Maybe you have an old, tired fantasy
game campaign that's going nowhere, one
that you and your players are really sick
of and seems to be beyond hope. But you
hate the thought of trashing it altogether,
after all the work you?ve put into establishing
cities, terrains, weather, etc. What can
you do?

Well, perhaps a plague can help.

In a fantasy campaign, a raging epidemic
(a disease which descends suddenly upon
a community, burns itself out, and goes
away) or pandemic (the worldwide occurrence
of such a disease) can eliminate
unwanted NPCs en masse. Political, economic,
and social systems can be totally
restructured. Countless new adventures
with interesting twists for PCs can be
introduced. Then, too, the physical aspects
of The Campaign that you like will remain
unharmed, and your favorite NPCs can be
miraculously saved ? with your intervention,
of course.

Historical precedent can guide you.
Throughout history, civilization has been
beset by numerous outbreaks of plagues
of varying intensities. One of the worst of
all plagues occurred during the Middle
Ages, the time frame in which most
AD&D® game campaigns are set. Known
today as the Black Death, this plague raged
across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East
between 1346 and 1351, wiping out
approximately one-third of the population
of those regions (modern estimates range
between one-quarter and one-half ? higher
in some limited areas). The purpose of
this article is to give you, the DM, some
historical information about the Black
Death and to provide some ideas on how
such an event might be incorporated into
your campaign.

The mechanics of plague
For the purposes of this article, the term
"plague" refers to the bubonic plague and
its variants. Commonly known to medieval
man as the "great pestilence," the plague
was often made up of several related
diseases -- bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic
plagues -- each differing in the
severity and speed with which they spread
and killed. These different diseases were
linked by a common origin (the bacillus
carried by rats and fleas). As a result, the
type of plague in any given area changed
from one sort to another in a confusing
fashion, sometimes changing with the
seasons. At times, only one type would
infect an area, while all three might be
present simultaneously in other regions.
Generally, the plague worked its havoc in
3-6 months and dissipated, but in some
places, particularly in regions with high
population densities, it seemed to disappear,
only to flare up again in a month or
so (often after winter) and hang on for
another year.

As a general rule, symptoms of the
plague appeared rapidly. Chills, high fever,
restlessness, a staggering walk, and mental
confusion were followed by prostration,
delirium, shock, and coma. The different
types of plague produced further and
differing symptoms, but all were characterized
by their contagious and fatal
natures.

Bubonic plague was the first type of
plague to appear. It was characterized by
buboes (swellings of lymph nodes) behind
the ear, in the armpit, and in the groin.
These swellings often grew to the sizes of
eggs or apples and were very painful; they
were followed by black or red spots like
bruises appearing anywhere on the body,
as a result of hemorrhaging under the
skin. There was a 33% chance that the
swellings would discharge and heal, leading
to the patient's recovery. Otherwise,
the afflicted died within six days.

Somewhere along the way, bubonic
plague often developed into pneumonic
plague, which was much more contagious
because it was spread by the breath of the
carrier. Its primary characteristics were
the spitting of blood (from severe lung
infection) and a painful death that
occurred within 2 days. The coughing
up of blood became equated with almost
certain death. In both types of plague, an
extremely foul odor was given off by the
body of the victim and everything which
issued from it (breath, sweat, blood, etc.).
Understandably, depression and despair
were common among such victims, sometimes
leading to the point of madness.

Occasionally, the most potent form of
plague, septicemic plague, appeared simultaneously.
This variation involved a massive
infection of the bloodstream and often
killed too quickly for symptoms to be
relevant; the victim would be fine one
minute, then rapidly exhibit one symptom
of plague and die within hours. Buboes
had no time to form. "Geoffrey the Baker
wrote of people who went peacefully to
bed and were dead the next morning,
while Simon of Covino described priests or
doctors who were seized by the plague
whilst administering spiritual aid, and,
often by a single touch or a single breath
of the plague-stricken, perished even
before the sick person they had come to
assist.?¹ Fortunately, this type was less
frequent than the rest.

