Maladies and strange diseases may

affect adventurers in far-off lands . . .

or even at home. The search for a cure

– whether for the Princess’ wasting

disease, an alien plague, or a terrorist’s

bioweapon – is a wonderful plot

device. The invention of diseases is an

excellent opportunity for the GM to

exercise a morbid sort of creativity.

Magical or technological items, the

Resistant advantage (p. 80), and high

HT can all protect you from disease.

Risks are greatest in warm, moist

areas. If you catch something, you

won’t know until the symptoms start

to show . . . the GM makes your roll to

avoid it!

DISEASE

Most diseases are caused by

microorganisms and spread by infect-

ed people or animals – but some have

other causes!

News about disease-ridden areas

travels fast; a successful Current

Affairs roll can alert adventurers to the

presence of disease in a region.

Spotting locals suffering from symp-

toms requires a Perception-based

Diagnosis or Physician roll. And in an

area where animals are carrying a dis-

ease that people can catch, investiga-

tors would need to examine an infect-

ed specimen and make a successful

Veterinary roll to realize the danger.

Defining a Disease

Diseases are defined in much the

same way as poisons (see Poison,

p. 437). For each disease the PCs

encounter, the GM should specify:

Vector: How the disease spreads.

Diseases are generally blood, contact,

digestive, or respiratory agents. These

terms mean just what they do for poi-

sons; see Delivery (p. 437).

Resistance Roll: The HT roll to

avoid the disease. Anyone exposed

must roll, possibly at a penalty. Most

diseases allow a roll at HT to HT-6.

The means of exposure can modify

this roll; see Contagion (p. 443). On a

success, the victim does not contract

the disease. On a failure, he does, but

he gets further rolls – once per “cycle”

– to throw off the disease.

Delay: This is the incubation period

– the time between initial exposure to

the disease and the appearance of the

first symptoms in those who fail to

resist. This is 24 hours for a “generic”

disease, but can vary considerably for

real-life diseases.

Damage: The disease’s effects in

game terms. This is typically 1 point of

toxic damage, but it might be higher –

up to 1d – for virulent diseases. DR

does not protect against disease!

Symptoms (fever, sneezing, coughing,

spots, rash, etc.) appear after the sub-

ject starts to suffer injury. Injury from

disease will not heal naturally until the

victim makes his HT roll to recover!

Cycles: Like a cyclic poison, a dis-

ease damages its victim at regular

intervals until he makes a HT roll or a

maximum number of cycles passes.

The “default” interval between HT

rolls is one day. The number of cycles

varies with the deadliness of the dis-

ease; for instance, a potentially fatal

disease might only inflict 1 HP per

cycle but endure for 20-30 cycles.

Symptoms: A disease can cause

attribute penalties, temporary disad-

vantages, etc. after the victim loses a

specified fraction (typically 1/3, 1/2,

2/3, or all) of his HP to it.

Contagion: Some diseases are mild-

ly or highly contagious – although

sometimes not until after the incuba-

tion period.

The combination of resistance roll,

damage, and cycles determines “dead-

liness.” By carefully selecting these

statistics, the GM can distinguish

between a virulent but mild flu that

ends in a day or two (24-hour delay,

HT-2, 1 point of toxic damage, 12-hour

interval, six cycles) and a slower but

usually fatal disease (72-hour delay,

HT-5, 1 point of toxic damage, daily

interval, 30 cycles).

Diagnosis

Once the symptoms of a

disease become apparent, identifica-

tion requires a successful roll

against Diagnosis or Expert Skill

(Epidemiology) – or Veterinary, for an

animal illness. This cannot identify a

totally new illness, but a good roll

might give enough information to

allow treatment.

Treatment

Appropriate remedies – herbs,

drugs, etc. – can provide a bonus to

the cyclic HT rolls to shake off certain

diseases. At TL6+, antibiotics (e.g.,

penicillin) give +3 to recover from

most bacterial diseases. At any TL, a

physician’s care provides the same

bonuses to recover from disease that it

gives to recover from injuries (see

Medical Care, p. 424).

