Conditions & Syndromes
a guide to conditions & syndromes that can affect players in sessions
Conditions
Conditions represent innate or acquired physical and mental constraints. These can be injuries, maladies, pathologies, dispositions or mental illnesses. The most typical way to get a condition is through combat.
When you suffer a critical hit to your character roll 2d6 with the first die is the tens digit, the second die is the ones digit. Consult the conditions below and apply the one with number that corresponds to your dice roll.
Severities
Each condition has 2 severities. First severity point represents impairment and the second represents significant loss or function or more significant impairment. Severity increases if you acquire the same condition twice. Conditions on the second severity point double the Difficulty Score , credit cost and treatment time by their listed values.
Physical
11-15. Arm Injury: -1 DS penalty to skill tests relying on arm use, cannot use: Difficulty Score 3, 2000cs, 7 days.
16-23. Leg Injury: -1 DS penalty to skill tests relying on leg use, cannot use: Difficulty Score 3, 2000cs, 7 days.
24-26. Brain injury - In combat, roll diligence Difficulty Score 3 or lose Brief Action, -2 to all rolls: Difficulty Score 5, 10000cs, 3 days.
31–33. Eye Damage - 1 DS penalty to tests relying on sight, Blind: Difficulty Score 6, 8000 cs, 14 days.
34–36. Ear Damage -1 DS penalty to tests relying on hearing , Deaf: Difficulty Score 3, 4000 cs, 21 days.
41–42. Throat Damage: -1 DS penalty to tests relying on speech, Mute: Difficulty Score 4, 1000 cs, 6 days.
43–44. internal bleeding: Manoeuvre and Reflex Action actions cause one wound, all actions except free cause one wound: Difficulty Score 7, 700, 2 day.
45–46. Weakened Body: -1 DS penalty to tests, -2 DS penalty to tests. Difficulty Score 3, 2000 cs, 30 days.
51–52. Organ Trauma: +1 damage received from attacks, Exhausted (1): Difficulty Score 7, 9000 cs, 10 days.
53–54. Respiratory Damage: -2 DS penalty to athletics and endurance, half movement and suffer the suffocating status: Difficulty Score 8, 10000, 1 day.
55. Cardiac Damage: Must pass DS 2 diligence test or lose tactical action. Must instead pass DS 4 diligence test or lose tactical action: Difficulty Score 5, 20000 cs, 3 days.
56. Spinal Damage: movement halved regardless of on foot or in vehicle, paralysed: Difficulty Score 10, 30000 cs, 31 days.
Mental
For mental conditions the first severity point subtracts 1 from the associated attribute score. The second point of severity reduces the associated attribute score by severity 2.
61. Mood Symptoms (Diligence) Difficulty Score 4, 8000 cs, 30 days.
62. Dissociative Symptoms (Technique) Difficulty Score 6, 6000 cs, 28 days.
63. Trauma Symptoms (Grit) Difficulty Score 7, 7000 cs, 31 days.
64. Psychotic Symptoms (Reason) Difficulty Score 5, 9000 cs, 20 days.
65. Anxious Symptoms (Cunning) Difficulty Score 3, 6000 cs, 21 days.
66. Psychosomatic Symptoms: Increase severity of an existing physical condition. If this cannot be done, acquire a random physical condition.
Diagnosis
Before physical or mental conditions can be treated or temporised a diagnosis must be attempted. For physical conditions this is done by rolling a successful detect test as a free action. Mental conditions are diagnosed by rolling successful insight checks. The unmodified difficulty score of these tests is the treatment’s difficulty score. Failing these tests adds Difficulty Score (equal to difference between test score and target score) to any tests made to treat or temporize them. Conditions only need to be diagnosed once before being temporised or treated, diagnosing can be attempted once per scene or encounter. Targets that have been successfully diagnosed can be treated or temporised as a brief action instead of a tactical.
Treatment
All conditions may be resolved with adequate treatment. Each condition has an associated aid check, credit cost and time to treat. Successful treatment involves meeting these 3 requirements, once these requirements are met you remove the condition along with associated penalties. You can ignore a single requirement for treatment by doubling the Difficulty Score of the aid/resolve check, credit cost or time to treat associated with the remaining 2 requirements. You may ignore 2 treatment requirements by tripling the Difficulty Score of the aid/resolve check, credit cost or time to treat associated with the remaining 1 requirement.
Requirements
Meet All Requirements: You can meet all requirements of treating the listed condition
- Example: You have diagnosed an injured teammate but the threat is over, roll an aid skill test, pay the listed cryptoscrip cost and wait the listed treatment time.
Ignore ONE Requirement: You can skip paying one of the three costs, but you must double the other two.
- Example (Skip Time): Need to get a fighter back into the fight now. Double the DS of the Aid check and double the credit cost, but the treatment is instant.
