Comments on: Heroes in Horror: Take Away Their Hit Points

By: MaW

MaW — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:37:37 +0000

This is one of the things I like about Godlike. Damage is done by location (the location determined mostly by dice roll, sometimes the GM can override this in a very plausible manner depending on the situation). Most weaponry actually takes a pretty good chunk out of you, and you have to worry about bleeding to death from wounds pretty much anywhere, but the really scary thing is that there's always the possibility that anybody shooting at you is going to roll a bunch of tens, at which point you're dead. No questions, no backing out - for virtually all PCs, four killing damage to the head (not hard to achieve with a rifle) is instantly fatal. The only people who don't worry so much are the ones who invested in defensive superpowers - and they don't always work. Our fight scenes are a bit fraught like that. Combat has to have serious risks to the characters. I'd rather be in a game where PCs do die from time to time, unless it's the kind of game where they don't actually have lethal encounters very often (actually even in that case they should probably still die, because if they don't have lethal encounters very often it stands to reason they won't be as good at surviving them).

By: LordVreeg

LordVreeg — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:53:23 +0000

This is actually 2 conversations. 1) The rule-mechanic of HP and how it affects the game. 2) The game-mechanic of GM controlled HP. I'm not going to deal with #2, as I am keeping track of way too much right now already. I do think #1 is actually really, really important, as well. I personally use a very low HP system with high damage and high crits. Only armor keeps a swordblow or two from killing the toughest warrior.

By: darrell

darrell — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:29:11 +0000

A Forgotten Realms campaign I was co-DMing about ten years ago suddenly veered into the classic Castle Ravenloft adventure in the capable hands of the other DM. He used this technique for the adventure, and it REALLY worked.

By: Bercilac

Bercilac — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:00:52 +0000

I suppose, alternatively, you could do it the other way around: let the players track their HP, but make monster damage unpredictable. Roll enemy damage rolls behind a screen, so the players don't know if that 5 damage was a poor roll on 3d6, or a great roll on 1d4+1. Give them special and unpredictable abilities, or weird weapons. Frequent use of poison is good, because it means that a wound that is initially just a scratch can turn into something life-threatening. I guess these are some very different ways of confronting the same problem: too much certainty breeds complacency in players. Pull the rug out from under their feet occasionally.

By: Spaceman

Spaceman — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:28:30 +0000

What a cool idea. While I understand the extra workload, I imagine that it would be a pain. But I can also imagine just how scary this could be to my very experienced characters, And then there's the idea of healing and healing resources. No more of that "Oh I'm 15 points down, give me two taps of the CLW wand, that should do it." I think this would work well in a regular campaign as well, not just horror. And it wouldn't be too tough, just a simple spreadsheet or a laminate sheet.

By: Scott Martin

Scott Martin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:57:20 +0000

I agree that this would be too much to track for a long period of time, but it's great for a creepy scenario without a lot of combat, or for a one-shot. Similarly, specific damage systems (like Rolemaster or Aces and Eight's critical hits) mean that you need to fear no matter how many hit points you have. Any blow can result in "Chitinous claw pierces kidney; 3d10 damage and stunned in shock for d3 rounds"... I know that I'd run!

By: Kurt "Telas" Schneider

Kurt "Telas" Schneider — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:35:12 +0000

I played in a game where the GM tracked damage, and it both minimizes the mechanical calculations and elevates the perceived risk. The game is more intense because of it. I'd say that 'open ended' dice rolls or other mechanics that increase the variability of damage also make the game more intense. This is another reason I like Savage Worlds. Downsides: Players have to be willing to embrace the risk, or they tend to play 'too conservatively'. It's not for everyone, especially not 'chess players'. It's another burden for the GM, although we used a spreadsheet where the GM would input the damage, and it would handle everything else (including the "Healthy, Scratched, Wounded, etc" verbiage). The unknown scares people. The less absolute knowledge the players have, the less comfortable they are. (Yes, this can definitely go too far.)

By: drow

drow — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:00:49 +0000

as with all tricks, be wary of overusing it. i was in an AD&D campaign where only the DM knew our hit points at all times, and after a couple of sessions it became really hateful.

By: nolandda

nolandda — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:46:49 +0000

I think the lack of hit points is one of the factors that helps to make Dread scary.

By: Razjah

Razjah — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:40:22 +0000

I love this idea. It's a great way to bring horror, or suspense into games like D&D which have a generally harder time moving out of heroic action and into something a little more gritty. The D&D campaign that I'm planning will be really grim and I was wondering how to make my players less confident in combat. I think that this will be perfect. Plus it can help foster more role playing. The mage who hates the sight of blood watches the fighter's arm take a solid strike. "Oh gods save us, we're all going to die! Rageed [the fighter] has been mortally wounded and he was the toughest among us!" Mr. Ciechanowski, I tip my hat to you sir, and to any who inspired this idea- credit is due all around. I will now steal this idea and share it at my schools RPG club.