No scar tissue Disadvantage

[BobGreenwade]

I've lost track of the link with details, but scientists in Pennsylvania have discovered a genetic modification for mice that enable them to regrow lost body parts -- cut off a tail or a toe, and it heals back normally, without scarring. In fact, their experiments show that, on these mice, anything other than brain tissue will grow back to normal.

 

This was the subject for my earlier thread on growing back limbs at a normal healing rate. With such an ability on the horizon for the real world, I wanted to have a way to write it up for the Terran Empire and Space Wizards settings.

 

I also realize that scar tissue sometimes has beneficial effects. For example, when a person is shot and the bullet (or fragment) left inside the body, the scar tissue keeps the lead and other toxins in the bullet from leeching into the system, causing lead poisoning. (I'm aware of this because of a documentary I saw once where a woman had a bullet in the joint of her knee, where scar tissue didn't form, and she got lead poisoning from it.) So while a shooting victim with this regeneration treatment (I like to call such people "regens" for short) would heal up from the injury as though nothing had happened, the bullet would gradually leak lead into his system until it was removed.

 

Now I'm making an NPC for Space Wizards, so I'm wondering how this would be modeled in game terms.

 

So, in a setting like Terran Empire or Space Wizards, where projectile weapons are few and far between, what type and level of Disadvantage (if any) would you recommend? As a "place setter" I'm going with a Physical Limitation (Infrequently, Greatly Impairing), but 10 points seems a little much unless some other negative effects of non-scarring can be brought up.

 

(For those unaware, Space Wizards is my take on the 35th century of the Hero Universe, a sort of combination of space opera and high fantasy with elements of pulp and post-apocalypse.)

[SirViss]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

Here is a link to an article that refers to what you were talking about:

 

Mighty Mice Regrow Organs

 

My question is how often would the "lack of scar tissue" issue come up in the setting, and how you would handle those situations. Reduced resistance to taxic substances and infections are seldom a problem in worlds where technologie and magic effectively become interchangeable. Removal of a foreign body that could cause problem should be a fairly simple affair.

 

To tell the truth, I would have to know what the benifits of scar tissue are, if only to know how often the subject could come up.

 

Right now, I would concider it a Distinctive Feature. Only doctors and close friends would notice that one, and it would usually only cause problems if "regens" were rare or had somekind of societal problems.

[OddHat]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

Infrequently, Slightly in game terms, at most. Lead Poisoning is serious in the real world. In a HERO System game, where time is measured in sessions and campaigns, being vulnerable to a long term problem is unlikely to come up as more than a very occasional role playing opportunity.

 

I'd be tempted to call it a -0 Limit on the Regeneration process.

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

So you can regenerate and you want a Disad for it?

 

Yeah, I'm with Oddhat on this one, a -0 Limitation on the Regen; SFX really. Even if projectiles were common, which you said they weren't, I wouldn't give a Limitation or a Disad. Not all bullets stay lodged in the body, some might be expelled, and some could be encysted even if no scar tissue was formed. If you want to give a character lead poisoning, just treat it like catching a disease and use it like a plot device.

 

Oh, and thanks for the reference to the mice. Now that is cool!

 

____________________________________________________________

The only two things that are infinite are the universe and stupidity. And I am not all that certain about the universe. - Albert Einstein

[BobGreenwade]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

So you can regenerate and you want a Disad for it?

It's sort of the dark lining on the silver cloud....

 

Currently, based on the above, I'm starting to think of just making it SFX, at least for these settings. Probably it'd be a 5-point Phys Lim in an Alien Wars or earlier setting, though (especially if another negative effect comes up).

[Killer Shrike]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

Well...it doesnt sound like much of a downside really. I mean unless you are going to the trouble of enforcing realism in powers like making super movers worry about friction and windshear, bricks worry about leverage and actual physics, and so forth what's the point of enforcing the same level of realism on regenerators?

[input.jack]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

The case of the woman with the bullet in her may not apply. A person who can regenerate anything but brain tissue need not be afraid to take a bit more tissue damage getting the bullet out, than someone with only natural healing ability would. Bullet to close to the spine? Yank it anyway; any damage done in the operation will be healed. Itll just make recuperation take a little longer.

 

[prestidigitator]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

The case of the woman with the bullet in her may not apply. A person who can regenerate anything but brain tissue need not be afraid to take a bit more tissue damage getting the bullet out' date=' than someone with only natural healing ability would. Bullet to close to the spine? Yank it anyway; any damage done in the operation will be healed. Itll just make recuperation take a [i']little [/i]longer.

