Edited, updating the wounds and a bit in the Disease section -
Types of Wounds & Infection
While it’s not necessary to track exactly what kind of damage caused each wound, a character will take on one of several conditions when Wounded. It’s possible to have more than one condition, for example, Bloody and Internal Injuries, but not to have the same condition twice, for example Bloody and Bloody. The GM decides what conditions are imposed.
Bloody
- Caused by edged weapons, or as determined by the GM.
- Each day the Character is Bloody and not treated, the character is exposed to a Bacterial Severe Disease (i.e. sepsis, see below).
- Dusting a Wound with powdered penicillin and changing the bandage stops exposure to sepsis, effectively ending The Bloody Condition.
- Using a Physician’s kit to treat any wound removes the Bloody Condition. Healing all wounds through any method removes the Bloody Condition.
Internal Bleeding
- Caused by blunt weapons, falling, or magical attacks, etc.
- Each morning, prior to the first Recovery test, the character takes Step Damage equal to the number of wounds. This makes it very difficult to heal wounds
- Internal Bleeding is stopped by using any magical healing. It can also be stopped by using rolling Physician (8) and taking a day of bedrest.
Burned
- Burns are caused by fire, electrical or chemical attacks, etc.
- Each day the Character is Burned and not treated with powdered penicillin, the character is exposed to a Bacterial Severe Disease (i.e. sepsis, see below).
- The Burned condition can be removed by rolling Physician (8) and taking a day of bedrest.
- Lionel’s Decoction, most widely available in the Gruv, also removes the Burned Condition.
Disease & Minor Injuries
Disease is a squirrely thing in RPGs, because no one wants to play-pretend being sick. On the other hand, medicine was going through some heroic changes in the Victorian era, and that’s interesting.
Player Characters Getting Sick or Injured - Not Damaged
PCs will only get sick in the context of an adventure. Situations that occur to me:
- Disease-ridden city. Use Physician like Wilderness Survival, TN (7) each day to protect the group. You can take the step on this test. Each Success protects 1 character; each test takes 2 hours. The characters are protected for a week. If there isn’t enough protection for everyone, the PC exposed is chosen at random. The GM will have decided what type of diseases are in the city, moderate or severe.
- Wilderness travel. Use Wilderness Survival to find Shelter protects each person from Injury and disease. These can be made weekly. In civilization, preparing for an expedition, the character can take the step for this test. If there isn’t enough protection for everyone, the PC exposed is chosen at random.
-- Exposure to a Moderate Disease on a Rule of 1.
-- Injuries & accidents: Fatigue, Sunburn, Strains & Sprains, Blisters, Venomous Vermin, Minor Illness.
Disease Effects
The rules in the book are probably very well-researched but a smidge complicated. Instead, each Disease fits neatly into Debilitating and/or Damage. They may have additional features: Death, Attribute Loss, or Fever.
- Deadly Diseases work slightly different than poisons. If the Debilitation drops a character’s Toughness Step to 0 at any point, the character will die once the disease runs its course. At this point, the only thing that can save the character is a Resist Disease potion. If the character makes a Resistance test against the Disease’s Effect Step, the character will survive.
- Attribute Loss: Diseases that cause Attribute Loss don’t cause wounds. Instead, each Wound that would be caused by a Disease causes an Attribute Point lost. The Attribute is chosen at random. When a character increases their Professional Rank, all lost Attribute Points are restored
- Fever works just like in the book.
- Damage occurs every day, regardless of whether it is a Moderate or Severe Disease. If the character is on bedrest, it can be assumed that all Recovery Tests recover all damage, but you should still roll them in case of wounds.
Diseases are divided into Minor, Moderate and Severe.
- Minor illnesses are treated as described on p. 233.
- Moderate Diseases
-- Onset time: 1-2 days, duration effect test days.
-- Choose 2: Debilitating, Damage, Fever.
-- 50% are bacterial and can be treated with penicillin.
- Severe Diseases
-- Onset time: 1-2 days, duration effect test weeks.
-- Always Debilitating and Damage
-- Choose 2: Damage, Fever, Attribute Loss, Death.
-- 50% are bacterial and can be treated with penicillin.
Recovering from Disease
Treating Symptoms
Aspirin, Laudanum, and Chlorodyne can be used to treat the symptoms of disease. Laudanum and Chlorodyne only force the user to make a Toughness test to remain awake if the character uses a recovery test during the duration.
Curing a Disease
Left alone, most diseases run their course over the course of their duration. Each successful Resistance test reduces the duration by one day (for Moderate Illnesses) or one week (for Severe Illnesses) per success. Characters only get Resistance tests under certain conditions.
- Charity hospital care grants one test per week. However, conditions are less than sanitary, so patients are also exposed to 1 Moderate disease each time they check into the hospital. In Victorian London, at least, the hospitals are mostly free.
- Private Care with a physician costs £1/10 per day for Moderate Diseases or £7 per week for Severe Diseases. If the physician makes their test, it grants one Resistance test, adding the rank of the Physician to the roll. The TN for a Moderate Disease is 6; for a Severe Disease it is 15. For PC physicians, they must spend at least half the fee on supplies, and the supplies may be difficult to locate outside of major cities.
- Resist Disease potions grant an immediate Resistance test, with the bonus described.
- Injections of penicillin grant the bonuses described in the book (+4, then +2 and +2 cumulative) against bacterial diseases. A course of penicillin can only be given once per disease.
Example:
Gerald has a acquired a Severe Disease in a cholera-ridden city on the continent. His twin sister, Geraldine, will be treating him. Decided randomly, the disease is Debilitating, effect 7, Onset 2 Days, Duration 3 weeks, with Fever, Attribute Loss, and Death, Bacterial.
She’s offering private care and tries to come up with a personalized care routine, rolling a 31 the first week, granting her rank (3) as a bonus to his Resistance test.
- The damage rolls for the first week: 15, 7, 4, 2, 10, 1, 11. That beats his Wound Threshold 4 times, causing no actual wounds but reducing Dex, Strength, Toughness, and Perception each by 1. Because he’s on bedrest, the damage itself is ignored.
Gerald makes a Resistance test. His Toughness is 4, her Physician skill is 3, she’s given him penicillin for +8. His final step is 15, on which he rolled a 9, reducing the Duration by 1 week. The fever she controls with asprin.
- The second week: 3, 14, 10, 10, 9, 4. That beats his Wound Threshold 4 more times, reducing his Perception by 2, Strength by 1, and Charisma by 1. At this point the disease has run its course. The fever she controls with asprin.
It was brutal, reducing his Dexterity to 18, Strength to 6, Toughness to 7, Perception to 15, and charisma to 13. If his Toughness had been reduced by one more, he probably would have died. Until he’s able to increase his professional rank, the deck is stacked against him. Characters with a Toughness Attribute of 8 should avoid getting sick.Statistics:Posted by Slimcreeper — Thu Jan 02, 2020 11:32 pm
]]>