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Old 08-31-2020, 06:34 PM   #11
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Default Re: Radiation in TFT

Why am I being exposed to radiation?
;)
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Old 09-01-2020, 06:57 AM   #12
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Default Re: Radiation in TFT

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Originally Posted by JohnPaulB View Post
Something missing is the onset times of these radiation effects. Do any of these effects start showing up during combat. Or how many minutes later do they occur? Hours later?
The effects occur at the time of the Rad Check roll. Typically this roll happens at the end of each exposure period, or fraction thereof. However I do comment in the entry on Strontium Blades that their properties take effect immediately. I should make it clearer that internal exposure forces a rad check right away, whereas external exposure kicks in at the first time interval. After that, both kinds of exposure follow the same subsequent rad check timetable based on the rad level of the source.

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Attenuation - Divide rads by number of megahexes the target is from the source (same or adjacent megahex is full strength).
So does this mean that if its in your hex (center of megahex) or 4 hexes from that center hex, you get full strength?
Is it -1 for every megahex (three hexes) farther than the initial megahex?
The megahex distancing should work on the same principle as when calculating the DX penalties for missile weapons. So yes, essentially count the megahexes between the source and target. And yes, each additional megahex of distance amplifies the attenuation, cutting the rad value to half, then a third, then a quarter, and so forth.

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Can you walk us through Joe being exposed from Spectrum radiation?
From Energetic radiation?
That's a good idea, I'll work on writing up some examples.
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Old 09-01-2020, 10:22 AM   #13
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Default Re: Radiation in TFT

Here are some examples of radiation in gameplay.

Spectrum Radiation

Three unlucky human warriors - Arn, Belm, and Chut - have been roundly trounced by a group of orcs. Stripped of their garments, they must trek across the burning desert back to their home town. This will expose them to UV radiation. Under normal conditions regular daylight results in 1 rad of exposure every 8 hours, but in conditions where the sunlight is amplified (such as in deserts and on the water), the effect is doubled and a rad check is needed every 4 hours. It takes the warriors about nine hours to get back home, so there will be two checks.
At the end of the first four hours all three make a Rad Check against their Rad Resistance. Being human, they have a rad resistance of 8. Arn makes his roll and suffers no ill effects. Belm fails her roll and has Mild radiation sickness from the UV exposure. Rolling on the Mild result table she gets a 4, which is dehydration. She has -1 DX until she can throw off the effects of the sickness through rest or treatment. Chut also fails his roll and gets a Mild effect roll of 2, which is weakness and a -1 ST adjustment until recovery.
At the end of the second eight hours there is another Rad Check. Arn again succeeds and is still bearing up fine under the harsh sunlight. Belm succeeds as well and does not take another effect. Chut is not so lucky and he fails again. This moves him up to Serious radiation sickness, and he rolls a 1. This is enervation with a penalty of -2 ST, so he is now at a cumulative -3 ST penalty until he recovers.
When dealing with UV damage from sunlight, you can think of Mild UV effects as sunburn, Serious UV effects as sunstroke, and Critical UV effects as sun poisoning.

Ionic Radiation

Our human warrior Arn is locked in combat with a skeleton wielding a Strontium Blade. This is a radioactive sword that emits ionic radiation and has a strength of 5 rads. Just being in the presence of the unshielded weapon would require a rad check every 10 minutes. But Arn has been struck with it and taken damage from it. This is now internal exposure to the source, and means that a rad check must be made immediately. Arn fails his roll (rad resistance of 8 for humans) and must roll a Mild radiation sickness effect. He rolls a 6 which is lassitude, and has a -2 MA penalty inflicted. This begins his exposure cycle, and now he must make a further roll every 10 minutes as long as he continues to be exposed to the weapon.
Meanwhile our human warrier Belm is investigating a deep chamber of the dungeon and has stumbled into a pocket of radon gas. This is a 1 rad source, but she has breathed it in and thus it is also an internal exposure. She must make an immediate rad check. Worse, she now has 1 rad internalised, and will need to make a further rad check every hour until she can flush the radiation from her body. Ionic radiation inside the body is notoriously deadly.

Energetic Radiation

Our human warrior Chut is being led by a friendly gargoyle to an old artifact site where an ancient machine lies partially in ruins. What neither Chut nor the gargoyle know is that the device is a nuclear power core with a cracked casing holding residual plutonium. This artifact is a 20 rad source of energetic radiation. Chut approaches to examine the machine. This puts him within a megahex of the source, so there is no attenuation and he is exposed to the full rad amount. 20 rads means he will have to make a rad check every 3 minutes against his human rad resistance of 8.
Meanwhile the gargoyle is more cautious regarding old artifacts and remains 3 megahexes away. This means the radiation level has attenuated to a third by the time it reaches the gargoyle, reducing its potency to 7 (20 / 3 = 6.66) rads. The gargoyle will need to make a rad check every 8 minutes at this range. Being a gargoyle it has a rad resistance of 12.

