Making sense of Low Berths

[iainjcoleman]

The deadliness of low berths, the Low Lottery... I know it's been canon since LBB2, but it's still a bit silly. On the other hand, there needs to something that makes Low Passage less desirable than Middle Passage, and medical effects are a plausible solution. So, how about this:

To revive someone from a low berth, make an easy (+4 DM) Medical (Edu) check. If successful, the passenger suffers 1D6 hits. If unsuccessful, the passenger suffers 3D6 hits.

So a medical misap doesn't necessarily kill you, but it is serious and potentially life-threatening. The good news is that it's unlikely provided the revival is performed by a qualified medic, and basically impossible with a fully qualified doctor (Medical 2) or a smart paramedic (Medical 1, Edu 9+) under normal conditions. The main downside about Low Passage isn't that it kills you, it's that you feel really crappy for a few days afterwards, until the effects of the cold sleep fully wear off. All but the most cash-strapped travellers would rather pay a premium to avoid this, at least after the first time they try it.

 

[Golan2072]

My low-berth rules:

The Low Berths are altered a bit from the vanilla Traveller version. The main difference is that my version is somewhat safer. Characters are rarely be killed by these berths, but injuries – including serious or even permanent ones - could still result from their use.

Under standard procedure, preparing a passenger for low passage takes 1-6 hours and requires the presence of a medic (but no task roll). Reviving a low passenger is a Medic, Endurance, 1-6 hours, Easy (+4) task using the passenger's Endurance DM. In both cases one medic could simultaneously work on up to 20 low berths, but the medic has to make a separate task roll for each passenger. A failed revival roll results in 3d6 normal damage rather than death. Healthy low passengers frozen and revived using the standard procedure rarely die, but might need prompt medical attention in some cases; infirm, ill or wounded passengers are at greater risk.

In emergencies, however, it is possible to quickly freeze a character, taking only 10-60 seconds and not requiring any medic to be present. This emergency procedure is automatic and could even be initiated by the passenger himself by using an override inside the low berth. Reviving a passenger frozen in this manner is subject to a -2 DM.

It is also possible to quickly revive a low passenger using the emergency revival procedure, which is a Medic, Endurance, 1-6 minutes, Average (+0) task using the passenger's Endurance DM. This could either be done by a medic or by triggering an override failsafe mechanism of the low berth (which is treated as if it had Medic 0 for this purpose). A failed emergency revival task causes a roll on the Injury table (TMB p.37); damage is permanent unless treated in a hospital of TL10 or better (using the costs listed on TMB p.37).

 

[Paladin]

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=35990&start=0

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=37187&highlight=

 

[pasuuli]

Any player who knows how evil his referee is would not dare trust a low berth.

Even if he survives, he'll wake up in a soylent-green processing plant, or in a bathtub full of ice with a note saying "ve haff taken jour kidneys, sank you velly much", or on an empty ship careening towards the sun, or in the low berth itself, adrift in space sans ship, or on a Gray Aliens laboratory table, or in a terrorist camp on Ruie, or...

 

[towerwarlock]

If your GM is evil just remind him that the next time he plays, that his character is allergic to high explosives and copious amounts of firepower. If that does not work, simply threaten to tell his wife that he is not really playing any rpg's but simply sneaking off to a hotel to cheat on her.

 

[mlooney]

If your GM is evil just remind him that the next time he plays, that his character is allergic to high explosives and copious amounts of firepower. If that does not work, simply threaten to tell his wife that he is not really playing any rpg's but simply sneaking off to a hotel to cheat on her.

This might be tricky. Some GM's wives (like, say mine) game with them.

 

[Ishvar]

I agree with the original post, I have always find the death rate and especially the low lottery (very) stupid. I don't think that any of us would really bet on the number of surviving members of a flight . As far as I am concerned I would consider such thing as being insane.

If you want to discourage a player from a Low Berth trip, you should read the Blue Planet RPG. IMO, the effects should be less severe in the Traveller universe, as it has been suggested before, the player could be inflicted a wound.

The whole thing could be solved with an Endurance throw modified by the Medic skill of the crewmember in charge of the low berth units, the Tech Level, the maintenance and age of the low berth units. A successfull throw would mean no wound or a light one depending on the Effect. In the same spirit, a failure would mean more severe injuries that should not end in death (just look at all the security procedures and mecanisms that have to be included nowadays before a product is allowed to be distributed).

A way to solve the whole thing would be, according to the effect, to set a given number of damage dice that would be inflicted on the low passenger.

 

[atpollard]

I agree with the original post, I have always find the death rate and especially the low lottery (very) stupid. I don't think that any of us would really bet on the number of surviving members of a flight . As far as I am concerned I would consider such thing as being insane.

Especially in light of safer methods - we can already use drugs to induce a coma with a higher survival rate than low berth.

In CT there was a drug called FAST that would make the 1 week trip seem like a few hours. So forget the low berth, just give the passenger a couch, a pill, a REALLY SLOW movie, and he will be there before the movie is over (sorry, no lottery).

Save the Low Berth for Pre-Jump STL travel.

 

[Shiloh]

In CT there was a drug called FAST that would make the 1 week trip seem like a few hours. So forget the low berth, just give the passenger a couch, a pill, a REALLY SLOW movie, and he will be there before the movie is over (sorry, no lottery).

In The Winds of Gath, a "Dumarest Saga" book (number 1, even, recollection's woolly) there were both low berths and fast-drug. The drug didn't slow your metabolism any, just your perceptions and actions, so you had to eat (very slowly) high-nutrient (expensive) meals to avoid arriving debilitated. The drug had an antidote, taken once you were ready to debark, and Dumarest used its residual slowing effect to win a prizefight soon after arrival...

"Dumarest" low berths had a chance of killing you, and left you groggy for a good while after defrost, so Dumarest paid the techs extra, to ensure survival, and to be woken up a bit early so he was in the best shape when he got off the boat.

Save the Low Berth for Pre-Jump STL travel.

I think the Low Berth has a place (budget travel for the desperate, mostly), but sometimes the limitations of rule mechanics encourage designers to make them a little too lethal.