Re: Staging Healing

> THE CONDITION AS ACTOR
>
> When it's the condition's turn to act, things might seem a bit more
abstract,
> but I think that we can draw upon medical dramas (like ER, Casualty, etc.)
for
> inspiration. Again, it all depends on the size of the AP bid that you, as
> narrator, want to make. A good rule of thumb, though, is that the more
severe
> an injury or symptom is, the higher the AP bids you should be making, to
> represent the fact that it might kill the patient before the healer can
deal
> with it:
>
> ** Small AP Bids
> These are minor symptoms/conditions. Examples:
>
> * The patient's arm is badly bruised.
> * The rash is uncomfortable and itchy.
> * The patient has hay fever and cannot stop sneezing.
> * The patient is bleeding from a small cut on his leg.
> * The patient has bruised ribs.

[etc].

I don't think of these as AP bids, but as symptoms that will determine the initial resistance of the wound to healing.

Looking at Popular Medical shows, Wound abilities seem to be: Resist Diagnosis ("Uh, does this look like Small Pox to you?") Spurting Blood ("Sponge, dammit, nurse!") Maliciously Retreating Body Parts ("I can't get a hold of it") Spontaneously Generate New Problem ("Why is he convulsing?") Hide Problem ("He's bleeding out, but from where?")

>For example, Oddi the Unlucky has taken a severe mauling from a bear.
>His injuries are recorded as:
>
>Broken Arm 17
>Nasty Gashes 5W
>Fractured Skull 20W

No, he comes in "All messed up, that bear dang near killed him"

Doctor makes his initial diagnosis
Applicable skills: Combat Medicine, First Aid, Triage, Surgery -2, Seen all ER episodes -10
Resistance: Lots of Blood All Over and Patient Screaming or Patient is Pale and Unresponsive
Complete Success: The patient is diagnosed properly - all problems are found Minor, Major Success - all symptoms but the most life-threatening/most hidden are found
Marginal Victory, Tie, Marginal defeat - the most obvious problem (probably least critical - say the gashes) is found Minor, Major Defeat - Complete Misdiagnosis ("Those bruises will kill him! Anything else can wait.")
Complete Defeat: "Oh my god, I can't do this" *or* "You're fine, suck it up and get out of here. Take two aspirine and call me in the morning" (or suitable fantasy equivalent)

Now the doctor can start to make headway against the problems *he knows about*. Choose a skill and a problem to address. Bid AP - (small wound, bid lots of APs. After all, it's just some gashes, right? And we need the bed so Treat 'em and Street 'em (thank you, Dr. Romano); Large wound, maybe probe a bit more with small bid) Wound resists with an appropriate ability.

Now wounds "attack" - you can:
Bring one of the wounds that was missed to the fore ("Oddi? Oddi? Wake Up! Doctor, he just passed out")
Try to re-open a "cured" wound ("I thought we had those gashes sewn up, why is there blood all over the place?")
Patient can't take it anymore (or Patient wakes up in the middle of the procedure) ("Calm DOWN Oddi, we can't work on you if you're thrashing around. Nurse, apply the Cerebral Impact Device.") Patient faints in the middle of the procedure ("Oddi? Oddi? Wake Up! Doctor he just passed out")
(Uh, oh, is this a head wound we missed, or patient has "Faint at sight of own blood 17w2?" )
Spontaneously develop another problem ("He can't get air!") Patient starts convulsing ("Hold him, HOLD HIM!") Patient dies ("Charge the paddles, NOW!") (Note that "Patient Dies" is a temporary condition, at least unless the doctor screws up big time on the die roll!)
Involve Onlooker ("Get her OUT of here, nurse") Incompetence ("Dammit Nurse, when I ask for a no. 2 clamp, I want a no. 2 clamp!)
Inappropriate Jocularity ("Hey, watch what happens when I do this!") Family Drama ("Doctor, your ex-wife's lawyer is on line 3") Obnoxious Collegue ("If you'll just get out of my way I can save this patient")

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Remember - it's not just the wound against the doctor, it's the world!

Some AP losses might require use of the Diagnose ability as the next "Doctor Action" (Why did he faint? Why can't he get air?) as opposed to an active attempt to sew up the gash/set the bone.

I'd suggest making Diagnosis a Unrelated action - make it a simple contest and don't bid AP. Successes might not just point out the problems, they might even give you bonuses to abilities ("Oh, *here's* the problem, a simple cut here will relieve the pressure") (I'd do that for maybe Major & Complete victories) Defeats of course make it more difficult - I'd assign the typical penalties from the contest results - ie, a major defeat at Diagnosis would inflict a -50% penalty (at least until a new diagnosis is successful). This is like looking around in combat - you're not actively fixing the problem, you're trying to *find* the problem.

On the other hand, you *can* simply include it as part of the extended contest with an AP bid - but then you might just "diagnose him back to health" - ("My Diagnose is 10w2, but my surgical skills are only 17. I'll just keep using Diagnose with big AP bids until I win...")

RR
It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done what he has done.
- Richelieu