Microbe

this assignment, you will role-play as a newly created microbe in a world filled with immune defenses, antibiotics, and other microbes competing for survival. Using your microbiology knowledge, you will design a pathogen, narrate its abilities, and determine outcomes using proposed dice rolls. This activity blends storytelling, problem-solving, and microbiological concepts in a game-inspired format.

Instructions:

1. Create Your Microbe and then Name it

• Choose whether your microbe is a bacterium, virus, fungus, or parasite. Assign a scientific name.
• Design its features using microbiology concepts:
• Cell wall structure (Gram-positive, Gram-negative, acid-fast, none)
• Virulence factors (capsule, pili, toxins, antigenic variation, etc.)
• Mode of transmission (airborne, vector-borne, fecal-oral, direct contact)
• Growth environment (aerobic/anaerobic, temperature range, host specificity)

1. Narrate Strengths & Weaknesses

• Describe what makes your microbe powerful (e.g., toxin production, immune evasion).
• Identify weaknesses (e.g., vulnerable to heat, disinfectants, specific antibiotics, UV exposure).
• Write this in a story-like narrative as if you are describing a character in a role-playing game.

1. Dice-Based Action Scenarios

• Propose using a six-sided die (d6) to determine your microbes success or failure in different encounters.
• Suggest roll results and example scenarios based on strengths/weaknesses you described:
• Immune Response Encounter: Roll a die.
• (12):
• (34):
• (56):
• Antibiotic Treatment Encounter: Roll a die.
• (13):
• (45):
• (6):
• Competition with Other Microbes: Roll a die to see if you outcompete the normal flora.

You must narrate the outcomes in a short story style, using the above examples for combining dice results with microbiology knowledge.