How to deal with void exposure

By Darkmittens, in Rogue Trader Gamemasters

Posted at

so in my campaign, one of my players decided to vent thier current compartment into space, one of the players here was unfortuantly unable to get into a void suit as he was tied up, then as the compartment was vented he opted to use a fate point to avoid death, then managed to break his bonds and get into a void suit in the next round, now i had him spend 2 additional fate point to avoid complications (blood boiling in his body and such) but now he still has to deal with the effects, due to the fact that the player was just wearing his ecclesiarchy robes at the time i can only imagine that the trauma and damage is severe, what should i do? how do i deal with a player who is not a void born and has no coping mechanism in the void dealing with void exposure...any thoughts?

Posted at

Burning a fate point should never be done lightly. Also, it makes you survive "the encounter" basically. So from what I've read, he should have only had to spend the first FP, not the subsequent ones. Fate smiled on him and he was able to get into the void suit without suffering any long term effects.

Posted at

There is nothing good about being exposed to vacuum. There

are two main ways this unfortunate event could occur: A
character can be suddenly thrust into an airless, pressureless
environment (such as being expelled from an airlock), or he
can be slowly affected (such as being trapped on a starship
as its atmosphere is vented into space). If suddenly exposed
to vacuum, a character may survive unharmed for a number
of Rounds equal to his Toughness Bonus. Unless he has an
oxygen source, he will also begin to suffer from the effects
of suffocation. At the end of each Round after this, he suffers
1d10+3 Explosive Damage from depressurisation. If he is
in the vacuum of space, at the end of each Round make a
Challenging (+0) Toughness Test. A failure indicates he also
suffers 1d10 Energy Damage from the extreme cold. In both
cases, any armour worn does not reduce the Damage incurred.
If a character dies in space, it takes five Rounds for his corpse
to freeze. If a frozen corpse suffers any Damage, it shatters
into thousands of blood-red ice shards. There is precious little,
except perhaps a daemonic pact, which can bring a character
back from such a fate. If a character is trapped in a gradually
worsening atmosphere, he may survive unharmed for a number
of Rounds equal to twice his Toughness Bonus. At the end
of this time, he will begin to experience suffocation will also
begin to feel the effects of depressurisation. From that point
onwards, at the end of each Round he must make a Toughness
Test with a cumulative –10 penalty. Success indicates that he
only suffers 1d5 Explosive Damage. Failure means that he
suffers 1d10 Explosive Damage. In both cases, armour cannot
reduce the Damage incurred.
Posted at

Darkmittens said:

so in my campaign, one of my players decided to vent thier current compartment into space, one of the players here was unfortuantly unable to get into a void suit as he was tied up, then as the compartment was vented he opted to use a fate point to avoid death, then managed to break his bonds and get into a void suit in the next round, now i had him spend 2 additional fate point to avoid complications (blood boiling in his body and such) but now he still has to deal with the effects, due to the fact that the player was just wearing his ecclesiarchy robes at the time i can only imagine that the trauma and damage is severe, what should i do? how do i deal with a player who is not a void born and has no coping mechanism in the void dealing with void exposure...any thoughts?

Posted at

Darkmittens said:

so in my campaign, one of my players decided to vent thier current compartment into space, one of the players here was unfortuantly unable to get into a void suit as he was tied up, then as the compartment was vented he opted to use a fate point to avoid death, then managed to break his bonds and get into a void suit in the next round, now i had him spend 2 additional fate point to avoid complications (blood boiling in his body and such) but now he still has to deal with the effects, due to the fact that the player was just wearing his ecclesiarchy robes at the time i can only imagine that the trauma and damage is severe, what should i do? how do i deal with a player who is not a void born and has no coping mechanism in the void dealing with void exposure...any thoughts?

So, he's a member of the Ecclesiarchy? Well there you go then, Divine Intervention wins out every time! You could even play up the out of body experience and mystic visions, the other PCs wondering if some 'other' power didn't just intercede for reasons of its own.

Aside from that, I'm firmly with the other posters, a burn fate point cures (nearly) all ills, just give them an appropriate Crit Effect, and they survive, unconcious and wounded.

Posted at

Darkmittens said:

then managed to break his bonds and get into a void suit in the next round, now i had him spend 2 additional fate point to avoid complications (blood boiling in his body and such)

Back in the space race, an astronaut was testing a suit in NASA's big vacuum chamber. His suit sprang a leak and it instantly vented. It took him 15 seconds to go unconscious. The chamber operators hit the emergency buttons and were restoring air to the chamber, so he was saved and took no permanent injury even though he had been fully exposed to zero pressure for at least 15 seconds.

I would say a heroic player in an RPG who could get into a suit in a single round (that is by far the most amazing part, much more amazing than surviving zero pressure) would be safe.

Posted at

If he has pure faith, definately consider the divine intervention angle. St Asceline came to him and shielded him from the void until he could get the suit on.

Otherwise, he was lucky enough to be exhaling at the time and so lost all the breath in his lungs. The main danger from sudden exposure to low pressure is trying to hold your breath. Vacuum wins out in the end, and normally in a rather violent manner. If you really want to give him some long-term damage, how about some lung damage resulting in him being permanently fatigued until he can get a cyber replacement?

I really hope you only made him spend those extra fate points, and not burn them. 1 burnt fate-point = you live.