 

Err...except that it will hurt like hell. Eh.

[Mike W]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

I have to agree with the others on this. It's not enough of a limit to justify getting a cost break on the power. I MIGHT allow a 5pt DF if there was potentially serious backlash from the person being exposed as a "mutant" or "non-human".

[BlackSword]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

I also realize that scar tissue sometimes has beneficial effects. For example' date=' when a person is shot and the bullet (or fragment) left inside the body, the scar tissue keeps the lead and other toxins in the bullet from leeching into the system, causing lead poisoning. [/quote']

Interesting, one of the problems with installing medical micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) in people is that the body tends to scar around. Great for keeping toxins out of the human body, not so great if the MEMS is supposed to release insulin. So the lack of scarring would aid in a person being able to have MEMS installed to release needed medicine, or even combat drugs.

[BobGreenwade]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

The case of the woman with the bullet in her may not apply. A person who can regenerate anything but brain tissue need not be afraid to take a bit more tissue damage getting the bullet out' date=' than someone with only natural healing ability would. Bullet to close to the spine? Yank it anyway; any damage done in the operation will be healed. Itll just make recuperation take a [i']little [/i]longer.

The problem comes when the doctor doesn't realize that the patient is a regen -- or, less likely in these settings, doesn't realize that regens have this property.

 

(In a novel I'm working on the main character is a regen who nearly dies of lead poisoning because a bullet fragmented into her skin, and the doctor who treated her didn't realize that regens don't scar. In a setting like TE or SW that's rather unlikely as the doctors will be used to it, whereas this is a relatively new thing in the novel's setting. Also in the novel there are a few other disadvantages to being a regen, such as inhibited brain development in children and increased risk for cancer, but these are just wild speculations on the author's part and not based on any solid science so I don't think they'd apply to the Hero Universe.)

[BobGreenwade]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

Interesting' date=' one of the problems with installing medical micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) in people is that the body tends to scar around. Great for keeping toxins out of the human body, not so great if the MEMS is supposed to release insulin. So the lack of scarring would aid in a person being able to have MEMS installed to release needed medicine, or even combat drugs.[/quote']One of the options I considered was a Vulnerability to "internal drugs and toxins," which would include both MEMS and shrapnel. It would make a decent 5-point Disad, but I'm not sure how it would apply to MEMS in the TE/SW settings.

[Warp9]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

I also realize that scar tissue sometimes has beneficial effects. For example' date=' when a person is shot and the bullet (or fragment) left inside the body, the scar tissue keeps the lead and other toxins in the bullet from leeching into the system, causing lead poisoning. (I'm aware of this because of a documentary I saw once where a woman had a bullet in the joint of her knee, where scar tissue didn't form, and she got lead poisoning from it.) [/quote']

 

Hmmm.

 

The following article might provide some useful insight (note, it does not say anything about "scar tissue" but it does talk about a problem relating to lead poisoning near large joints--like the knee) :

 

http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?action=read&id=2136337

explainer

How Does a Shotgun Pellet Migrate?

Plus, can birdshot give you lead poisoning?

 

Can birdshot cause lead poisoning? Yes, but it doesn't happen very often. Birdshot is usually made of either steel or lead, but doctors routinely leave pellets (or bullets) in the body because the risks of surgery are deemed greater then the possibility of poisoning. We don't know what kind of birdshot Cheney was using; experts quoted in the news seem to discount the dangers of lead for his victim. Still, numerous case reports and several studies have demonstrated that gunshot injury can cause lead toxicity. A recent survey of about 500 shooting victims in South Central Los Angeles found a significant and consistent increase in blood lead levels over the months following an injury.

 

The chance of getting lead poisoning increases with the number of bullet fragments or pellets you have lodged inside of you. A large number of very small lead pellets—perhaps like those lodged in Whittington's head, neck, and chest—would be the most dangerous on account of their large surface area. Pellets that end up near large joints are especially problematic; the synovial fluid contained in these spaces seems to increase the rate at which lead dissolves.

[Dino]

Re: No scar tissue Disadvantage

 

Err...except that it will hurt like hell. Eh.

 

Some people are into that sort of thing...

 

Worse yet, if you know it can't hurt you, you might start to deliberately desensitize yourself to the pain...