To determine whether or not a character
contracts the plague, consult the disease
rules and tables listed on pages 13-14 of
the Dungeon Masters Guide. Use the table
entitled "Chance of Contracting Disease"
on page 13 to determine this chance. Use
the table entitled "Adjustments to Occurrence
and Severity Die Rolls" on page 14
as a modification to the chance of contracting
the plague, based on constitution
and other factors.

Each PC has a chance of being immune
to the plague bacillus; if his constitution
score or less is rolled on 1dl00, the PC is
immune to the plague. If it is determined
that a character has contracted the plague,
consult Table 1 in this article to determine
what type of plague the character catches.
Then consult Table 2 to determine the
resulting effects and survival chances. If
the DM so desires, characters may be
given an additional fighting (or losing)
chance against the plague by applying the
modifications listed in the "Adjustments to Occurrence
and Severity Die Rolls" table
on page 14 of the DMG. In this case, the
figures listed there are applied to the die
roll prior to consulting the "Chance of
survival" column in Table 2 herein. Table 3
is provided as a suggested encounter table
for use in cities stricken by plague; this
table may be used or altered at the DM's
discretion, depending on campaign circumstances.

All rolls for plague type and survival
should be made in secret. Whether or not
a PC is doomed to die from the plague, the
DM should roll the appropriate dice as if
the character were to die from the malady
anyway, thus determining the time until
the infection reaches its worst point. During
that time, the DM applies the appropriate
penalties to the PC as given in Table 2.
PCs who survive the plague recover from
the penalties in time, but they heal at the
usual rates (magic may help). Lost ability
points are recovered at the rate of one
point every two days.

Table 1
Type of Plague Contracted

1d8	Plague type
1-4	Bubonic plague
5-7	Pneumonic plague
8	Septicemic plague

The causes of plague
Of course, the people of the Middle Ages
didn?t know that there were three different
types of plague. All they knew was
that people were dying by the thousands
all around them because of some horrible
sickness. They also didn?t know the truth
about what caused this dreadful sickness,
what caused it to spread, or what cured it.
They did have some ideas about these
things -- most of which were wrong and
some of which were as destructive as the
plague itself.

The actual culprits of the plague were
rats and fleas. The rat was the carrier of
the plague-causing bacillus (Yersinia
pestis). The plague was passed from rats
to the fleas that bit them; the fleas then
passed the plague along to humans by
biting them as well. The number of rats
and fleas in a given area correlated highly
with the number of plague deaths. With
both rats and fleas in plentiful supply in
the 14th century, the bacillus had plenty
of carriers.

The plague had actually been endemic
(i.e., confined to certain local areas) in
many parts of the world for centuries
before a number of factors combined to
provoke the disaster that was the Black
Death. The 11th and 12th centuries in
Europe had been a time of relative prosperity
and economic growth. During that
time, the population of Europe grew at a
rate that exceeded agricultural production.
With the latter half of the 13th century
and the opening of the 14th century,
the tides began to turn and things began
to get rough for those already living at
subsistence levels. ?In the great population
centers, from which the peasantry could
or would not move, the end of the thirteenth
century was a period of acute
crisis. Distracted by wars, weakened by
malnutrition, exhausted by his struggle to
win a living from his inadequate portion of
ever less fertile land, the medieval peasant
was ready to succumb even before the
blow had fallen.² Add to this problem the
peculiarities of climate (intense cold and
severe rainfall) and a series of disastrous
harvests, and you had a set of conditions
that were ripe intellectually, emotionally,
and physically for a plague of monstrous
proportions to strike.

At least some of these conditions should
be present in a fantasy game campaign
before a full-scale plague is introduced.
Whether the DM sticks with the historical
causes of plague in his campaign (i.e., rats
and fleas) or creates a unique cause of his
own (such as a curse or other magicrelated
cause), some clues as to the
plague?s origins should be prepared for
inquisitive PCs. Much of the information
should be confusing and misleading, much
as it was in medieval times.