- Example (Skip Credits): You're broke. Double the DS of the check and double the required treatment time, but it costs nothing.
- Example (Skip the Skill Check): You have no medic. Double the credit cost and double the treatment time, but no roll is needed.
Ignore TWO Requirements: You can skip paying two of the three costs, but you must triple the single remaining cost.
- Example (Skip Time & Credits): A desperate field operation with no money. Triple the DS of the Aid check to perform a miraculous, resource-free instant treatment.
- Example (Skip Skill & Time): A wealthy character paying for an experimental, instant cure. Triple the credit cost.
Temporise
You can temporise all of a targets conditions to reduce its severity to 0 with a successful Difficulty Score 7 aid (for physical condition) or Resolve (for mental resolve) test. If a temporised character loses 1 wound all temporized conditions become severity 2. Temporizing can also be used to remove any active statuses by rolling a DS 2 aid test with + 1 for each status.
Other Modifiers to Treatment
The GM may apply additional penalties or bonuses to any aspect of treatment, diagnosis or temporisation based on the narrative up to an including preventing or permitting treatment when it would be otherwise possible or impossible respectively .
Syndromes
Syndromes are collections of conditions that come from one source like pathogen, radiation or a disease. When diagnosing, treating or temporizing a syndrome the Difficulty score, criptoscirp cost and time required for treatment are the highest values from the conditions that comprise the syndrome. Meeting these requirements means that all conditions within the syndrome have been successfully diagnosed, treated or temporized.
Expanded List of Syndromes
This section covers modelling illnesses through the syndrome system. These are recommendations to give you an idea but it is strongly encouraged that you tweak and alter these to suit your sessions. It is advised that in a scene or encounter that you don't overload players with syndromes and that you consider syndromes to be the primary threat of any scene or encounter. Bear in mind typical players will naturally be orientated to treating a syndrome as quickly as possible. Consider building off this urgency to make the session engaging. Also consider giving the condition to few players to ensure investment in an outcome.
Acarids
- Conditions: Weakened Body (Severity 1), Mood Symptoms (Severity 1), Dissociative symptoms
- Treatment: DS 5, 5000cs, 3 days (cryotherapy).
- Lore: Acarids neotenic forms are small blood sucking parasites. Latching to the host in dense clumps they feed until the host dies from blood loss or disease. As the grow their mouth parts develop until they can strip corpses which allows them to mature into queens which then begin the familiar eusocial colonies.
- Cure Item: Acaricides (Anoxic poison spray).
- Additional Effect: -3 endurance (Septicaemia)
Radiation Sickness
- Conditions: Organ Trauma (Severity 1), Respiratory Damage (Severity 1), Weakened Body (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 8, 10000cs, 14 days (chelation therapy).
- Lore: Caused by prolonged exposure to ionizing radiation (e.g., nuclear accidents). Victims suffer nausea, hair loss, and internal bleeding.
- Cure Item: Prussian Blue Tablets (binds radioactive particles).
- Additional Effect: -2 Resilience (immune system collapse).
Hypothermic Fibrosis
- Conditions: Respiratory Damage (Severity 1), weakened body (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 7, 8000cs, 21 days (gradual rewarming).
- Lore: Prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures causes lung scarring and frostbite.
- Cure Item: Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber.
- Additional Effect: -1 Speed (tissue damage).
Envenomation
- Conditions: Internal Bleeding (Severity 1), Cardiac Damage (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 7, 12000cs, 3 days (antivenom infusion).
- Lore: Result of venomous bites that attack blood and heart tissue.
- Cure Item: Polyvalent Antivenom.
- Additional Effect: Stunned (neurotoxin-induced paralysis).
Post-Traumatic Encephalopathy
- Conditions: Brain Injury (Severity 1), Trauma Symptoms (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 6, 15000cs, 60 days (cognitive therapy).
- Lore: Caused by repeated head trauma (e.g., concussions), leading to memory loss and aggression.
- Cure Item: Neuroregenerative Stimulant.
- Additional Effect: -2 Reason.
Silicosis
- Conditions: Respiratory Damage (Severity 2), Eye Damage (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 8, 9000cs, 90 days (lung lavage).
- Lore: Inhaled silica dust (e.g., mining) scars lungs and irritates eyes.
- Cure Item: Bronchodilator Injector.
- Additional Effect: Suffocating (during exertion).
Parasitosis
- Conditions: Internal Bleeding (Severity 1), Weakened Body (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 6, 6000cs, 14 days (antiparasitic drugs).
- Lore: Malaria-like parasite destroys red blood cells, causing anemia.
- Cure Item: Artemisinin Supplements.
- Additional Effect: -3 Vigor (severe anemia).
Decompression Sickness
- Conditions: Respiratory Damage (Severity 1), Psychotic Symptoms (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 7, 20000cs, 1 day (recompression chamber).
