Histoplasmosis aka spelunker's lung: a disease for GURPS

I still want to get my diseases article published, so this is only an excerpt. However, it’s the most important one, since it should have been in RPGs since at least Blackmoor. Both the supplement and the game; Arneson was fond of diseases. It’s so damn important that you’re getting D&D stats for it, too.

Quick note about illness in general: if you do adventurer things (swimming, climbing, hiking, fighting), your HT (or whatever) rolls to resist are at -2 or your Encumbrance level while doing those adventurer things, whichever is worse. If you stay indoors and do nothing but sleep, sip soup, and get up to use the porcelain god, you get +1.

Histoplasmosis (Spelunker's Lung)

Histoplasmosis, or spelunker’s lung, is an infection that comes from a fungus that grows in soil mixed with bird or bat droppings. As such, it is common in caves where bats dwell. Since nobody ever heard of a roleplaying game in an underground labyrinth with lots of bat guano, this should be a seldseen disease. It is quite common in the Ohio River Valley but happens throughout the world. To rouse the spores, something needs to disturb the soil.
Patients with histoplasmosis will have a fever and a cough, as the spores get into the lungs. The pain someone who has lost more than a third of his hit points will feel will be in his chest, and maybe a headache. Harsher cases of histoplasmosis can turn into serious lung problems.
Statistics: Respiratory (from the spores of a fungus that grows in bat or bird droppings); HT to resist. 3d+1 day delay; 1 point toxic damage; 12-hour cycle with 12 cycles. Symptoms include coughing and moderate pain (p. B428) after the loss of 1/3 HP, and severe pain (p. B428) after the loss of 2/3 HP. Not contagious.

D&D 3.5e: Inhaled, DC 15, Incubation 3d6+1 days; Damage 1d2 Con.

Game logs for 25 November and 9 December 2019: Wow, do ogres hurt you!

Dramatis personae

Mayhem, short barbarian
Caleb, wizard
Ash, squire
Kim, procurement expert
Xoran, fox man
Grymalkus, not quite as whiny as usual cleric
Attikos, holy warrior
Uruk, orc soldier

Quid occurrit

The heroes awoke to a chilly day. Mayhem easily led them to the ogre's lair, which was a cave in the middle of a copse of trees. The ogres made the last bit easy, as they left a trail of copper coins leading up to the hole. The ogres likely thought the last touch was clever.

Nobody thought to ask them, however, even though there were two of them out on watch. Everyone easily spotted everyone else, and the ogres came out to greet them with their mauls.

Xoran and Mayhem waited for the attack, while Kim and Uruk drew their bows. Uruk, however, dropped his quiver while trying to load two arrows. Kim’s first shot hit but didn’t do much. Uruk’s first double shot missed.

Mayhem and Ash came up to fight the ogres when they got near. One ogre parried Mayhem's axe, but Ash did hit with a shield slam. Attikos also lobbed a javelin at an ogre and hit. The ogres chose to fight Ash and Xoran and missed. The spellcasters, Grymalkus and Caleb, got busy: Grymalkus tried to cast Haste but failed, while Caleb got a big Fireball ready.

Xoran tried to hit the legs of an ogre but he defended, as did another who got out of the way of Mayhem's axe. However, Ash gave an ogre a hard blow to his body, knocking him down, while Uruk cross-checked the other ogre with his spear, knocking him down, too. Grymalkus cast Might on Attikos, while Xoran, Mayhem, and Ash went to work on cutting off heads.

No sooner had they beheaded the ogres did eight more ogres show up. One had ugly fetishes around his neck, and the other, unlike all other ogres, had a sword and shield. The sword wasn't ogre-sized, but had a hawk on the blade. The ogre with the sword mumbled something as he stepped forward.

Mayhem started digging out oil. Xoran yelled at Grymalkus, “Go to work, whelp!” then told Uruk, “Handle the horde, Grymalkus and I will take on the leader.” Attikos threw a javelin at leader, which went into his shield. Grymalkus cast Might on himself.

Uruk shot an ogre in the kidneys. The ogre leader reached Attikos, who blocked his blow. Attikos drew his sword and shouted at Grymalkus,  “If Grymalkus dies, you die raccoon-boy!” The ogre shaman told Attikos to drop his sword, but Attikos's hand stayed on it. The rest of the ogres started smacking the heroes, but hit none of them, one of the ogres even pulling his shoulder muscle trying to hit Ash.

Caleb lobbed his Fireball at the shaman, burning him. Kim shot another ogre to little avail. Grymalkus and Attikos had their blows meet maul and shield, respectively. Xoran stunned an ogre by roaring at him but not only did the stunned ogre parry the blow, Xoran dropped his second sword, Mayhem at last got his oil lit.

The shaman again told Attikos to drop his sword, but Attikos's mind was too strong. Another ogre dropped his maul and tried to punch Ash, but Ash parried the ogre's arm with his sword, which wasn't a good time for the ogre. Two ogres went after Xoran; one missed, but the other smacked Xoran so hard that he went both down and back. The leader again tried to hit Attikos, who again blocked him.

Attikos and Grymalkus both failed to land blows on the lower half of the ogre, but Ash rammed his sword into an ogre's chest and Uruk shot the shaman twice, dropping him and the deputy. Xoran started to stand up, and Caleb cast Explosive Fireball. The ogres missed Grymalkus and Attikos right back.