Some of the causes of the plague suggested
by contemporaries of the Black
Death included the belief that something
foul in the air was drifting across the
world (possibly fumes released from
below the ground by earthquakes), that
God was destroying mankind for mankind
?s sins, and that various groups were
poisoning wells and food sources. In many
instances, these theories were combined
and twisted together. Thus, while God or
the movements of the planets might have
caused the plague to germinate, human
agents were accused of contributing to its
spread.

Plague and society
If you've ever read The Mask of the Red
Death by Edgar Allan Poe, you have some
idea of the panic inspired by this terrifying
disease. The wealthy and powerful are
likely to stop at nothing to insure their
own safety, even to the point of murder. In
A Distant Mirror, Barbara Richman tells of
a manor lord who found out that plague
had broken out in the nearby village. In
order to keep the disease from spreading
to his manor, he had the entire village
burned.

People have a tendency to look for someone
to blame whenever anything goes
wrong, and the Middle Ages were no
different. During the Black Death, Jews
were often accused of poisoning wells and
were terribly persecuted as a result; old,
single women were often labeled as witches,
blamed for the disaster, and slain. Any
minor and unpopular fantasy cult or
group would be a likely target for such
accusations. For example, picture a village
in which dwarves are disliked. Into this
village rides a group of adventurers, one
of whom is a dwarf. Several days later, the
innkeeper?s wife comes down with the
plague. Who?s the most likely suspect for
its cause? Our dear dwarf may have to get
out of town, and fast.

Given the pressures of disaster, local
prejudices are likely to become exaggerated.
Additionally, superstition and prejudice
are not functions of rational minds;
therefore, the conclusions drawn as a
result are only rarely entirely logical.
Worse yet, in a fantasy campaign there are
fantastic beings and spell-casters around
that can cause disease or otherwise torment
humanity. Imagine how many insane
wizards and evil high priests there are in
the average fantasy campaign (not to mention
demons and the like). If an innocent
magic-user produces a cloud of foulsmelling
smoke prior to a plague outbreak,
he would be instantly suspected of bringing
on the disease.

One must keep in mind the magnitude of
the Black Death to understand the effects
of fear and panic on the people of the 14th
century. In one London neighborhood
during a two-month period in 1349, some
200 people were buried in one particular
cemetery every day. Multiply that by the
number of neighborhoods, the number of
counties, and the number of countries,
and you begin to see why people became
so irrational. They literally believed the
world was ending.

Introducing the plague
Where did the Black Death really begin?
Historians seem to agree that it started
somewhere in Central Asia and was
spread by invaders and merchants into the
eastern Mediterranean region, then eventually
into Europe.

The story of the siege of Caffa (Kaffa) in
the 1340s is illustrative of one possibility
of how the plague traveled to Europe. The
town of Caffa on the Black Sea was under
attack by Tartars when bubonic plague
broke out among the Italians taking refuge
there. There were stories of the bodies of
plague victims being catapulted over the
walls by both sides to spread the infection,
with the result leading to so many deaths
on both sides that the siege had to be
lifted. The Tartars dispersed, carrying the
plague to Russia, India, and China, while
Italian traders escaped by ship to Genoa,
bringing the plague to Europe with them.
It is said that plague deaths began the day
after the traders? ships dropped anchor in
Genoa.

There are many ways to introduce the
plague into a fantasy campaign. For example,
a ship may sail into a major seaport
with disease-carrying rodents on board.
Infected sailors on shore leave, rodents
scurrying to land even quicker than the
sailors, and goods (with infected fleas
snuggled up inside) that are delivered to
local shops are three subsequent ways the
plague then arrives. For more dramatic
effect, a mysterious ship might arrive in
the harbor -- the captain dead at the
wheel, the sailors slumped over their oars,
and only the rats left alive. In the confined
quarters of a ship at sea, plague could
easily have such an effect (there were
actual cases of such ?ghost ships? roaming
the seas or running aground with all
aboard dead). If no seaport exists, an overland
caravan or travelers on foot or horseback
can do the trick easily enough.
Finally, if you don?t want your campaign
world to be decimated by plague but want
your PCs to experience one, you might
have them travel, knowingly or unknowingly,
to a land already stricken with the
disease.

