Substances can have direct effects on those who imbibe, inject, drink, or inhale them.  In modern and future settings, these substances are drugs; in archaic settings they are herbs and concoctions.

Addiction

Every drug and concoction has an addiction class. Each time the drug is taken, the user must make a WIL check to avoid becoming addicted. The WIL check increases by 1 each time the drug is used.

An addicted character suffers a side-effect every day that he or she does not use the addictive substance. The effect begins when the character wakes that day, and continues unless the substance is used. If the substance is used, the side-effect goes away until the next morning. The side effect can be randomly determined (see below) or assigned to the drug.

Removing an addition requires a character to refrain from use of a drug for the time indicated below (suffering the side effect for that period of time).

Side Effects

Some chemicals are noted as having side-effects. Side-effects also occur when chemicals are combined. Side effects last for one day.

Side effects manifest as a condition, starting as a mild condition and increasing to severe and extreme if no action is taken.

Generic Drugs

Most drugs can come in injected (in future settings this is a hypospray) or pill form. Some drugs have less common administration methods, including inhalation, eye-drops, gels, and more, and in archaic settings concoctions can take the form of ointments, soups, and other mixtures.

The drugs in the table below are listed by type. However, they will be known by specific brand names in any given setting; some sample brand names are suggested in the drug descriptions.

Amnesia drug. Amnesia drugs are used to remove memories. Developed for trauma victims to help them forget certain events, less beneficial uses were soon found. The user gets a Difficult [16] WIL check; on a failure, the last day's event's are forgotten. There is a risk that more will be lost: roll 1d6, and on a roll of 6 the user loses one skill rank from a random skill.

Antiagiatics Aging is a trivial obstacle in the far future. Anti-aging drugs exist in infinite varieties and brands. These drugs are taken monthly, and each application effectively reduces the user's age by 1d6 years. However, they are slightly addictive. If an application is missed, the user ages 3d6 years (but will not age beyond his actual, natural age). Brands include Gerasite, and YungAgen.

Antidote. Antidotes work to counteract slow-acting toxins. They grant a bonus dice to a poison dice pool.

Anti-addiction. With the prevalence of addiction, it was only a matter of time before a drug to counteract that very thing was developed. The unfortunate side effect is that the drug is mildly addictive itself, which means it only gets prescribed for addiction classes III and IV. Taking the drug reduces an addition difficulty value of a particular addiction by 1 point. The drug only works once per day.

Boosters, street. Boosters are a basic, cheap drug which grants the user a temporary burst of strength, stamina, or even intelligence. The word “booster” is merely slang for an enormously wide range of chemicals – adrenaline shots, neural exciters, smart drugs, stimulants, performance enhancers, and more. A booster gives the user a +1d6 bonus to an attribute for one hour. Boosters do not stack with each other – taking two does not increase the bonus to +2. Boosters typically have street names like Azrael, Berzerk, Brilliance, Candy, Drive, Hype, Nectar, Snap, Stims, Venom, or Whiz.

Boosters, strong. Strong boosters are rare, expensive and addictive. They grant a +2d6 bonus to an attribute, but for five minutes only.

Boosters, ultra. Ultraboosters are a class of very rare, often experimental drugs which frequently have some form of side effect (roll once on the side-effects table). They are highly addictive, extremely expensive, and grant a +3-die bonus to an attribute for one hour.

HealJel. An antibiotic jelly which can treat small injuries. Application of HealJel cures 1 point of HEALTH. However, a person can only benefit from it once per day. HealJel is a common brand name, but there are many more – Medi-Gel and JelAid are two other well-known ones.

Immunity booster. Immunity boosters are used as preventative drugs; they increase the user's resistance to disease. An immunity booster gives the user a 2-die bonus to disease dice pools for one day.

Metabolic depressor. Metabolic depressors slow the metabolism and life signs for one hour. One application can be enough to hide from scans, inflicting a 2-dice penalty to the detection difficulty. The common street name for metabolic depressors (which can be used for criminal infiltration activities) is Zombie.

Metabolism stopper. An extremely potent form of metabolic depressor, this injection completely halts metabolism and life signs for 4 hours. The user is completely invisible to scans and detection equipment, and appears dead to a cursory visual inspection. The user is unconscious during this time.

Mood enhancers. These common drugs are used to create a feeling of well-being or happiness for four hours. They are used recreationally by many, and are easily available, though mildly addictive. They do not have a direct game mechanic effect. The most common versions are Okay, Glee, Equinox, The Eucharist, and Allswell.

Oxygenation. Injections such as Tri-Ox can enable a creature to operate normally in a zero oxygen environment for 5 minutes, or a low-oxygen environment for one hour.

Pain relief. Painkillers can be used to grant temporary HEALTH – however, the effects wear off, and the temporary HEALTH wears off at the same time. A basic pain relief pill grants 1d6 temporary HEALTH for one hour.

Pain relief, strong. Extremely strong painkillers work much like regular ones. They are more expensive, and more addictive, but give a temporary 2d6 boost to HEALTH for one hour.

Reaction enhancers. These increase cognitive processing, awareness, and reaction speed. They add 2d6 to initiative checks for one hour, and are mildly addictive. The most famous brand is Flash.

Regenerative. Regeneratives are a powerful form of drug which endow the user with rapid healing. The drug increases daily natural healing by 3d6 HEALTH for the day it is used.

Survival compounds. These pills ward off the need for food and water for 24 hours. They are highly addictive, but are fortunately so much more expensive than actual food and water that they never became a societal problem.

Tranquilizer. Tranquilizers are used to put a patient (or victim) to sleep. These are used by hunters, police, and also by customers who have trouble with insomnia. The imbiber makes a Difficult [16] END check or falls asleep for 5 minutes.

Truth drugs. Truth drugs compel the imbiber to talk truthfully. In reality, they're not a guarantee – the user can resist with a Difficult [16] WIL check. The drug wears off after just 20 minutes. Brand names include Diathol, Tellit, and Tell-all.

Creating Drugs

One dose of a drug can be created by performing a major chemistry, herbalism, or alchemy science.