking these thoroughly before consumption destroys the bacteria. The bacteria is not in itself poisonous, but it produces an extremely strong neuro toxin. Even application of the serum only reduces the virulence of the disease to 5. 12. Brucellosis GA or SU-(C)-STR-1D3 Weeks-2-1D3 Weeks. Nausea, Weakness 13. Diptheria GA-(A)-CON-1D6+1 Days-3-1 Day Nausea, Pain, Ulceration in throat, coughing fits 14. Amoebic Dysentery GA-(E)-CON-1D6 Days to 1D6 Years-2-1 Day. Diarrhea 15. Bacillary Dysentery GA-(E)-CON-1D6 Days-3-1 Day Diarrhea, Nausea, Rheumatoid pain in arms and legs. Dysentery acts like cholera by fluid loss. 16. Glanders GA or AE-(E)-CON-3D6 Days-4-1 Day Rheumatoid pain in joints, Ulcers Material from Ulcers can infect dermally. 17. Smallpox AE or GA-(E)-CON-2D6 Days-4-1 Day Pain, nausea, lesions, mild headaches The disease is often accompanied by raving fits. The lesions often leave unsightly scarring. 18. Typhoid GA-(E)-CON-4D6 days-2-1 Week Weakness, Diarrhea, Pain 19. Typhus SA-(E)-CON-3D6 Days-4-2D3 Days Pain, Weakness 20. Death's Plague AE,SU,GA,DE-(A)-CON-1D3 Hours-10-10 Minutes. Lesions, Pain, Rheumatoid pain in joints, Sensitivity to light, Paranoid Rage (in that order) 21. Lugo Fatigue AE-(C)-STR-1D6 Days-2-1D3 Months Ulceration on throat, Weakness, coughing fits 22. September Fever AE-(C)-CON,STR-1D3 Days-1-2D6 Days Dizziness, Nausea, Weakness, Pain, Sever Headaches 23. Toledo Infection AE, DE-(E)-DEX,STR,CON-1D3 Days-8-1D3 hours. Fainting, Lesions, Nausea, pain, Weakness 24. The Common Cold AE - (C) - ST - 3 hours - 1 - 30 minutes weakness, coughing, pain, mild headaches The following tables represent possible mutation of the disease resulting in any number of changes. Chance of Disease Mutation Format Roll Change Roll Change 01-80 No mutation 1-7 Acute 81-00 Mutation 8-14 Episodic 15-20 Chronic Disease Mutation Roll Change Vector 1 Format Roll Change 2 Vector 1-2 Aerosol 3-4 Virulence 3-4 Subcutaneous 5-6 Incubation/Cycle time 5-6 Gastric 7 Symptoms 7-8 Dermal 8 Antibiotic Modifiers 9-0 Roll once more 9 Roll once more 10 Roll twice more Incubation/Cycle Period Symptoms Roll Change Roll Change 1 Decrease period by 75% 1 Add 3 Symptoms 2 Decrease period by 50% 2 Add 2 Symptoms 3 Decrease Period by 25% 3-5 Add 1 Symptom 4 No Change 6-8 Remove 1 Symptom 5 Increase Period by 25% 9 Remove 2 Symptoms 6 Increase Period by 50% 0 Remove 3 Symptoms 7 Increase Period by 75% 8 Increase Period by 100% Virulence Modifiers: Antibiotic Modifiers: Roll Result Roll Result 01-10 -1D10 (MIN. 3) O1-10 +1 Per 1D6 Doses 11-25 -2 11-25 +1 Per 3 Doses 26-45 -1 26-45 +1 Per 2 Doses 46-55 0 46-55 0 56-74 +1 56-74 +3 Per 2 Doses 75-90 +2 75-90 +2 Per Dose 91-00 +1D10 (MIN. 3) 91-00 +1D6 Per Dose Symptoms Roll Result 1-2 Dizziness 3-4 Dystopia 5-6 Fainting 7-8 Lesions 9-10 Nausea 11-12 Pain 13 Paralysis 14-15 Puerperal 16 Rheumatoid 17 Tinnitus 18-19 Ulceration 20 Weakness MORROW PROJECT MEDICAL DRUGS 1. Polycellulac 3 Doses: 20 Weight: 200 grams Effects: Heals 2D10 points of damage sustained. Must be administered within 10 minutes of suffering the wounds. The drug accelerates the bodies natural healing rate tremendously. As a result, the characters con. is reduced by four for every does injected into the characters body. When the characters con. reaches 0, this drug will no longer have any effect on the character, as the body has been taxed to its limit This reduction in no way effects the character, it is just a guide to determine how many doses they can take. The lost con.returns at the rate of one point per day. 2. Polycellulac 4 Doses: 20 Weight: 200 grams Effects: The same as Polycellulac 3 but this formula is not subject to the same 10 minute time factor. It will act upon any damage sustained by a character, even if it is days after sustaining the wounds. 