Environment

Adventurers can’t always rely on the fact that they’ll be in a comfortable, temperate environment. Deserts, volcano bases, mountaintops, howling storms, blizzards, driving rain, underwater lairs, and more can contrive to create a wide array of environments and can make for extremely memorable set-piece battles.

The following environmental templates can be applied to areas the size of a world or as small as part of a room.

Environments sometimes inflict a persistent condition, such as Sick or Fatigued, which only wears off after a night’s sleep. If a condition mentions that it applies after an hour, it is considered a persistent condition.

Areas can have more than one environmental type. For example, an arctic wasteland might be cold and windy.

Some creatures are immune to certain environments. SOAK 5 (or more) of an appropriate damage type (where relevant) makes a creature immune to a condition. Some abilities or exploits may also provide condition immunity.

An environment doesn’t typically inflict actual damage. Anything in the environment that’s dangerous enough to inflict damage (such as an actual fire, lava pit, pool of acid, liquid nitrogen, etc.) is a hazard and can do direct damage to those who touch it. Environments do not have such extreme effects, can typically be traversed, but may have effects if characters spend too long in them.

Environment types have the following characteristics.

Acidic

Acidic environments can be caused by acid rain or chemical smoke. An acidic environment causes irritation and pain. Those who spend more than an hour in an acidic environment suffer the Pained condition.

Cold

From arctic wastelands to ice dragon lairs, cold environments can be debilitating and deadly. After an hour, cold environments inflict the Slow condition due to sluggish reactions and slowing metabolisms. Note that 5 points of cold SOAK, such as that from protective gear, protects from cold.

Difficult Terrain

Snow, mud, rubble, debris, swamp, shallow water, deep undergrowth, and more can create difficult terrain. Difficult terrain halves ground movement SPEED.

Dim/Smoky/Rain/Snow

Dim light, obviously caused by a lack of light, can also represent smoky, snowy, or raining environments where vision is compromised. Dim light renders a creature which starts its turn in the area Blind (although this does not progress beyond the first stage); darker areas inflict the severe Blind condition automatically unless the creature has some way of illuminating the area or seeing in the dark. Unlike other environmental effects, this wears off as soon as the environmental effect goes away.

Hot

From hot volcanic ninja lairs to burning warehouses, a hot environment is an environment similar to that of a desert; somewhere in the region of 100+ degrees Fahrenheit (or 45 degrees Celsius). It causes Fatigue after an hour. A scorching environment is significantly hotter, and burns those within it; those who begin their turn in a scorching area gain the Burning condition.

Radioactive

Radioactive areas are very dangerous. Those who begin their turn in a radioactive area gain the Sick condition. Those who spend an hour in the area contract radiation sickness (see the section on illnesses and diseases).

Slippery

A slippery area, caused by things like icy ground or an oil slick, counts as difficult terrain (half SPEED).

Thick/Thin Atmosphere

While both thick and thin atmospheres are very dissimilar, their effects on creatures are not so different. Both types of atmosphere can quickly tire a creature not used to it; after an hour, creatures gain the Fatigued condition.

Tremors

Unstable environments could be caused by earthquakes, sailing ships under extreme fire, or buildings about to explode. Tremors count as difficult terrain (half SPEED). At the start of each round, all creatures must make a Routine [10] AGI check or fall prone. Quakes make for an extremely difficult environment—horizontal movement is counted as climbing—and the AGI check is Difficult [16] and additionally inflicts 2d6 blunt damage on a failure (as well as knocking the creature prone).

Underwater

An underwater environment eliminates all fire-based effects, reduces fire damage from weapons and spells by –1d6, increases electricity damage by +1d6, and counts as difficult terrain. It is also airless (see suffocation, under thick/thin atmospheres).

Vacuum

A vacuum is an area with no atmosphere. It is a myth that vacuums cause spontaneous explosion of human tissue, although exposure is certainly not healthy.

The biggest danger from a vacuum is simply the lack of air. Without some way to breathe, living creatures in a vacuum will quickly suffocate. Lack of oxygen uses a similar process to that when an unconscious character is dying. Create a countdown dice pool equal in size to the character’s END attribute. Each turn, the dice pool is rolled and any 6s rolled are removed from the pool. When the final die is removed, the character falls unconscious and the unconscious and dying process begins as normal.

Wet

A wet environment is a humid or rainy one—tropical jungles, aboard a sailing ship, in driving rain. In these environments, the Burning condition has no effect and fire-based weapons cannot cause critical hits.

Windy

Windy environments are caused by rushing air (or other gases). Wind always has a direction of movement, which is determined beforehand. Moving into the wind counts as difficult terrain. In a hurricane, it is harder— to move into the wind, a Challenging [13] STR check is required. Additionally, at the start of every turn, all creatures must make a Challenging [13] STR check or be pushed 1d6 squares in the direction of the wind.