Hazards

• Hazards are dangerous things that can harm characters.
  • Hazardous Objects are physical items that can cause harm if approached or interacted with.
  • Hazardous Environments are locations that can cause harm by being in them.
• Hazards will usually have a Type, which will inform any immunities, resistances or vulnerabilities a character might have.
  • Players should inform the Referee if they have any abilities which interact with the Hazard’s Type.
  • Hazards can be Minor, Major, or Extreme, which determines how dangerous they are.
• The effects of a Hazard will usually be administered by a Referee or official game instruction like a lammie or sheet detailing its effects.
  • Some Hazards are obvious and you will be informed of their presence either before or as you enter their effect.
  • Some Hazards are not obvious and require use of a Scanner, ability or being affected by them to reveal their presence.

Space is a dangerous place, and the Orion Sphere is no different. Hazards are objects or places that can cause harm to characters in various ways, usually by afflicting them with Calls, Roleplay Effects or Conditions. Hazards are the way that OSLRP represents these dangerous places or things. Hazards can take many forms, and have a wide range of possible effects. They can be obvious, or subtle and difficult to detect. Although there may be occasional main OSLRP events and situations where Hazards appear in the main player area, Hazards are usually encountered on Missions or at Sanctioned Events.

Malfunctioning equipment can be a major source of danger

There are numerous ways of classifying a Hazard from both an IC and OOC perspective. The sections below break down some of the more common ways a Hazard will be classified by our plot writers, Referees and Game Team.

Form determines how the Hazard will interact with characters, and what it looks like or how it is described in play. There are two Forms of Hazard - Objects and Environments.

Hazardous objects are just that - individual objects that are dangerous in some way. These will almost always take the form of an in-character physrep; maybe a rock, a machine, maybe a glowing light source, or anything else. Some Hazardous Objects can be picked up and moved around, others cannot, as maybe they are very big, very heavy, attached to the ground, or maybe just mysteriously anchored in place by unknown means.

Hazardous Objects may have a radius of effect within which their dangerous aspects can harm characters, such as a radioactive mineral that irradiates characters who get within 2 metres of it. This form of Hazard will usually behave somewhat like a Hazardous Environment, in that duration and closeness of contact will affect how harmful it is, but not always. Unlike a Hazardous Environment, it is more localised and centred around a particular object. Other Hazardous Objects will not harm characters unless they are interacted with in some specific way - touched, dropped, struck, opened tinkered with in an Engineering action, Scanned or Extracted from, etc. These objects usually harm characters a standard amount when triggered.

Toxic atmospheres require substantial protection such as Rebreathers

Hazardous Environments are locations that can cause harm simply by being in them. This could be an area full of toxic gases, extremes of heat or cold, or suffused with radiation. It could also be an area where the ground was made up of vicious spikes, or suffused with a hostile psionic residue.

Hazardous Environments generally do increasing amounts of harm the longer an unprotected character is exposed to them. For example, a Heat Environment might have no effect if a character is there for less than 5 minutes, but after 5 minutes when they left the area they might be afflicted with a Heatstroke condition, and after 10 minutes they might be afflicted with Severe Heatstroke. If they stayed even longer they might suffer a KNOCKOUT or eventually a LETHAL call.

Usually the time spent in a Hazardous Environment is reset when you leave it, but leaving and returning within a short time might cause the effects to begin from where a character left off, if the time spent outside the area was not enough to recover from the effects.

Hazards will usually have a Type Keyword associated with them, reflecting what the nature of their danger is. They will also have one of three Levels, reflecting how dangerous they are. The Referee or lammie representing the Hazard should inform players of what the Hazard’s Type and Level is. Players should inform the Referee if they have any relevant ability that grants them protection, immunity or vulnerability to the relevant Type of Hazard. Some examples of common Hazard Types:

• HEAT Hazards are things that are very hot - such as molten lava or an environment over 60o Celcius. Spending too much time in a hot environment could cause heatstroke, KNOCKOUT calls, or burns.
• COLD Hazards are things that are very cold - like frozen wastes or cryogenic fluids. Cold things could cause frostbite, hypothermia or death.
• RADIATION Hazards are things that emit harmful radiation. Radiation can cause radiation sickness or poisoning, or other strange energies can cause a wide array of effects.
• TOXIC Hazards are things that poison characters or damage their tissues. This can include toxic atmospheres, poisonous substances or venomous spine traps.
• PSIONIC Hazards are things that affect a character’s mind or Psionic energy. Strange artefacts or places might emit harmful psionic energies or cause various Roleplay Effects.
• WARP Hazards are things that cause harm due to exposure to strange Cosmic Energies or alterations in the nature of the universe itself. Not a good time.

Each Hazard will also have a Level, which reflects how dangerous it is. This may interact with the sources of protection or immunity a character has. A character with immunity from Minor hazards of a certain type might suffer less of an effect if they encounter a Major hazard of that type, or might be able to be exposed to if for a longer period without ill effect.

• Minor Hazards are less harmful than other Levels. They are likely to not cause any harm for short exposure periods, or require a longer time period (5-10 mins or more) before serious impacts are felt. Minor Hazards generally inflict harm that is relatively easy and quick to remove.
• Major Hazards are quite harmful. They may cause some harm on initial exposure, or the time period over which their effect escalates might be quite short (2-5 mins). Exposure to a Major Hazard for a few minutes might result in an effect that is hard to cure, or might require several events to be removed completely.
• Extreme Hazards are very harmful, and will usually cause a significant amount of harm quite quickly - even a second’s exposure might cause serious harm to a character, and an unprotected character’s effects might escalate every 30 seconds or so. Extreme Hazards are quite likely to lead to character death, or severe and possibly permanent Conditions.

Many Hazards will be obvious to characters either as or before they enter their area of effect. A raging snowstorm can be seen, dangerous heat can be felt, a swirling vortex of hatred can be perceived before it can fully grip your mind. When a Hazard is obvious, then the encounter Referee should indicate its presence either before or shortly after entering the affected area. Characters who have resistances, vulnerabilities, etc., should then let the Referee know as soon as possible. Usually this will allow characters to leave before any negative effects are felt. Not all Hazards are so clear, however.

Subtle Hazards are not obvious to characters who approach them, either because their effects cannot be perceived by normal senses, or they are contained or hidden in some way. In these cases, the duration of exposure will be measured by the Referee and they will apply the effects of the Hazard after a character has been exposed enough. The Referee should tell the affected player what Type of Hazard has affected them before applying the effect, so that they player has an opportunity to inform the Referee of any resistances or vulnerabilities. In some cases, the Referee may not apply any effects until after the characters have left the affected area.