Re: drowning

["Rick Myers" <leviathan_60@hotmail.com>]

>
>How long does it _really_ take to drown and what rolls/adjudications go
>with it?
>
>I've seen a large range of rulings on this ranging from "you die" and
>"5d6-vs-HEA or die" to upping the d6 every round until you miss and
>die. I think on a mostly water world, drowning should really be 
defined.
>
>1) Under what circumstances do drowning rules even come into play:
>
>	- trapped underwater and you don't breathe water
>	- can't swim, fail the default and have no flotation devices

a third circumstance is the event of a sinking ship.  However, there are 
already specific rules in the book for that particular event .
>
>2) How long does it take to:
>
>	a) pass out
>	b) die
>
>3) What are the appropriate checks if the above times aren't absolutes
>   (and from a roleplaying standpoint they shouldn't... people like
>   rolling dice).
>
>I'd suggest the following:
>
>Drowning. On a water based world most people are proficient swimmers. 
However
>there are still times when drowning will occur. Following are rules to 
handle
>this occasion.
>
>If a person becomes trapped underwater (or is unable to remain afloat 
for
>other reasons such as not being able to swim) that person is in a world 
of
>hurt. They have two rounds in which the only actions they can take are 
to
>try to survive (a WIL check may be permitted to avoid this panic and 
perform
>actions other than saving your own skin... the number of dice is 
usually 4 but
>may be modified by circumstances). After these two rounds the player 
must
>make a HEA check every round to stay conscious. This HEA check should 
start at
>3d6 and increase by one die every two rounds:
>
>	rounds	action
>	-------|-----------------------------------
>	1 - 2  | Attempt to get air
>	3 - 4  | 3d6 -vs- HEA to remain conscious
>	5 - 6  | 4d6 -vs- HEA to remain conscious
>	7 - 8  | 5d6 -vs- HEA to remain conscious
>	etc...
>

I would suggest spreading out the rolls, perhaps to a roll every 4 or 5 
rounds.  An increasing roll every other round leads to a hard 5d6 HEA 
check after just 32 seconds.  I can hold my breath for twice that long 
without a great deal of difficulty.

>Once unconscious the adventurer will die in 2d4 rounds (to be rolled
>secretly by the GM).

Similarly, 20 seconds from unconsciousness to death seems very short.

>
>Now I'm just spewing rules so that people can pick them apart and we
>can get moving on this... But that last die roll (the secret GM roll)
>I view as a good one. It gives players a good chance to blow luck 
amulets
>and they won't know if their efforts to save their friend are going to
>succeed until they get him to the surface and revive him. Good stuff
>there, high tension and all that rot.
>
>A really healthy person will fail at the 7d6 (impossible) check at
>round 11 (44 seconds into their adventure) and pass out. 2d4 rounds
>later (average 20 seconds) they'll be dead. So I guess I'm saying about


>a minute. *shrug* Having never drowned, trained as a lifeguard or EMT
>or any other qualification, I'm calling it as I see it.

Given that many adventures do do not know how to swim...despite living 
on a water world =)...it's a good idea to have rules for drowning in 
open water.  However, I think drowning in a single minute is a bit too 
quick.  

Rick

>


>						-Steve
>


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