Plague years are a bad time to wage war,
as the transportation of troops and supplies
provides a great method of transporting
the disease. Some historians believe
that Scotland might have escaped the
plague except that the Scots decided to
attack England while that country suffered
from the plague. Upon the return of
the soldiers to Scotland, the plague was
introduced to this previously untainted
country. Movement of troops between
England and France in the Hundred Years
War also contributed to the spread of the
disease, to the extent that there were long
periods during which the plague caused
the war to be put on hold.

However the plague arrives, tie it in with
other circumstantial events (such as earthquakes,
unseasonable weather, changes in
political leadership, the arrival of new
religious groups, etc.) and you?ll create a
confused hodge-podge of possible causes
which simulate the historical circumstances
behind the real plague. Attempts to
relate the plague to other events in an
area were common, and superstition tended
to muddle things up even worse. For
example, if a new ruler comes to power
(particularly if by force) and the plague
breaks out, some opposing group may
suggest that the gods are not in favor of
the new leader, and thus call for his execution.
Or, if an earthquake is followed by an
outbreak of plague, the panic-stricken folk
of a community may fear that the end of
the world is near, and this belief could give
rise to all kinds of strange activities.

One of the most eccentric groups in
existence during the Black Death was that
of the flagellants. Believing that the end of
the world was coming, these men and
women sought to divert the attention of
God from the sinful ways of the world by
acts of public penance. They would walk
in long processions (often lasting for a
month at a time) from town to town,
chanting and praying. ?Dressed in cowled
white robes with red crosses on their
chests, the Flagellants did not shave,
bathe, or change clothing while involved
in a procession. When they would come to
a town, they would form circles and beat
upon their backs with scourges, rejoicing
and singing as they did so. Some women
had cloths ready to catch the blood and
smear it on their faces, saying it was
miraculous blood."³ After such a performance,
the flagellants would move on to
another town and repeat the scenario.
Sometimes their processions got out of
hand, and they were given to even wilder
acts than those that they protested.

Table 2
Effects of Different Types of Plague

Name (major symptoms)	Chance of survival (onset of death)	Penalties
Bubonic (buboes with black or red bruises)	33% (death in 3-6 days)	Class 1
Pneumonic (spitting of blood)	25% (death in 8-48 hours)	Class 2
Septicemic (vomiting and rapid disability)	20% (death in 3-12 turns)	Class 3

Class 1 penalty: -10% of normal hit-point total (down to 90% of normal total) and -1 point from strength, constitution, and dexterity (down to scores of 3 each) per six hours.
Class 2 penalty: -10% of normal hit-point total (down to 90% of normal total) and (down to scores of 3 each) per hour.
Class 3 penalty: -10% of normal hit-point total (down to 90% of normal total) and -1 point from strength, constitution, and dexterity (down to scores of 3 each) per five rounds.
Survival chances and the times until the onset of death have been altered somewhat for use within game campaigns and may not match real-world values for the same.

And no bells tolled, and nobody wept no matter what his loss
because almost everyone expected death. . . . And people said
and believed, "This is the end of the world."

A chronicler of Siena
writing of the Black Death

Prevention and treatment
Consider the following poem:
    Ring a ring of roses,
    A pocket full of posies,
    Achoo, Achoo,
    All fall down.

As the forerunner of what is now a
chant in a simple children's game we call
"Ring Around the Rosie," this seemingly
innocent rhyme speaks of the hopelessness
of trying to stave off the plague.
Despite precautions like placing a ring of
rose petals around oneself or carrying
pockets full of flowers, simply being
sneezed upon by another person could
often lead to death.

