Caduceus Station

[subplotkudzu]

Some time back I bored the Plainly Unusual People of A&E with the idea of a game set in a hospital station - specifically one in the Sol asteroid belt dealing with the problems of the various belt and trans-Martian moon colonies as those colonies are either beginning to push for independence from Earth or are dealing with an Earth that cut them off for some reason. Such a station would become a natural focal point for diplomacy, resource consolidation and by extension a target for raiders as the colonies struggled to work out their new non-earth paradigm. Originally intended for the Trek Universe just after Earth had fallen to WWIII (in my own Trek Universe that as belter colonies) this setting would be a blend of Larry Niven's early Known Space stories, Babylon 5, M.A.S.H. and ER.

I received several helpful pointers to James White's masterful Sector General series, but without aliens to be the source of the mysteries there's only so much I can draw from them. In this I may be hosing myself with alien life forms White can base his plots around mysteries where the readers know as much as the protagonists to solve them. Without aliens we have to rely on semi-actual science and medicine, making them areas where the PCs are going to know a lot more than the players and potentially reducing the medical problems to pure dice rolls

I'm not sure how well such a setting would fly in play, but I want to use it to take up the idea of running a game that is medically centered rather than combat focused, and stationary rather than exploratory. When running Trek I remain surprised by how much the Doctor has to do and how easily plots form around medical issues. The design of the setting means that if we don't get the medicine to work as a point of tension I can fall back on station defense, politics and resource management to keep the PCs occupied.

In any even, despite it's trek origins I'm thinking of using PDQ for the game engine, trusting that the abstract structure will work for the conflicts I have in mind against injury and disease. Much of the 'combat' will be the doctors skill against the medical malady, with a third indicator of the patient's health. I'm not sure if there are good examples of this sort of three way conflict in any existing dice mechanics, so I look forward to the challenge. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Comments

[netcurmudgeon.livejournal.com]

Dealing with resource allocation is certainly a way to keep things active. Some plot ideas come immediately to mind:

• Mass Casualty (resource allocation, possibly station defense as well, if things get unruly)
  
• Unknown Disease (a classic)
  
• Rescue Mission (party vs. time or vs. implacable forces of the univers)
  
• Contamination! (party members possibly contaminated with a known killer disease with no cure -- a potential 'Kobiashi Maru storytelling' opportunity)
  
• Raiders Attack!
  
• Mysterious Killer (someone on station is killing patients)
  
• Bizarre Space Effect (this is the Star Trek universe, right?)

[chadu.livejournal.com]

In any even, despite it's trek origins I'm thinking of using PDQ for the game engine, trusting that the abstract structure will work for the conflicts I have in mind against injury and disease. Much of the 'combat' will be the doctors skill against the medical malady, with a third indicator of the patient's health. I'm not sure if there are good examples of this sort of three way conflict in any existing dice mechanics, so I look forward to the challenge. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Try this:

Complicated situation/conflict, with environmental damage.
Doctor vs. TN of malady.

If doctor wins conflict (beats malady TN), can either apply Damage Ranks to malady, or "Healing Ranks" to patient.

If malady "wins" conflict (TN not beat), can either apply damage to doctor or patient. (Damage figured as TN-roll= damage, as per environmental damage.)

CU

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest you make this not just a deep space hospital station, but a hospital station combined with an attached deep space medical school.

You can get your players having as PCs the younger and more naive medical learners (students, interns, residents and medical fellows), and set aside the chance for them to play the more senior MDs until later.

Start off their 'training' not just with a orientations session, but a day shadowing a more seasoned and experienced medical attending or surgeon, and then have something spin out of that. Perhaps have a mini-campaign of a few sessions representing a 'year' of training, with four years required to get an MD, and years after that for additional specialty training.

For references, I'd suggest something a little different than you may be familiar with*, such as "Intern" by Dr. X (really SF writer and real MD Alan Nourse) that follows the first common rotation year of a young MD, "Doctor in the House" by Richard Gordon (you could also see the film for a funnier version), and "House of God" by Samuel Shem (darkly sardonic and black biting humor), and "Five Patients" by Micheal Crichton, which used to create pilot show for what later became ER

::B::

* Although not stationary, don't forget to look into Murray Leinster's very good "Med Ship" series for ideas, which was most recently reprinted by Baen Books.