A coma is a state of deep unconsciousness in which the victim is near death — unaware and wholly unable to act, communicate, or care for themselves. Unlike the shock states, which are read off a running index and can improve or worsen from one turn to the next, a coma is a condition in its own right: the victim is out of the fight, out of the story’s reach, and stays that way for as long as it lasts.
A coma is reached only one way. An Unconscious victim who Critically Fails a Shock Re-Test does not merely fail to surface; they sink. A victim who comes out of Extended Shock while also comatose remains in the coma — the two are recorded separately, and each runs its own course.
A coma is recorded as a new injury with Injury Level and Aspect marked “X” (not applicable), and a Healing Rate of
Coma HR = 12 − Location Shock Value − Injury Level
using the Shock Value of the body location that induced the coma and the Injury Level of the wound there. A blow that was barely survivable leaves the deepest coma: a skull wound (Shock Value 5) at Injury Level 3 opens the coma at HR 4, where the same level of wound to a calf (Shock Value 1) would open it at HR 8 — a coma to sleep off rather than to die in.
Coma Course Test
Every d10 days the victim may make a Course Roll — a test of Healing Base × Coma Healing Rate:
| Success Level | Change to Coma HR |
|---|---|
| CF (−1) | −2 |
| MF (0) | −1 |
| MS (1) | +1 |
| CS (2) | +2 |
If HR falls to 0 or below the victim dies. If HR rises to 6 or greater the victim comes out of the coma, but carries weariness fatigue equal to the number of days spent in the coma.
Because the interval is d10 days and each roll moves the rate by one or two, a coma is a matter of weeks, not turns. Nothing about it is decided at the table in a hurry, and a comatose character is cared for or abandoned by the people around them long before the last Course Roll is made.
See also
- Shock — the spiral a coma is the worst end of, and the Shock Re-Test that leads into it
- Healing Base — the rating each Course Roll is made against
- Fatigue — the weariness a survivor carries out
- Body Structure — the Shock Value each location carries