Grymalkus crippled the foot of an ogre with his hammer. Caleb lobbed his Explosive Fireball at the shaman which burned him to death, and Kim’s arrow got into an ogre’s armor. Ash cut the jugular of an ogre, and Uruk shot one twice in the chest. On the down side, the ogre leader hit Attikos, sending him staggering back, Xoran, now standing, tried to roar and it came out like a puppy's yip, and Mayhem charged and missed.

One of the last two ogres started to pull out, while another missed Mayhem. The leader hit Attikos in the shield. Grymalkus tried to cripple the foot of another ogre but the ogre's parry was so strong that it smacked the hammer out of Grymalkus's hands. Caleb, now low on juice, pulled out his sword, worried that an ogre would draw nearer. Xoran stabbed an ogre in the chest, while Mayhem planted an axe in the ogre's side. Ash charged the leader but missed, while Uruk shot him in the skull, and Attikos cut his neck.

The ogre by Xoran and Mayhem had one more trick, which was smacking Xoran so hard that he passed out. That was his last trick, as Mayhem killed him as he watched Xoran fall. Grymalkus grabbed his hammer, though Ash told him to grab the sword from the leader. Kim shot the the fleeing ogre, and Caleb singed him with a little Fireball. Uruk, however, lost his footing and grip as he tried to shoot the runner.

Mayhem turned toward the leader and smacked him, and Grymalkus ended his life. Kim shot the running ogre again, dropping him. Grymalkus picked up the leader's sword, and it hummed in his hand.

They were badly hurt. Ash bound the wounds of Xoran and poured a healing potion down his throat. Mayhem bound the wounds of Grymalkus, who then cast healing spells on Attikos and Xoran until he was too weak to do more.

Mayhem spotted amber sap on a willow near the cave entrance as Uruk and Kim picked up coins. Mayhem saw that this tree was a goo tree, and told the others not to touch it. Kim started digging out the coins under the tree with a stick, and her hand got too near a branch. The branch smacked her hand, crippling it and coating it in sap. She fell back then kipped up away from the tree. Grymalkus looked at her hand, and it dawned on him that he needed acid to get the sap off her hand. So, Caleb cast Acid Jet on Kim's hand, getting the goo off and crippling her hand for the next six months. Grymalkus healed her hand damage, but it was still crippled, so he started praying for Restoration.

Ash and Uruk looked into the cave, and heard some faint sound inside. Thinking there were more ogres down there, they chose to smoke out them ogres, but Uruk wanted to look around first. After some wandering inside, Uruk found a secret door, and pushed it open. He found eight caskets in it, and opened one. Upon opening, a body in the casket punched Uruk, though not with enough strength to hurt him. Uruk grabbed his knife and buckler to fight, but the other caskets opened and Uruk ran. The dead bodies did not come after him, and slammed the door. As he scampered, a loud howl came from further down the cave.

Roman surveys the scene as the ogres show up near the cave opening.

After a few more minutes, six ogres showed up. Kim snuck off, knowing her hand wouldn't let her help much. Uruk shot an ogre and felled it. Caleb cast Explosive Fireball 4d as the others waited for the ogres to come nearer.

Uruk shot another ogre and misses, but hit the one behind him in the arm. Attikos hit another with a javelin. Caleb threw Explosive Fireball, but the ogre nearby dropped and dodged. Mayhem tried to rush and hit one in the legs but the ogre parried. Uruk again shot at an ogre and missed him but hit the ogre behind him. Twice.

One ogre missed Mayhem's head, while another moved towards Caleb and Attikos. The one on the ground started to stand, and the last rushed at Uruk. Uruk stepped out of the way and Ash got a swing at it, but the ogre smacked it aside.

Uruk took down an ogre with a bodkin shot to the head, but Kim's backstab with her off hand didn't get through. The ogres parried Mayhem's and Ash's blows. Attikos tried to grab and trip an ogre, but he pulled his leg out of the way. One ogre stood up, while the other two missed Attikos and Mayhem.

Caleb lobbed a fireball at an ogre. Again, Kim feebly stabbed the leg of another, and Mayhem hit the leg of a third, sending him to the ground. One ogre tried to bop Caleb on the skull but missed, while another tried to slam Uruk but failed.

Caleb, now worried, cast Acid Jet. Kim yet again feebly stabbed an ogre on the neck, Ash smacked one in the leg, Uruk kicked a another, trying to send him down into the cave, and Attikos get smacked a third in the leg. The ogre got revenge for his leg, bopping Attikos on the skull and knocking him out. The other two missed Ash and Kim

Seeing his friend Attikos fall, Grymalkus steeled himself and grabbed his axe. Caleb hit an ogre in the leg with a stream of acid but didn't do much damage. Kim tried to stab the eye of the downed ogre but missed but Mayhem smacked it in the neck. Ash cut one in the leg, and Uruk shot two arrows into the ogre on Caleb. Indeed, Mayhem, Ash, and Uruk each took down one of the last three ogres.

Res aliae

Two sessions, and those were intense fights. The latter fight wouldn't have been so tough had Xoran still been awake, so the group was left with two melee monkeys, two missile monkeys, and the tweeners who are Kim, Grymalkus, and Attikos.

Attikos's head blow took him to -3×HP, and Roman, running him in Joe's absence (Joe is having some school issues), made the first three HT checks, leaving Attikos alive. After those three, he failed the next one, so he fell down and passed out, but you'd rather fail that one than the first three. But that's why you wear helmets, kids: without one, Attikos's failed HT roll would have been on his fourth death check.

Unrelated to the game, but Pyramid magazine went kaput. I'm going to be posting some of my unpublished articles as blog posts. Some others I'll keep to see if I can't get a supplement or part of one out of them.