However, some diseases are drug-

resistant, in which case ordinary

medicine gives no bonus. At TL7+,

drug treatments can often mitigate

the effects of such illnesses – usually

by reducing damage or lengthening

interval – but these aren’t cures.

Radiation treatment, gene therapy,

nanotech, magic, and psi might still

work, however.

Immunity and

Susceptibility

Differential Susceptibility: Members

of a given ethnicity, sex, or race may

be more or less susceptible to a partic-

ular disease. For instance, the GM

might decide that dwarves are

immune to the Purple Shakes, and

that elves get +2 on their HT rolls

against it . . . but that the mortality

rate among male giants is 100% unless

they are treated within two days. A

successful Diagnosis or Physician roll

reveals differential susceptibility, if

applicable.

Natural Immunity: Some individu-

als are simply immune to a specific

disease. If the GM rolls a 3 or 4 for

your first attempt to resist a disease,

you are immune! He should note this

fact and not tell you – under normal

circumstances, you have no real way

of knowing about your immunity.

Acquired Immunity: Anyone who

survives a given disease may be

immune in the future. This depends

on the illness. You only catch measles

once, for instance – but mumps can

come back over and over.

Vaccination: Vaccination won’t

cure disease, but it provides almost

certain immunity. At TL5, vaccines

exist for a few diseases – notably

smallpox – but aren’t widespread. At

TL6+, new vaccines appear constantly,

and most can be stored for long peri-

ods of time, like other medicines.

Developing a new vaccine is difficult

and time-consuming; use the rules

under New Inventions (p. 473), rolling

against Bioengineering skill. At

TL10+, exotic treatments (e.g.,

nanomachine colonies) can give indi-

viduals or entire societies the

Resistant to Disease advantage.

Contagion

If you enter a disease-ridden area or encounter a disease carrier,

make a HT roll at the end of the day to resist the disease. On a failure,

you catch the disease! Modifiers to this roll include the disease’s basic

virulence modifier and the least advantageous applicable modifier from

this list:

Avoided all contact with possible victims: +4.

Entered dwelling or shop of victim: +3.

Spoke with victim at close quarters: +2.

Touched victim briefly: +1.

Used victim’s clothes, blankets, etc.: +0.

Ate victim’s cooked flesh (animal, we hope!): +0.

Ate victim’s raw flesh (ditto!!): -1.

Prolonged contact with living victim: -2.

Kissing or other intimate contact with victim: -3.

Proper precautions – masks, antiseptics, etc. – provide a bonus to

those who know and understand them. The GM should consider limit-

ing such measures to PCs from cultures that understand the germ

theory of disease (late TL5).

INFECTION

A microorganism that attacks open

wounds may cause an “infection.”

Infections are possible anywhere, but

some places (especially jungles) may

harbor especially severe forms of

infection.

Open wounds treated with antibi-

otics (TL6+) never become infected

except on a critically failed First Aid or

Physician roll. People wounded under

less-than-clean circumstances (GM’s

decision) and who do not receive

treatment must make a HT+3 roll,

modified as follows:

Ordinary “clean” dirt in wound: +0.

Dung or other infected matter in

wound: -2.

Locale harbors a special infection:

-3.

These modifiers are cumulative,

and replace those listed under

Contagion (p. 443).

On a failure, the wound is infected.

Treat this as any other disease. A typi-

cal infection requires a daily HT roll,

modified as above, with failure indi-

cating the loss of 1 HP. Most infections

progress until the victim either makes

a HT roll, ending the infection, or

takes so much injury that he dies.

Treatment with antibiotics (TL6+)

gives +3 to HT rolls. This usually halts

the infection before serious injury can

occur.

If drugs are unavailable, or if the

patient doesn’t respond, a surgeon can

cut out the infected tissue if the injury

from infection hasn’t progressed

beyond a certain point. On the head or

torso, this limit is the patient’s HP/2.

On a limb or extremity, it is the

amount of injury required to cripple

the body part. Surgery cannot help

infections more severe than this.

The surgeon must make a Surgery

roll. This inflicts 2d of injury to the

head or torso, or amputates a limb or

extremity. On a success, it cures the

infection. On a failure, damage or

amputation occurs but the patient

remains infected.