3. Polycellulac 5 Doses: 15 Weight: 200 grams Effects: Similar to Polycellulac 4. This drug has the capability to heal critical damage (such as broken bones), as well as normal. Critical damage is healed after all normal damage is healed. It heals 4D5 points of damage rather than 2D10 (simply put, a higher average) as with Polycellulac 3 and 4. It causes broken bones to heal within 1D6 hours. 4. Polycellulac 6 Doses: 10 Weight: 200 grams Effects: This is a further refined version of Polycellulac 5. It heals 4D6 points of damage and when all normal damage is healed, it then heals critical damage. Broken bones and other critical damage heal in only 1D3 hours. 5. Polycellulac 7 Doses: 10 Weight: 200 grams Effects: This is a refinement of Polycellulac 3 and 4. The only difference is that the loss of con. is no longer a factor. 6. Polycellulac 8 Doses: 5 Weight: 200 grams Effects: This drug is similar to both Polycellulac 6 and 7. The difference is that the damage healed is 4D10. The healing rate is not effected. 7. Polycellulac 9 "Regen" Doses: 1 Weight: 250 grams Effects: Works like Polycellulac 4, but it also institutes regeneration. The regeneration takes time according to the location and number of locations to be regenerated. If they are all on the same limb, the first location will take 1D6 weeks, the second will take 2D6 weeks and so on. If the severs are on more than one limb, add 1 week per location. This also causes the regeneration of all scar tissue and can even regenerate lost vision due to wounds. 8. Cardiacine Doses: 5 Weight: 200 grams Effects: Can restore the heartbeat in the "newly" dead. The body must be intact enough to support life: no enormous holes in the body, or so on. The injection must be made directly into the heart within 3 minutes of death. Only one injection is allowed. The patient is permitted a const.check (the characters con stat rolled or less on a D20 when injected. If the check. is made, the character will be comatose, but alive. If the character fails the roll, he/she is permanently dead. 9. Panomycin "S" Doses: 5 Weight: 200 grams Effects: This drug is a broad band antibiotic and 1 dose allows a +3 to any Con check the patient attempts against any form of disease. Only 2 doses can be used at once. 10. Panomycin "Tailored" Doses: 1 Weight: 100 grams. Effects: As above but tailored for a specific disease. If used against the disease that it was "tailored" for, it cures it. If used against a mutant strain of a disease that it was tailored to cure, it adds a +5 bonus to the Con check. It has no effect against a disease that it was not tailored for, unless it is a mutated version. If it is mutated, This adds a +3 bonus to the Con check. 11. Anti-Rem Doses: 5 Weight: 500 grams. Effects: Helps reduce the amount of radiation absorbed by the character. One dose will reduce the amount of radiation absorbed by 10% Multiple doses can be used at one time (a maximum of 5 doses or 50%) The drug lasts 48 hours. 12. Anagathon Doses: 1 Weight: 500 grams. This pinnacle of medical research before the ruin. The drug reverses the degenerative effects of age. This is not a single-dose operation. A graded series of injections of various components of Anagathon are required over an unbroken period of one month. Each regimen extends the characters lifespan by 2D3 years. The character will be frozen at that age for this period of time. The patient may not exert himself during this period, his food and water requirements are doubled, and there must be no more than three days at a time lost between treatment days or the process breaks down. 13. Panomycin Pain Kill Doses: 20 Weight: 200 grams Effects: This is a powerful pain killer. One dose will reduce the effects of pain a character suffers by 5 for 12 hours. Additional doses have no effect. See the effects of pain as described in the symptoms section. MORROW PROJECT MEDICAL EQUIPMENT 1. Antiseptic Spray Doses: 30 Weight 250 grams. Effects: 1 dose will cleanse one location. This gives the character a +4 Bonus to the Con check against contracting infection. 