Material Data Safety Sheet

## Overview

The agents found an unnatural substance created by March Technologies in a compromised shipping container. All of the PCs are infected by the substance. While infected, they pose a danger to others and themselves. In 20+1d6 hours, each PC dies from the contamination unless they are treated.

Choose a location to start the adventure and give the players the handout. They do not remember anything since they went to sleep last night. After 1d3+3 hours, organisms begin to appear. Manifestations cost 0/1d3 SAN to witness.

HANDOUT INSTRUCTIONS

The following safety information is printed on a laminated pamphlet attached to the container. Give the players a handout with this information. Let them decide how to act after that.

## THE HANDOUT

If you are reading this then you have been contaminated by a classified hazardous substance. The name and origin of this substance is not important right now.

Answer the following questions:

1. Do you remember how you got here? Short term memory loss is a universal symptom.

2. Do you feel a headache or pain in your head? The substance affects the brain.

3. Look directly into a light source, such as a light bulb. Do you see unusual colors or other unexplainable images? The substance can alter perceptions. These are NOT hallucinations. It is important to understand that contamination does not cause visual or auditory hallucinations.

If you answer yes to all questions, you are contaminated.

YOU ARE IN DANGER. YOU MUST SEEK TREATMENT WITHIN 24 HOURS.

EVERYONE AROUND YOU IS IN DANGER. AVOID OTHERS AND PUBLIC SPACES.

If March Technologies staff are present, they will explain how you can be treated.

This brochure is included in case no unaffected staff are present.

COMMON MISTAKES

1. Do not look for the substance. It is in your system and the system of anyone else present.

2. Do not attempt to extract the substance from your body and analyze it. You do not have enough time to understand its nature before it kills you.

3. Avoid documenting its effects on you. This wastes time.

4. Do not harm or kill other contaminated people. This may cause a biological meltdown. See below.

MANIFESTATIONS

Inexplicable phenomena occur around subjects and are extremely dangerous to everyone in the vicinity, including uncontaminated people. These manifestations include visual and auditory phenomenon and the appearance of predatory organisms previously unknown to science.

The frequency of manifestations follows a power law curve. At 6 hours, manifestations reach 20% intensity. At 24 hours, manifestations reach 97.5% intensity. At 26 hours, manifestations reach maximum intensity and are universally fatal in human subjects.

ORGANISMS

All manifested organisms are dangerous predators. Assume they mean harm to all humans present. They must remain in the presence of a contaminated subject. They can be harmed by conventional means. They may seem to violate physics through their actions. If destroyed, their bodies dissipate. Some organisms may be venomous or poisonous to the touch. Avoid direct contact.

OTHER DANGERS

Other manifestations may occur, especially in the later hours. They may include:

Architectural variations in the local area, such as new doors or hallways.

Familiar voices compelling subjects to perform dangerous actions.

Strange odors filling the area.

Aerial visual phenomena, if outdoors.

Bursts of radiation.

This is not a complete list. Any ‘unnatural’ or ‘impossible’ manifestation is theoretically possible. All manifestations are real and should be treated as hazardous.

DECONTAMINATION PROCESS

1. Isolate yourself from uncontaminated people. Use the three questions above to determine who is contaminated. Proximity of contaminated subjects is fine. Their help is beneficial when undergoing this process.

2. The substance is most effectively purged with a low and steady electrical discharge, similar to electroconvulsive therapy. A sustained application of current of 2.3 millicoulombs (MC) per kilogram of subject weight for a period of 10 to 60 seconds is most effective. Apply current directly to the subject’s temples. Sedatives and painkillers can be given to the subject. If the process is successful, the subject should ‘sweat’ a dark and viscous liquid through their skin. The liquid should dissipate within 30 seconds. If the subject does not ‘sweat’ within 60 seconds, then the secondary purge method must be used.

3. The substance reacts to active human minds. If a contaminated subject stops thinking even for a period as brief as 10 seconds and then resumes thought, it destabilizes the substance and causes it to dissipate. The secondary purge method is the abandonment of all thought through any number of medical techniques before the subject’s mind is made active again. Stopping the heart for at least 2 minutes and resuscitating the subject can work. Permanent cessation of thought (brain death) may trigger a biological meltdown.

4. If the first two methods are not available, a strong electromagnetic pulse (EMP) theoretically might be able to neutralize the substance in a subject’s body. Unfortunately, there is no data available on how strong of an EMP is necessary to successfully purge the substance from a contaminated subject. It is not recommended to use this method unless the other two methods are not viable.

Biological Meltdown

The death of a contaminated subject may cause the substance to destabilize in a violent and dangerous manner. This is called a biological meltdown. If you see signs of a subject’s corpse changing rapidly (skin discoloration, ‘bubbles’ forming under the skin, a strong glow from beneath the subject’s skin, or high volume expulsion of bodily fluids, for example) then a biological meltdown is imminent.

