What are the best OSR disease rules around?  Has anyone made their own?

I don't think anyone really has handled disease well, and it's really hard to do so without thinking about disease.

First off, most  real world diseases takes days, even weeks, before they really take effect. This is meaningless in most fantasy adventures, which seldom take more than a week of action to complete.

The next issue is most fantasy worlds have some sort of magical "cure disease". Diseases become irrelevant past the level where characters can reasonably get the cure disease ability.

So, in most game systems, there's really only a narrow window where disease is a relevant possiblity, and then only with fantasy diseases, the kind that take effect instantly, or far more quickly than any real disease.

4e came the closest, with diseases that only went away after multiple saves.

If a RPG rules set is going to have diseases, they need fast enough effect to be relevant, need to have varying degrees of susceptibility to "cure disease" (I vaguely remember there was a time when certain diseases needed various levels of cleric to be cured, in some version of D&D), and a realistic chance for PCs to simply recover on their own.

My rule of thumb is just don't touch an OSR guy or let him breathe on you and you should be fine. Most are somewhat clean and just smell funny.

To me, it's like tracking shoe wear (which I think that german RPG The Dark Eye does, at least the computer version of it did*). It might add realism to the game, but I don't think it adds any fun.

* And caused me to literally throw the game, box and all, out the window.


Beyond that, Cure Disease is not exactly a high level spell (3rd level).

Disease are only interesting to me if they add something to the character or plot.

Lyncanthropey and such add an interesting aspect to the character.

Diseases that require a quest to cure adds some form of plot.

Otherwise Cure Disease takes a lot of the mystery out of it.

Quote from: RPGPundit;834856What are the best OSR disease rules around?  Has anyone made their own?

Depends what is meant by OSR.

Runequest (a late 1970s early 1980s game) included diseases that occurred in three major ways. One was from various chaos tainted creatures, Broo are the best known and most frequently encountered example just touching them or stuff they had defiled exposed one to disease. Second would be actual Spirits of Disease. Disease spirits would attack in spirit combat and if successful would possess the character causing stat loss based on the type of disease spirit stats attacked included INT, CON, STR, DEX, and so on - which was obviously a pretty serious issue. Shamans could command or fight the possessing spirit to remove them - in effect exorcising the spirit. Third, and probably the least frequently encountered, were spells known by worshippers of Chaos deities like Malia Mistress of Disease. My wife had a Malian cultist, sadly she never achieved her goal of becoming a Rune-level disease mistress.

Runequest got diseases right from a gaming perspective since diseases were mostly rare, were frequently the result of player choice (you go fight Broos or other chaos and don't be surprised if you catch something), and often as with disease spirits reinforced a culturally appropriate non-scientific, non-modern view of disease.

Also didn't WHFRP have rules for disease? Not sure if that counts as OSR either.

These days, for RQ/BRP/Legend/D100-style games, I just have an infection chance, modified by circumstances, with an opposed roll against some resistance chance. Failure means they get infected and the disease progresses with its associated symptoms. In Merrie England, for example, you can die of diarrhoea ...

Quote from: Matt;834867My rule of thumb is just don't touch an OSR guy or let him breathe on you and you should be fine. Most are somewhat clean and just smell funny.

Pundit, we need a LIKE button! :cool:

I made my own disease rules. Several times. I keep simplifying them each time around. Sent one set off for the next issue of Fight On! As part of an article on a new class, but I've made a few changes again while waiting for the issue to be published.

Basic core idea I always include is that you can't recover hit points while sick. That makes it relevant to adventuring ... Minor diseases basically do nothing else, or maybe have an annoying side effect like sneezing that can reduce surprise chances or something like that. More serious illnesses halve Move and require an extra turn of rest every hour. Some diseases cause a specific body part to be crippled and unusable. You can otherwise keep adventuring, or take some down time to recover. Your choice.

I use 2d6 roll under Con for catching or recovering from disease. The FO article added dice for more serious diseases, but now I'd just halve Con when checking serious diseases. That's pretty much all the rules I need. Natural disease normally is irrelevant, but parasites can take effect quicker, as can diseases caused by curses.

I like diseases where an infected character starts to mutate into another life form of some kind if not treated in time. I don't know which rule is best for this though. I usually just make up something real quick that works for the system the group is using.

In my experience, diseases in RPG's (Old School or otherwise) tend to be just slightly less awful and fun-ruining than diseases in "real life" and should be treated as such.

Quote from: Bren;834943Also didn't WHFRP have rules for disease? Not sure if that counts as OSR either.

There's gotta be rules somewhere for catching Nurgle's Rot.

I do like diseases to have a slightly mystical aspect... affecting more than just the body. I remember some nasty stuff our party caught in Earthdawn that took us a while to get rid of and caused us all sorts of trouble till we did.

Also, fun if the disease has stages... starting off mild, like exuding a bad odor that attracts flies... then gets progressively more repulsive. Sort of like a countdown timer on a bomb.

Quote from: RPGPundit;834856What are the best OSR disease rules around?  Has anyone made their own?

Well, I'm going to have to make my own now, aren't I?

