For players who are really into role-playing or GMs who really like to torment their players. I got the idea from the "asthma" cases in The Running Man. Feedback appreciated.
Emphysema:
The destruction of the bits of lung that transfer oxygen from the air to your blood. In 2020, this is mostly via air pollution, but cigarettes will give you emphysema as well. Emphysema basically makes it feel like you can’t breathe (you CAN actually breathe, its just not doing you any good). Eventually it kills you.
Mechanics: Figure out the air quality for the day. Your character picks up a number of pollution points according to the chart below. When they get a certain number of points (this is unscientific, but emphysema takes a while to develop, so I’d say 100pts, any lung doctors in the house have any ideas?), they gain a -1 to all physical checks, since they’re starting to have trouble breathing. The pollution points reset to zero and the climb to the next penalty (cumulative, of course) starts over.
Remedy: Prevention is the only good remedy. Nanotreatments can rebuild your lungs, but whose got the euro for that? Filters will keep the gunk out of your lungs. Any number of cyber and bioware options can do this, or you can just buy nose filters. A good filter would last for a month, a bad filter might last for a week. When they get clogged, you throw them away and get new ones. Filters cost 25¢ per pollution point they’ll filter and are available in 1, 5, 20, 40, 60-point varieties. 40 & 60 pt filters can be bought as cleanable, reusable filters for $2 per point (a good value unless you tend to lose small things).
Your lungs can clean themselves out if exposed to clean air (no laughing). For every five days at good air quality, -1 pollution point (again, that’s unscientific, where are those lung doctors?).
Nanotreatments: $250,000 and you have nice, pink, healthy lungs.
| Emphysema Chart |
|---|
| Air Quality | Description | Pollution Pts. |
|---|
| Good | clear air | 0 |
| Moderate | hazy | 1 |
| Bad | smoggy | 2
| Dangerous | you can taste the air | 5 |
| Modifiers |
|---|
| Light Smoker | 1-5 cigarettes/day | +1 |
| Moderate Smoker | 6-15 cigarettes/day | +2 |
| Heavy Smoker | 16+ cigarettes/day | +3 | |
(P.s. I don’t want to get into it with the anti-smoking people, if
you want to discourage PC smoking, house-rule the modifier up)
Skin Cancer
Exposure to UV radiation in sunlight degrades skin cells to the point where they start replicating madly.
Mechanics: Every day your character is exposed to strong sunlight, give them a sun point. 50 sun points equals a rad (like in Near Orbit/Deep Space).
Prevention: either stay out of the sun (smog works nicely) or use sunblock on sunny days. Cheap sunblock costs $1/week and halves UV damage. Good sunblock costs $1/use and stops UV damage. Both cheap and good sunblock dry out your skin (see next section). Moisturizing sunblock costs $6/use. Sunblock is sold in individual applications or in 20 application tubes. An application is good for your face and arms, or your legs. Full body coverage would require 3 applications (and someone to put it on your back). Why does full body coverage require 3 applications? So the cosmetic companies can make more money off your cancerous ass, that’s why
Repair: When you get a tumor, surgery can remove it for $15,000 and -1 ATTR due to scarring and missing skin.
Nanotreatments: cost $100,000 and repair all damage.
NOTE: FashionWare Chemskins and SynthSkins do not block UV radiation.
Toxicity
Pollutants and chemicals soak through your skin, get into your foot/water and collect in your blood. Toxic buildup in the blood makes you more susceptible to disease and eventually poisons you.
Mechanics: A month of daily living in a toxic environment (just about any Cyberpunk city) gets you -1 to resist disease. Extra points can be had from toxic events (spills, large pollution releases). When you hit -5, you get a cold that won’t go away. When you hit -10, stop accumulating resist disease penalties and start taking 1d6 damage per month from poisoning. This damage does not appear on the wound track, but you don’t heal from it. Blood toxicity damage builds up until you get treatment, or die.
Remedy: Cleansing “vitamins” bind toxins in the blood and remove them through your digestive system. Daily tabs cost $3/use and must be taken daily (hence the name). Weekly tabs cost $8/use; monthly tabs cost $25/use. Tabs must be taken regularly and can only prevent buildup of toxins; they can not reduce blood toxin levels.
Nanotreatments: cost $375 and reduce blood toxin levels to zero. There are a number of cyber and bioware options that eliminate blood toxicity.
Malnutrition
Junk food does not cut it.
Mechanics: After a time eating crap, you start to get lethargic, -1 to all physical activity checks per month. When you get to -5, heal at half rate (penalties keep accumulating). When you get to -10, start taking 1d6 damage per month (penalties keep accumulating), the damage does not appear on the wound track, but it doesn’t heal until the malnutrition is remedied.
Remedy: EAT SOMETHING, CHOOH-HEAD! Even kibble has enough nutrients to keep you alive. Recovery from malnutrition takes one week per one month of bad eating.
Bad Skin
Exposure to pollutants, toxins and chemicals (like sunblock) dry out your skin to the point where it’s visibly messed up.
Mechanics: After a month of living with untreated skin, -1 to social checks on the streets, -5 to social checks in polite society until a week of daily moisturizing or a exfoliation.
Remedy: Regular use of moisturizer (weekly) will stop obvious skin damage. Daily use will leave your skin nice and smooth (+1 W/S). Moisturizer costs $1/use and is sold in single use or 30 use packages. More elaborate cosmetic treatments will reverse existing damage and prevent damage for a month, price at the GMs discretion (soak the narcissistic bassids).
Bad Hair
Exposure to pollutants, toxins and humid or dry air freak your hair out.
Mechanics: -1 to social checks on the streets, -5 to social checks in polite society.
Remedy: regular use of hair conditioner (weekly) will stop obvious damage. Daily use will leave your hair full, shiny and controllable (+1W/S). Conditioner costs $2/use and is sold in single use and 15 use packages. Shaving your head is cheap, but maintenance is kind of a pain.
Body Odor
You STINK!!
Mechanics: When you haven’t showered for a week, you smell bad. Count a hot or a particularly active day as three days. A particularly active day when it’s hot counts as six. -2 to social checks on the street, -10 in polite society per unwashed “week”
Remedy: Bathe or shower regularly. A pay shower costs $5-10, depending on local water supplies If you have regular utility service, just remember to buy soap occasionally. Deodorant or perfume will mask BO; those shower in a can things count as showering.
Sweet Funk
Substituting deodorant for bathing regularly does not cut it.
Mechanics: if you use deodorant or perfume instead of showering for a “week”, you have sweet funk (or spicy funk, or musky funk, depending on what your stuff smells like). -1 to social checks on the street, -5 in polite society.
Remedy: Bathe yourself, o foul one.
Tracking
Emphysema, Skin Cancer and Toxicity require dedicated tracking, but the margin of a character sheet will probably do. Malnutrition, Bad Skin/Hair, BO & Sweet Funk can be tracked on scratch paper or in memory.
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