Drug Addiction Rules
Drug Addiction Rules (Work in Progress) posted in Rules & Errata forum comment posted by cobalt_phoenix | Author |
| John, you are a prince of researching. Thank you for doing all this. |
It was my pleasure, Derek, though I prefer the title "Emperor".
| Author |
| I feel a little foolish in not considering catnip for feline mutants and did not know warfarin was used as a medical drug (I did known it is a pesticide for mammals because of the warnings against eating sweet clovers). |
I wouldn't feel too bad about the warfarin thing, since there are lots of med out there for lots of conditions. I knew about it because my dad was on it for years. In general, it isn't a bad assumption that anything that can be used as a toxin, poison, or venom is also used as a medication. I remember reading years ago that platypus venom is being looked at as a pain killer because it directly targets the nerve endings to cause pain, which is relatively unique.
As for the catnip, I remembered it thanks to the movie District 9. The aliens in the film enjoyed eating cat food because it was "like catnip, but more extreme", as it was described in the movie (I'm allergic to cats, so I have no experience with them).
So some good ideas for potential fictional recreational drugs could be anything that acts like a hormone or pheromone for a particular species or group of species, in much the same way as catnip.
| Author |
| Now I have to figure out what drugs I want to designing using these rules. |
That is actually why I recommended that one set of tables that dictates what the reaction of a chemical can be in general terms.
I would set that table up to have a lot more entries than you would think. For example, I would include the option for a drug to act like a disease, any of the various poisons, and any of the various drug compounds shown in the PHB, the SD AEG, and (at least some of) the DM AEG, as well as the options for "benign" (which means it has a reaction, but its not negative or positive enough to actually matter) and "nonactive" (which means that it literally does nothing). Allergic reactions and biological rejection can be handled as either a disease or toxin, so that is covered.
So that table should have: 1 disease, 7 toxins, and at least 10 medications (7 in the PHB, and then the rest added from other sources), and then the last two (benign and nonactive). That totals 20 entries alone, though you could swap out one of them to let you have "other" which would include mutagens, psionic/FX abilities, and other options to add some interesting flavor.
| Author |
| Maybe something for plants, a modified agricultural hormone that the green folk use in Gamma World that keeps them alive in very harsh conditions. |
Well, I as I terrible at botany in college, and I don't have any of the books for Gamma World, but off the top of my head:
- increased waxy coating, as seen on cactus and evergreens, to help reduce water loss
- strengthened cell walls, which would likely make it more difficult for them to move (DEX penalty would probably be appropriate), but toughens up their bodies (improved CON, damage track, or natural armor)
- perhaps something that improves fluid flow through their bodies, opening up anything that acts like xylem channels
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