Date: Fri, 04 Aug 1995 16:50:33 -0500
From: library@dss.gov.au (DSS Library)
Subject: Low Berths

EMERGENCY LOW BERTHS

The original rules are as follows:
"Emergency low berths weigh 1 ton and cost Cr 100,000; each contains four
persons, all of whom share the survival roll. Emergency low berths cannot hold
the frozen watch. An emergency low berth can hold one concious person
(functioning as the equivalent of a couch) for several hours at a time."
(_Book 5: High Guard_, Marc Miller, GDW, 1980, USA, p 34)

The same rule can be found in _Book 2: Starships_, GDW, 1977, 1981, USA, p 14.

The original survival roll was 5+ on 2D6 - a 4 in 12 (33%) chance of death! Even
a medic could only reduce this to 3 in 12 (25%)!

_High Guard_ did not change this ruling, so the frozen watch was in a bad way.

MT modified it to increase survival, since many people had pointed out that the
high chance of death would cripple the concept of the frozen watch; one, no-one
would volunteer; two, you could only get so many of your personnel back!

The MT rules are:
"To survive a low passage voyage: Routine, Medical, Edu, 1 min. (Fateful)
Referee: the Medical and Edu are those of the attending physician at the time of
deberthing, not those of the character at risk.
Various effects occur for any mishap (roll 2D):
Superficial Mishap: the subject temporarily suffers 1D wounds for 1-6 days,
after which healing is automatic; skin loses some of its tone and colour for 1-6
weeks, having a gray, wrinkled appearance.
Minor Mishap: the subject temporarily suffers 2D wounds for 1-6 days, after
which healing is automatic; subject experiences motor function problems for 1-6
weeks with corresponding loss of 2 points of Dex during that time.
Major Mishap: the subject suffers 3D permanent wounds; the subject's internal
organs are damaged; and the subject must undergo medical diagnosis and treatment
to restore full health.
Destroyed: not possible on a 2D mishap."
(_Imperial Encyclopedia_, Marc W. Miller, GDW, 1987, USA, p 87)

An entire article is devoted to the subject in_The Traveller's Digest_ #21. The
article covers:
- active hibernation (via chill berth);
- passive hibernation (via fast drug);
- freezing (cold berth)
- use of low berths (including the low lottery, emergency low berths, the frozen
  watch, medical cold berths, and livestock cold berths);
- low berths and space transportation;
- suspended animation and society (including "Timer Clubs").

The salient points covering cold berths are:
- normal low berths freeze at a moderate rate, including scanning and mapping
the body, cooling sections and then quick-freezing the body;
- normal low berths thaw at a moderate rate, using the data gathered when
freezing the body to unfreeze it in a "precisely controlled pattern" (p 41);
- an emergency cold berth freezes very quickly and thaws very slowly. At TL 15,
one berth can freeze 4 adult humans "- fully-clothed and unprepared - within 60
seconds. To do this, it foregoes all preliminary steps, trading ease of entry
for a lengthy and difficult revival process" (p 41);
- the frozen watch is frozen very slowly and thawed very quickly. They are
frozen over a 3 hour period (at TL 15), identifying and fixing all potential
thawing problems in advance. They are unfrozen rapidly "without the careful
monitoring and adjusting" (p 41) of normal low berths, and are capable of action
in 5 minutes.

The mention of "Timer Clubs" (where people would be revived every 10, 25, or 50
years) paved the way for GDW to allow "remnants" into the TNE universe.

Finally, the chance of a survival mishap was increased:
"To revive a low berth passenger without incident: Difficult, Medical, Edu,
[time varies], (unskilled OK, fateful)
Referee: the Medical and Edu are those of the medic attending at the time of
revival."
Time increments are given in a table, and an expanded list of mishap results is
included.
(_The Traveller's Digest_, "Suspended Animation", No. 21, Mike Mikesh and James
Holden, Digest Group Publications, Idaho, USA, 1990, pp 40-43)

- Hyphen
  (David Jaques-Watson)