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Categories
Discussion
Main - Rune Quest
Crude fatigue draft
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Author:
Tom Cantine
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Time:
07.07.2003 06:05
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Text:
Fatigue, ENC and Nutrition House Rules
One thing RQ3 seems to be lacking is an integrated mechanism to take care of basic bodily function. That's understandable, as we rarely want to get bogged down in roleplaying things like eating meals and going to the bathroom. There are, however, adventuring situations in which finding enough to eat plays a critical role. So more complete rules on nutrition, at least, should be available when needed.
Here are the basic concepts:
Nutrition Points: This is an abstract representation of food value very roughly corresponding to about 100 Calories, but assumed to include a healthy amount of vitamins, minerals and protein as well. There's only so much NP a character can usefully digest in a single day; no more than STR + CON + CON. (You also can't eat more than your SIZ in one sitting. Maybe that's why hobbits eat so many meals a day, since they have small SIZ but high CON?)
Maximum FP is simply STR + CON, as in standard RQ3.
FP Limit is based on the above, but varies over time, most importantly diminishing over the course of the day as bedtime approaches. The FP Limit drops automatically by one every hour you are awake and rises automatically every half hour you sleep. A character's FP limit is also constrained by how well-fed he is; the FP Limit may not exceed the average number of NP consumed over the previous three days, or the Maximum FP (whichever is lower).
Available FP is how many FP you have available right now, to spend through activity. Available FP act exactly as in RQ3; when you are at negative FP, you suffer a penalty to every roll you make. The only modification from RQ3 is that Available FP can never exceed the current FP Limit, rather than Maximum FP. However, negative Maximum FP is still the point at which one passes out from fatigue. Also, a resting character need only rest long enough to bring Available FP back up to zero before regaining consciousness. (In basic RQ3, FP must be positive to regain consciousness; with these house rules, non-negative FP is sufficient.)
As in the basic RQ3 rules, each day FP are not a positive number results in starvations. However, these house rules call for the loss of CON instead of total hit points.
Available FP are lost through activity as in RQ3, subject to the following modifications. In particular, ENC does not directly subtract from FP, but modifies the rate of FP loss.
First, compute the character's basic ENC capacity as follows: STR + SIZ.
Then, add up total ENC carried by the character.
If your total carried ENC is less than half of this value, you are unencumbered. Unencumbered characters lose fp at the base rate, and can move at their full movement rate.
If your total carried ENC is more than half but less than STR+SIZ, you are moderately encumbered. Moderately encumbered characters lose fp at twice the base rate, and add 1 to their DEX SR.
If your total carried ENC is up to twice STR+SIZ, you are heavily encumbered. Heavily encumbered characters triple their fatigue loss, add 2 to DEX SR, and reduce their movement rates by 75%.
You can lift and carry more than twice STR+SIZ, but doing so counts as "strenuous activity" and thus costs 2 fp per melee round, and you can't do much else while carrying this much. You have to make a DEX check to do things like open doors without dropping your load.
The basic rate for FP loss through activity:
Walking, resting: Gain 1d3-1 per melee round
Fighting, trotting (3 m/SR), careful or furtive movement: Lose 1 FP per melee round.
Sprinting, rapid strenuous activity: Lose 2 FP per melee round.
Marching, moderate activity: Lose 1 FP per hour.
Heavy, steady work: Lose 4 FP per hour.
Riding: Lose 1 FP per 90 minutes.
Eating: Lose 1 FP per NP consumed.
If it is especially hot or cold, double basic fatigue loss. This is cumulative with fatigue modifiers for ENC.
Special notes on food:
Extrapolating from the Standards of Living tables, we can say that 1 penny will get you 20 NP of food in the city, or 60 NP of food in the country (assuming children eat half as much). This means, of course, that the perfectly average peasant, who should be getting 21 NP a day to be at peak fatigue levels, will actually be slightly malnourished, and that a more heroic adventurer with STR and CON above average will be feeling rather hungry on a penny a day. It won't do them any lasting harm, but they'll want more. When adventurers are barely subsisting, we can simplify by capping their FP Limit at an appropriate level.
Foraging or hunting for food is where it gets interesting.
Foraging, Gathering:
All three Lore skills, Animal, Plant and World, are useful here. As a general rule, allow a roll against each skill for every hour of foraging. Each successful roll should turn up 1 unit of edible stuff, whether it be bird eggs, grubs, tubers, berries, acorns, honey or whatnot. A special success turns up 1 unit and allows another roll for the same skill for that hour. A critical success turns up 2 units and allows two more rolls.
The units will vary with terrain and with the season; a unit found in deciduous forest in the fall might be a couple of kilograms of apples worth a few dozen NP, while a unit found in a desert in winter could be a few grams of beetle grubs worth maybe 1 NP. You might want to make up a table of values for the terrains and seasons to be found in your own campaign...
Hunting:
We don't need to create rules for hunting, since most adventurers do a lot of killing for fun. All we need to do is point out that 1 SIZ is roughly equivalent to 6 kg of animal, that from 1 to 3 kg of that will be edible, and that 1 kg of beef has about 3000 Calories. Obviously, hunting is the more efficient way to feed your adventurer in most wilderness situations. But note that most of this meat will probably spoil before it can be eaten, unless steps are taken to preserve it, or it is shared with a large party of adventurers.
Now, once your adventurer has procured some food, whether it be through foraging or hunting, it's time to convert it into NP. This can be abstracted into a simple Craft (Cook) skill check. On a fumble, the ingredients are ruined and useless. On a simple failure, you can gain about half of the NP value of the ingredients, despite their unpalatability. On a simple success, you get the full NP value. On a special success, you actually recover 10% more NP. A critical success doubles the NP value of the food. (This represents both more efficient use of the materials, and the increased satisfaction from eating. NP aren't just calories; they represent both the physical and the psychological sustenance one derives from eating.)
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Message threads
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Author: |
Time: |
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Tom Cantine
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07.07.2003 06:05
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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07.08.2003 09:55
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