Chronic Disabilities/medical conditions: Input available

[Nanako]

As part of genetics work i'm currently rewriting the entire mutations and disabilities system, and while i'm at it I was thinking of doing another feature that's been requested - allowing you to choose disabilities and chronic medical conditions in character creation, that would always be with you. Actual mechanical effects, which serve as an aid to roleplaying a slightly broken crewmember.

Currently though, i don't have a lot of ideas for what should actually be available in this feature, and hence i'm currently kind of on the fence about whether or not its worth doing. So this thread should not be taken as a statement of intent, but merely informal information gathering. And seeing whether this idea is desired by the community. Anyways, you can help by suggesting suitable disabilities and chronic conditions that could be selectable. This is not limited to pre-existing things, i'm open to coding new ones too, my new system gives a lot more flexibility to make certain things easier., and your new ideas will help shape the expectations of the system and the functionality it needs, even if i don't make them.

These effects will be impossible to cure ingame without magic or admin intervention. Medical means of temporarily suppressing them (like taking dexalin for asthma) is a possibility though.

Some ground rules:

1. A disability is a disadvantage, this is strictly for things that make you less-able than coworkers, not free buffs.

2. Suggestions should be believable and fit the tone of our game. Tourettes is not being enabled. No being a deformed mutant or farting glitter or glowing in the dark.

3. Disabilities should not be so severe that they stop you doing a profitable job. I'm sure biesel has some discrimination laws, but theres a limit to it. NT can't be reasonably expected to hire hellen keller, or any similar completely-broken person. For this reason, blindness and deafness will not be made available.

4. Some mechanical effect is a requirement. If all a disability does is give RP messages, it's not suitable here, you can already roleplay such things yourself. This makes a lot of mental conditions unsuitable for this system unless you can propose worthwhile gameplay effects from them

Currently, i only have three ideas that fit. Muteness, clumsiness, and asthma. That last one is new and ill code it. I don't believe these three are enough to justify developing the feature yet, so more input is desired.

Species-specific disabilities may be considered, but ill need some good ideas to justify the extra codework to support that.

Post your ideas, desired mechanical effects, and (if applicable) means of compensating for the issue.

[Scheveningen]

2. Suggestions should be believable and fit the tone of our game. Tourettes is not being enabled. No being a deformed mutant or farting glitter or glowing in the dark.

 

Damn it.

I for one would love to further propagate katawa waifu shoujo elements into ss13. My suggestions:

Wickermarrow: The minimum break thresholds of an individual are reduced by half, making it easier to break a person's bones through damage due to more susceptible and brittle bone structure. Treated by any form of calcium supplements but not wholly cured forever, to at least temporarily raise the thresholds to less critical ratios.

Epileptic: The afflicted sustains occasional dangerous seizures throughout the course of the round without medication. They suffer a stun, begin to convulse violently and cannot speak until the seizure is done. In order to prevent them from hurting themselves against adjacent objects, they must be moved to an area where they are clear of any nearby people or objects and allowed to seize up until it is over. The frequency and severity of seizures is mitigated through certain mental suppressants, giving them an actual use beyond RP fluff.

Hypertension: The afflicted will suffer from painful headaches, occasional nausea, vomiting, confusion and occasional vision problems without having consumed a high animal protein diet. Certain races cannot experience hypertension due to 1.) not being able to consume animal protein and 2.) different anatomical composition to avoid headaches with code consistency. Untreated hypertension can cause sudden heart failure or strokes.

[Nanako]

Hypertension: The afflicted will suffer from painful headaches, occasional nausea, vomiting, confusion and occasional vision problems without having consumed a high animal protein diet. Certain races cannot experience hypertension due to 1.) not being able to consume animal protein and 2.) different anatomical composition to avoid headaches with code consistency. Untreated hypertension can cause sudden heart failure or strokes.

 

Why would meat help lower blood pressure? Thats the exact opposite of true

In any case hyper/hypotension is a no for now, because i have other future plans for the cirulatory system

Did you just invent wickermarrow ? no google results for it. im sure brittle bone disease has a more scientific name. its not a bad idea though

Epilepsy is good too, i like that one

[Scheveningen]

Wickermarrow was a spitballed name, yes. It's a spooky name that isn't osteoporosis.

[Ornias]

Epileptic

"hello this is a random search"

"no, this is code green"

"RESISTING flash him!"

"wait, no, i'm epi n n ngh hhh annnnnnqnennrjjj"

"another criminal killed. good job team"

[whiterabit]

Epileptic

"hello this is a random search"

"no, this is code green"

"RESISTING flash him!"