The best prevention against the plague
was isolation. If the PCs in a plagueinfested
area can totally isolate themselves
they can reduce their risks of infection.
But remember that anyone or anything
with which they come in contact
might harbor rats or fleas and is thus a
potential plague-carrier.

Failing complete isolation, high constitution
scores might provide some kind of protection
against the disease (perhaps +1 or +2
to saving throws). Like many diseases,
plague was most devastating to the malnourished
and sickly, which was one of the reasons
the poor suffered a high mortality rate
(although no class or social group was completely
immune). Of course, magical devices
preventing illness would also be of help.

Just as there was no real knowledge of
what caused the plague, the ability to treat
it was limited. Physical as well as spiritual
attempts to deal with the sickness were
often made, generally with little effect.
Worse yet, attempts at treatment were
hampered by the victim?s foul smell and
the sight of buboes and sores. Comeliness
and charisma scores would definitely fall
(perhaps by as much as -3 to -6 points)
to reflect this. The symptoms of the disease
were often so awful as to inspire
disgust rather than pity.

Although medical understanding of the
causes of infection was lacking during the
Black Death, it was obvious to any observer
that going near those who were sick
tended to increase the chances that you
would get sick, too. Even the clothes and
personal possessions of the afflicted were
feared; people believed that by touching
the sick or dead, one could catch the
dread disease. Actually, there was some
truth in this, because any infected fleas
hanging around the victim might just jump
on and bite anyone else who came close
enough. Thus the sick were often left
alone to suffer, and even family members
deserted their kin because of fear, superstition,
and the survival instinct. Many a
local priest fled to avoid risking his own
health by caring for others. If the characters
come upon a community already in
the throes of plague, it is very possible
that the local clerics will have fled, as well
as many others who formerly served as
leaders of the community.

On the other hand, there were many
stories of kind souls who did minister to
those in need. "In Italy, some members of
the clergy took a part in the fight against
the plague. Especially the friars made a
valuable contribution to the work of the
health authorities, often braving conditions
of unspeakable horror and nearly
always at the risk of their own lives." 4
Records are scarce, however, because
most of those who helped also died. But
then, there was often the general impression
that everyone was going to die anyway.
Characters of good alignment in the
AD&D game should feel some motivation
to help the sufferers of plague, though the
practical means by which others could be
helped may be few indeed.

And yet this belief that all will die can
also bring out the worst in people. ?If
we?re all going to die, we might as well
have fun? was a common school of
thought. Thus, plenty of thieves and bandits
could be found robbing the bodies and
uninhabited homes of the deceased. In
addition, strange hedonistic cults were
formed by groups of people who followed
the ?party till the plague gets you? line of
reasoning.

Every statement involving the cause of
the plague produced a multitude of reactions
from people. For example, it was
commonly believed that Gods displeasure
with man had something to do with the
plague. One typical reaction among NPCs
in a fantasy campaign would be a turning
away from the gods believed to have abandoned
them (as happened on Krynn in the
DRAGONLANCE® novels after the Cataclysm).
On the other hand, some may be
moved to try everything in their power to
turn the displeasure of the powers that be
into a more favorable attitude by prayer
and good works. Those who are saved
may attribute it to their gods? favors and
become even more devoted in worship.
The DM must determine which direction
his populace is likely to go (and there may
not be a consensus) based on the role of
religion and religious leaders in his world.

In an AD&D game world, magic is very
likely to come into play in relation to the
plague. The use of magic in treating the
plague would generally take on the form
of prayers or incantations (or combinations
of the two), with the possible use of
magical items. Both clerics and magicusers
come heavily into play here, as religion
and pure magic are closely
intertwined in matters of disease. The
belief that some god or demon is responsible
for this terrible occurrence usually
leads to the belief that these otherworldly
beings might be influenced to bring relief.
 

