Adventuring in the Time of Plague

A little light reading about the Plague of Justinian the other day (and the plague of no home internet access I continue to suffer) got me to thinking about the use of epidemics or even pandemics in gaming. Obviously, succumbing to infectious disease isn’t the most adventurous way to die, but plagues, particularly big ones, have a tendency to cause a great deal of social, economic, and religious upheaval, which is the perfect backdrop for an rpg campaign, or fodder for adventures.

First a few terms. An “epidemic” occurs when the outbreak of new cases of a particular disease exceeds the expected number for a given population. This is, as the definition suggests, somewhat subjective. A “pandemic” is when epidemic conditions exist over a wide geographic area--possibly even the whole world.

The most famous historical pandemic is probably the Black Death which affected Eurasia, and peaked in Europe around 1350. Low-end estimates have it killing a third of Europe’s population. The traditional culprit was thought to be bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, though their are some new theories.

The societal effects were profound. Depopulation meant fewer people to farm, and that coupled with livestock plagues, and climatic changes lead to famine and starvation. Fearful people blamed convenient scape-goats--often Jews--and Jewish communities were wiped out in some places. Fringe religious groups like the Brotherhood of Flagellants became more widespread.

The Plague of Justinian (541-542 CE) is also thought to have been caused by bubonic plague. This plague may have weakened Byzantium enough that Justinian I was unable to reconquer Italy, shattering any hopes of reconstitute a whole Roman Empire. It may have also weakened Byzantium for its coming face-off with the Arabs a century later.

Y. pestis isn’t the only malefactor out there. Smallpox, influenza, cholera, and typhus caused pandemics before the the 20th century. Measles, yellow fever, and dengue fever never had the same spread, but have caused localized epidemics. Of course, in a fantasy world plagues might be more exotic, even magical in nature.

I can think of three broad ways a plague could be used in gaming. The first is plague as background color. Carts of dead, or oddly dressed plague doctors might just be part of the general ambience of a setting--particularly one with a grubby, "real" Middle Ages feel. It could be treated seriously, or darkly humorous.

The second is plague as apocalypse. As its been pointed out before, there is a post-apocalyptic element to the implied setting of D&D. Perhaps the apocalypse isn’t just a remote event, but ongoing? This could cast the player’s not as pioneers on the frontier, but as defenders of the fire of civilization. This might or might not have implications on the sort of adventures had, or it might just influence the tone.

The third is plague as plot element. Maybe the point of the whole campaign is defeating the forces of evil behind the plague? It could be introduced early, as a minor background element, but as more people succumb to the disease it grows in importance. Eventually, finding a cure might become the PC’s central concern, but only after its grown “naturally”( or unnaturally).

Weird Adventures Art

Here's a sampling of some great art done for my Weird Adventures setting.  This post might also be titled "My Internet Was Out all Last Night and I Had to Improvise," but hopefully it will be of some interest...

"The Hard-Luck Hooligans Meet a Naga, Or Why You Should Stay Out of Mr. Lao's Curio-Shop"

by Doug Stambaugh

Un Pistolero Zombi de Zingaro

by Daniel Kopalek

Warlord Wednesday: The Beast in the Tower

It's time to re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"The Beast in the Tower"

Warlord (vol. 1) #22 (June 1979)

Written and Pencilled by Mike Grell; Inked by Vince Colletta

Synopsis: In a dive in one of the outposts along the Terminator, Travis Morgan tries to drink away his pain. He’s approached by an old man who offers to tell his fortune for a few coins. Morgan replies he doesn’t need anyone to tell him about his life; if the old man could manage to see beyond the bloodstains he’d see fire and steel, death and destruction, and loss. As the old man turns away, he offers that there is one more thing: destiny.

Later that night, Morgan is waylaid by four thieves. They find the warrior is not as drunk as they imagined. Morgan’s battle-instincts overcome his night of drinking, and he makes short work of three of them, but he doesn’t detect the fourth sneaking up behind him.

Before the last bravo can strike, he goes down with a crossbow bolt in his back. Morgan looks up to see his rescuer is a beautiful young woman. They lock eyes for a moment, and he is surprised to see something "nameless and unspeakable" there. Abruptly, the girl runs off.

Morgan notices that the crossbow bolt is solid silver. This makes him even more curious and he decides to pursue the girl.

He hasn't gotten far before he hears her scream. He rounds the corner and finds the girl being pulled into a tower by a group of soldiers. Two of them take her into the tower, while two stay to take care of Morgan. That proves to be a tactical error, and Morgan is soon using his pistol to shoot the lock so he can kick in the tower door.

He finds discovers the place to be larger on the inside than the outside, and full of crazily twisting stairways. And the door he came in is suddenly gone.

Then, there’s the large snake that comes slithering at him. It tries to squeeze the life from him.  Morgan stabs it through the skull, but its not dead yet. He snatches up a nearby brazier and shoves it’s contents down the serpent’s throat. Morgan’s left with what feels like a couple of cracked ribs, but he’s alive.

Morgan continues up into the tower along the surreal stair. As he notices the fire from the brazier beginning to spread, he thinks about turning back. Then he hears a scream, and that spurs him on.

At the end of a twisting catwalk he catches up to the other two soliders outside a door in the mouth of a giant skull. They don’t last any longer than their compatriots. Morgan kicks in the door...

And finds himself face to snarling face with a man-beast! It springs at him, catching him off guard. In an instant, he’s own his back striving to keep slavering jaws from his face. He’s dropped his sword, but he remembers the silver quarrel. In an act of desperation, he stabs it into the creatures side.

Before his eyes, the creature transforms into the girl he saw before. He realizes that she was a werewolf. The old man from the tavern is suddenly behind him, and adds that the girl was also his daughter. The old man apologizes for his deception.  This has all been a charade with the purpose of getting Morgan to kill his daughter to free her from her curse. He thanks Morgan and bids him goodbye.

Morgan worries the fire will soon consume them, but the old man replies he has no desire to leave, but Morgan must go to his destiny. In the space of a heartbeat, Morgan finds himself standing safely outside the tower as it goes up in flames.

He recalls the girl’s face which, in death, seemed to be smiling.

Things to Notice:

• Morgan gets his Sword & Sorcery dialogue on in his fight with the thieves.

Where It Comes From:
This issue is very much a classic Sword & Sorcery story--the hero goes into a magic tower and fights a monster for the sake of a beauty.  It even has a big snake.

The basic plot bears a good deal of similarity to that of "Mai-Kulala" by Charles Saunders, one of his Imaro short-stories appearing in the anthology Swords Against Darkness IV (1979).  While the settings are very different, both feature a hero duped by an old man into killing his daughter, who's cursed to be a were-creature.  Both stories appeared in 1979, so I don't know which came out first.  It's interesting though, that the old man and his daughter are African in appearance in this issue, just as the characters are the fantasy Africa setting of Saunders' story.