The habitual use of a mind-altering substance can lead to dependency.
Abusers have the Addiction disadvantage, and may suffer withdrawal if forced to go with-out the drug.
Below are rules for three common classes of addictive drugs. Note that these are also poisons. If someone takes a large dose, follow all the usual rules for poison on pp. 437-439, except where specified otherwise.
Stimulants elevate the user’s mood and energy level . . . temporarily.
Potent ones – e.g., amphetamine – restore 1d FP, and give Doesn’t Sleep and Overconfidence (12).
These effects endure for (12 - HT) hours, minimum one hour.
After that time, the user loses twice the FP he recovered (e.g., if his FP jumped from 8 to 10, he drops to 6 FP), and gains the disadvantages Bad Temper (12) and Chronic Depression (9) for an equal length of time.
If the user takes multiple doses in 24 hours, he must roll vs. HT after the second and later doses, at a cumulative -1 per dose after the first.
On a critical failure, he suffers a heart attack.
Doesn't Sleep
You do not have to sleep at all. You can ignore all ill effects from missed nights of rest.
Overconfidence
You believe that you are far more powerful, intelligent, or competent than you really are. You may be proud and boastful or just quietly determined, but you must roleplay this trait. You must make a self-control roll any time the GM feels you show an unreasonable degree of caution. If you fail, you must go ahead as though you were able to handle the situation!
Caution is not an option.
You receive +2 on all reaction rolls from young or naive individuals (who believe you are as good as you say you are), but -2 on reactions from experienced NPCs.
Bad Temper
You are not in full control of your emotions. Make a self-control roll in any stressful situation. If you fail, you lose your temper and must insult, attack, or otherwise act against the cause of the stress.
Chronic Depression
You’ve lost your will to live. You’d commit suicide, but it seems like so much trouble.
Make a self-control roll to do anything but acquire and consume the minimum necessities for survival (for instance, to motivate yourself to go to a movie, attend a job interview, or keep a date), or whenever you must choose between two or more actions. If you fail, you take the path of least resistance. This usually means staying put and doing nothing. If your self-control number is sufficiently low, you will find it almost impossible to do anything at all for yourself, unless someone physically drags you out of your lair. If somebody shows up and demands that you go out and do something with him, make a self-control roll. If you fail, you go along with his plan out of apathy.
You may eventually replace this disadvantage with another one of equivalent value that is more conducive to self-esteem. The GM need only allow this evolution if you roleplay it convincingly. The GM may also require you to roleplay both disadvantages (the new one constantly, the Chronic Depression whenever the GM decides to bring it into play) during the transition period.
Heart Attack
Your heart stops functioning (“cardiac arrest”). You immediately drop to -1 x FP. Regardless of your current HP, you will die in HT/3 minutes unless resuscitated – see Resuscitation. If you survive, you will be at 0 HP or your current HP, whichever is worse. Missing HP heal normally. If you die and it matters what your HP total was, treat this as death at -1 x HP or your current HP, whichever is worse. Injury Tolerance (Diffuse, Homogenous, or No Vitals) grants immunity to this affliction.
Stimulants are cheap and only slightly addictive.
If they are legal, stimulant addiction is a Minor Addiction (-1 point); if they are illegal, it is a -5-point Addiction.
Hallucinogens – e.g., LSD and mescaline – cause disorientation, hallucinations, and fits of paranoia. They may induce psychological dependency, but not physiological addiction.
Most of these drugs are taken orally and require about 20 minutes to work. Make a HT-2 roll to resist. On a failure, the user starts hallucinating.
This lasts for hours equal to the margin of failure. After that time, the user may roll vs. HT-2 once per hour to shake off the drug’s influence.
Addiction is typically worth -10 points if the drugs are legal, -15 points otherwise.
Hallucinating:
You can try to act, but you must roll vs. Will before each success roll. On a success, you merely suffer 2d seconds of disorientation.
This gives -2 on success rolls. On a failure, you actually hallucinate for 1d minutes. In this case, the penalty is -5.
The GM is free to specify the details of your hallucinations, which need not be visual. On a critical failure, you “freak out” for 3d minutes. You might do anything! The GM rolls 3d: the higher the roll, the more dangerous your action.
Depressants induce drowsiness, lassitude, and (in large doses) insensibility. All offer a HT roll to resist. As with any poison, a large dose gives a penalty – see Dosage. Massive doses may lead to overdose.
Commonly abused depressants include:
Sedatives:
These include sleep aids, anti-anxiety drugs, and many psychiatric drugs. A typical sedative is taken orally and requires 20 minutes to take effect. Make a HT-2 roll to resist. On a failure, the user becomes drowsy for hours equal to the margin of failure.
Habitual users need larger and larger doses to produce the same effect, increasing the risk of overdose.
Sedatives are cheap and highly addictive. If the user acquires them legally, he has a -5-point Addiction; otherwise, he has a -10-point Addiction.