"wait, no, i'm epi n n ngh hhh annnnnnqnennrjjj"

"another criminal killed. good job team"

 

i nearly just choked on cereal you fucker

[Ornias]

But, on a more serious note:

• DNC: Allow for a few side effects of cloning, so as to either add mechanical punishments for cloning the DNCs, or just to have a way to have punishments for cloning. Stuff like a bit of brute damage, visible side effects, disabilities that only manifest on cloning, that sort of thing.
  
• Non-Compatible: Allow for people to be non-compatible with prosthetic, maybe of specific brands?
  
• Disabled: Actually have the option to be disabled without literally missing the limbs (eg. for wheelchairs).
  
• Allergies: Characters can be allergic to a certain food item (eg. nuts, milk, etc.) to varying degrees. Eating that food or a meal cooked with that food will have an allergic reaction.
  

And, this won't even necessarily just be purely genetic stuff, right? It could be just... character traits. So...

• Glass Jaw: Character has a stronger chance to be knocked unconcious.
  
• Slow Runner: Character sprints slower.
  
• Overweight: Character starts overweight.
  
• Bad Shot: 50% chance to miss if you would normally hit.
  
• Poor Pain Resistance: Character feels pain at a higher degree than usual.
  
• Heavy Sleeper: Characters who are unconscious for any reason remain that way for twice as long (eg. take twice as long to metabolize sedatives, etc. etc.).
  

And, y'know, the more dangerous ones?

• Terrible Shot: 80% chance to miss if you would normally hit.
  
• Illiterate: Character cannot read.
  
• Limp: Character limps automatically, greatly reducing their speed and making them unable to sprint.
  
• Lost eye/Blindness: Slightly reduced ranged accuracy and a display message unless their eyes are covered for lost eye, as shown on the tin for blindness (except maybe a slightly longer view range than regular blindness, like 2 tiles?).
  

 

Obvious we aren't doing all of those, but I am in full support of adding more ways to make flawed characters.

[Nanako]

But, on a more serious note:

[*]DNC: Allow for a few side effects of cloning, so as to either add mechanical punishments for cloning the DNCs, or just to have a way to have punishments for cloning. Stuff like a bit of brute damage, visible side effects, disabilities that only manifest on cloning, that sort of thing.

An administrative decision has already been reached on additional balancing measures for cloning, and i will be implementing it during this project

DNC orders are more a matter of personal preference than physiological necessity, as far as i'm aware

 

[*]Non-Compatible: Allow for people to be non-compatible with prosthetic, maybe of specific brands?

I think i could do this easily enough, it would be implemented as rejection, and gradual infection of the nearest organic parent to the prosthetic

 

[*]Disabled: Actually have the option to be disabled without literally missing the limbs (eg. for wheelchairs).

[*]Limp: Character limps automatically, greatly reducing their speed and making them unable to sprint.

will be done

 

[*]Allergies: Characters can be allergic to a certain food item (eg. nuts, milk, etc.) to varying degrees. Eating that food or a meal cooked with that food will have an allergic reaction.

This is a maybe. Food does not really track what it was made of, most of the ingredients are just combined into generic nutriment, and implementing this properly would be difficult - at least for ingredients like milk The number of reagents this could be done with is somewhat low. Leaning towards a no due to technical difficulties, unless we can think of some reagents that are sufficiently common and present in final products

 

[*]Glass Jaw: Character has a stronger chance to be knocked unconcious.

[*]Slow Runner: Character sprints slower.

[*]Bad Shot: 50% chance to miss if you would normally hit.

[*]Poor Pain Resistance: Character feels pain at a higher degree than usual.

[*]Terrible Shot: 80% chance to miss if you would normally hit.

[*]Illiterate: Character cannot read

[*]Lost eye/Blindness: Slightly reduced ranged accuracy and a display message unless their eyes are covered for lost eye, as shown on the tin for blindness (except maybe a slightly longer view range than regular blindness, like 2 tiles?)..

Mechanical capabilities for these things is another project, they aren't in the scope of this one for now.

 

[*]Overweight: Character starts overweight.

Ill need to look into how well supported the existing fat mechanic is. call this a maybe

Not a bad crop of ideas though

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I can understand blindness not being permitted, but also banning deafness is rather silly. Deaf people work in offices, and other locations. There are already quite a few people already roleplaying being deaf, or mute.

It's required that to work on-station you need to be able to understand Basic, and speak back in Basic or sign language. So I heartily encourage allowing deafness as a disability, because I reject it being unrealistic to get a job being deaf and I also think it is a very real disadvantage with a unique roleplaying experience.

The rest of the options Nanako just made all sound good.

Another possibility is chronic pain that requires pain medication.

