It’s been a while since I put together one of
these articles but I’m back and reasonably healthy enough to put one of these
together. We’re going to be putting some
more of these together going into the new year and exploring some new options for
ideas to make your gaming experience fun an exciting. Today’s excursion covers another plot point
that can shape an adventure, a story arc, or even an entire campaign.
Today’s topic is disease and illness. Ranging from simple childhood ailments to
divinely mandated and supernaturally powered plagues, diseases and illnesses
can radically redefine the plot you are building. Now we’re discussing this in terms of an rpg
environment and not a real world setting, so you can discard some real world
practicalities and details when you put one of these together. Let’s dive into this.
Plot Point ? Disease
This iteration of a plot trap involves a malady
or some other physical affliction that degrades some aspect of the person who
it affects. In a real world or modern
inspired setting, these are typically caused by microbes or other tiny life
forms that infiltrate the body. In a fantasy
setting, these can take any number of forms and shapes. They all share a few common traits, namely
that they reduce a person’s ability to function and through this reduction can
endanger the person’s life.
Most games have a system for how to deal with
these problems and you can examine those in the system of your choice. Whether it’s the Saving Throw mechanic for
Dungeons and Dragons, or a more complex action that requires more interactions
with the system, these are all well defined within those systems. If you’re interested, grab an rpg you haven’t
played before and see how they handle diseases.
Now we’re going to take a look at a few specific types of illnesses and
how they affect the setting.
Plague
Highly communicable diseases with a high
mortality threat are a very real, very pressing danger to any location in a campaign
setting. Starting with the infirm, the
very young, and/or the very old, these diseases can strike quickly, seemingly
from nowhere. Even healthy people with
no apparent symptoms can still carry the disease allowing it to spread to even
more locations.
Social Maladies
Sexually transmitted diseases can be just as
dangerous to the individual, but are often less dangerous to a city or region. The vector the disease travels on requires an
exchange of fluids from one person to another.
The intimate nature of the contact required for these diseases limits
their ability spread through a location.
These diseases are often less lethal than a plague, but can still cause
a great deal of pain and suffering to the people who live with them.
Magical Illness
Magic in the world interacts with things in a very
bizarre fashion. This can create a host
of magical ailments and contagions. These
don’t follow the normal rules for how diseases work and can create a myriad of
interactions and effects that can impair a person’s health. Further, the magical nature of these illnesses
can have spectacular results as they run their courses.
Why is this a Plot Trap?
This Plot Trap is a Plot Trap because more than
any other plot trap we’ve discussed is its ability to run completely out of
control. Diseases can take over the plot
without needing a lot of help, and dealing with them can force characters into
radical courses of action that may not jive with their sensibilities. Diseases, especially ones that recur
frequently cast a pall over the rest of the campaign, and you have to be ready
for that when you plan to feature disease as a signature element of a plot.
Key Elements of this plot device
- The Effect: Diseases have a very specific effect on the
people who suffer them. Defining what
the effect is, and how lethal it is requires your world building definition. You can create any number of potential
effects and conditions that afflict a person. There are a lot of real world examples
you can examine to see how they affect people and to use as inspiration
for your own diseases.
- The Vector: As important as the disease itself,
it’s vector determines how fast a disease spreads. Vector is how the disease is passed from
one person to another and who it affects.
Defining who the disease affects can also create interesting
situations full of tension and drama for your game.
- The Cure: Disease is usually a curable condition in
fantasy gaming. Figuring out how a particular disease can be cured (or at
least managed) is a good idea because it’s an avenue for character growth
and story development.
Variations
There are a couple of variations on this theme
that all work roughly the same way. Let’s take a closer look.
Zombie Plague
A supremely popular variation on a typical
plague, this disease reanimates the corpses of its victims as shambling undead
zombies. This disease typically has a
superbly high lethality and is usually easily spread. The few survivors are typically overwhelmed by
the hordes of zombies created in the plague’s wake.
Transformative Magic
This version of the plot represents a disease
that causes a massive transformation in its victims. Whether it turns them into stone, traps them
in a gaseous form, or otherwise causes some other dramatic effect (my personal
choice is probably something that turns them into an energy cascade that rips through
the area like a fireball), the disease makes a lasting, if not permanent change
on the person with this disease.
Conclusions
Diseases can be campaign defining plot elements. The lasting effects of these conditions can
reshape your campaign setting and require dramatic action from adventuring
types to halt. This gives you the
benefits of a ticking clock and a way to spread dread and misery to people around
the stars of your story. Diseases don’t
generally play favorites, so you can have them affect old friends, family, and
other people close to the characters. DO
THIS SPARINGLY.
I hope this gives all of you some insights and
ideas on incorporating this style of a Plot Element into your game without it
becoming a burden to your fun. If you’d like to see more of these, or
have a question about a specific plot element that you’d like to know more
about, drop me a line on twitter, which you should be able to see over there on
the right side of the screen. Game On,
Game Fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment