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haracters often interact with their envi- ronment as much as they interact with each other. Even relatively insignificant factors, such as temperature or rainfall, can cause serious problems in certain situations. This section contains optional rules for modeling environmental effects and using them in your game.Since these rules generally require more book- keeping, you probably won’t want to use them all the time. One of the best uses is for the GM to determine just how long characters can survive in certain conditions; he can then use this informa- tion for dramatic effect. For instance, the GM can
determine how far characters can walk across a desert after they run out of water, and then make sure he puts an oasis at just the right spot. In an exploration scenario, a mysterious stranger can arrive in time to rescue the characters from the freezing blizzard. Similarly, these rules make it easier for players to determine whether their char- acters have adequate supplies for a journey.
Environmental effects can (and often do) affect characters simultaneously. For instance, a char- acter could be dehydrated, starving, and crossing a hot desert all at once. He’d suffer the listed effects for all of these conditions, which would put him in pretty bad shape fairly quickly.
Remember, in non-combat situations, everyone is considered to act at SPD 2 at all times. This is important when evaluating the long term effects on an environment. Also, even in a combat situ- ation, characters may elect to act at a lower than normal SPD, down to a minimum of SPD 2. This significantly reduces the effects of the environ- ment on a character.
DARKNESS
Adventurers often get into situations where the lighting is poor... or non-existent. The Sight Modifiers Table on 6E2 12 lists the standard Sight Group PER Roll modifiers for conditions of less than optimal lighting, including -2 for nighttime and -4 for a dark night (such as might occur on a moonless night way out in the country, far from any of the lights of civilization). Those penalties do not apply to characters’ CVs, but the GM may want characters to make PER Rolls each Phase to determine what they can accurately perceive, and impose non-perception penalties (6E2 7) if they fail. (Characters with Nightvision, which cancels out the PER penalty for dark conditions, don’t suffer these problems.)
DEHyDRATION
Normal people die in about two to three days without water at normal temperatures. Since there’s water in food, eating can help a character last longer. The appropriate Survival Skill, along with related Knowledge Skills (for the area, plant and animal life, geology, and so on), can help a character find water. If he finds water, he can post- pone or counteract these dehydration effects — at least temporarily.
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After a character has not drunk any water for 24 hours, the basic level of dehydration sets in. This means he suffers 1d6 Normal Damage (no defense) every 6 hours. The character Recovers the lost STUN normally. The GM can consider this STUN loss to be a dizzy spell or period of light- headedness (occurring, of course, at an appropri- ately dramatic moment during the six-hour period of effect); or it can occur gradually over the time period. The character regains his BODY through the normal healing process. Once he reaches 0 BODY, he loses 1d6 BODY every hour until he dies.
High temperature hastens the effects of dehydration. Each Temperature Level above the Comfort Zone (see Temperature, below) adds 1d6 to the dehydration effect; for instance, Tempera- ture Level 3 would mean 4d6 of dehydration every 6 hours. Of course, Temperature Level usually varies throughout the six hour time; if necessary, the GM should establish an average Temperature Level for each 6 hour period.
While this may not seem like too much of an effect, it’s important to note that the effects of dehydration are in addition to the effects of high temperatures. The combination of the two can kill a man in hours. See the Temperature section for more information on Temperature Levels.
FROSTBITE
Extreme cold causes frostbite — an unpleasant condition in which the flesh actually freezes and dies. The dead flesh can become gangrenous if not removed. Typically it affects the extremi- ties (fingers, toes, limbs, ears, nose). Some of the BODY damage caused by low Temperature Levels (see below) can be frostbite. Frostbite isn’t a particularly dramatic or interesting condition to inflict on PCs; it’s useful to point out as a danger in extreme cold conditions, and as a spur to action for the heroes, but isn’t really a fun thing to have happen to a hero.
STARVATION
Normal people die after about two weeks without food. Of course, a lot depends on the initial health and weight of the starving person, and the amount of activity he experiences while starving. Starvation takes a long time to occur, and thus rarely factors into a roleplaying game. However, the occasional desert expedition or a prisoner locked in a dungeon may experience some starvation. An appropriate Survival Skill helps a character find food in the wilderness, if that happens to be his situation.
Starvation doesn’t begin to have effects until a character hasn’t eaten for about two to three days (the GM can adjust this period to account for activity and other conditions). After that time, he suffers 1d6 Normal Damage per day (no defense). He Recovers the lost STUN normally, and heals the lost BODY normally as well (but he won’t get his monthly BODY Recovery until the starvation ends). The GM can use the STUN loss as a dizzy
spell or light-headedness for dramatic purposes, as mentioned under Dehydration, above.
In addition to the STUN and BODY lost through starvation, the starving character also loses STR, DEX, and CON at the same rate as BODY. For simplicity, you can just roll one die and use that to determine the amount of all Character- istics lost (e.g., if you roll a 3, you lose 3 STUN, 3 BODY, 3 STR, 1 DEX, and 3 CON). For more vari- able results, you can roll a separate die (looking for Normal Damage BODY) for STR, DEX, and CON. The STR, DEX, CON, and BODY are recovered at the normal rate for lost BODY (1 point per point of REC per month). Poor conditions double or triple this recovery time; excellent conditions halve it. Of course, characters cannot Recover this lost STR, DEX, CON, and BODY until the starva- tion ends.
Unless the GM rules otherwise, Regen- eration has no effect on starvation damage, nor do Healing powers, Paramedics, or the like. (However, a character could easily buy a “starva- tion healing” power with Transform defined as “I create food so the victim can eat it.”)
SUNBURN
Sun exposure can cause bad burns on exposed skin; the degree of sunburn depends on the char- acter’s skin tones, amount of exposure, and the latitude he’s at. The equatorial sun is much fiercer than the sun at high latitudes, which is why people who live near the equator have dark skins and dwellers at high latitudes have light skins.
Sunburn causes Normal Damage (no defense); the amount of damage depends on the amount of skin affected. One way to decide this is by Hit Locations. The head is 1d6, each arm is 1d6, the legs are 2d6 apiece, and the torso is 3d6. (If multiple locations are exposed to the sun, add the dice of damage together.) Those figures are for the entire body, front and back. The GM determines the amount of body exposure and the time of exposure. The damage listed is for the worst possible exposure, which results in second degree burns. For milder cases of sunburn, take no BODY damage, just STUN. Use half the amount of dice for even milder cases. (Note that even these “mild” cases are more severe than most people would ever get.)
Hours of exposure are usually necessary to cause severe sunburn, though once again this depends on many factors. In a roleplaying game situation, this is most likely to occur during long journeys outdoors (especially in deserts or the like), or when a character is Knocked Out and left in the sun. In such a circumstance, a fully clothed character would only be burned on his face and maybe hands, which would cause ½d6 or perhaps just 1 point of STUN.
Once treated, a sunburned character can take a Recovery once per day for the STUN loss. Paramedics Skill reduces this time, or with modern painkillers you could remove the STUN loss entirely. Recovering the BODY from sunburn takes the normal amount of time.