Magical Radiation

Vvulf the Vvizard has purchased an unusual stone from a mysterious vendor in the shadow market. What he doesn't yet realise is that this stone emits patagurgic energy of 3 rads. Carrying the stone home in his pouch, he arrives through the door 20 minutes after his purchase, just as the first rad check roll comes due. He fails and develops a Mild patagurgic manifestation. He rolls a 6 and discovers his flesh has become translucent. Hurriedly he places the stone within his permanent pentagram to block its radiant energies. Then, since he has a Guild meeting this evening and can't afford the luxury of letting the symptoms abate naturally, he sets about curing himself.
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Old 09-01-2020, 12:00 PM   #14
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Default Re: Radiation in TFT

Oh my god, I'm so stupid. I just realised there's a much easier way of handling rads and exposures. Instead of this convoluted "rads over time" calculation gubbins, it's so much simpler to just track the current rads on the character. Someone exposed to 5 rads in a turn has 5 rads, and the same exposure over the next turn pushes them up to 10, etc. Then there are rad checks at key rad levels (50, 100, 250, for example).

That makes it really simple to apply rad effects every turn and also to deal with situation of characters moving into different ranges over time. Also simplifies recovery (antirad removes X rads from the body, rest purges X rads naturally, etc).

I'm going to restructure these articles around this new simple system. Sometimes when one approaches an issue a certain way one gets trapped into thinking about it from just that angle. It took writing the examples to show me that there's a better way.
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Old 09-01-2020, 02:28 PM   #15
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Default Re: Radiation in TFT

I like it. Simplifying the system that way makes a lot of sense and much more evident as to how it could be used.
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Old 09-02-2020, 10:04 AM   #16
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Default Re: Radiation in TFT

I've again revised the rules, this time to use the simpler "rad level" mechanic, which is a running total of the how many rads the target is currently burdened with. The update assigns numeric values to cures and should make it vastly easier to work with radiation in the game.

URLs are as before:

Full Rules: https://shadekeep.com/files/Radiatio...simplified.pdf

Quick Guide: https://shadekeep.com/files/Radiatio...quickguide.pdf

Thanks once more for all the comments and feedback. It's a much better system now because of it.
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Old 09-07-2020, 11:10 AM   #17
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Default Re: Radiation in TFT

This revision is looking very usable.

Thank you very much for it.
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Old 09-08-2020, 07:00 AM   #18
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Default Re: Radiation in TFT

Cheers, I appreciate the feedback. Glad to hear there's utility in it!

EDIT: I should probably repost the examples under the new system, as well.
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Old 09-10-2020, 09:21 AM   #19
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Default Re: Radiation in TFT

Here are the revised examples of radiation in gameplay under the new "cumulative rads" point system.

Ionic Radiation

Our human warrior Arn is locked in combat with a skeleton wielding a Strontium Blade. This is a radioactive sword that emits ionic radiation and has a strength of 30 rads. Arn is wearing leather armor, which blocks 10 rads of Ionic radiation, so he is exposed to 20 rads per turn while engaged with the skeleton. The skeleton misses on its first hit, and at the end that turn Arn has a rad level of 20. On the next turn the skeleton hits with the sword and does damage. This wound is an internal exposure to the radiation, so his armor doesn't protect against the rads. At the end of the turn Arn's rad level is now 50, and he must make a rad check or suffer Mild radiation poisoning.

Meanwhile our human warrior Belm is investigating a deep chamber of the dungeon and has stumbled into a area full of dense radon gas. This is a 2 rad source, but she has breathed it in and thus it is an internal exposure. After 25 turns in this environment she will need to make a rad check as well.

Energetic Radiation

Our human warrior Chut is being led by a friendly gargoyle to an old artifact site where an ancient machine lies partially in ruins. What neither Chut nor the gargoyle know is that the device is a nuclear power core with a cracked casing holding residual plutonium. This artifact is a 20 rad source of energetic radiation. Chut approaches to examine the machine. This puts him within a megahex of the source, so there is no attenuation and he is exposed to the full rad amount. 20 rads per turn means he will have to make his first a rad check in three turns against his human rad resistance of 8. Continued exposure at that range will bring him to 100 rads in five turns and another rad check.

Meanwhile the gargoyle is more cautious regarding old artifacts and remains 3 megahexes away. This means the radiation level has attenuated to a third by the time it reaches the gargoyle, reducing its potency to 7 (20 / 3 = 6.66) rads. At this distance the gargoyle will accumulate enough rads to require a rad check after eight turns (8 * 7 = 56). Being a gargoyle it has a rad resistance of 12.

Magical Radiation

Vvulf the Vvizard has purchased an unusual stone from a mysterious vendor in the shadow market. What he doesn't yet realise is that this stone emits patagurgic energy of 3 rads. Carrying the stone home in his pouch, he arrives through the door just as he reaches 50 rads of exposure and the first rad check roll comes due. He fails and develops a Mild patagurgic manifestation. He rolls a 6 and discovers his flesh has become translucent. Hurriedly he places the stone within his permanent pentagram to block its radiant energies. Then, since he has a Guild meeting this evening and can't afford the luxury of letting the symptoms abate naturally, he sets about curing himself.
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Old 10-02-2020, 01:37 PM   #20
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Default Re: Radiation in TFT

I've posted the final version of the Radiation rules on the Shadekeep website. Both the full and quick versions are available for download. Thanks again for all the feedback, the rules are much better thanks to your inputs!
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