Drowsy
You are on the verge of falling asleep. Make a Will roll every two hours you spend inactive. On a failure, you fall asleep, and sleep until you are awakened or get a full night’s sleep. On a success, you have -2 to DX, IQ, and self-control rolls.
Drunk
You are highly intoxicated: -2 to DX and IQ, and -4 to self-control rolls except those to resist Cowardice. Reduce Shyness by two levels, if you have it.
Painkillers:
Potent painkillers, such as morphine, are used to treat chronic or surgical pain. Abuse is often the unintended result of legitimate use.
Taken orally, there is a delay of 20 minutes; injected, there is no delay.
Roll vs. HT-4 to resist. On a failure, the user acquires the High Pain Threshold and Unfazeable advantages, and the Laziness disadvantage, and experiences euphoria. All effects last for hours equal to the margin of failure. Painkillers powerful enough to produce these effects are expensive and totally addictive.
Addiction is worth -15 points if the drugs are legal, -20 points otherwise.
High Pain Threshold
You are as susceptible to injury as anyone else, but you don’t feel it as much. You never suffer a shock penalty when you are injured. In addition, you get +3 on all HT rolls to avoid knockdown and stunning – and if you are tortured physically, you get +3 to resist. The GM may let you roll at Will+3 to ignore pain in other situations.
Unfazeable
Nothing surprises you – at least, nothing that’s not obviously a threat.
The world is full of strange things, and as long as they don’t bother you, you don’t bother them.
You are exempt from Fright Checks, and reaction modifiers rarely affect you either way. You treat strangers with distant courtesy, no matter how strange they are, as long as they’re well-behaved. You have the normal reaction penalty toward anyone who does something rude or rowdy, but you remain civil even if forced to violence. Intimidation (p. 202) just does not work on you. You are not emotionless – you just never display strong feelings. The stereotypical aged kung fu master or English butler has this trait.
You must roleplay this advantage fully, or the GM can declare that it has been lost. In a campaign where Fright Checks are an hourly occurrence, the GM can charge 20 points – or more! – or disallow Unfazeable altogether.
Laziness
You are violently averse to labor. Your chances of getting a raise or promotion in any job are halved. If you are self-employed, halve your monthly pay. You must avoid work – especially hard work – at all costs. Roleplay it!
Ecstasy
You’re incapacitated with overwhelming pleasure. Treat as Agony, but neither Low Pain Threshold nor High Pain Threshold has any effect – and instead of a bonus for torture, someone offering to continue the pleasure gets +3 to any Influence roll! If you have Killjoy, you’re immune.
Heroin:
This opium derivative has few legitimate uses. It is typically injected, in which case there is no delay. Roll vs. HT-4 to resist. Failure incapacitates the user for hours equal to the margin of failure – treat this as ecstasy. In addition to the usual risk of overdose, there is always the chance the heroin was “cut” with toxic filler; effects are up to the GM.
Heroin is very expensive, incapacitating, totally addictive, and illegal; Addiction to heroin is a -40-point disadvantage.
Ecstasy
You’re incapacitated with overwhelming pleasure. Treat as Agony, but neither Low Pain Threshold nor High Pain Threshold has any effect – and instead of a bonus for torture, someone offering to continue the pleasure gets +3 to any Influence roll! If you have Killjoy, you’re immune.
The statistics given in a poison’s description always assume one “dose”: enough poison to produce the described effects in one victim. Some additional notes:
Contact Agents:
One dose of a contact agent coats or affects a single hit location.
Gases and Sprays:
One dose of a respiratory agent, or a blood or contact agent in gas or spray form, affects one hit location on one victim. For a respiratory agent, this must be the face. Ten doses are enough to affect everyone in a room (say, a 2-yard radius).
Anyone who takes two or more doses of depressants risks an “overdose.” This definitely includes taking a single dose of two or more depressants! Any alcohol at all counts as an extra dose. Drug interactions can kill . . .
Overdose occurs on a critical failure on any resistance roll for multiple doses. As with any poison, each doubling of dosage gives -2 to resistance rolls – and as for all success rolls, a roll of 10 or more above effective skill is a critical failure. For instance, heroin offers a HT-4 roll to resist. If a HT 10 man takes a double dose, his effective HT is 10 - 4 - 2 = 4. He overdoses on a 14 or higher.
Overdose causes unconsciousness for hours equal to the margin of failure. As well, the drug acts as a poison with a resistance roll equal to its usual resistance roll (the most difficult roll, for two or more drugs); e.g., HT-4, for heroin. It inflicts 1 point of toxic damage, repeating at 15-minute intervals for 24 cycles. If the victim reaches -1¥HP, he slips into a coma.
Coma:
You collapse just as if you had been wounded to -1 x HP or below and passed out; see Recovering from Unconsciousness.
You get a single HT roll to awaken after 12 hours. On a failure, you won’t recover without medical treatment.
Until you receive treatment, roll vs. HT every 12 hours.
On any failure, you die.