Being mute is already done as well, and should be considered to allow the roleplayed disability to also be mechanical.

[Fire and Glory]

It's required that to work on-station you need to be able to understand Basic

Idly checking. You can't really understand basic if you're deaf, no?

[Nanako]

I can understand blindness not being permitted, but also banning deafness is rather silly. Deaf people work in offices, and other locations. There are already quite a few people already roleplaying being deaf, or mute.

It's required that to work on-station you need to be able to understand Basic, and speak back in Basic or sign language. So I heartily encourage allowing deafness as a disability, because I reject it being unrealistic to get a job being deaf and I also think it is a very real disadvantage with a unique roleplaying experience.

 

Working on a research station isnt exactly a normal office job, though. Everyone is utterly dependant on the radio for coordination, and sometimes survival. Playing a deaf character in this situation puts a pretty heavy burden on others to work with you. I'm pretty against it personally.

At least with a mute, the burden is all your own, you can PDA/write notes to people. without them needing to do anything unusual to communicate with you.

The extra burden a deaf employee places on their coworkers falls under the criteria of "your severe disability makes you an unprofitable employee." You cost the company time and money with every interaction

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

We have jobs where deaf people can work inoffensively.

Janitor. Cook. Gardener. Chaplain. Apprentice. Intern. Assistant. Visitor.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/20/health/human-factor-philip-zazove/

Medical doctor if we want to be realistic.

It is a reasonable matter to argue them out of first responder, security, and command roles. There are a multitude of jobs where you can be totally fine without hearing.

I don't understand why you are asking for ways to give people disabilities to put them at a disadvantage and then you reject deafness because it puts them at a serious disadvantage.

[Ornias]

"Hello, can I have a sandwich please?"

"What?"

"A sandwich please?"

"What?"

"A sandwich?"

"What?"

"Sandwich?"

"What?"

[Jboy2000000]

I don't think it'd be a stretch to allow blind people onto the station. In fact, people have argued for blind characters before.

Including lord Boot, for one.

 

Why would a research company hire a blind employee? That is just so illogical.

I tried to do a search on blindness in the fields of research and medicine, since this whitelist application is going to set a precedent. It is an abnormality, but there are cases:

"There are only a handful of blind doctors in this country."

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7318398/ns/he ... -earns-md/

And I found this gem:

http://academia.stackexchange.com/quest ... fessorship

"This was motivated by thinking on the russian and blind mathematician Lev Poyntriagin who made important work in topological groups and control theory."

However, we have to consider one thing:

Unless I abhorrently misinterpreted the intentions of the OP, I don't think this shaman will be acting in the role of a scientist, or Command/security/engineering level jobs where sight is a major factor in the job.

[Wiebman]

Animal (Tajara) allergy!

[Nanako]

A fur allergy wouldn't be too hard. occasional sneezing when around tajarans, dogs, cats, mice, etc. Plus the potential for office conflict with tajarans is something i like. Ill do this one

[Butterrobber202]

BrittleScale: (Unathi Only) A genetical illness that affects the toughness and size of Unathi scales, while it is uncommon to hear about cases on Oureon or Urban Moghes, it's widespread among the Tribes. Brittlescale makes a Uanthi's scales weaker, smaller, and capture less heat. In serious cases the afflicted completely lacks scales in soft spots like the armpit or groin. BrittleScale often has the effect of making the remaining scales pale in color, or forcing a white pigment. Unathi with BrittleScale are usually not allowed to reproduce on Moghes.

In-Game: Take more Brute and Burn damage, look weird.

Possible effect with de-pressureaztion but no real idea.

[Nanako]

alberyk has mentioned his own problems with making tatoos, and i fear i'd run into the same thing with skin conditions. Namely concerns with missing limbs

It's not impossible to do properly, but its more work than i'm willing to put in for the sake of that feature.

So the answer for brittlescale, and any similar skin/scale/fur/carapace conditions is a "not at this time, but maybe in future.".

[Nanako]

After a recent hiatus due to technical issues, i have returned to aurora and resumed working on this project. Inputting ideas is still available, please continue posting any that come to mind

[driecg36]

I do quite like the "missing eye" idea, so that people can't call me out for my eye patch.

I dont think it should've crippling effects like lower sight range, just accuracy maluses and much more susceptible to eye damage, considering you only have one.

I do think visual conditions would be neat though, like disfigurement or a burn scar. It'd be nice to have things about you character be immediately visible and less left to the imagination through char descriptions, but if there's problems with visual tidbits on your character, it probably isn't worth the effort to code it for such little payoff.

[Nanako]

Due to the ending of my involvement with the development team, this project is cancelled. Unless someone else feels like taking it on.