Medical RP Guidelines

Roleplaying injuries is far simpler than one thinks, it can be as straightforward or complex as you choose to make it. A few simple details can help EMS personnel establish your injuries and assess you medically leading to greater, more exciting roleplay for everyone. There are different main injuries you could be roleplaying, that we see most often:

• Traumatic - Car crash, Gunshot Wound, Fall, Crush, Fight, Burst Arteries, and you bleed through your Areolas (ABAB syndrome), or Drowning.
• Non-Traumatic - Heart attack, Bee sting, Asthma/COPD, Stroke, Heat Exhaustion, Diabetes, or even taser prongs in the bum.

STAGES: These are the stages in which someone is downed (Both stages have different rules regarding speaking):

1. Stage 1: Unconscious - something happened to where you got downed, you can speak if the injury is realistic enough to allow you to speak. I.e., if you get shot, you probably won't be speaking, you'll most likely be making groaning noises and such, but if you get in a fistfight, it's realistic that you wake up after getting knocked out. You can remember everything that has previously happened in this stage.

2. Stage 2: Dead - something happened to where you were fully downed & dead. You cannot speak, you cannot remember anything that happened. If you go to stage 2 while EMS is helping you, you may treat it as if you are stage 1. But that is ONLY if they get to you, while you are stage 1.

You are permitted to use /me during both of these stages to help EMS RP with you.

Vitals

• A key bit of information for EMS personnel is your Vitals… Blood Pressure, Pulse Rate, and Respiration rate.
• An example of normal vitals is here, this can vary, and be varied by the injured party to give EMS an indication of your injuries.
• Blood Pressure: Systolic over diastolic pressure…. Or more simply… pressure when the heart contracts to pump vs relaxed, so a higher number over a lower one… average is around 120/80
• Pulse: 60-100 beats per minute. Trauma typically raises this initially with pain, however with blood loss, it will likely drop.
• Respiration Rate: 12-20, loss of consciousness and reduced alertness with lower respiration rate, pain can elevate.

There are 3 major components to role-playing a medical scene: - What happened? - what were you doing at the time? Was the injury Traumatic or Non-Traumatic? Establish the mechanism of injury. - What symptoms would this result in? - How would this mechanism of injury mess you up? - How do I show this? - How do I represent these symptoms and express them to the attending EMS personnel?

How it Happened

How it happened - easy, be creative even!

Traumatic injuries can be great in roleplay.

• Blunt Force Trauma: Concussion, broken bones, internal bleeding leading to drowsiness, pain, shock, loss of consciousness, and death.
• Piercing Trauma: Bleeding, broken bones, internal bleeding and pain, loss of consciousness, and death.
• Indirect Trauma: depending on the mechanism,
• Electrocution can be fatal or lead to heart attack, and burns.
• Drowning and fluid inhalation can lead to shock, respiratory arrest, loss of consciousness, and death.
• Fire… A key one to include… burns, smoke inhalation, shock, loss of consciousness, heat trauma.

Non-Traumatic Injuries:

• Asthma Attack: Tightness of chest, difficulty breathing disorientation and hypoxic symptoms, skin pallor possible respiratory arrest. Extended attacks can result in muscle pain in the chest.
• Heart Attack: Chest pain or discomfort. Chest pain is the most common heart attack symptom. Pain in your arm (Left first), back, neck, or jaw. Dizziness, disorientation, and confusion.
• Allergic Reaction: Swelling, difficulty breathing, dizziness, and disorientation, may be localized to an area if sting or external mechanism related, ingestion of foods related to allergy will result in facial and throat swelling that can result in respiratory arrest.
• Stroke: Numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body. Sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or difficulty understanding speech. Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, or lack of coordination.
• Heat Exhaustion: Tiredness, Dizziness, lack of sweating, disorientation.
• The possibilities for non-traumatic injuries are limitless… think of something, a quick Google search or ChatGPT query will give you examples of symptoms.

How do I roleplay these injuries?

Use your /me ability!!