Table 3
Random Urban Encounters During a Plague

1-2	Soothsayer of prophet of doom
3 - 5	Death cart hauling bodies of the dead
6-8	Town guard looking for disease carriers
9-10	Beggar (1) or bandit (1-4)
11-14	Dead body (50% likely to have no possessions of any value)
15-17	Raving sick man or woman
18-20	Pack of rats

When a random encounter in a plague-stricken urban area is called for, consult this
table instead of the normal encounter tables 50% of the time. All infected beings
increase the risk of infection among PCs by 10% if approached within 5?. The game
statistics for these encounters should be constructed by the DM, as appropriate to the
urban area in question.
 

An example of a mystical practice of the
era in question might be as follows: Write
a special prayer with some specific substance
(perhaps blood or ink made from
an herb with healing properties) on the
inside of a cup, then fill the cup with
water. After the inscription has dissolved,
the water should be drunk or bathed in.
Another remedy might read as follows:
Take one pinch of bayberries that have
been dried in the sun for a day and beaten
to a powder. Mix with ale or wine, and
drink. Then sweat a goodly amount, and
follow with a long sleep. Whether such
cures actually work is up to the DM to
decide; in a magical world, everyone will
sooner or later attempt to use magical
means to save themselves.

Other ?cures? abounded. Intentional
vomiting as a purge was often recommended.
Whole, peeled onions were also
laid on the floor around the bed (or even
in the bed) of a sick person, in order to
soak up the evil humors. Tubs of buttermilk
might do the same; if the milk curdled,
it was a good sign that the milk had
absorbed some of the ?plague stuff.?
Repeating holy names with praises over
and over was also believed to help. And
carrying the remains of a holy person or
some holy object couldn?t hurt, either.

Sapphires and rubies were believed to
be of particular use in warding off the
plague. These could be worn on rings or
pendants, or placed in a cup from which
water would be drunk. Flowers and herbs
were thought to be helpful in warding off
the disease, and if nothing else, they
helped to cover the foul stench of the
sickness. Streets would often be strewn
with fragrant herbs before any kind of
procession would be allowed to pass. The
DM should exercise imagination in providing
creative preventions and treatments
for the plague.

Aftermath
There were a multitude of CHANGES after
the Black Death, some a direct result of
the disaster and others being more secondary
in nature. Underpopulation was
the first and most obvious result. As time
went on, most of the political, social, economic,
religious, and cultural systems
were challenged and changed.

Depopulation itself was a complex situation.
There were fewer people around to
work the fields, so many crops were left
to rot, and fewer fields were planted in
subsequent years. But there were fewer
people to feed, too, so starvation was not
usually a problem, except where there
were people with no access to food due to
the breakdown in markets and transportation.
As a result of this labor shortage,
free men could demand higher wages; it
was also easier for serfs to slip away from
feudal bonds and become free men. The
landlord?s position became more difficult
to manage (for those landlords who survived),
and legislation to keep this more
independent low and middle class in line
contributed to later agitation by peasantry
for even more freedom. Such a situation
could be replicated in a game setting,
leading to the downfall of autocracies.

Because the plague took on different
forms at different times and places (sometimes
being more virulent than at others),
the mortality rates varied from place to
place. It is entirely possible for a large
town in your campaign world to be heavily
visited, a small village to be entirely
depopulated (between death and flight),
and an isolated hamlet to be totally
untouched. Groups living in close quarters
(such as in monasteries, ships, and soldiers
? barracks) are in great danger of
being completely wiped out unless precautions
are taken. During the Black Death,
up to two-thirds of the population of
major cities (with populations of 10,000 to
100,000) would perish; some small towns
were abandoned and overgrown.

As Boccaccio, a survivor of the Black
Death, wrote in The Decameron, the confusion
of the plague years continued in the
aftermath: ?Various fears and superstitions
arose among the survivors, almost all of
which tended toward one end ? to flee
from the sick and whatever had belonged
to them. Gathering in those houses where
no one had been ill, they shut themselves
in. They ate moderately, avoiding luxuriousness,
with music and whatever simple
delights they could have . . . allowing no
one to speak to them, and avoiding news
of either death or sickness. . . . Others,
arriving at a contrary conclusion, held that
plenty of drinking and enjoyment, singing
and free living, and gratification of the
appetite in every possible way, was the
best course."5

Although the landowner?s position
became more challenging in terms of
finding hired hands, there was suddenly
much more land available. PCs may find
large ownerless estates ripe for the taking.
After the Black Death, there were many
newly orphaned or widowed female landowners
looking for a strong male to take
the place of the deceased head of the
house.

