Orbital Dysfunctional Syndrome (ODS) from 'Pandorum' (2009)

Three years into their shift, one of their officers had a psychological breakdown. The doctors referred to it as ODS symptom. The privates, we call it Pandorum. It drove him insane. He became convinced that the flight was cursed. Evil.


Pandorum was claustrophobic, intense, and very stylistically different. Orbital Dysfunctional Syndrome (ODS) coupled with a number of twists and turns made the film stand out to me, reminding me in a way of Event Horizon and Alien in its own way. I enjoyed Dennis Quaid in the film, and thought it was a good choice for a lot of reasons.

Why the Pandorum Sickness?
There was so much about the movie I could do write-ups on, and I thought seriously about including the mutants as part of this write-up or as their own write-up. I really think however the concept I found most interesting was the sickness itself. I've featured a number of viruses, plagues, and illnesses over the years, and I wanted to include one which was just a matter of environment. I thought it would be a neat write-up to do, especially as susceptibility wasn't so obvious.

 ODS (The Pandorum Sickness)

 Orbital Dysfunctional Syndrome (ODS)

ODS is encountered by humans who have been in deep-space hibernation, developing acute symptoms and severe psychosis. Any human with Endurance of Ex (20) or less had a chance to develop ODS. A character must make an Endurance FEAT against Ex (20) intensity. A partial success or failure results in ODS.

ODS can be successful overcome with a Red Endurance FEAT against a progressive Intensity. The afflicted Endurance actually lowers as they move through the stages for the purposes of FEATs and checks, suffering a -1CS for Stage One, -2CS for Stage Two, -3CS for Stage Three, and -4CS for Stage Four. No other checks suffer the penalty, only for ODS checks. A character may make an Endurance FEAT at every stage of ODS.

ODS begins in simple stages, but is aggravated by emotional stress, resulting in rapid progression. Should an afflicted player encounter emotional stress, they must make an additional Psyche FEAT at Gd (10) intensity, rather than an Intuition FEAT. Should the afflicted character fail or only gain a partial result, they immediately progress through the stages of ODS. ODS intensifies as it progresses. Prior to full onset and progression characters must make a Psyche AND Endurance FEAT with solid successes against Gd (10) intensity to avoid amnesia and general confusion. Amnesia will last 1 - 24 hours depending on the severity of the ODS onset and the Psyche/Endurance results. Should a character succeed at one of the FEATs and fail the other, time is reduced by 1/2.

Stage One: Slight motor coordination issues, requiring an Agility FEAT vs. Ty (06) intensity. Tremors are slight in the hands and extremities.

Stage Two: Epistaxis (nose bleeding) occurs. Characters must make a Psyche FEAT at Gd (10) Intensity. Failure or partial success allows ODS to progress to Stage Three.

Stage Three: Paranoia begins to intensify. Characters must make an additional Endurance FEAT at Gd (10) intensity to 'shake' off debilitating episodes. Players must then make a Psyche FEAT at Gd (10) intensity to prevent additional symptoms or issues.

Stage Four: Delirium: Characters begin to openly hallucinate and paranoia is increased. Any character suffer at Stage Four must make both an Endurance and Psyche FEAT at Ex (20) intensity. Characters with psychological/mental/emotional limitations will suffer a -2CS to any action or activity while at Stage Four.


ODS can be treated through medical means and through sedation. ODS only seems to affect those in deep space hibernation and/or rotation. Not everyone is shown to suffer from ODS during Pandorum, but those that do seem to suffer greatly.