So the holding and our Angel have a disease. It makes you cough and cough and then you start to cough blood and then you cough/hurl your guts out as you die. The blood also turns nearly black and is oily and extra gross. The angel will start to really have this disease next session (rolled a 7-9 when she infected herself while healing former diseased).
So how do I deal with a player having this? Any cool moves? Also she wants to use the infirmary move to heal herself and create a good antidote. What requirements should I give her?
you caught and caught, eh? What do you caught?
Transfusion of healthy blood – once a day, for a week. Otherwise the disease will start again.
The word you want is “cough”. Sounds like a good opening to call for Acting Under Fire, suffer ap harm, have them pass out from pain, hint that its only going to get worse.
What was it like when she treated the former-diseased? Did she cure them? Or just treat their symptoms? What do you already know about the blood disease? That’s going to inform the demands you make on creating an antidote.
I’d make a disease counter, for each segment create a different (each time worst) effect.
As I understand the disease is bad, can you think of some positive effect also? If yes, make a custom moves.
• Maybe you can see what someone else experience in the maelstrom?
• Have some sort of precognition for bad events about to happen?
• Your tongue turn black and if you lick someone…something good happens to them?
Some possible requirements for antidode:
you need to study at least two different • subject that are in different stage of the disease.
• And the corpse of a diseased victim.
• Maybe study some fluid you cough out (does that verb exist?!).
• Study what are the condition and the place where you can get sick.
Maybe it’s like the Spanish flu– the healthier you are, the worse you get it. And maybe there’s no cure– you just have to wait it out, treat the symptoms, and hope you and everyone you love don’t die.
How about making it a Front with a countdown clock and custom moves tied to the clock.
Like Roll + Hot
On a miss no one else is infected
On a 7-9, choose 1: the character you have the highest Hx with catches it, randomly determine 2 other characters to catch it, it spreads virulently among the general population of NPCs
On a 10+, all of the above.
Idea here being using Hot as a proxy for how much other people want to be around her.
More context!
The Angel was able to heal a few infected people before. I think Healing itself won’t be much of a problem but it is a huge strain on her resources and time. I think what she wants is to create vaccination. She is currently in (not enforced) quarantine and the hardhold was closed into the direction of the infection carrier. (that will create its own problems)
This will definitely require opening the corpse for some kind of autopsy. This is bad as the family and fellow hunters will want the corpse back and there is a belief about your body needing to be whole in order for you to reach some kind of afterlife.
She will also need to figure out how to create vaccine (or some other wonder-drug to help people not catch this disease) and add that to her infirmary.
While working on the vaccine she won’t be able to work on her health. She either needs to get rid of her own infection first or find someone to help her. If she can find another healer to help she can have her cake and eat it to.
This is for starting to create this. “Mass Producing” will require something more.
Does that sound fair?
Still not sure how to deal with the disease. First step will require acting under fire for most strenuous activities.
Stephanie Bryant that is kinda what I am going for.
Lenny Pacelli I don’t think I want to add positive effects to a disease.
Okay, cool. Excellent context.
Sounds like the Angel will need to study the effects of the disease (autopsy or a living person, whatever) so she knows what the hell she’s working with, and also figure out old world vaccine creation because I doubt anyone in the apocalypse knows how to manufacture vaccines — or else she can put together a crap treatment that won’t be a real permanent cure.
(How will she study up? Somewhere out there there is a library that has what she needs, or maybe the maelstrom can dump the medical knowledge into her brain.)
Then, once she’s figured out viruses, it’s going to cost her a fuckton of jingle to get her hands on all the parts needed to make a vaccine, and she’ll need to add specialized equipment to her infirmary first – or risk exposing herself to danger – plus its going to take hundreds of tries to get it right.
Just treating herself for the disease? Study the effects of the disease or get someone’s help if they know more about the disease then she does, and she can put together a crap treatment to keep herself going until a proper vaccine is created.
Does she have a savvyhead, to help make the vaccine? As that could be fantastic.
Also, if I learned anything from House, its that autopsies can be done on the living …
No Savyhead but there is Marco and she is really good with the Generators…
William Nichols I was going to say ‘those are called vivisections’, but in Apocalypse World… well, anything is possible!
Finding patient zero is a frequent, almost magical, solution in fictional diseases.
If she’s concentrating on making a vaccine, she’s not going to be getting the rest she vitally needs. I might make her roll Harm moves, with the understanding (at some point) that she could really work herself so sick that she might die. But, if she doesn’t, then others will most likely die without a vaccine. (Unless other PCs make smart/cool decisions)