Another complication of life in a postplague
world involves the depletion of
livestock and other animals. ?In the countryside
peasants dropped dead on the
roads, in the fields, in their houses. Survivors
in growing helplessness fell into
apathy, leaving ripe wheat uncut and
livestock untended. Oxen and asses, sheep
and goats, pigs and chickens ran wild, and
they too. . . succumbed to the pest. . . . In
remote Dalmatia bolder wolves descended
upon a plague-stricken city and attacked
human survivors. For want of herdsmen,
cattle strayed from place to place and died
in hedgerows and ditches."6 Generally
tame animals may go wild, and wild animals
may become emboldened by massive
depopulation.

But rather than causing things to
change, a plague is more likely to accelerate
and exaggerate changes already in the
works. Keep this in mind when picking up
the pieces of your campaign after the
plague has worked its worst. These trends
will tend to be reinforced by other minor
recurrences of plague in the future (perhaps
every 4d6 years or so).

Exactly what kinds of changes take place
depend upon the circumstances of your
own campaign. Are you tired of a particular
ruling family? Perhaps a war of succession
might follow the plague as a result of
the demise of many of the most likely
candidates. If the local temple was having
a hard time getting people to worship and
financially support its particular god, the
situation might be made better if the clerics
were helpful during the disaster (or
worse, if they were not). Perhaps one of
the PC clerics helped a town during the
plague; afterward, he might be asked to
stay and set up a new shrine or temple.

The role of PCs in this postplague world
depends on what they did during the
plague. Did they survive because they hid
out? Perhaps now they?ll want to explore
and conquer depopulated areas. Mercenaries
will certainly be needed to fill the
depleted ranks of local armies. Clerics
might rise to the tops of their orders
because of vacancies above them.

On the other hand, the PCs may find
themselves hunted down for crimes committed
during the disaster. Perhaps they
will be blamed and hounded from place to
place. Much depends on the direction the
DM wishes to see his campaign take.

Finally, remember that although the Black
Death was one of the worst outbreaks of
plague in the history of civilization, your
campaign world need not be subjected to an
outbreak of such horrific proportions. Many
milder occurrences preceded and followed
the Black Death; your characters can face
varying degrees of this experience as suits
your needs. You can have just a small
plague, if you'd like.
 

Poor and rich went together; there was no other way of burials . . . for coffins were not to be had for the prodigious numbers that fell in such a calamity as this.     A Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel Defoe

Footnotes
¹ Philip Ziegler, The Black Death, (New
York: The John Day Co., 1969), page 19.
² Ibid., page 30.
3 Robert S. Gottfried, The Black Death, (New
York: The Free Press, 1983), page 69.
4 Carlo M. Cipolla, Faith, Reason, and the
Plague in Seventeenth Century Tuscany,
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press,
1979), page 1.
5 Gottfried, The Black Death, page 78.
6 Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror, (New
York Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), page 98.
 

Bibliography
Barrett, W.P. and the Shakespeare Assoc.
Present Remedies Against the Plague.
Oxfordshire, England: Oxford University
Press, 1933.

Cipolla, Carlo M. Faith, Reason, and the
Plague in Seventeenth Century Tuscany.
Trans. by Muriel Kittel. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1979.

Dols, Michael W. The Black Death in the
Middle East. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1977.

Gottfried, Robert S. The Black Death.
New York: The Free Press, 1983.

Tuchman, Barbara. A Distant Mirror.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978.

Ziegler, Philip. The Black Death. New
York: The John Day Co., 1969.