My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
– Job 30:30
This procedure hangs off the Worldwide Adventure Generator hex loop and introduces the survival pressure of disease. Combat encounters kill quickly; fever does not. Instead, it takes a strong party and makes it a weak one, then a slow one: and it does so sooner than anyone expected, and while far upstream of anywhere that could help.
Note: The tint presented here is Glacia’s river country; reskin the Miasma Table for jungle, fen, or delta and it, as always, will go anywhere.
Reach for this procedure at the end of any day spent in a hex with a Miasma rating.
Conducting the Disease Check
At the close of each day, every character in the hex who is not already Fevered makes an Aspect Save against the hex’s Miasma Toughness. On a failed save, the character becomes Fevered. A natural 1 always fails, no matter the total result.
| Miasma | Terrain | Description | Save Toughness |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | Upland, open steppe, high tundra | Cold, dry, and moving air; the country is trying to kill you some other way. | – |
| Low | River bank, wet woodland, thawing bog | Standing water in the hollows; the mosquitoes descend at dusk. | T4 |
| Moderate | Marsh, fen, flooded forest, portage flats | Water that does not move, and a smell that seeps into everything. | T6 |
| High | Standing swamp, fetid delta, warm slough | Air thick enough to chew; the locals will not camp here. | T8 |
Note: A dry camp on high ground, a smudge fire, or netting each grant a +1 bonus to the Save, for a maximum of +2.
Step 1: Fevered
A Fevered character suffers: -1 to all rolls; cannot recover Power Points by rest; and moves at a slower pace.
Fever is not a wound and does not respond to standard healing: only a cleric’s Bless can cure it, and only the appropriate medicinals (e.g. a potion, elixir, or herbal concoction) may treat it.
Step 2: Wounds
Any character who took damage during a day in Low Miasma conditions or worse makes a second Aspect Save at the same Toughness before resting; on a failed save, the wound begins to fester, and the character is Fevered.
Note: A wound washed and dressed by a character with the heal skill grants +2 to this Save.
A festering wound and a fever run on the same track. A character already Fevered does not take a second bout; rather, his existing bout worsens by one stage instead (Step 3).
Step 3: The Morning Save
Each morning, a fevered character makes an Aspect Save against the stage’s Toughness to break the fever; on a successful save, the bout ends immediately and with no lasting mark. On a failed save, the fever and effects remain. Additionally, count the days a bout of illness has run unbroken; every five days, it worsens.
| Stage | Days | Effect | Save Toughness |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | 1-5 | -1 to all rolls; no PP recovery. | T6 |
| Second | 6-10 | -2 to all rolls; lose 1 HP per day; cannot bear a heavy load. | T8 |
| Third | 11-15 | -3 to all rolls; lose 2 HP per day, healing possible only by magical means. | T9 |
| Fourth | 16+ | -4 to all rolls; lose 3 HP per day; the character must be carried. | T10 |
Note: A character reduced to 0 HP by fever is dying, and expires in 1d5 days rather than 1d5 rounds.
Notes
- There is no distinction between fevers: the marsh ague, the bloody flux, and a festering wound all manifest identically on these tables. That is by design for now—a table of named diseases with distinct symptoms and cures is a to-do item.
- Similarly, no rule yet covers a survivor’s immunity. The veteran who has had the fever and lived should probably carry a standing +1 to the Disease Check.