Tranq damage in CT

[Major Matt Mason]

I am asking for help in figuring out the damage resulting from snub pistol tranq rounds in CT.

The story begins in LLB #4, "Mercenary" (1978), where the wound inflicted from a tranq is given in the table as "variable" (p. 50). I can't find any further detail in this booklet.

Paranoia Press's "Merchants & Merchandise" (1981), while not canon, provides possible interpretations with two non-lethal weapons: the hypo gun and the taser.

The hypo gun fires "sleep darts doing 2D to 6D additional non-lethal damage [in addition to 1D from the needle, thus 3D to 7D]" (p. 12). Each tranq drug (2D, 3D, 4D, 5D, and 6D) being a different type.

The taser gun does "6D stun damage up to total Str + Dex + End of target: points in excess of this are physical damage." That is an interesting way of dealing with a threshold between non-lethal and accidental damage.

In both cases, up to 6D stun damage can be delivered in one hit. That seems pretty substantial.

Since MegaTraveller resolved many CT ambiguities, I looked therein. MT seems to say that a tranq hit will result in "1 damage point per [combat] round" (PM, 94), i.e., in CT terms 1D per turn (IIRC). This has a nice "creep up" effect (in six turns a person hit with just one will have had 6D stun damage) but might prove cumbersome in actual play.

Finally QLT20 (2002) in its CT section says:

--Tranquilizer effect finds the target's "END reduced by 2D immediately" (p. 30). Since END does not have any more direct impact on combat than the other two physical stats, this would be more interesting if it were related to the END derived "combat swings/blows/hits," i.e., fatigue is induced first. Otherwise, I'm not sure what the thinking here is. Then again, it might be a way of forcing the "first blood" rule in a slightly different way--all stun damage goes against END alone, thus speeding the way to unconsciousness.

--Tranq ammo "has the effect of SopSray" (p. 30). A SopSpray hit means "target is sedated and becomes drowsy . . . He will not pursue, initiate attack or do anything but attempt to defend himself . . . Otherwise he will seek to stagger off and go to sleep. Effects last 2-20 minutes." Furthermore, SopSpray can be resisted: "Roll 8+ to resist, +1 if END 7+, +1 if military trained. If successful, minor dose and target makes all rolls at DM -1" (19). This seems cumbersome to administer and the results are far different from the others listed above, where clear unconsciousness takes the target out of the combat picture.

So those are the models I've found. Looking forward to any comments! Thanks for reading!

 

[Supplement Four]

I believe this is given in Snapshot. The MT info is taken from Snapshot, IIRC.

 

[Gadrin]

These are Classic Traveller from the CD-rom/pdf search...

From the Zhodani Alien Module p43

3. Tranq inflicts 2D hits and causes unconsciousness immediately, but if the
hits do not cause death, the individual recovers completely after 30 minutes

From Snapshot p13

Effects of Gas and Tranq: Snub pistols can fire gas or tranquilizer rounds.
Gas will only affect an individual who is not protected by a vacc suit,
combat armor, battle dress, or breathing masks. It imposes 1D hits on the
turn it hits and on the two succeeding turns.

Tranq is a drug injected by a special cartridge and may or may not be in
sufficient dosage to affect an individual. The target, when hit, must throw
his endurance or less to avoid being affected. If the throw fails, the target
is immediately rendered unconscious.

From GURPS Traveller p111

Tranq rounds are available for all slug-throwers, including Gauss weapons, at
TL8+. The slug is a drugged needle imbedded in a special gel. The round
normally does no damage, though it will do 1 impaling hit to paper, eyes, and
similarly fragile targets. It will penetrate any armor with DR 2 or less vs.
impaling, delivering one dose of a drug, usually a Sleep agent. Tranq rounds
cost three times as much as normal ammo, plus the cost of one dose of the
drug. They have 1/3 the range of normal rounds. See Needlers on p. UT50 for
more general information and pp. UT70-71 for popular chemical agents.

From MegaTraveller Players Manual p94

Tranq Rounds: These rounds place the chemical into the character or animal’s
bloodstream by direct contact. When tranq rounds with a danger space hit,
they “burst” and spray a multitude of tranq pellets in all directions; if
they penetrate, they imbed in the skin of the target character or animal.
Such bursting tranq rounds are less precise than individual tranq rounds.

There are two types of tranq agents: lethal and nonlethal. Lethal agents
cause permanent damage, typically at a rate of 1 damage point per round until
the character or animal is dead.

Nonlethal agents consist of two types: dosecontrolled (available at tech code
Avg Stellar +) and standard. With dosecontrolled agents, the damage points
are temporary and no longer accumulate once the unconsciousness level is
reached; any further tranq damage beyond the unconscious level is ignored.
With standard agents, the tranq damage is temporary, but it can go beyond the
unconscious level. If the death level is reached, the character or animal
dies from an overdose of tranq.

>

 

[beowulf2044]

I believe there's a reference somewhere that states Tranq does 3D6 versus END; a result over the END score renders the subject unconscious, but I cannot recall the source.

 

[tbeard1999]

I am asking for help in figuring out the damage resulting from snub pistol tranq rounds in CT.

I submit that Snapshot has the most canonical treatment of tranq (and gas):

Gas will only affect an individual who is not protected by a vacc suit, combat
armor, battle dress, or breathing masks. It imposes I D hits on the turn it hits and
on the two succeeding turns.

Tranq is a drug injected by a special cartridge and may or may not be in
sufficient dosage to affect an individual. The target, when hit, must throw his
endurance or less to avoid being affected. If the throw fails, the target is immediately
rendered unconscious

 

[Major Matt Mason]

Thank you Supplement Four, Gadrin, beowulf2044, and tbeard1999, for your answers!

The Snapshot solution seems to be the earliest. I like the way that it treats the drugged state in a binary manner (i.e., the person is either conscious or unconscious, with no gradation) and thereby avoids the potential problems of mixing "stun damage" with normal damage. The test against END also makes sense in this context.

The bit about 1D damage done by gas seems clear (for a moment or two . . . then the specter of "stun damage" rises up, unless we're talking poison gas, or in any case normal damage, which must be the case . . . but let's not be distracted from the topic of tranq rounds!). I'm a little surprised that the tranq round doesn't do something similar, a line of reasoning which probably led to the different forms given in Zhodani Alien Module (2D damage in addition to the drug) and elsewhere. But I admire the clean simplicity of Snapshot's model--the purpose of the weapon is to deliver an injection, more a bee sting than a true weapon strike.

For whatever reason, there was still plenty of tinkering around with this in subsequent versions.

Question answered. Thanks again!

 

[sabredog]

The only addition I made to the Snapshot method is that the target has to throw his END or less on 2D6 with the first hit. Subsequent rounds (including exposure to gas) add 1D6 to the saving throw. That way I simulate that the higher END characters might be able to tough it out a little longer than the wounded or weaker characters (yes, I use the current Endurance level to simulate a weakened character).

And for every round of tranq that hits you it adds another 1D6 to the roll as well. So a big guy hit with 3 darts in the first round will need to roll his END or less on 4D6 which might put him down in one round.

Every round of tranq after the first also causes 1D6 actual damage because of the risk of overdosing the victim. Antidote will heal this when administered, but it must be administered within seconds of the character going down for it to work. Otherwise the guy will have to heal normally.

Gas works differently, it's simpler - you fail your roll you go down and no damage is applied. but its iffier because of where you use it has an effect on it doing anything in the first place.