Diseases

So I was thinking about ergot poisoning, probably because there was recent discussion of The Crucible and any talk of old Salem makes me think of ergotism.

That, in turn, made me consider having a fantasy-style village suffering under the effects of ergotism, which made me develop this table.

I was originally considering making a table of ruins and an accompanying table of diseases, but I just decided to give you some random medieval diseases.  Maybe I'll work on the other table sometime?

Anyway, use this for the next poor schlub who begs your cleric for healing, or for the next beggar you meet in the street.  Add D&D diseases, or just different diseases, to taste.  A period-appropriate name is given in parentheses; feel free to look on the internet, though, as diseases such as ergotism and typhus have lots of colorful nicknames.  If you're the least bit squeamish, don't go searching diseases willy-nilly on the internet (for that matter, don't even go to the attached Wikipedia articles).

You could also adapt this to a what-killed-this-random-village table by switching to only fatal diseases.

1  Ergotism ("evil fire")
2  Scurvy
3  Plumbism ("painter's colic")
4  Dysentery ("bloody flux")
5  Dropsy
6  Croup
7  Leprosy ("lepry")
8  Malaria ("the ague")
9  Smallpox ("the red plague")
10  Typhoid fever
11  Plague
12  Cholera ("black fever")
13  Tuberculosis ("consumption")
14  Impetigo ("tetter")
15  Scabies ("seven-year itch")
16  Diphtheria ("bull-neck")
17  Scarlet fever
18  Influenza ("grippe")
19  Typhus ("jail fever")
20  Gangrene ("mormal")

Here are some additional websites for further information on these or other diseases; excellent resources for archaic disease terminology:
http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/misc/disease.shtml
http://www.labelle.org/top_diseases.html
http://dugamer.tripod.com/id52.html