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Damage Types

Damage types describe how a source of harm behaves in the fiction. They are not just wound categories; they can affect fear, pressure, gear, visibility, and positioning.

Fire

Fire is special because it attacks instinct before it attacks flesh.

Most living creatures have a natural fear response to open flame. Armor can protect against brief heat or direct contact, but it does not remove the reflexive danger of fire, and it does not make a creature immune to burning fuel, smoke, or being set On Fire.

Survivor clothing and armor is assumed to be non-flammable unless marked otherwise. Do not check ordinary worn gear piece by piece. Only items, substances, or conditions with the Flammable quality meaningfully feed fire.

Fire uses two timing steps:

  • Fire applies Fear immediately.
  • Fire applied to a Burnable target deals its burn effect immediately.
  • Fire applied to a Flammable target may apply On Fire immediately.
  • On Fire deals its burn effect at the start of the affected creature’s turn.

If a creature becomes On Fire but extinguishes the fire before the start of its turn, it avoids the burn effect but still suffers the immediate Fear, positioning, and action cost of dealing with fire.

Burnable Quality

Burnable is a quality for targets that can be harmed by fire but do not normally feed or spread flame by themselves.

Examples:

  • Exposed flesh
  • Wet organic material
  • Skin briefly exposed through gaps in protection

Humans are generally Burnable. A human head with hair is Flammable unless bald, shaved, soaked, protected, or otherwise established as not able to catch.

When a Burnable target is exposed to fire:

  • It suffers burn consequences immediately when the fire is applied.
  • It does not usually sustain On Fire after contact ends unless another fuel source is present.
  • If the creature is already On Fire from a Flammable source, the fire may spread into Burnable areas and cause burn effects there.

Flammable Quality

Flammable is a quality for items, surfaces, materials, and conditions that can catch, spread, or feed fire.

Examples:

  • Gasoline, oil, pitch, alcohol, or alchemical fuel
  • Dry paper, hay, loose cloth, untreated rope, or sawdust
  • Hair, fur, feathers, or dry exposed padding
  • Flammable clothing, costume fabric, or exposed padding
  • A creature or object doused in fuel

When a flammable item or condition is exposed to open flame:

  • It ignites.
  • If worn or carried, it may make the creature On Fire.
  • If spread across the ground or an object, it may create a Burning Surface.
  • If destroyed, consumed, removed, or doused, it no longer counts as Flammable.

Being doused in a flammable substance gives the creature or object the Flammable quality until the substance is washed off, evaporates, burns away, or is otherwise neutralized.

Fire Size

Fire size describes how much of a creature can plausibly be ignited by contact.

Flame

Small, controlled, or brief fire.

Examples:

  • Candle
  • Match
  • Torch edge
  • Sparks
  • Small lamp flame

Effects:

  • Direct threat increases Fear by 1.
  • Can trigger Light Exposure if aimed at the face of a creature adapted to darkness.
  • Can ignite Flammable material.
  • Usually cannot make a whole creature On Fire by itself.
  • Can burn exposed flesh immediately.
  • Can cause Item On Fire or Location On Fire only with Flammable material, sustained contact, or an ideal setup.

Fire

Localized dangerous fire.

Examples:

  • Burning patch of floor
  • Campfire edge
  • Burning oil puddle
  • Flaming weapon
  • Small furniture fire

Effects:

  • Direct exposure increases Fear by 1.
  • Can cause Location On Fire on the contacted hit location.
  • If the target is Flammable, may cause Body On Fire.
  • Common contact locations: legs when standing in it, arms when reaching into it, head when shoved face-first into it.

Bonfire

Engulfing or body-scale fire.

Examples:

  • Bonfire
  • Burning room
  • Large oil fire
  • Furnace mouth
  • Explosive fuel burst
  • Full-body splash of burning fuel

Effects:

  • Direct exposure increases Fear by 2.
  • Can cause Body On Fire.
  • Can ignite multiple hit locations.
  • Escape and extinguishing may require more than one action or outside help.

Fire Exposure

Fire exposure increases Fear unless the creature is trained, protected, mindless, supernatural, or otherwise established as fire-hardened.

  • Being directly threatened by open flame increases Fear by 1.
  • Being burned, ignited, or splashed with burning fuel increases Fear by 2.
  • A creature that is On Fire suffers the burn effect at the start of its turn.

Fire fear follows the normal Fear track in fear-and-madness.md.

On Fire

A creature is On Fire when flame is attached to a carried item, worn item, hit location, or the creature’s body.

On Fire can be sustained by a Flammable source or by continued contact with fire. Burnable areas can be damaged by On Fire, but they usually do not keep the fire alive unless the flame has a Flammable source to feed from.

Mark the scope:

  • Item On Fire: one held or worn item burns.
  • Location On Fire: one hit location burns.
  • Body On Fire: multiple locations or the whole creature burns.

At the start of the affected creature’s turn, apply the burn effect if the fire has not been extinguished:

  • Item On Fire: the item may be damaged, destroyed, dropped, or spread fire if Flammable.
  • Location On Fire: apply a wound or other serious burn consequence to that hit location. If the location includes Flammable material, the fire may spread to adjacent Burnable areas.
  • Body On Fire: apply a major burn consequence, multiple location threats, or a wound plus severe Pressure.

Complex actions while On Fire take at least +2 Pressure.

The fire remains until extinguished or until the burning fuel is spent.

Armor does not fully protect against being On Fire, because burning fuel can reach straps, gaps, cloth, padding, packs, and exposed skin.

Extinguishing fire requires appropriate action or fiction, such as:

  • Drop and roll
  • Smother with cloak, blanket, mud, or sand
  • Douse with water
  • Remove or cut away burning gear
  • Use magic or a specialized tool

Burning Surfaces

A burning surface is an area of active flame, hot coals, burning debris, or similar environmental fire.

  • A creature entering a burning surface is exposed to fire immediately.
  • The exposure may apply Fear and On Fire immediately, based on fire size.
  • If the exposure only affects Burnable material, apply the burn effect immediately instead.
  • The burn effect from On Fire is delayed until the start of the affected creature’s turn.
  • Leaving the surface usually ends the main threat unless the creature or gear ignites.
  • Being pushed, pulled, knocked prone, pinned, or held in a burning surface escalates the fire size or On Fire scope if fiction supports it.

Burning Fuel

Burning fuel includes oil, alchemical fire, Molotov cocktails, pitch, gasoline, and similar substances.

  • Burning fuel gives the affected creature, object, or surface the Flammable quality.
  • Burning fuel can make a creature On Fire immediately.
  • Armor does not negate burning fuel unless it fully prevents contact with fuel and flame.
  • Burning fuel may also create a burning surface where it lands.

Fire-Hardened

Some creatures or characters can ignore ordinary fire fear.

Examples:

  • Fire training
  • Protective gear
  • Mindless creatures
  • Supernatural fire affinity
  • Berserk or altered mental state

Fire-hardened creatures may ignore Fear from Flame or ordinary open flame, but they still suffer normal effects from being burned, trapped in fire, exposed to smoke, or set On Fire unless a rule says otherwise.

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