I am the Warden!!
I love my nighttime walks. Though I might not enjoy it as much when I come home and my busted foot throbs like a snake bite victim, it's always the perfect time to review the day's events and ponder all those random thoughts running through my head. Every now and then, an idea pops into my head so suddenly and voraciously, I literally stop on the street and proclaim "Holy shit, that's brilliant!" Hence the reason why I walk at midnight: fewer witnesses.
While reviewing my internal notes for tonight's playtest, I started thinking about a supporting character's armour rating and an archer PC's weapon damage when it struck me. Damage thresholds. What happens as a character get wailed on time and time again? Are they struck by each failed defense roll or do we use the Star Wars application of hit points and vitality? Shouldn't there be a limit to just how much damage a character can take before something starts to slow them down?
Seeing as we've covered the basics of the Optional System thus far, it's time to enjoy the original purpose of this blog. Discussing new concepts and rules. Let's crack some knuckles and get started. Ow.
How Much Pain Can A PC Take If A PC Can't Take Pain?
Armour provides a hit cushion during combat, reducing the amount of damage a character takes with every blow. In its simplest form, that works, but there's always been the intention to incorporate more into armour. For many combatants, it's the final defense when skill, training, and luck fail. If an opponent just barely breaks through your parry, the armour will deflect the impact of his sword and keep you in the fight. Over time, your armour and your body will only be able to take so much. It's like being shot while wearing a bullet proof vest; you still feel the impact, it just keeps the bullet from tearing you a new one.
Remember the OSRPG character sheet from yesterday? Just left of the hit tally was a space for Conditions, something not yet devised. Until now. As you continue to take damage, your armour and body begin to suffer. The stronger your armour, the more abuse it can take before you feel the effects. I call it damage threshold.
Each hero in OSRPG has 10 hits before they fall. These hits are divided into five levels (which happens to be displayed on the character sheet already). Each level defines a state of well-being for the hero and his armour. When the damage brings the hero into a lower level, he can begin to suffer penalties. By wearing heavier armour of steel plates and chains, for example, it delays these effects until a later level.
Break out the crappy text chart!!
Damage Threshold Penalties
Normal (no damage) None
Battered -2 to all dice rolls
Wounded Half penalty(*) to all Body, Sense, or Mind rolls (Director's choice)
Bloodied Half penalty to all base dice
Dead Uhm, you're dead
* Half penalties are inflicted on a particular stat, skill, power, or dice category. When you have a half penalty, those particular dice are divided in half and cannot explode.
The chart above demonstrates the effects of damage without the benefit of armour, so if you simply walk onto the battlefield in your Sunday best, you'll suffer in this order. As your character drops down to the next line of hits on your character sheet, you suffer from the next damage threshold. When you regain hits through healing or other benefits, you rise back up the chart. Therefore, if you wear no armour, you are considered Battered when you lose 1-3 hits, Wounded at 4-6 hits, Bloodied at 7-9 hits, and Dead at 10 hits.
Wearing armour increases the range of the Normal damage threshold. Leather armours, for example, increase the damage threshold by one level. So you'll be Battered at 4-6 hits, Wounded at 7-9 hits, and Dead at 10 hits. (Death always comes at 10 hits.) Chainmail and scale armour offers better protection, meaning you're not suffering any penalties until you've taken at least 7 hits.
The idea is less than 24 hours old (actually, less than 12 hours), but I'm adding it to the playtest tonight. Not that I needed a better reason to pound on some heroes tonight, but I'm REALLY looking forward to beating the shit out of someone now.
Warden, my old friend, I'm not too sure on this one. Seems to me that the way you're figuring armor only delays the onset of damage effects, and in so doing increases the rapidity in which they are applied once they finally come into play.
ReplyDeleteSay I'm wearing scale mail, and I don't start feeling the effects of damage until, as you say, I am at 7 hits. My next hit I count as Wounded, and the next hit Bloodied, and the next hit Dead. I'm not sure it's a good trade off. I last longer at peak effectiveness, but dwindle away extra quick once my armor runs out.
