Bk2 crew rounding

[creativehum]

See IE, page 87.

Basically it was a medical task, and if failed, you rolled for mishap, doing damage according to its severity. As even a destroyed result meant 3D6 of damage (though permanent, and needing hospitalization), death was quite rare unless the character was very weak or already wounded (one of the reasons to put him/her to cold sleep).

Most time, the result of a failed roll was only some temprary disability (akin Hans' LBS, though not so detailed).

I'm still mulling it, and was thinking something like this instead of insta-death.

So you get...

Probably...
Throw 4+ to avoid system shock.
END 5- -1DM
END 6+ +1DM
Medical-2 +1DM

Without medical attention, passenger in shock dies.
A Medic-1 or better can apply trauma care.

Throw 8+ to avoid damage to Passenger
+1 DM per level of Medical
Success, no damage to patient
Failure 6D damage*
*This will probably kill the passenger, yes.

Note that in this system, better medics on board means that the passenger has a better chance of survival. Anyone shipping out without required Medic-1 or better greatly increases the chance of death. What I like about this is it speaks to how the merchants/liners run their ships. If you've got a situation of unscrupulous owners of starship, deaths will go up. But even with a Medic-1, there is a chance for several passengers to go into shock, and for some of them to die.

 

[Supplement Four]

Is less than a 3% chance of death acceptable for low berth passengers?

If so, then you just need to add a +1 DM to the mix.

As it stands as written, the best throw that can be achieved to avoid death is 4+. That's if you have a low berther with END 7+ (which avoids the -1 DM penalty) and a Medic-2 or greater overseeing the awakening process (which provides a +1 DM to the throw).

One more +1 DM will make the success on the throw a 3+, which means death only occurs on snake eyes--which is about a 3% chance (rounded).




That +1 DM could be implemented in a number of ways. Here are some thoughts...

-- +1 DM if Medic-1 oversees the awakening process (and another +1 DM if Medic-2 or higher).

-- +1 DM if END 10+

-- +1 DM if TL of the low berth is TL 14+.

-- +1 DM if low berth is Military Grade.

-- Roll 2D looking for Low Berther's END or less. If successful, then the Low Berther benefits with a +1 DM to the reviver's roll.






Here's the one I like best:

When reviving a passenger from low berth, roll 10+. If successful, then apply a +1 DM. If failed, then apply a -1 DM. This roll simulates the person's ability to manually manipulate the controls so that the low berther is brought back to consciousness in a better manner than can be done automatically by the bed's computer control.

DM's: +3 per Medic skill.




Attempting to Manually Control Low Berth Revival Process.

What I like about this is that it gives anyone a chance to gain a +1 DM, but there are consequences for those who are untrained.

The Layman, with no Medic skill or Medic-0 will probably help kill the low berther.

He rolls 10+. 17% chance of success. 83% chance of harming the passenger.



The Medic-1 might help or might hurt the passenger.

He rolls 10+ with +3 DM. That 7+ roll is a 58% chance helping the passenger and a 42% chance of harming the passenger.



The Medic-2 is likely to help the passenger.

He rolls 10+ with +6 DM. That 4+ roll has a 92% chance of helping the passenger and a 8% chance of harming the passenger.



The Medic-3 or higher will absolutely help the passenger.

He rolls 10+ with +9 DM, which makes success 100% automatic.

 

[salochin999]

I'm an OTU fan and a CT fan, and I certainly don't assume things work well. The base chance to survive a low berthing situation is 5+. That's a 17% chance of death!

You gotta really want to get off a planet when chances are, 1 or 2 people, out of every 10, die when using that method.

Of course, if you've got a Medic-2, and you're healthy with an END 7+, you can cut your chance of perishing in half (8%) by lowering the success roll to 4+.

Still, that's roughly a 1 in 10 chance of dying by traveling low berth. Not too many people would take those odds for those stakes.

But, is it the technology? It's not yet perfected? Or, is it the general condition of the berths? Because, I don't think military berths have that same attrition rate.



As far as other stuff breaking down, don't forget the Yearly Maintenance roll that a starship must make if maintenance is neglected.



Just a note: T5 has an interesting rule for item/equipment/vehicle/starship maintenance that could easily be ported to CT.

I take the CT numbers as being for leaky Free Traders in the boonies.

1) Historically there have been times when travel had a high death rate - although my guess is most of those casualties were the elderly the very young or the already sick. High End getting a DM+1 ties in with that.

2) In the Dumarest books the low berths are for transporting animals.

3) The way the CT rules only give a DM for medic-2 implies to me either the system is mostly automated but if something goes wrong then it takes significant medical training to retrieve the situation *or* things going wrong is dependent on the health of the passenger and medic-2 is necessary to diagnose hidden medical conditions before the passenger is allowed into the berth.

#

So the key elements of something going wrong
- the state of the the equipment
- health of passenger
with
- emergency medical expertise available
deciding if something going wrong is fatal or not.

health of passenger and emergency medical expertise is touched on in the rules so that leaves the equipment.

So I'd make the base survival roll depend on the state of the equipment
5+ in an animal berth on a leaky Free Trader in the boonies
3+ on a TL15 navy ship
4+ for something in between those two extremes

 

[BillDowns]

Going back to the crewing situation, I leave out low berths for medical staffing. Low berth passengers are more like, well, cargo like in the Dumarest novels.