[Guide]How to properly roleplay wounds/injuries

[Alex Montgomery]

Introduction

A previous attempt was made to create a Guide for Injuries, however I feel that it falls short of what is needed. This guide will give players information on two major topics. The first topic concerns how to realistically roleplay an injury. The second topic covers how to provide realistic first aid. This guide is NOT intended as a real life guide, and should not be used as such. Please take a first aid class if that is your goal.

RP'ing an Injury

This section covers the stages of roleplaying an injury. I have divided it into four sections that each covers a different aspect and stage of the process.

1. To RP or not to RP: All injuries sustained in VHRP can be broken into two basic categories; accidental and intentional. As the name suggests, accidental injuries are sustained from actions that were accidental in nature. Car accidents are one example, accidental firearms discharge is another example. Under certain circumstances, it can be boring or ridiculous to RP these injuries. If someone nudges you while maneuvering a car inside a parking lot, it's probably okay to just shrug it off. Roleplaying a scraped knee or a bruise is not particularly interesting (unless you're RP'ing a child and want to use it for family RP). If someone is driving like a maniac in the middle of nowhere and knocks you off of your motorcycle and then proceeds to drive off, this is another instance where the effort required to RP it would simply not be worth it. Pick yourself up, dust off your bike, and continue on your merry way.

Having said all that, if you really want to RP an accident, by all means, DO IT. That's the point of the server. In the end, I would argue that it is the victim's right to decide whether or not to RP an accidental injury.

The second category of injury, those that are intentionally inflicted upon you by someone else, leaves much less wiggle room. Getting shot is one example of an intentional injury. Getting hit with a baseball bat is another example. I believe everyone would agree that if you are attacked, you pretty much have an obligation to roleplay your injuries.

2. Assess your wounds: As soon as you decide to RP an injury, the first thing you should do is quickly determine what sort of injuries you have sustained. While your original assessment should be pretty obvious (I was shot; I was hit by a baseball bat; I was incinerated by a mushroom cloud; etc., etc.), you should also quickly start thinking about specifics. Where on your body are the injuries? How many different areas are affected? How serious are each of the individual injuries? All these things matter to someone who wants to roleplay trying to save you.

If the injuries did not affect your brain, heart, lungs or major arteries, congrats! You will probably live through it regardless of how long rescue takes. Otherwise, the clock is ticking.

Chart of Vital Areas


Below are some quick tips to common injuries sustained in VHRP.

Car accident: The initial impact of the vehicle can cause internal bleeding along with blunt force trauma to the specific spot on your body where the car hit you. In addition, you will likely sustain a second set of injuries from flying through the air and impacting on the ground. If you hit pavement... ouch. If you hit grass or sand, it will be less damaging (but by no means painless or safe).

Unarmed melee: The degree to which you are hurt in a fight depends mainly on how many blows you receive, to what body parts, the strength of the person throwing the blows, the skill of the person throwing the blows, and how long the fight lasts. It also matters whether you were expecting the blows. If someone randomly walks up to you and punches you, you'll be very confused and possibly have suffered some short-term injuries, but it's highly unlikely to kill you. On the other hand, if you knowingly square off with someone and start exchanges blows with them, adrenaline will have had time to kick in, and you'll be able to shrug off more hits than if you weren't expecting it. On a final note, if someone has knocked you to the ground and proceeds to stomp you for three minutes straight... you'll be lucky to live through an assault like that, and I would personally treat one of those stomps as having landed on your neck or collapsing your skull, thus ending your life.

Armed melee: This includes people hitting you with a baseball bat, knives, brass knuckles, or a purple dildo ( ). It should be treated similarly to unarmed melee, with the exception that every blow landed is much more serious, and the chance of death is astronomically greater. Injuries that would be minor when inflicted with fists become serious when inflicted with a weapon.

Firearms: I'll treat this in greater detail in a later section, since it's easily the most common injury sustained in VHRP.

Regardless of the type of wound, you should be able to convey to anyone attempting to help you what your wounds are. At the very least, you should be able to tell people the LOCATION, the TYPE, and the SERIOUSNESS of a wound, along with whether your character is BREATHING. Those are the most important to anyone attempting first aid.

3. RP'ing Reactions:

I personally believe this is one area where almost all RP'ers fail. Since my character has first aid experience, I'll often attempt to provide assistance to a player that is lying on the ground. Here's the typical conversation:

Me: "Are you okay sir? What happened?"
Player: "I got shot three times in the back and then run over."
Me:

Now stop for one minute and think about how it would feel in real life to be shot three times in the back and then run over. If you were lucky enough to survive, and unlucky enough to still be conscious, you'd probably not be able to coherently list your injuries. I've divided different types of reactions into six major categories.

1. Minor injuries, player knows what happened, can accurately convey information to other people. "Woah, ugh, that guy just punched me in the face!"

2. Minor injuries, player is confused about what happened, might incorrectly diagnose injuries or be incoherent. "Uhhh... What the hell... I... ugh what happened?"

