Environmental Hazards¶

The fire arms and combat are not the only thing that can pose harm to the players. Environmental Hazards, such as radiation, toxic fumes and fire. Also the biggest threat for any crew is the vast vacuum that is space.

Acid¶

Acid or corrosive effects also deals 1d6 points of damage to a character. A suits hazard rating may reduce the damage. Falling into a vat of acid and being completely submerged causes 10d6 points of damage per round.

More potent acids might even do more damage, which should always be expressed in fixed amounts of damage added to the dice roll.

Cold¶

An unprotected character in cold environments (below 5 degrees Celsius) must make a constitution check every hour, against a DC of 5, +1 for each additional hour of exposure or take 1d6 points of damage.

An unprotected character inn conditions of severe cold (below -20 degrees Celsius) must make the same check every ten minutes, or take 1d6 points of damage.

Extreme cold (below -40 degrees Celsius) deals 1d6 points of damage per minute, and no save is allowed, to an unprotected character.

Cold damage cannot be cured until the character gets out of the cold and warms up. If the character warms up he cures the cold damage over the course of one hour per each damage he or she has suffered.

Darkness¶

In darkness a character is considered blinded, unless he has a visual aid, such as night vision or thermal imaging goggles.

See the blinded state in the Injury and Death regarding for further rules.

Low light environment, for example those just illuminated by emergency lights, will and should incur penalties to the DC of tasks that require perception. It is up the game master to set this DC. A rule of thumb is that the range of this penalty should lie between +1 and +5, depending on illumination.

Creatures with echolocation or scent abilities can still use these methods to move about and act normally in complete darkness. Some creatures might even be possible to see normally in darkness or low light environments.

Falling¶

The basic rule is: for every three metres a character falls he takes 1d6 points of damage.

If a character deliberately jumps the three metres, he may make an acrobatics check against the first set of damage, with a DC of 5 plus the metres fallen, to avoid the 1d6 points of damage.

Should the ground be soft or giving the threshold of when damage begins is increased. Landing on soft pillow cushions, or a training mat will allow a person to fall three or up to five metres higher without taking damage.

The same applies by falling into deep waters. If the water is deep enough, the player can jump into water from roughly twenty metres without taking damage. For every five metres above that you still take 1d6 points of damage.

Fire Hazards¶

Fire hazards come in various shapes in sizes. The most common hazards though do 1d6 points of fire damage. It is up to the game master and the situation to allow a player a dodge away from a fire hazard. For example if a small gas leak catches fire, and would otherwise harm the player, the game master might rule that the player can dodge out of the way of the fire stream.

Being completely engulfed in flames is different from being burned, and may cause additional fire damage. It is up the game master to add additional dices to such circumstances.

A suits hazard rating may reduce the damage from fire hazards. The suit may still catch fire though.

If the player catches on fire, he takes an additional 1d6 fire damage each round until the fire is put out. Taking out out the fire takes a dexterity or strength check against a fixed DC of 7.

Another player can help, either with some sort of fire blanket or fire extinguisher.

Also note that fire needs an oxygen environment to work, and the the most common way to remove fire hazards on ships is to vent the air in said room to space.

Radiation Hazards¶

Radiation is prevalent in space, on space walks say, certain planets or things that require fuel are damaged. Damaged cores or damaged FTL drives may radiation depending on how much they are damaged.

It is up to the game master to define the radiation that is present in the background. The background radiation can be confined to a specific area, but should always be a flat number. If a person or character is present in a contaminated area, he takes this flat number as wound damage for every minute he is in the area. The radiation damage thus reduces his maximum hit points. This wounding damage does not incur any additional wounds.

The wounding damage, represents radiation sickness, and must be cured appropriately. A doctor can cure radiation poisoning just like any other wound, see Injury and Death. Suits can protect against radiation, and provide flat resistance to radiation damage.

Lack of Air¶

For every minute a person is deprived of breathable air, he may make a check with his constitution modifier to see if he starts suffocating. The DC starts at 5 and increases by +2 for every additional minute. On the first failed check he starts to suffocate, and takes 1d6 damage each round.

If the player reaches zero hit points he automatically becomes unconscious, and if he reaches negative maximum hit points he dies.

As long as he has not reached negative maximum hit points, a person capable of first aid or medicine can resuscitate him by supplying oxygen and by making an appropriate skill check against a DC of 8. If the check is successful the character regains conscious and regains any suffocation damage over a course of one minute.

Smoke and fog¶

Smoke obscures vision, and when inhaled might be poisonous. Depending on the smoke or fog in question, vision might be limited and the game master gives out penalties on perception based skill checks.

If the smoke is deemed poisonous or unhealthy to the players, such as hot fumes from fires or toxic vapour from acids and other dangerous chemicals, he may ask the players to roll a constitution check to avoid inhaling the fumes. The rules are the same as with drowning as the players are holding their breath.

Suits with a closed breathing apparatus, or gas masks may make one immune to such fumes.

If the fume is inhaled the, fume may do additional damage to the player, such as radiation damage, acid damage or fire damage. Burning hot fumes, such as steam may cause direct fire damage upon contact even if the player avoided breathing it in. The same applies to clouds of acidic fumes and fogs.

Starvation and Thirst¶

Characters might find themselves out of food and water, and without the means of obtaining them. In normal climates a person requires 2 litres of water per day, and in hot environments even up to four litres per day.

A character can go without water for one day plus a number of hours equal to his constitution rank. For each additional hour afterwards without water the character must make a constitution check against a DC of 5 plus the numbers of hours passed, or take 1d6 points of damage.

Characters can go without food for three days, in growing discomfort. After that time the character has to make constitution check against a DC of 5 plus one for each additional day or take 1d6 points of damage.

Strong winds and storms¶

Storms and strong winds impede the players movement, and the storm itself is treated as difficult terrain (see movement for details on that). It may also make piloting or driving checks more difficult and impair vision. These should be expressed as additional penalties to the DC of the respective skill checks. Usually ranging from between +1 for mild storms, and +5 for storms.

Many storms may also carry other hazards with them. On many planets, storms become much more violent as those on Earth and may thus pose an additional threat. A strong sand storm (above 500 kmh in wind speed) can cause injury to any unprotected person, as the sand is effectively sand blasting the persons skin. Strong wind currents may also carry radiation, toxic or acidic fumes with them which also pose health risks to unprotected characters.