Death in Oracle

I always seem to use different death rules when I'm running Corporation games and I'm not a fan of some aspects of the as-written death system. Here are some thoughts on the system and the way I want to run it in future.

Damage above 0 Hit Points
When an agent is taking damage and they are above 0HP it represents wounds and injuries that are not going to stop them instantly, but which are still of great concern. This includes blood loss, muscle damage and issues that can be corrected by natural healing and medical aids such as heamavine.

Reaching 0HP
When an agent has been dealt enough damage to reduce them below 0HP it represents something very, very important in their body going very wrong. This is not necessarily straight forward damage, such as your lungs being vaporised or parts of your heart exploding. It can also be something as simple as a blood clot which has migrated from your previously acquired wounds. Below 0HP an agent's body can no longer continue to operate as normal and they will be incapacitated, as stated in the core rules.

Below 0HP - Incapacitated
I do not like the way the core rules handles being below 0HP. Intelligence is not linked to loss of brain cells so closely, so I am tweaking the rules. Agents below 0HP are still incapacitated and unable to act.
Every round that an agent is below 0HP they acquire a cumulative -1 penalty to all rolls that will remain if they are revived. If this penalty grows as high as their highest natural stat (not including cybernetic stat boosts, unless I specifically say they do in the future) then they are in the danger zone.
An agent will also automatically enter the danger zone if their HP drops below their 'Strength + Endurance' stat.
Entering the danger zone can be delayed by spending a conviction point each round to cling to life so you can be revived with normal medpacks and continue with the mission.
Note: Brain Oxygenation systems do not prevent any of this in situations other than decapitation. Being below 0HP represents more than just a lack of oxygen to the brain. There are all sorts of nasty medical things that happen to your body.

Welcome to the Danger Zone
An agent in the Danger Zone is very, very close to death. They require urgent medical care or magic to prevent permanent character death. This is when nano-resuscitation packs will work. If someone reaches this point it stops being a system-level thing that requires numbers to be kept track of and becomes a roleplay/thematic/being reasonable issue. Do you drop everything, abort the mission and try to get to a medical facility in a 300MPH race against death? The agent has a good chance of surviving. Are people forced to leave their 'dead' comrade behind while they continue to kill the big scary villain/monster for half an hour? Congratulations, you have probably died the death of heroic sacrifice and will be memorialised in song or something.

Having said that, being critically hit by an ordnance-class plasma cannon is almost always an appropriate time to remove a character from the game.

Recovering from Incapacitation
If an agent is healed after being incapacitated, then they will wake up and be ready for action again. Any penalty they have accumulated will remain there and will not go away until some sort of drastic medical intervention; for example, someone with field surgery has a minute or two poking with your organs. It takes more than medpacks to repair these kinds of injuries.

Recovering from the Danger Zone
If an agent gets the medical attention they need to get them out of the Danger Zone then there is a good chance they will be too wounded to continue with a mission right away. Nano-resuscitation packs have a chance of restoring an agent to full combat capabilities, but it is not certain. More details on this are included below.

Nano-Resuscitation Packs - Mind Unbound, Page 68
Cost: 10,000
Nano-Resuscitation Packs can be used on a previously scanned person (preferably an agent) who has been damaged enough to put them in the danger zone. When administered, roll 1D10 and consult the table below to check the results.
The pack must scan someone in their healthy state before it can be used and can store the scans of up to 20 people. Scanning takes one minute.

Dice Roll	Result
1	The target is saved, unable to act for 24 hours and is now suffering from an aggressive nanite invasion (MoW, page 90)
2	The target is saved, unable to act for 24 hours and requires further medical attention within 6 hours to prevent them dying from complications
3	The target is saved but is unable to act for the next 24 hours and has developed 5 'mashing' wounds.
4	The target is saved but is unable to act for the next 24 hours
5	The target is saved but is unable to act for the next hour
6	The target is brought back to 0HP with their cumulative penalties
7	The target is brought back to 0HP with half (rounded up) of their cumulative penalties
8	The target is brought back to 0HP with a -1 cumulative penalty
9	The target is brought back to 0HP with no cumulative penalty
10+	The target is brought back to consciousness with 10HP and no cumulative penalty

Preservadrin by Two Snakes Medical - Emergency Medical Drug
Cost: 250
Preservadrin is a bright green liquid that can keep a critically injured human alive for a short period of time while more advanced medical aid is sought. Each unit of Preservadrin comes in a 500cc bag with an injection system built into it, ready to be pushed into a dying person's blood stream with the application of a good, hard squeeze.
When used on an agent who has been incapacitated (below 0HP) they will stabilize and their cumulative penalty will stop increasing. When used on an agent in the Danger Zone, Preservadrin can give you the chance to get them to a hospital or to perform your own surgical procedures if you are skilled enough.
Non-agents can also benefit from an application of Preservadrin, though they are much more delicate and have an annoying habit of dying anyway about 25% of the time.