Might be better to do something different.
Maybe add a few hits for armor, while keeping the same damage effect schema in place. In this case, armor gives you a bit of extra durability.
Another option (sorry to steal your thunder with that particular word), would be to use the old Armor as Damage Reduction argument. Armor will cancel out a certain amount of hits per turn. If you then throw in something lite armor taking damage, you can reduce the effectiveness of armor over time.
Just a few thoughts.
What about both? Armour reduces damage AND holds off on penalties. We toyed with it on Friday's playtest and seemed alright, but everyone was wearing the same type of armour (studded leather).
ReplyDeleteAnother idea I've considered are Armour Points. The heavier your armour, the more points you have. Whenever you're hit, you can redeem Armour Points to negate some damage.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something about armor that's off the mark. Just doesn't feel right as it is now.
Not sure about combining essentially what comes down to extra hits with altering the damage track; the damage track, for me, is the issue. You remain at full capacity longer, but feel the effects of heavy damage quicker.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, a hit is a hit is a hit. Everything has 10 hit points, it's just a matter of getting past the thing's defenses and inflicting the hit. I haven't yet downloaded the freebie document, but I think I will later today.
So how does one avoid or counter a hit? You roll opposed dice, right? So keep true to your system; let armor (I refuse to put a 'u' in that word (Thanks Mr. Webster!)) simply add dice to the opposed roll. The better the armor the more dice it adds. And since you were worried about what to do with d4's I think here's your chance to make them shine...I just don't think that they would explode when used in this manner.
Of course, the issues of wear and tear on battle-worn armor, and attempts to simply break an opponent's armor also come to mind...
Thought about this last night. Giving d4s as "weapon/armour dice" would be counterproductive to the core design, though it is an option (PUN!) for those who could see a use for it. The OS is designed as a martial arts/cinematic RPG and I wanted to start with combat as if it were between two blokes kung fu style. The idea being that naked characters would have just as much chance to succeed as a fully dressed one.
ReplyDeleteI've never been a big fan of equipment and personally find most RPGs are dependent on equipment. For this, I wanted something where there was a perk to use equipment, but it did not give you a massive edge. Adding weapon or armour dice gives someone holding a weapon and wearing an armour an edge over someone who doesn't, but it still comes down to the individual as to whether or not they can actually hit the bugger. (That being said, there are ways to increase your chances using equipment, such as a rifle scope, but I wanted it this way as a general rule.) Armour prevents penetration AFTER you've been hit; weapons add damage AFTER you hit someone. While using item dice would definitely work, it's going against one of my design goals.
That being said, I am working on special options available through equipment. Many of these options are untrained and available as soon as you pick up the weapon. Par example, a machine gun comes with the Burst option, allowing you to fire multiple rounds with one roll. So equipment won't just be damage modifiers - there will be more than meets the eye.
Well, then the simplest thing would be to just let armor give a character additional hits on top of the 10 they already have. Since you already have in place the damage and basic combat systems, this alteration should prove relatively minor. Don't adjust the chart for how a character is effected by damage; that should remain as it is, but it only comes into play when the PC's hits drop below 10 as they take damage.
ReplyDeleteI understand the misgivings about equipment, but in most RPGs, it is through equipment that a great deal about the character is described.
If you see some guy in a kimono bearing a daisho, your first thought is "samurai". If you see a huge, heavily muscled dude in a furry loin cloth bearing a huge, two-handed broadsword, your first thought is "barbarian". If you see a handsome man in a tuxedo bearing a Walther PPK and a silver wristwatch that contains a superconducting magnet and a 25 mega-joule laser, your first thought is "super spy".
Most RPGs are built around archetypes, and its done so because they work, people understand them. And because they understand them, they sort of rely on them as a sort of conceptual shorthand. And the equipment is part of that secret inner language.
I think that you should keep that in mind when you work on the equipment.