DEAD ZONES REDUX Jerry Stratton, [j--r--y] at [teetot.acusd.edu] There've been a few questions about the game mechanics behind dead zones. In our game, we use dead zones as flavor. Our game master decided to use dead zones after seeing them in a series I wrote for the ADND-L game list (Men Not Afraid). So, the mechanics presented here are not necessarily used by us. But they could be. This is the way dead zones act in my fiction, modified for a Shadowrun world. Change it as you see fit. WHAT IS A DEAD ZONE? A dead zone is a place where technology doesn't work. See the earlier article in the First Annual Neo-Anarchists' Guide to Everything Else. What technologies don't work? Powder and most other explosives don't explode. Electricity doesn't flow. Nuclear radiation doesn't radiate. Drugs don't react with the brain in the same way as outside of a zone. On the surface, things look the same. Fire still burns. Light still illuminates. Water still boils. Gasoline burns (although spark plugs don't spark, and who uses internal combustion anymore, anyway?) Gears, springs, pulleys, and ropes work, but there's evidence that even these will have different effects. One group noted that ropes seemed much stronger inside a zone, as if the r2 law were no longer in effect. It seems possible that mass due to acceleration increases linearly with distance from the center, rather than with the square of the distance. >>>[That bit of confusion is from physics. When you swing a rope around, anything tied on it's end is going to feel heavier. How much heavier is proportional to the square of the length of the rope. The same thing occurs when you climb a rope, since the rope always swings to the side, if only a bit.]<<< -- Physics Phred (12:35:32/05-08-52) Basically, everything that makes technology what it is, doesn't work. >>>[There are some strange things that work differently. There's an old parlor trick from way back, where you take a toothpick, a fork, and a spoon. Attach the spoon to the fork by inserting the bowl of the spoon between the tines of the fork. Insert the toothpick partially between the tines of the fork. Now, rest the other end of the toothpick on your finger. In a dead zone, that's impossible. The spoon and fork pull the toothpick down every time. Outside of a dead zone, you can balance it. Many Elven scholars use this to point to the basic flaw in science. How can something be balanced if all the weight is on one end?]<<< -- Dr. Jerold Stratton [07:48:49/03-28-92] >>>[Drugs do work differently in the zones. It used to be thought that the use of drugs in pre-awakening shamanistic rituals was an attempt to simulate assensing. But I can guarantee you that peyote is a completely different thing inside a zone than it is outside. Outside, it's a trip. Inside, it's a journey.]<<< -- Fire Mountain [07:51:52/03-28-92] Both gravity and magnetism, or some analogy to them, do work. People don't float away from the earth when they're in a dead zone, and a few natural compasses continue to point north. Most compasses don't work. It seems that they must be created in a 'natural' way for them to work. Lodestones always work. And while electrical current doesn't exist in a zone, there is some analog to electricity: lightning still strikes in thunderstorms. >>>[Technically, I don't see much difference between relativistic gravity and naturalistic gravity anyway. Both basically state that things fall because 'top' and 'bottom' exist. And we've yet to fully understand magnetism. However, magnetic north does not fluctuate inside a zone, whereas it can outside a zone. This indicates that lodestones are not pointing in the direction of the earth's magnetic lines of force, since these meander all over the place, but are pointing towards some naturalistic north. And lightning? Well, according to the Greeks, lightning is a form of the element of fire. Incidentally, a very good instrument (so I've been told) for telling whether or not you're in a dead zone is one of those sealed flasks with metal leaves inside, (Leyden Jars, I believe) used in high schools. Take a rubber rod, give it a charge, and touch it to the metal ball on top of the flask. In the 'real' world, this causes the leaves to swing apart. In a zone, this does nothing at all.]<<< -- Dr. Jerold Stratton [22:27:40/03-29-92] Dead zones range in size from a few meters to a few kilometers. The largest known dead zone is 15 miles wide, in the area known as the Bermuda Triangle. And it's been known to grow to twice it's size on clear nights of the full moon. Dead zones grow and shrink with the lunar cycle, but this depends on solar interference, cloud cover, and planetary forces. People in our Shadowrun game haven't figured it out yet, and it'll probably take a while. The lunar influence has been noted, but it's not exact, so not everyone believes it. There are no known dead zones within a living city. In fact, most (if not all) seem to occur in the areas that were the least touched by man before the awakening. There are those who claim that dead zones are a healing attempt by the Earth. These are the same people who believe that dead zones will eventually grow and engulf the entire world. Dead zones are spherical, and centered on the surface of the earth. In the ocean, they are centered on the underwater land surface. WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF DEAD ZONES ON SOCIETY? Early in the 21st Century, trains were already coming back as a form of shipping. Because the rails were never redesigned, the rails that were built (and restored) are still compatible with the steam engine. And the steam engine works in a dead zone -- fire burns, water boils, and pressure turns pistons. So, there are a few steam engines in the midwest. In the relatively large dead zone in the northern part of the Indian nations, normal trains debark and their engines replaced by a number of steam engines, which pull the load across the zone. On the other end, different diesels take over, and the steam engines pull another train the other way. Except for the Bermuda Triangle dead zone, most dead zones are not large enough to cause major problems with air transportation. Dead zones are spherical. Even a six-mile wide dead zone only extends three miles high, and that only at the exact center. Since most dead zones occur in unpopulated areas and jets are usually quite high, they don't intersect with the zone. >>>[Incidentally, there's a small body of evidence that says the Bermuda Triangle dead zone existed before the awakening.<<<] -- Smilin' Sam [07:34:41/04-10-92] Underwater travel has perhaps been most affected. Submarines send out radar soundings. If the radar doesn't return, they'll skirt that area. >>>[In fact, this may be the origin of the term 'dead zone.' When radar enters a dead zone, it doesn't come back, leaving a dead area on the radar screen.]<<< -- Silas Jack [08:08:17/03-28-92] Stanley Steamers, a steam automobile from the early twentieth century, are popular automobiles among those few who live near zones. Surprisingly, these automobiles can reach speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour. WHO USES DEAD ZONES? Nobody really uses a dead zone. Enchanting materials taken from a dead zone are guaranteed to be unhindered by the deadening effects of having been worked. But even the most solitary mages haven't quite learned to live without portable radios, computerized libraries, microwaves, and digital watches. I mean, a Rating 6 Conjuring Library weighs 300 pounds! Combine that with a Rating 6 Enchanting Library, a Rating 6 Sorcery Library, and whatever else you might need (Geology Library? Biology Library?) Of course, if you're hiding from a mundane, a dead zone is a great place to do it. WHAT CYBERWARE DOESN'T WORK? Any electronically-augmented or chip-augmented cyberware will completely fail in a zone. This includes just about everything. Some cyber-spur implementations -- those that use muscle-position to spring a mechanical lock -- will still extend in a zone. Boosted reflexes continue to work, although some correspondents have reported strange, shamanic sensations, possible due to the unnatural drugs that are boosted reflexes. Wired reflexes do not work, usually leaving the user a quivering mass. FIREARMS Firearms do not work, although gunpowder still burns. On the fringes of a zone, firearms may explode if used, causing damage equal to the damage of the weapon, The wound level, power, and staging are reduced by 1 (but not below light or 1). And yes, an explosion in a firearm may set off the rest of the bullets. In this case, treat it as autofire, equal to half the number of shots exploding. There have been some reports that, in the center of very large zones, when they've waxed to their largest, gunpowder doesn't even burn. This has yet to be confirmed.