Hi, all. I was wondering whether if there are official rules to radiation poisoning. I have been sending my acolytes to hostile environments and I am planning to have them suffer radiation poisoning (providing they don't pass a toughness test) on an almost dead planet. I'd like to point out that in my campaign, the 'almost dead' planet is Scintilla.

Thanks in advance.

Nope. Have fun!

I think in the IH there are rules that are for the Rad Cleanser, page 133 in fact, and all they do is give it the Toxic quality, as its a weapon that churns out radiation by the bucket n a half

I'd probably hand out Toughness damage.

On the house-rules side of things, Cifer's idea is good and simple. If you were wanting radiation with more pulp, such as the kind that Supper-Omega-Gamma-B Ray's have or Toxic Waist of the glowing green variety, then you could have a some kind of mutation check (Toughness+30) after 10 damage done/toughness points lost/time units exposed. fore more realistic types of radiation, perhaps treat it like a poisoning check (that resist poison doesn't help with) starting at a -10 for small (1-2 Gy) all the way to -60 for massive doses. This table (once you figure out the gray-unit) might be of help as well as the rest of the article if it's realistic radiation poisoning that you're wanting.

Look up Radiation Poisoning on Wikipedia for some good info on this.

Basically, being exposed to a lot of radiation is bad news. It is much worse news if anything radioactive gets inside you (i.e. you breathe in radioactive dust or consume something radioactive). Once it is in your lungs, stomach, bones etc there is no easy way of escaping it and it will kill you from inside out.

In game terms long term effects are probably best avoided. Players aren't going to have much fun playing a terminally ill person who will get cancer, become weak and then die.

For short term effects I would suggest a toughness check every hour/day/week etc or so, with a failed check causing T to by 5% or 10%. Continue for an appropriate period depending on the power and duration of the exposure.

In game terms long term effects are probably best avoided. Players aren't going to have much fun playing a terminally ill person who will get cancer, become weak and then die.

Unless of course you happen to be an associate of the most powerful organization of the Imperium, which is quite likely capable of providing treatment. So it's rather likely the whole thing will turn to a race against time where your acolytes try to accomplish their mission and get back to their master before the sickness kills them.

In this case I would simply tailor the effects to the timescale. Unlike a bullet wound or a frag grenade, radiation is of greatly variable strength. Anticipate how long it will take for the PCs to get back and arrange for them to be in an appropriate condition when they get there.

It may be better to use dramatic license than hard and fast rules. Only place your PCs fate on a dice toll (or a series of them) if you are prepared to see them die (or burn a FP). This is fair if the radiation exposure can be avoided through play. Otherwise it will seem arbitrary.