Quote from: Bren;834943Runequest (a late 1970s early 1980s game) included diseases that occurred in three major ways. One was from various chaos tainted creatures, Broo are the best known and most frequently encountered example just touching them or stuff they had defiled exposed one to disease.

Monsters as sources of disease is an old D&D thing as well. In OD&D, Mummies give you a rotting disease (wounds take 10* as long to heal, cure disease reduces this by half). That's a reasonable first stab at a rule, but there's only one other disease monster in OD&D, Giant Ticks, and they just give you a disease which kills you in 2-8 days without Cure Disease. After that D&D gets a bit confused on what to do.

So I like the "monsters that give you disease" idea, but I don't think any of the various OD&D/BX/AD&D methods for dealing with it are good.

ZWEIHÄNDER uses diseases. Some of these rules may not be readily apparent to those who aren't familiar with the Grim & Perilous ruleset, but will definitely resonate with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay enthusiasts:

BLOODY FLUX
Blood in your feces, dehydration, general weakness and inability to focus are symptomatic of the Bloody Flux. Your stool becomes watery, causing your bowels to cramp in a most uncomfortable manner. Living within the squalid quarters of the city and amongst soldiers’ camps causes this uncomfortable Disease to spread from person to person. Blood sausages, spicy foods and eel pies are oftentimes prescribed to ward away its effects.

Resist: (Routine +10%) Toughness Test
Onset: Immediately
Duration: 1D6+3 days
Effect: Over the duration, you awaken each day suffering 1D6+9 Peril from sickness.
Treatment: To have a chance at being treated, a caregiver must have Skill Rank: Journeyman in Heal, have a rich meal to feed you (which are expended after use) and be left uninterrupted for at least ten minutes. A healer must succeed a (Routine +10%) Heal Test, which can be attempted once per day. If successful, you suffer no loss of Peril the following day. A Critical Success cures you of Bloody Flux. Failure results in no recovery, whereas a Critical Failure causes you to lose 1D6+6 Peril the following day instead.
Cure: Bloody Flux cannot be cured, outside of a Critical Success with a Heal Test. It must simply run its course. However, a creative Gamemaster may introduce ways for you to cure Bloody Flux.


FILTH FEVER
A terribly disgusting disease, it quickly debilitates those who are exposed to it. Wading through a midden or traipsing through bogs and sewers can expose would-be adventurers to Filth Fever. It inhibits the body’s ability to recover appropriately and causes wounds and other Injuries to grow more severe.

Resist: (Challenging -10%) Toughness Test
Onset: Immediately
Duration: 1D6+6 days
Effect: Over the duration, all Moderate and Serious Injuries you suffer are treated as Grievous Injuries instead.
Treatment: To have a chance at being treated, a caregiver must have Skill Rank: Journeyman in Heal, have  4 bottles of rotgut to cleanse the wounds (which are expended after use) and be left uninterrupted for at least one hour. A healer must succeed a (Challenging -10%) Heal Test, which can be attempted once per day. If successful, all Moderate and Serious Injuries you suffer are treated as Serious Injuries instead. A Critical Success cures you of Filth Fever. Failure results in no recovery, whereas a Critical Failure causes you to be Slain! if you suffer any Injury until the following day.
Cure: Filth Fever cannot be cured, outside of a Critical Success with a Heal Test. It must simply run its course. However, a creative Gamemaster may introduce ways for you to cure Filth Fever.


VENEREAL DISEASE
There are many names for these sort of illnesses - the clap, sailor's pain, the drip, great pox or hot piss - all evocative in their own way, but the resulting discomfort is generally the same. Its treatment involves an iron catheter while inserting mites and lice into the genitalia.Terribly embarrassing and potentially fatal, Venereal Diseases persist over a lifetime.

Resist: (Standard +/-0%) Toughness Test
Onset: Immediately
Duration: Until cured
Effect: Over the duration, you lose 1% from your Brawn Primary Attribute every day. Should your Brawn ever reach 0%, you are dead!
Treatment: To have a chance at being treated, a caregiver must have Skill Rank: Journeyman in Heal, have a dose of mandrake root (which are expended after use) and be left uninterrupted for at least ten minutes. A healer must succeed a (Standard +/-0%) Heal Test, which can be attempted once per day. If successful, you do not lose any Brawn. A Critical Success ensures you are safe for three days without having to lose any Brawn. Failure results in no recovery, whereas a Critical Failure causes to lose 3% Brawn immediately.
Cure: By sacrificing 1 Fate Point, you are immediately cured of this disease. As a result, you are also immune to Venereal Disease in the future. In exchange, you gain a Drawback the Gamemaster feels appropriate. However, a creative Gamemaster may introduce ways for you to cure Venereal Disease.

Quote from: Bren;834943Also didn't WHFRP have rules for disease? Not sure if that counts as OSR either.

The herbalism document i did for v2 had a few diseases in it, like The Drummer's Measels, Trout Lips and Elvish Ears - a particularly virulent disease that deforms the ears and requires houses to be boarded up to stop its spread. Of course, once the house was clean, the word went round that Elvish had left the building...