2. Burn Ointment Doses: 30 Weight: 300 grams Effects: 1 dose will double the healing rate for burn damage only. It will also reduce the pain of the wound in much the same way as PainKill. One dose covers one location of burn damage. 3. Bandages Weight: variable Effects: Allows the character to recover 1 point of damage per location bandaged. It also increase the healing rate by 50% per day if the bandages are changed once every 24 hours until the healing is completed. If the bandages are not changed everyday, the healing bonus is lost. 4. Medical Supplies Weight: variable Effects: Uses vary. 5. Disposable Surgical Gloves Number: 100 Weight: 300 grams Effects: Allows a +1 to the Con check against infection from any wounds while being treated. 6. Medi-kit Mark 1 Weight: 500 grams Effects: Adds 10% to the users First Aid skill roll 7. Medi-kit Mark 2 Weight: 1 kg Effects: Adds 20% to the users first aid skill roll, and 10% to the users treat disease roll. 8. Hypo Injector Weight: 400 grams Effects: A required tool for injecting drugs into a characters system. 9. Surgical Instruments Weight: 1 kg Effects: Adds a bonus of +10% to the medical skill when treating major wounds. Note. If instruments are not properly sterilized after use, the patient then suffers a -2 to fight off infections. 10. Surgical Gowns and Masks Number: 1 set Weight: 800 grams Effects: When treating a badly wounded character, using this clothing will add a +3 bonus to saving throws against infection from the wounds suffered. 11. Electric Cautery Knife Weight: 500 grams Battery Required: 2 DD batteries, good for three hours continuous use Effects: This device uses an electrical current to cut and/or cauterize tissue. In surgical applications it gives a +10% bonus to the users medical skill. and to the patients save if any are required. If used to cauterize severed limbs in order to prevent bleeding. A Con check at -5 is required to stay conscious. It does put the character into shock, but the tissue damage is more controlled, and unlikely to kill the victim. 12. Inflatable Splints Weight: 1.2 kg Effects: Plastic bags, inflatable in 10 combat rounds, which can be fitted around a broken limb before being blown up, like big balloons, to immobilize broken limbs. This will allow the limb to be used as if merely disabled. The splint comes in three forms: arm, leg, and torso. 13. Sterilization unit Weight: 15 kg Power required: no less than 120Volts Effects: This item resembles a cross between an oven and a microwave. Any equipment which needs to be sterilized (such as surgical instruments, surgical gowns and so forth) must first be cleaned by hand and then placed in this unit. It kills all germs and bacteria, making the equipment safe to be used again. Note that clothing must be thoroughly washed before being placed in this unit. 14. Cough syrup. Weight: 100 grams, doses: 20. Effects: When ingested, this will prevent coughing fits for a number of hours equal to 8 - the virulence group of the disease. If the character is doing something strenuous, the length of time the medicine works is cut in half. Running will reduce the time from hours, to 10's of minutes. Multiple does have no effect, unless the does has worn off. 15. Pain Killer Doses: 200, Weight: 200 grams Effects: This is your generic, over the counter pain killer. The average adult will take two to three tablets every four to six hours. This will reduce the effects of pain suffered from wounds and diseases by 2. See the effects of pain as described in the symptoms section. Basically aspirin.