3. Minor or major injuries, in which player believes them to be major injuries (regardless of what they actually are) and is panicking. "ARRRRGH...MOTHERFUCKA CALL THE HOSPITAL, I'M FUCKING DYING! HURRY! IT HURTS, LIKE, -REAL- BAD!"

4. Major injuries, however player believes them to be minor injuries and is relaxed. "[low] Ah... naw... I'm good man... I just...just got the wind knocked out of me..."

5. Major injuries, victim is nearing unconsciousness. If talking, statements are either nonsense or comforting but irrelevant. [size=85]"The toast should've popped into the garage... I thought about buying it...but the weather is too nice."[/size] or [size=85]"My wife is going to call me soon. She said she was going to bring flowers home tonight."[/size]

6. Victim is unconscious, no reaction.

4. Understanding a gunshot wound:

As gunshot wounds (GSW) are easily the most common form of serious injury sustained in LSRP, I felt that they needed their own section.

First and foremost, real life safety brief: Real life is NOT a video game. You don't get to respawn, and you can't just eat a cheeseburger to get your health back. It can take months or years to recover from a GSW, and your body will be permanently damaged, even if you survive.

If you see a gun IRL, DO NOT pick it up, and DO NOT let others pick it up. Call the police IMMEDIATELY.

Firearm Safety Rules (USMC version)
1. Treat every weapon as if it were loaded.
2. Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you intend to fire.
3. Never point your weapon at anything you don’t intend to shoot.
4. Keep your weapon on safe until you intend to fire.

Now back to the program. The first rule of GSW's is that there are no rules to GSW's. By nature, getting shot is chaotic, and the bizarre can and will happen. There have been documented cases of people surviving severe headshots. There have also been documented cases of people being shot in an extremity (arm or leg), and dying from the shock (even without the bullet hitting a major artery). I've heard stories from the Vietnam War of NVA soldiers who were shot in the foot by a .223 round, had the bullet deflected upwards along their leg bones, go through their abdomen and chest, and exit through the skull (all while the person was picked up, somersaulted in mid-air, and then slammed onto their back). Lastly, I remember being told in Boot Camp that there was a certain type of ammunition fired by the .50 cal machine gun that would produce a mach cone that could literally rip off chunks of a person that was within 15-30 inches of the cone, even if not directly hit.

While some of these instances are undoubtedly "tall tales", they still demonstrate that almost anything can happen from a GSW. The more you educate yourself on firearms, ammunition, and wounds, the more realistically you'll be able to RP it.



When a gun is fired, a "hammer" or "firing pin" strikes the primer (5 on the above diagram). The primer in turn ignites the propellant (3 - usually gunpowder or cordite). The propellant ignites, causing a small explosion. The bullet casing (2) confines the explosion, and literally "pushes" the bullet (1) out of the casing and down the barrel of the gun. This general process is true for practically all modern firearms (shotguns differ slightly in that there are multiple spherical projectiles, "shot", instead of a single conical bullet).

When a gun is fired, not only is the bullet exiting the chamber, but there is also hot gas, powder residue, and whatever other random particles might be inside the barrel or in the vicinity (look up "gunshot residue" on Wikipedia if you want to know more). At extremely close ranges, you can suffer powder burns from the hot gas, as well as have your skin or clothing spattered by the powder residue. This is called a "powder burn", and it sucks as bad as it sounds.

Typically, a bullet that hits a person will break through the skin, continue on it's path through the body, piercing organs, shattering bone, and ripping up tissue. If there is a "best" place to get shot, it's either the buttocks or the fleshy portions of your extremities. If a bullet hits bone, it can shatter it, and each individual bone particle can go off in a different direction, causing additional damage. Finally, if the bullet has sufficient velocity, it will exit the body. Sometimes this "exit wound" is not much different than the entrance wound, and other times it can blow out entire portions of the surrounding area. Below are examples of common wound ballistics:



Bear in mind, that's what's going on inside of your body. It ain't pretty. Here's a video that further illustrates the point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8j4GIRYbZw

In conclusion, GSW's aren't a cut-and-dry situation. Multiple factors come into play. Regardless, this should give you at least a starting basis on how to assess your wound, and first aid is all the same regardless of the severity of the wound.

RP'ing First Aid

Note: Like every other guide on this forum, the following information should only be used in applicable RP cases. MOST people do not know First Aid. A quick list of people that can use this information right off the bat include: Paramedics, Doctors, Fire Fighters, Police Officers, former Military, current Military, and people that have received First Aid training at some point their lives. People that would have no First Aid training includes: everyone else.

There are three major goals when attempting First Aid. First, prevent further injury to yourself, the victim, and bystanders. Second, notifying authorities (i.e. calling 911). Third, keep the victim alive until they are rescued.

1. Assess the Area

It is soooo easy to overlook this step, but it is the most important. Survey the area surrounding the victim. How were they injured? Is there any obvious danger present? Is there anything you can do to make the situation less dangerous? Can you help the victim without yourself becoming a victim?

