StarSIEGE: Quick rules for climate

[treant_on_fire]

O.k, this is a very abstract system to cover the concept without becoming rules-heavy.

It would make sense for some alien races to be more resistant to cold or heat...

For example, when in a very cold environment, a character must do a Physique roll or suffer damage (in this case cold damage). The Siege Engineer decides what the challenge level will be according to how cold it is.

For alien races used to a specific environment/temperature damage, you could give them a racial SFX which would be an Armor with the flaw 'Only Cold' or 'Only Heat'.

[cheeplives]

Or you could wander away from SFXs and Special Abilities and just list a "favored environment" for each species. Any large variance outside of the favored envrionment requires a Physique check... my twist: damage is done to the Stress Track rather than the Wound Track... Twist 2: Once the normal Stress Track boxes are filled, any further damage goes to the Critical Wound Boxes on the Wound Track... BAM: You're not really "hurt" by environmental damage until you really let it go too far... then you're in a world of hurt.

Stress Damage heals quicker and isn't affected by combat... so you don't have a very cold human starting a combat really hurt simply because they're really hurt.

So, and example: Paul Sunstryder, our intrepid hero, is a human native to a Temperate climate... unfortunately, he finds himself stuck on a polar cap after an... interesting landing choice. He has some rudimentary survival gear, but the SE rules that it's cold enough that they'll only forestall the inevitable. Paul has 4 Wound Boxes and 3 Stress Boxes. He starts making Physique checks as called for by the SE (the SE says it's usually every half-hour but he's being nice and doubling it due to Paul's survival gear and player's incessant whining about freezing to death "not being heroic"). The SE says they are at +1 Challenge Level due to the cold if Paul wants to try to trek for shelter or +3 if Paul sticks by his transponder (this SE is a jerk) with an additional +1 every additional check... Paul stays put the first check and makes it. The next hour passes and Paul's now at a +4 to stay put or a +2 to get moving... he stays put again, and suffers for it. He fails, taking a Stress Box of damage. The next hour, Paul stays put again and fails again... now he's down two Stress Boxes. The third hour he sets out to find shelter. This check is only at +4, but Paul's luck continues to falter, dealing another Stress Box of damage. At this point, all of Paul's Stress Wound Boxes are full. Any further failures on the environment check will immediately cause Critical Wounds to show up on his Wound Track (not the Stress Track). If Paul was suddenly attacked by a Polar Dire Bug-spider or whatever, he would still have 4 Wound Boxes on his Wound Track... and even if he managed to vanquish the foe and only take 1 Wound when the next "freezing is not heroic" check comes up, and Paul Fails, he immediately takes his Disabled Critical Wound. Things look bleak for our "hero".

EDIT: All that said, I'm more of a "narrate it for the sake of the story" type guy... so I'd probably just decide when environment is a factor and narrate it to keep it interesting... some things don't need a full mechanic in my opinion. After all, freezing to death is not heroic. Nor is it particularly interesting, story-wise. I'd likely just assess some penalties to rolls until they get shelter and move on.

[treant_on_fire]

Or you could wander away from SFXs and Special Abilities and just list a "favored environment" for each species. Any large variance outside of the favored envrionment requires a Physique check... my twist: damage is done to the Stress Track rather than the Wound Track... Twist 2: Once the normal Stress Track boxes are filled, any further damage goes to the Critical Wound Boxes on the Wound Track... BAM: You're not really "hurt" by environmental damage until you really let it go too far... then you're in a world of hurt.

Stress Damage heals quicker and isn't affected by combat... so you don't have a very cold human starting a combat really hurt simply because they're really hurt.

So, and example: Paul Sunstryder, our intrepid hero, is a human native to a Temperate climate... unfortunately, he finds himself stuck on a polar cap after an... interesting landing choice. He has some rudimentary survival gear, but the SE rules that it's cold enough that they'll only forestall the inevitable. Paul has 4 Wound Boxes and 3 Stress Boxes. He starts making Physique checks as called for by the SE (the SE says it's usually every half-hour but he's being nice and doubling it due to Paul's survival gear and player's incessant whining about freezing to death "not being heroic"). The SE says they are at +1 Challenge Level due to the cold if Paul wants to try to trek for shelter or +3 if Paul sticks by his transponder (this SE is a jerk) with an additional +1 every additional check... Paul stays put the first check and makes it. The next hour passes and Paul's now at a +4 to stay put or a +2 to get moving... he stays put again, and suffers for it. He fails, taking a Stress Box of damage. The next hour, Paul stays put again and fails again... now he's down two Stress Boxes. The third hour he sets out to find shelter. This check is only at +4, but Paul's luck continues to falter, dealing another Stress Box of damage. At this point, all of Paul's Stress Wound Boxes are full. Any further failures on the environment check will immediately cause Critical Wounds to show up on his Wound Track (not the Stress Track). If Paul was suddenly attacked by a Polar Dire Bug-spider or whatever, he would still have 4 Wound Boxes on his Wound Track... and even if he managed to vanquish the foe and only take 1 Wound when the next "freezing is not heroic" check comes up, and Paul Fails, he immediately takes his Disabled Critical Wound. Things look bleak for our "hero".

EDIT: All that said, I'm more of a "narrate it for the sake of the story" type guy... so I'd probably just decide when environment is a factor and narrate it to keep it interesting... some things don't need a full mechanic in my opinion. After all, freezing to death is not heroic. Nor is it particularly interesting, story-wise. I'd likely just assess some penalties to rolls until they get shelter and move on.

You know, I'll be going with your idea instead. I like that it doesn't have to cost anything to players and it incorporates the fact that they'd also be affected by an opposite climate.

It all started because one of the players for my upcoming 'Star SIEGE: Star Wars' game wants to play THIS race... >.> http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Arkanians

What you offered actually fits the description a lot more imo, so thanks.