Since there are apparently no official rules for them I'd like to know others have handled hot/cold, starvation/thirst, radiation and the like.

For hot/cold so far I have it a I've thought about Toughness test result in Fatigue that can't be recovered until you get out of the environment or have a cure and then have it do 1d10i damage once out of fatigue.

Thoughts?

The Fatigue thing seems okay at first brush, except for the fact that Fatigue is used for everything. I realize you only have so many ways to relate injury in a game, but after awhile it just seems redundant. Maybe do increasingly difficult WP tests instead - when they finally fail the PC lays down to sleep or just gives up and refuses to move any more.

Perhaps for Heat it is temporary insanity points - the more they accumulate the more confused and delusional they become as the heat literally burns their brain up ... when the number of insanity passes their Intelligence they simply lose all touch with what is going on around them and wander aimlessly, chasing after figments, trying to drink sand - whathaveyou.

Buy, yeah, the easiest way to do it would be fatigue.

I made a sort of hostile environment rules for a recent game of DH meets Space Hulk. Or rather, I made up rules for the voidsuits, including the effects of rips in them. Check out my post here www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp , where they are described in that context. Then return to these suggestions for improvement for regular DH.

The rather long "timer" with high bonus on the WP checks was useful in the cramped spaces inside the hulk, where we would be running in stressed combat time for at least 20 rounds. Most of our fights last 5, maybe 10 rounds, so to make the leakage dangerous you need to quicken the pace of the dangerousness. Here are some suggestions:

Any damage that exceeds the AV of the suit will start a leak, even if it is not enough to exceed the wearers TB
Any further damage recieved will reduce the bonus with 10%
The bonus starts at a lower number, like +30%
Damage to the head reduces the bonus with an extra 10%
Damage of the Tearing type reduces the bonus with an extra 10%
Keep rolling WP tests until you fail, when that happens you draw a breath of the toxic fumes or let out your precious lungfill of air into the cold vacuum.

If the atmosphere is toxic rather than freezing and lacking in oxygen you can assign it values as per toxins described in the GM kit, and let the player start rolling the appropriate Toughness tests as soon as she fails the broken-suit-WP-check to hold her breath.

If the environment is toxic by application to the skin, rather than requiring inhalation, you could simply let people roll a test against the toxin every turn they start with at least one unpatched rip in their suit.

Heat would probably do fatigue-related effects at first, and wounds damage later. Dehydration does definitely cause fatigue and temporary insanity points.

Radiation is nasty, but a level dangerous enough to be damaging at the spot it's most likely enough to kill the npc sometimes much later from secondary effects. It might be more useful as a timer of sorts, such as "if you spend more than two hours inside the hulk you are going to develop testicular cancer with a 72% reliability within the next three years". A very common way to get sick from radiation is by inhaling/digesting radioactive particles, such as Cs 137. So an environment suit should be protection enough for this situation.
Moderately cold atmosphere (around -20°C or so) will debiliate and kill quite slowly (faster if it'swindy) as long as you have isolation between yourself and any more solid substances. A pair of good boots and otherwise naked will keep you alive for hours, until you fail to keep standing actually. Liquids of the same temperatures will rob you of your body heat much faster. I suggest a constant reduction of physical traits until you reach 0 in one of them. Toughness tests are not really applicable in this case.

And finally some extra ways to challenge your players in a hazardous environment:
Throw frag grenades at the players. They rip open a lot of suits. Doubly so if you throw more than two at the same time, because then they will have no dodges left :-)
Put them in a situation where they only have emergency pressure suits available (armour 2, primitive)
Allow them a very limited amount of air supply per person.
Give them incompetent scared civilians that they need to escort and take care of.

Hi Netherek,

the following is based on the rules mechanics in "GURPS Compendium II" (old book I own, do not know which "Version" it actually is).

Since the rules are based on Fahrenheit , I will use the same unit as well:

Extreme Heat:
In areas with 90 to 130 degree Fahrenheit (about 32 to 55) the pc have to test Toughness whenever they are gaining Fatigue due to physical exhaustion (like marching).

90 Fahrenheit ( about 32 Celsius) Toughness +10
100 Fahrenheit ( about 38 Celsius) Toughness +0
110 Fahrenheit ( about 44 Celsius) Toughness -10
120 Fahrenheit ( about 50 Celsius) Toughness -20
130 Fahrenheit ( about 56 Celsius) Toughness -30

If they do not pass the test, they will gain an additional level of fatigue plus another level for every three degrees of failure.

About 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) you might ask every pc who undergoes in any "non-light" physical activity to pass a Toughness test or gain a level of fatigue. This test, however, should be +20 ( compared to the chart above).

Gregorius21778 said:

Good ideas here... I was going to argue about people who are used to such temperatures (seeings as I live someplace that sees routine temps of 100º+ Fahrenheit days in the summer; with 110 and over not to uncommon) but that would be best covered by the Resistance (Heat) talent, I suppose.

That said, I would include a Survival test to help mitigate the penalties for temperature and activity. Finding shade when possible, staying hydrated whilst also rationing water if it is scarce, etc. And if people are looking for inspiration for rules for hypothermia, frostbite, snow blindness and the like, Rifts © : Canada has a pretty good section on those subjects.

-=Brother Praetus=-

Hi Praetos,

I was thinking about this as well. Perhaps this could be "house ruled" if "Resistance (Heat/Cold)" was not only giving +10 but +20.

Thereby, there would be a very clear difference to somebody raised in (or accustomed to) a hot (or as you would say: warm ) environment and somebody who is not.

Does the "Rifts" series contain detailed rules for surivial that are worth cross-referencing? I am alway look for material and I think RIFTS is available on PDF (sale).

Gregorius21778 said:

Their Canada and Russia sourcebooks are honestly probably the best for that. There are not only rules for the colds effect on the human form, but also some information about what it does to machines. I've not really gone through my books in something like 4 or 5 years, and the cold rules were just something I remembered. I can't remember if they got anymore detailed with other environmental factors.

-=Brother Praetus=-

Copied from my post in an identical thread on this forum.

I think it's simply a case of the GM using the Survival skill (can't remember if it's basic but i'd say let players roll half Toughness anyway if it's not) and deciding how many steps removed from the 'norm' the condition is. I mean, for humans i would say that between 5 and 25 degrees is survivable temperature, but for every 5 degrees outside this range impose a -10 to the survival test. Information on dehydration and hunger can be found all over the internet, but again, for every day without one of the above impose a -10 penalty again.

For every failure i'd impose a point of fatigue, with more points on things like dehydration or if the tests are failed by lots of degrees of failure. Once fatigue is filled, obviously the character falls into a delerious/malnourished/dehydrated/frozen state and unless revived by their allies will likely die in a short time (say that if you fall unconscious from too many fatigue points accrued from environmental factors that you cannot awaken of your own volition and require assistance. Allow certain talents, such as Hardy, to allow a Survival roll upon slipping unconscious as a last ditch attempt to stay awake).

The Star Wars Revised Edition RPG has rules for a variety of environmental conditions, including heat/cold, radiation, you name it. In most cases, the character would take a Fortitude Save (Toughness Test) to resist the effects of the environment. The difficulty & frequency of these tests were up to the GM, although hourly tests were the standard. Failure would result in that game's version of Fatigue. In the case of radiation, damage to the strength and/or toughness characteristics would occur (permanent for heavy rad zones). In most cases, the character would be allowed to make a survival check to earn a bonus on the Toughness Tests. He could do this for others, as well. One could imagine the group's scout helping his team by helping them with wet head wraps in the desert, for example. It would not be difficult to modify any of that material to this game.