Key things to remember are what and where you would be hurt… use your head :)

Traumatic Injuries

Car Crash

• Most common symptoms would be blunt force and shock trauma, neck injuries, broken bones, cuts & grazes from broken glass, and flying objects.
  • /me broken arm
  • /me left leg would be fractured and have shards of glad in face
  • /me has severe road rash on leg
• Shrapnel & foreign objects
  • /me piece of metal has gone through abdomen
• Key aspects: Loss of coordination, possible loss of consciousness, broken bones, pain & bleeding.

Gunshot Wound (GSW)

• Piercing trauma from a gunshot or stab wound is quite similar.
  • /me bleeding profusely
  • /me x amount of bullets to the chest
    • If you have body armor, your armor might have eaten most of the bullets, but you'll still have heavy bleeding or bruising.
  • Could have a punctured lung - or something along the lines of that
• As time goes on, allow your condition to worsen and reduce responsiveness, allow vitals to degrade

Falls & Crash injuries

• Broken bones, bones may break the skin and result in bleeding
  • /me intense pain in arm
  • /me bleeding profusely
• Entrapment or loss of mobility - if stuck in a car
  • /me can't move (insert limb)

Electrocution

• You could have burns
• Could have a heart attack (see below in Non-Traumatic Injuries)

Drowning

• Respiratory Arrest
  • /me coughing up water
  • /me can't breathe
• Allow the EMS personnel to attempt CPR
  • /me coughs up water
  • /me starts breathing again
• Cough and sputter A LOT
  • You'll have trauma to your chest muscles and disorientation
• Possible hypothermia (you get very cold)

Fires

• Burns are pretty easy: they hurt, cry & scream
• Smoke inhalation would incapacitate, so cough, lose consciousness

Non-Traumatic Injuries

Asthma Attack

• Express difficulty breathing, you will typically be QUIET
  • /me can't breathe
  • Cough and wheeze
• Be disoriented and gasping for breath
• Express pain in the chest and neck areas
  • /me chest is tight
  • /me neck is tight

Heart attack

• Easiest expression is pain on the left arm, followed by chest pain and dizziness
  • /me feels dizzy
  • /me pain in left arm and chest
• Loss of consciousness if time is extended

Allergic Reaction

• Is it food? Your face and throat will swell, so difficulty breathing and speaking

  • /me can't breathe
  • /me face is swelling
  • /me throat is swelling
  • Cough & sputter
  • Speak strained if still conscious

• If the reaction is due to external stimuli, such as a bee sting or animal bite, localized swelling, but your symptoms will be similar as above - and they may worsen with time

  • /me leg swelling from animal bite

• Localized pain and difficulty using said limb, or coordination limbs

Stroke

• Experience numbness, easiest way to indicate a stroke is with difficulty speaking and localized numbness to one side of the body
• Disoriented
• Confused

Heat Exhaustion

• Be very lethargic
• Slur your words
• Complain about tiredness and heat

Remember:

Variety is key when RPing out medical scenes, EMS personnel in Everfall handle everything from Taser prongs to gunshot wounds, all the way to general car crash trauma all the time. Make them think, and make them learn, try something unusual, and throw them a curveball! Not every case must be severe… not every car crash must involve entrapment and broken bones. Feel free to simply have whiplash or some glass cuts, or maybe a broken nose from the airbag. Gunshot wounds can sometimes be simply a flesh wound, that causes pain and no significant medical problems. We love our medical services here, and we want to SHOW them we love them. They tend to get the least role-play out of any department in Everfall, and we want to give them those experiences!

TL:DR:

Here are some simple /me examples anyone can use!

• /me neck is broken and is unconscious
• /me legs have glass stuck in them
• /me leg is broken & bleeding
• /me have been laying in snow, there is visible frostbite
• /me has large gash across forehead and is bleeding
• /me left leg is fractured
• /me severe road rash on leg
• /me leg is broken and sticking out of skin
• /me has 1 GSW to the left arm, 2 to the belly
• /me no exit wounds
• /me bleeding is soaking through gauze
• /me intense pain in arms

EXAMPLES OF NON-VALID /ME SCENARIOS

• /me nothing is injured
• /me would not be alive
• /me yes
• /me is dead