Sure we all want to be the hero, but if you get yourself hurt in a rescue attempt, you're making things worse, not better.

2. Call 911

Another very simple step that can easily be overlooked. Before you attempt to do anything, ensure that there are professionals making their way to the scene. That way if you are somehow injured during your rescue attempt, there will be further help coming.


3. Check for a response and assess vitals and injuries

Ask the person "ARE YOU OKAY? DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?" If they respond, great! Calm them down, explain that you are going to help them, and tell them that everything will be okay. Regardless of whether they are conscious, make sure they are breathing and check their pulse. If they are breathing and have at least a moderate pulse, they will most likely be okay (IF YOU CALLED 911... and since this is LSRP, it also helps if there are paramedics on duty ). If they are not breathing or have no pulse, time is extremely important.

4. Stop any bleeding

I've started RP'ing my character having a First Aid kit in his motorcycle's saddlebags for just this step. My character had literally lost three t-shirts in one day while attempting to stop the bleeding on injured players, and it was getting ridiculous. First, put on some latex gloves. If none are available do your absolute best to avoid their blood. Next, you should use whatever you can find to bandage wounds. Do not remove whatever you have used to clot the wound, just keep adding more material as necessary. If an entire limb is missing or bleeding excessively, you should apply a tourniquet to that limb. Bear in mind that tourniquets often result in the loss of the limb, so it shouldn't be attempted for a paper cut. Use a pen or the victim's blood to write a "t" on the victim's forehead, along with the time it was applied. DO NOT apply a tourniquet to a player's neck for a head-wound.

5. If they are not breathing or have no pulse, administer CPR

Despite what Hollywood movies may depict, CPR is only effective about about 5-10% of the time. Furthermore, it does NOT "bring people back to life" as depicted in the movies. It merely preserves a body's functions until medical attempts at defibrillation (those "CLEAR!" shock paddles they use in the movies). Nonetheless, if paramedics are taking a while to arrive on the scene, it is worth attempting CPR on a person that has stopped breathing or circulation, as it will give them a fighting chance if/when the ambulance does arrive. To RP CPR, the following should suffice:

-Tilt the persons head back, and exhale two breaths into their mouth
-With arms straight and fingers interlocked, push downwards on their chest 30 times

Repeat these two steps until medical help arrives.

6. Control for shock

This includes comforting the patient, keeping them at a comfortable temperature, reassuring them that help is coming, and loosening any restrictive clothing. DO NOT give them food or water if an ambulance is expected within the next 30 minutes.


7. Wait for help to arrive

At this point, you've done all that can be expected. You should continue to reassure the victim until medical help arrives. DO NOT move the patient unless absolutely necessary (if the spinal column is damaged, this can cause paralysis and nerve damage). This includes people in car accidents.

Common First Aid Mistakes

I wanted to create a list of common first aid mistakes. I'll say what they are and why they're mistakes, and I'll leave the RP possibilities to your imagination.

-Under no circumstances should you remove bandages to apply new ones, even if the new ones are cleaner. This will undo any blood-clotting that has occurred, and reopens the wound.
-If the person was impaled by a knife, sword, axe, railroad track, etc. DO NOT try to remove the item. This will cause increased blood loss, and can easily cause them to bleed out.
-If a persons limb was severed, DO NOT place it directly on ice. Rather put it in a zip lock bag and then pack it in ice. Otherwise the tissue can get freezer burn.
-Do not apply butter to burn wounds (I don't know who the fuck is attempting this, but it always gets mentioned). Have you ever cooked with butter? Do you want to do that to your body?
-Do not attempt to suck venom from a snakebite (I know that snakebites are SO common in LS ). I hope I don't need to explain why putting poison and blood into your mouth is a bad idea.
-Do not attempt a tracheotomy (cutting a hole and placing a tube inside a person's throat). This is an advanced medical procedure. Throats don't usually need holes in them.

I hope you enjoyed this guide, and feel more confident role-playing wounds and first aid after reading it.

I'd like to say that this guide isn't made by me, all the credits go to eccentricheathen, who had the patience and knowledge to make a decent guide.

[Tanya Smith]

Copied much?

[Jericho Phelps]

read last line much?

[[Graziano]Adrian]

read last line much?

by Mia Today at 8:59 pm

Last edited by Dr.Chucky on Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:01 pm;

He said IG, go read the tutorial section; I was all the time busy with this, or something. He first claimed it as his self.

(Sorry if I'm wrong)

[Jericho Phelps]

He wouldn't of been that stupid. That guide says that its for LS and LSRP several times.

[Alex Montgomery]

I didn't claim it to myself, I clearly said that I've FOUND a great guide.

[Max Woods]

Nice guide, I dont care if its copied or not.
Readed it all, this can also help some new EMS players joining
in some way

/like

[Karpovich]

So... What would happen with a werewolf if i'd have Silver Exploding bullets....
Nice Guide, though.

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