Contagion

If you enter a disease-ridden area or encounter a disease carrier,
make a HT roll at the end of the day to resist the disease. On a failure,
you catch the disease! Modifiers to this roll include the disease’s basic
virulence modifier and the least advantageous applicable modifier from
this list:
Avoided all contact with possible victims: +4.
Entered dwelling or shop of victim: +3.
Spoke with victim at close quarters: +2.
Touched victim briefly: +1.
Used victim’s clothes, blankets, etc.: +0.
Ate victim’s cooked flesh (animal, we hope!): +0.
Ate victim’s raw flesh (ditto!!): -1.
Prolonged contact with living victim: -2.
Kissing or other intimate contact with victim: -3.
Proper precautions – masks, antiseptics, etc. – provide a bonus to
those who know and understand them. The GM should consider limit-
ing such measures to PCs from cultures that understand the germ
theory of disease (late TL5).
specified fraction (typically 1/3, 1/2,
2/3, or all) of his HP to it.
Contagion: Some diseases are mild-
ly or highly contagious – although
sometimes not until after the incuba-
tion period.
Most diseases are caused by microorganisms
and spread by infected people or animals – but
some have other causes!
The combination of resistance roll,
damage, and cycles determines “dead-
liness.” By carefully selecting these
statistics, the GM can distinguish
between a virulent but mild flu that
ends in a day or two (24-hour delay,
HT-2, 1 point of toxic damage, 12-hour
interval, six cycles) and a slower but
usually fatal disease (72-hour delay,
HT-5, 1 point of toxic damage, daily
interval, 30 cycles).