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Where Do They Get Their Plagues?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lord Rasputin" data-source="post: 7732181" data-attributes="member: 8410"><p>Funny, I have an article for Pyramid that's been near publication about diseases in GURPS. Based on research and play testing (my players now know that their Health scores are important), some advice and summary:</p><p></p><p>* Don't give the PCs serious diseases unless they're asking for it (like dressing themselves in the clothes of the plague-dead). This isn't fun.</p><p>* Any kind of prodding PCs along in a story isn't recommended, either, though that's because I hate GM-driven storylines. But if you don't want them dawdling in town, settlements will almost always have an influenza season in the winter and a diarrhea season in the summer. Don't want to catch them? Go into the dungeon.</p><p>* The history of illness in <strong><em>D&D</em></strong> is older than <strong><em>D&D</em></strong>. See the end of <strong><em>Supplement II: Blackmoor</em></strong>; Arneson didn't write those tables on the fly.</p><p>* Illness is a minor mishap in a <strong><em>D&D</em></strong>-ish game. In game effects, they exist to give a complication to things like staying in town, and to slow down wayfaring. Do you stop and rest and heal, or press on and fight the big boss earlier, when he's less mighty, but taking penalties from the case of meningitis you have?</p><p>* Histoplasmosis. I swear that it's a crime that this hasn't been in fantasy RPGs earlier. Look it up.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord Rasputin, post: 7732181, member: 8410"] Funny, I have an article for Pyramid that's been near publication about diseases in GURPS. Based on research and play testing (my players now know that their Health scores are important), some advice and summary: * Don't give the PCs serious diseases unless they're asking for it (like dressing themselves in the clothes of the plague-dead). This isn't fun. * Any kind of prodding PCs along in a story isn't recommended, either, though that's because I hate GM-driven storylines. But if you don't want them dawdling in town, settlements will almost always have an influenza season in the winter and a diarrhea season in the summer. Don't want to catch them? Go into the dungeon. * The history of illness in [B][I]D&D[/I][/B] is older than [B][I]D&D[/I][/B]. See the end of [B][I]Supplement II: Blackmoor[/I][/B]; Arneson didn't write those tables on the fly. * Illness is a minor mishap in a [B][I]D&D[/I][/B]-ish game. In game effects, they exist to give a complication to things like staying in town, and to slow down wayfaring. Do you stop and rest and heal, or press on and fight the big boss earlier, when he's less mighty, but taking penalties from the case of meningitis you have? * Histoplasmosis. I swear that it's a crime that this hasn't been in fantasy RPGs earlier. Look it up. [/QUOTE]
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