Disease in roleplaying

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Also, humans can handle oxygen levels that will extinguish flames, so their torches going out will be a clue that it's time to leave.

Wow, how have I never considered that? Thank you, learn something new every day.

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Okay, I have no idea what the idea there was. Sure, rust formation absorbs oxygen, but there's nothing special about rusted objects per se and without a fire iron doesn't absorb oxygen at all quickly (way easier way to have a low oxygen area: pick any sealed area. Start a fire, let it burn itself out. Congratulations, it's now filled with a mix of CO2 and CO).

Likewise, the relevance of rusted metal is just that it's a sign of not keeping things clean, any dirty injury has a pretty decent chance of infection (rusty nails are a reasonably common threat in the type of soil that is likely to contain tetanus).

I suppose that, if one is teleported into a hermetically sealed chamber and it's full of rusted metal, then, assuming said metal wasn't rusted when it was put in, there will be less oxygen than there otherwise would.

Add to this the fact that our innate sense of when we are "running out of oxygen" is actually based on the buildup of carbon dioxide which rusting metal (unlike burning wood, or putting a bunch of animals in the chamber and letting them asphyxiate) does not produce , and they may indeed have rather less time to escape than they assume, giving you a vaguely plausible, if ridiculously contrived, trap-cum-chemistry lesson. (If you're worried about torches giving the game away, give them everglowing magic lights beforehand.)

[khorboth]

We are playing a Star Wars game which was long-planned out and just in the last few months came to a sequence with a quarantined, plague-ridden planet. It was totally coincidental, and the run-up to it started in November, but... Yah, some of the players are uncomfortable.

It's a published scenario, and overall, it's pretty good and has made for a good backdrop and reason for tension.

[Anders]

If you want to know about the plague, you can look at this new video from the TimeGhost channel (a history channel).

[thestor]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Add to this the fact that our innate sense of when we are "running out of oxygen" is actually based on the buildup of carbon dioxide

So oxygen levels dropping itself is not noticeable to humans, until the effects start kicking in?

Conversely, if CO2 were released in a room, our senses would tell us that we are running out of oxygen, even if this were not the case?

[Anders]

That's correct.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by thestor

So oxygen levels dropping itself is not noticeable to humans, until the effects start kicking in?

You might not notice at all. A serious risk of working around liquid nitrogen is oxygen displacement, which can cause asphyxiation without warning.

[khorboth]

Originally Posted by RyanW

You might not notice at all. A serious risk of working around liquid nitrogen is oxygen displacement, which can cause asphyxiation without warning.

Quite true. I talked with someone who nearly killed himself and a friend with asphyxiation. They were in an ice fishing hut and were using a propane heater. After about 90 minutes, they were just sleepy and starting to droop a little. A lightbulb went off, and one of them unzipped the door. Once outside, they perked up nearly instantly. After that, they remembered to open the little vent flaps and were fine.

He stressed that the ONLY signs they noticed were drowsiness. And worse, difficulty thinking. So, when you really need to notice subtle signs, your brain is all fuzzy.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by khorboth

Quite true. I talked with someone who nearly killed himself and a friend with asphyxiation. They were in an ice fishing hut and were using a propane heater. After about 90 minutes, they were just sleepy and starting to droop a little. A lightbulb went off, and one of them unzipped the door. Once outside, they perked up nearly instantly. After that, they remembered to open the little vent flaps and were fine.

That was probably carbon monoxide poisoning, not just low oxygen levels.

[namada]

Originally Posted by Anthony

That was probably carbon monoxide poisoning, not just low oxygen levels.

Yep. I knew someone that had his parents go RV-ing & sprung a leak in the propane system while they were sleeping. He said, months later, that they still weren't quite the same, though his mother was much better off than his father.