In a biological meltdown, a subject’s body undergoes a highly energetic transformation resulting in a strong blast wave emanating from the center of body mass. The force of the explosion can cause injury from the blast wave and from organic shrapnel up to 8.5 meters away. Intense heat can harm anyone within a 1.5 meter radius of the body. Furthermore, new manifestations occur, which can last for up to two hours after the meltdown event. Predatory organisms frequently appear, intent on consuming the remnants of the subject’s body.

**END OF HANDOUT**

## Treatment and Biological Meltdown

**Electroconvulsive treatment**: Requires electroconvulsive therapy equipment or improvised tools. Medicine and craft (electrician) are highly useful skills. Successful treatment requires a medicine skill roll. Any attempt costs 0/1 SAN (helplessness), 1 HP, and 1d4 WP. Sedatives prevent WP loss. Anyone who sees black liquid sweat out of a subject is subject to 0/1 SAN loss.

**Extreme Medical Treatment**: Let players get creative with extreme treatments. A failed treatment costs 1d10 HP and  a botched treatment is a 10% lethality attack on the subject. SAN loss is 0/1d3.

**EMP treatment**: It is left to the discretion of the handler if any EMP treatment actually works or what level of EMP will work.

**Biological Meltdown**: A character who dies while contaminated makes a luck check. If the check is failed, the body explodes in a shower of gore and extra-dimensional energy. It is a 25% lethality within 1 meter, 10% lethality within 3 meters, and 1d10 damage within 8 meters. After the explosion, 1d4 organisms appear to feast on the remains and any witnesses. They remain for 1d4 hours or all of the remains are destroyed or consumed.

## Possible Complications

The Handler may add additional complications to the scenario. A team of armed mercenaries sent to retrieve the substance is likely. Other complications could include a sorcerer attempting to trick the agents, or civilian investigators (like Phenomen-X) tracking the agents.

**The Retrieval Team**: A group of wetworks specialists (1 for each PC) want to secure the container and kill anyone who has seen it. They arrive at the location in approximately 1 hour. The team could be mercenaries working for March Technologies or a Delta Green CORAL NOMAD team or whatever organization wants the substance.

**The Sorcerer**: A sorcerer has plans for the substance and offers to cure the agents. They appear as an old woman and is a convincing liar (70% in persuasion and HUMINT). They say they are backup sent to help the agents and offers to cure them. They have an alchemical poison that stabilizes the substance in a human body but kills the human. They plan to use that on agents, extract the substance from their body and then resurrect them and use them as double agents to spy on Delta Green.

**Pheonmen-X**: Two amateur investigators received an anonymous tip about the substance’s location and staked it out. They saw the PCs open the container and have been tracking the agents ever since. Once they record video of the manifestations, they upload it to their editor. They can easily fall victim to the organisms or the retrieval team.

## Stat blocks

### Organism stat blocks

STR 14 DEX 12 CON 12 INT 3 POW 10 CHA 1

HP 13

Bite and Claw 45% Damage 1d4+2

Dodge 35%

Stealth 50%

Armor - 1 point of leathery hide

SAN loss 0/1d4

Some organisms may have additional abilities, including: levitation, venom glands, webbing, or chameleon cloaking.

### Organism Venom

Speed: 1d6 hours

Lethality: 5%

Symptoms: Pain, nausea, numbness.

Antidote: Possible to manufacture in a lab with a Pharmacy roll in 1d4 hours if a sample of the venom is extracted from a living organism. Spit venom can be removed at an eye wash station or with a first aid check in the next turn.

### Retrieval Team Mercenary

STR 15 DEX 13 CON 14 INT 11 POW 10 CHA 8

HP 14 WP 10 SAN 40

Adapted to Violence

Firearms 55% - silenced pistol 1d10 damage

Melee Weapons 50% - knife 1d6+1d3 damage

Alertness 55%

Stealth 50%

### The Sorcerer

STR 13 DEX 15 CON 11 INT 18 POW 20 CHA 15

HP 12 WP 20 SAN 0

Persuasion and HUMINT at 70%

Syringe 65% Damage injection of alchemical poison

Alertness 45%

Stealth 60%

Rituals: Changeling Feast, Raise from Essential Saltes, others as the Handler deems appropriate.

### Alchemical Poison

Speed: 1d6+1 turns

Lethality: 15%

Symptoms: Migraines, sweating, shortness of breath

Notes: An infected person who dies while poisoned does not suffer a biological meltdown

Antidote: The sorcerer has an antidote vial. It neutralizes the poison immediately.

### Phenomen-X investigator

Str 10 DEX 12 CON 10 INT 13 POW 10 CHA 11

HP 10 WP 10 SAN 50

Stealth 45%

Unarmed 40%

Alertness 50%

## Credits

Material Data Safety Sheet was written by Ross Payton of Role Playing Public Radio for the 2022  Shotgun Scenario contest. Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-mwfiki4GKscexGl0UBr4m47burwwAi9vYbRbCQBV1k/edit#.

Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this document are © Ross Payton of Role Playing Public Radio, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Material Data Safety Sheet is not available here under CC-BY-SA.

For preservation purposes, an exported PDF of the original submission can be found here.