- Lore: Rapid ascent from deep water causes nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream.
- Cure Item: Hyperbaric Chamber Access.
- Additional Effect: Dazed (joint pain).
Neurodegenerative Myelitis
- Conditions: Spinal Damage (Severity 1), Psychosomatic Symptoms (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 10, 50000cs, 180 days (immunosuppressants).
- Lore: Autoimmune disorder attacking the spinal cord (similar to ALS).
- Cure Item: Stem Cell Therapy.
- Additional Effect: -2 Fortitude.
Throat Mites
- Conditions: Throat Damage (Severity 1), Dissociative Symptoms (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 6, 8000cs, 10 days (muscle relaxants).
- Lore: Microscopic metallic arthropods that have spread from some unknown planet to most orbital communities. leads to bacterial infection (e.g., tetanus) causes muscle spasms and lockjaw.
- Cure Item: Tetanus Antitoxin.
- Additional Effect: Restrained (muscle rigidity).
Dust Lung
- Conditions: Respiratory Damage (Severity 2), Organ Trauma (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 8, 15000cs, 365 days (oxygen therapy).
- Lore: "Black lung" disease from mineral dust inhalation.
- Cure Item: Lung Transplant.
- Additional Effect: Exhausted (chronic hypoxia).
Traumatic Ocular Neuropathy
- Conditions: Eye Damage (Severity 1), Anxious Symptoms (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 6, 10000cs, 30 days (corticosteroids).
- Lore: Optic nerve damage from blunt trauma or extreme stress.
- Cure Item: Retinal Prosthesis.
- Additional Effect: Blind (temporary).
Sepsis-Induced Delirium
- Conditions: Organ Trauma (Severity 2), Trauma Symptoms (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 9, 20000cs, 7 days (broad-spectrum antibiotics).
- Lore: Untreated infections lead to systemic organ failure and confusion.
- Cure Item: IV Antibiotic Kit.
- Additional Effect: Unconscious (if untreated for 24h).
Hab Sickness
- Conditions: Weakened Body (Severity 2), Psychosomatic Symptoms (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 7, 8000cs, 30 days (antifungals).
- Lore: Fungal overgrowth exposure especially in poorly maintained life support systems.
- Cure Item: Fluconazole Injector.
- Additional Effect: -1 Defense (skin/mucous membrane breakdown).
Barotrauma
- Conditions: Ear Damage (Severity 2), Cardiac Damage (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 5, 12000cs, 14 days (rest and NSAIDs).
- Lore: Pressure damage from diving or explosions ruptures eardrums and strains the heart.
- Cure Item: Tympanic Membrane Patch.
- Additional Effect: -2 Resilience (vertigo).
Rabies Encephalitis
- Conditions: Leg Injury (Severity 1), Mood Symptoms (Severity 2).
- Treatment: DS 8, 50000cs, 10 days (post-exposure prophylaxis).
- Lore: Viral infection from animal bites causing hydrophobia and aggression.
- Cure Item: Rabies Immunoglobulin.
- Additional Effect: Frenzied (final stages).
Solar Retinopathy
- Conditions: Eye Damage (Severity 2), Weakened Body (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 6, 7000cs, 60 days (UV-blocking therapy).
- Lore: Retinal burns from staring at the sun or UV exposure.
- Cure Item: Photorepair Nanodrops.
- Additional Effect: Exhausted (light sensitivity).
Spinal Tuberculosis
- Conditions: Spinal Damage (Severity 1), weakened body(Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 9, 30000cs, 180 days (antibiotic regimen).
- Lore: Bacterial infection (Pott’s disease) destroys vertebrae.
- Cure Item: Rifampin Injector.
- Additional Effect: -3 Defense (spinal instability).
Viral Meningoencephalitis
- Conditions: Brain Injury (Severity 1), Dissociative Symptoms (Severity 2).
- Treatment: DS 7, 15000cs, 21 days (antiviral drugs).
- Lore: insect-borne virus inflames the brain and spinal cord.
- Cure Item: Acyclovir Infusion.
- Additional Effect: Unconscious (if untreated).
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation
- Conditions: Internal Bleeding (Severity 2), Psychotic Symptoms (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 10, 25000cs, 7 days (blood thinners).
- Lore: Blood clots and hemorrhages caused by severe trauma or sepsis.
- Cure Item: Heparin Dispenser.
- Additional Effect: Hemorrhage {2} (ongoing bleeding).
Cachexia Syndrome
- Conditions: Organ Trauma (Severity 2), Anxious Symptoms (Severity 1).
- Treatment: DS 7, 12000cs, 90 days (nutritional IV therapy).
- Lore: Extreme muscle wasting from chronic illness (e.g., cancer).
- Cure Item: Anabolic Steroid Pack.
- Additional Effect: Starvation (metabolic failure).