Disease

[Captain Obvious]

I'm working up a chart to create diseases of varying effects. Basically, I intend to have a Base disease with an associated Power (usually Drain), and a Modifier chart to add another effect, intensify the base effect, or even leave the base effect unchanged. It'll mostly be of use in Fantasy or Pulp type games, as the names will be way too old-fashioned for the modern era or later.

 

I'd like to make the chart as large as possible, to lessen repeats and keep things interesting, so I'd like any input anyone has to offer on possible Bases or Modifiers.

 

Here's what I have so far:

 

Bases - ague, dropsy, quinsy, plague, death, rot, decline, cough, melts, runs, drip, catarrh, fever, pox, grippe, flux, palsy, fits, shakes, chills, doom, madness, ache

 

Modifiers - wasting, mad, black, red, bilious, phlegmatic, green, bloody, slow, fast, shivering, blind, deaf, dumb, hot, cold

 

Before anyone mentions it, I don't intend on using this to constantly afflict PCs. That would suck from a player's point of view. I would use this mostly as a GM aid for those times when an epidemic is called for, and to more interesting names and effects than just calling everything "plague". PCs would most likely never get one of these diseases unless they were asking for it, or unless a story could be made more interesting by it (and obviously a bed-ridden PC isn't all that interesting in most cases).

 

Anyway, all suggestions are appreciated.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Disease

 

I think you might be better if you focused on transmition style instead of what looks like adjective flavor text.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Disease

 

The flavor is a large part of what I was after. "Shivering Pox" sounds like a disease in a fantasy world, or something you might pick up travelling in Darkest Africa.

 

What sort of ideas did you have in mind with the transmission angle? I was basically going to assume that these diseases were mostly transmitted through the air, through contaminated water, or by parasites, making transmission mostly something beyond fantasy science, and control of the vector (not necessarily the knowledge of it) beyond standard Pulp science. You may have something to make me change my mind, though.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Disease

 

What you could do is have the Noun aspect of it determine what kind of transmission it is. As for transmission venues there are that I can think of:

 

Ingestion, Infliction, Sexual, Magical, Astral, Aerial, Contact

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Disease

 

Maybe this would work as another table on the chart. Roll for base, roll for modifier, roll for transmission. Maybe another roll for severity, to provide a multiplier to use against the DC of the disease.

[Koshka]

Re: Disease

 

I was basically going to assume that these diseases were mostly transmitted through the air, through contaminated water, or by parasites, making transmission mostly something beyond fantasy science, and control of the vector (not necessarily the knowledge of it) beyond standard Pulp science. You may have something to make me change my mind, though.

 

Vector control should be within Pulp-era science. When the Panama Canal was being built before World War I, anti-mosquito efforts almost wiped out yellow fever and dropped malaria considerably. The mortality rate in the Panama Canal Zone (all causes of death) in 1914 was 6 per 1000, as compared to 14 per 1000 in the US or 15 per 1000 in London. The last fatality from yellow fever in the canal zone (during the construction period, when there was the most work done on vector control) was in 1906.

[Rapier]

Re: Disease

 

Maybe this would work as another table on the chart. Roll for base' date=' roll for modifier, roll for transmission. Maybe another roll for severity, to provide a multiplier to use against the DC of the disease.[/quote']

 

That is what I was thinking. Have a master chart that lists all aspects of disease (transmission, severity, type - hemoragic - viral - bacterial etc) and either link a verb to the aspect or have another chart for random disease names (like we've all seen for character names in fantasy games or hero team names in supers).

 

Eiiiiiiiiwwwwww. You just caught Hopping Hemoragic Malrial Bubonic Dysentary! Thats nasty. Every use of END now requires a CON roll at -4 or soil yer super-suit.