Drug Withdrawal

Use these rules when you try to give up an Addiction, either volun-
tarily or because you are broke, imprisoned, or in a place where your
drug just isn’t available.
Withdrawal is a painful process that requires a series of daily with-
drawal rolls. It normally takes 14 successful rolls to shake the habit
(thus, it always takes at least two weeks), but the GM is free to vary this.
Should you manage to withdraw, you must “buy off” your Addiction
disadvantage immediately.
The effects of withdrawal rolls depend on whether the drug is phys-
iologically or psychologically addictive.
Physiological Dependency: Your body has come to rely on the drug!
Make daily withdrawal rolls against HT (maximum 13). Each success
puts you a day closer to shaking off your Addiction. The results of fail-
ure depend on whether the drug is available. If it is, you give in and take
a dose; if you still want to try to withdraw, you must restart the process
from day one. If the drug is not available, you take 1 HP of injury and
may continue the process . . . but that day doesn’t count toward the 14
successful rolls needed to withdraw. You cannot naturally recover HP
lost to withdrawal until you either succeed or abandon the attempt.
Psychological Dependency: You’ve convinced yourself that you can-
not function without the drug. Make withdrawal rolls against Will
(maximum 13). Use the physiological dependency rules, except that if
you fail a roll and the drug is unavailable, you don’t take injury. Instead,
you gain -1 point of drug-related quirks, chosen by the GM. These van-
ish if you give in and take a dose of the drug (but then you must restart
the process). If you don’t give in, these quirks grow into progressively
more severe mental disadvantages. If you make 14 successful Will rolls,
you withdraw – but you must make one final Will roll. On a failure, you
keep any quirks or disadvantages incurred along the way!
restore 1d FP, and give Doesn’t Sleep
and Overconfidence (12). These
effects endure for (12 - HT) hours,
minimum one hour. After that time,
the user loses twice the FP he recov-
ered (e.g., if his FP jumped from 8 to
10, he drops to 6 FP), and gains the
disadvantages Bad Temper (12) and
Chronic Depression (9) for an equal
length of time.
If the user takes multiple doses in
24 hours, he must roll vs. HT after the
second and later doses, at a cumula-
tive -1 per dose after the first. On a
critical failure, he suffers a heart
attack (see Mortal Conditions, p. 429).
Stimulants are cheap and only
slightly addictive. If they are legal,
stimulant addiction is a Minor
Addiction (-1 point); if they are illegal,
it is a -5-point Addiction.