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Decompression
At the opposite end of the spectrum is when damage to a spacecraft is so severe that the habitat loses pressure. Explosive decompression, while not as severe as the term suggests, is still a race against time that ends in either a successful repair of the hull, or death for any astronauts unlucky to be trapped inside the compartment.
Description: “It's the worst feeling in the world – the gentle breeze of vital atmosphere bleeding away out of the punctured hull. You immediately grab for a DC kit; hoping to get a mask over your mouth in time to find the leak and repair it. As the door behind you automatically shuts against the loss in pressure, your frantic search becomes a race against time, with death the prize for second place.”
Decompression (Hazard)
BD6:
Skill: Space Transport Repair
Effected System: Hull
Detection Difficulty: Moderate
Time: Fast (1D6 rounds)
Special: Please refer to the rules for Hull Breaches in the Appendix for calculating the time it takes for a compartment to decompress.
Characters do not suffer damage until the pressure in a breached compartment reaches half it's starting pressure.
At one-half pressure, Characters must Make a Stamina Skill Check for every round they are without supplemental air in a decompressing compartment. The Diffficulty is Moderate, increasing +1 every round there after until the compartment is completely depressurized.
If the Character fails one of these Stamina Checks, they suffer 1D damage every round until they receive oxygen or die.
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Decompression (Spacecraft Damage)
For every point of damage done to a spacecrafts resulting in a loss of the Hull System, assume a 2 cm puncture in the spacecraft's hull.
A 2 cm breach in the hull of a spacecraft will decompress the life-system to half-pressure at a rate of 1square every 3 rounds.
I loved that scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Take every "fact" Hollywood knows about explosive decompression and space exposure and turn them on their heads with judicious use of real science.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, your post on spacesuits got me thinking about how to overcome some of the problems with skinsuits (like air bubbles, or how you're supposed to get into the thing in the first place). The helmet ring is particularly troublesome because of the skin-tight nature of the suit in question. The best solution I can come up with is a hood-like setup where the helmet ring is attached to a fold in the collar, and is pulled over the head when donning the suit, but there's still the problem of maintaining a seal through the fastener. I'll brainstorm more on this later.