D&D General Radiation & nuclear waste

[the Jester]

If you'd like, or you could summarize them. 3e tended to have too many condition tracks.

In summary, you gain RADs, which never go away. Get too many and you get radiation sickness, which comes in Mild and Severe varieties, and you can eventually die or mutate in either a positive or negative way.

 

[Sacrosanct]

After I went through NBC school in the Army I did, back in 96 I think. But it was too detailed and bogged down--the common problem with simulationist type games.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Has anyone written an adventure featuring nuclear waste

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by someone Gygax had radioactive waste leaks. It's a very pulpy take though.

 

[Stormonu]

It was surprising difficult to find the Radiation rules in the old Gamma World game (2E, which uses modified D&D rules). This was the radiation exposure chart from that game:

Intensity level was either a fixed number or randomly rolled on 3d4. Could change using the PC's CON score to instead make it a Con save using the column on the left as a DC.

 

[J-H]

Hmm, so either you get a mutation/new growth that's not "just cancer" or you simply take damage that heals over time.

I like the idea of measuring dosage in Grays simply because it's a really, really ominous name. "You have two Grays." 5 grays of acute exposure gives a 50% chance of dying within 14 days. I could use that to scale a Con save DC and the amount of hit point loss.

I like the idea of the group finding a "magic amulet" that makes clicking sounds that go up in frequency as they enter more dangerous areas, but I feel like most players would immediately figure out what's going on... and it's pretty hard to not metagame radiation exposure.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

In summary, you gain RADs, which never go away. Get too many and you get radiation sickness, which comes in Mild and Severe varieties, and you can eventually die or mutate in either a positive or negative way.

This sounds similar to what I posted upthread.

 

[Stormonu]

Hmm, so either you get a mutation/new growth that's not "just cancer" or you simply take damage that heals over time.

I like the idea of measuring dosage in Grays simply because it's a really, really ominous name. "You have two Grays." 5 grays of acute exposure gives a 50% chance of dying within 14 days. I could use that to scale a Con save DC and the amount of hit point loss.

I like the idea of the group finding a "magic amulet" that makes clicking sounds that go up in frequency as they enter more dangerous areas, but I feel like most players would immediately figure out what's going on... and it's pretty hard to not metagame radiation exposure.

In Gamma World, only those creatures borne of mutation can further mutate. Pure Strain Humans (or just about any D&D character) would take 8d6 damage instead. Gamma World and other games that feature Rads usually have some sort of method/device/tech for enduring or reversing the effects of radiation - sort of Thyroid tablets on steroids. Something to consider if you implement.

On the detection item, perhaps rather than click, you could have it glow brighter as it reaches a radioactive area - perhaps begins to flash if the characters step into an area irradiated enough to be actively harmful (I kind of imagine it like the badge X-Ray techs wear to measure exposure). The time between flashes could even be an indicator of how quickly a dangerous level of radiation is being emitted ( 1 flash per second may mean 1 rad per second, for example).

 

[J-H]

"Oh good, we have some steady light to see by now."