A Sudden Illness!
Sudden illnesses are events or encounters common in both game-oriented and narrative worlds where a population (town, village, or off-world colony) or character suddenly falls ill. Characters must either find what is causing the ailment, develop a cure, or go on a missing ingredient quest to find the necessary components for an antidote before irreversible damage or death occurs. Generally, this illness is caused by a fictional disease. If there is a missing ingredient for a cure, often these will be fictional plants that grow in remote or hard to reach locations.
| Synonyms: a disease spreads |
| Events |
The Disease
When designing these encounters, start with the fictional disease itself. Consider how it was first contracted, how it spreads, and what symptoms it may generate. This disease may be rare and especially deadly (a bioweapon, a magical disease, or a mutant virulent strain) or may be just a common ailment that has grown troublesome. While the severity of the disease can be used to increase tension in narratives, the overall tone and anticipated audience of a world may influence how designers approach this.
Without proper care, fictional diseases will often spread.
The Cure
The cure for fictional diseases in these types of narratives is often rare, hard to make, or requires a rare ingredient only found in a remote or dangerous location. Characters needing to complete a missing ingredient quest is common.
