[Martial-Arts Horror RPG] Detailed Wound Suggestions.

[Uccisore]

For my RPG, I'm going to have various kinds of injuries written up with color text and game mechanics, that the GM can pick and choose from as appropriate. I'm showing my roots here, the idea is for the damage system to resemble the CoC sanity system, where the GM picks from an assortment of physical (instead of mental) conditions, with the actual crunchy game mechanics provided a guide as to severity. You can see the other thread for details on how this is implemented.  
    What I want in this thread, is some suggestions of interesting types of injuries that can occur, mainly as a result of hand-to-hand combat, that you feel are interesting or unique enough to deserve write-ups on their own. So far I have
Bleeding
Internal Bleeding
Minor Fracture
Major Fracture
Compound Fracture
Unconsciousness
Shock

   all done with write-ups and mechanics describing what they do and when they are likely to occur. I'm considering doing write-ups for amputations, but they seem very self-explanatory.  Remember, this game is nasty and vicious, so can you guys think of any other horrible things that ought to be written up? I'm looking specifically for things that can't be explained easily in terms of what's already been done above.

[Brendan]

Concussion (which does not necessarily equal unconsciousness).  Burns (hey, it's possible).  Punctured lung.  Dislocated joint.

[Walt Freitag]

This list should be easy to expand upon. Just think about how heroes look in movies after having the crap beaten out of them, your local NFL team's roster of injuries last season, and the "blunt damage" subsections of all those old school critical hit tables.

However, you have to figure out how you want to categorize all the variables. Some of the categories you already have are very general, and would encompass a wide range of consequences. A bruise, a ruptured spleen, and an aortic dissection are all forms of "internal bleeding," but the first is minor, the second serious, and the third instantly fatal. Fractured ribs have very different immediate effects than fractured limbs or a fractured skull, and are broken teeth considered a fracture or not? Also, in your list so far, there are organizational inconsistencies. Unconsciousness and shock are physiological effects that be caused by a wide variety of different injuries, while fractures are a type of injury that can have a wide variety of physiological effects (including unconsciousness or shock).

Here are some other types of injury and/or effects of injuries to consider, but you'll have to come up with a consistent organizational scheme to sort out causes from effects.

Loss of sight (eye(s) swollen shut, eye(s) scratched or gouged, sand or dust in eye(s))
Loss of hearing (ear(s) boxed)
Impaired speech (broken jaw, broken teeth, damage to throat)
Impaired ability to eat (broken jaw, broken teeth, blow to abdomen; see also: nausea)
Swelling (fat lip, cauliflower ear, lumps, symptom of fracture or joint damage, symptom of bruising)
Stunning pain (blow to gonads, blow to solar plexus, wind knocked out)
Pain, loss of mobility, and/or loss of strength in joint (dislocated shoulder, strains, sprains, hyperextensions, torn ligaments, groin pull)
Nausea (concussion, internal abdominal damage, shock symptom)
Impaired breathing (fractured ribs, throat damage/swelling, severe torso bruises, internal bleeding symptom)
Numbness (blow to pressure point, nerve damage, impaired circulation due to swelling or bleeding)
Skin damage such as welts, abrasions, contusions, cuts
Infection (compound fracture, skin damage)
Scarring

- Walt

[Uccisore]

Thanks for the input so far.  The categorization I'm using so far is a type of attack or harm, (Bludgeoning, Chopping, Slicing, etc.) cross referenced with 4 different degrees of severity (Superficial, Disabling, Maiming, Killing).  Each combonation has a list of likely results: A Disabling Bludgeon, for example, has Unconsciousness, Major Fracture, Internal Bleeding, and Shock in the list. The GM can pick as many or as few of these as they want, but should pick at least one.  
     
Because of what you've said, I can see Shock as being something I need to take out of this list, and instead have it be a possible consequence of other sorts of injury- after all, it's not plausible to have Shock be the only result of an attack, since people go into shock because of some other injury.  But what about Unconsciousness? I think that makes sense as a stand-alone effect, if you want the possibility for people to be knocked out from a blow to the head, and be otherwise fine (though very sore) when they wake up. That's certainly cinematic at least. Is it terribly unrealistic?

   Perhaps a good ordering would be to have Primary Effects and Secondary Effects. A Fracture, Bleeding, or Amputation could be a primary injury, and something like shock could be Secondary effect, in that it can only be inflicted in addition to a Primary, never on it's own.    

Some of the categories you already have are very general, and would encompass a wide range of consequences. A bruise, a ruptured spleen, and an aortic dissection are all forms of "internal bleeding," but the first is minor, the second serious, and the third instantly fatal.

A lot of these do come in degrees as it stands.  That is, internal bleeding from a Disabling wound is not nearly as dangerous as internal bleeding from a Maiming or Killing wound.

This list should be easy to expand upon.

This definately true- I want a good mix of generals and particulars.

Here are some other types of injury and/or effects of injuries to consider, but you'll have to come up with a consistent organizational scheme to sort out causes from effects.

    Aha. I especially like your addition of impairments.  Those all make very nice secondary effects.  THat is, your speech is impaired (secondary) because your jaw is broken (primary).  Perhaps the way to handle that would be to have a list of common fractures under the "Fractures" section, and how they differ- actually describe the consequences of a fractured rib as opposed to a fractured arm.
  Most of the impairments could be handled though role-play; that is, the GM is free to declare that you can't talk effectively because your jaw is broke, with no need for mechanics to intervene.  Certain ones, most notably impaired breathing, should probably have mechanics of their own. I certainly intended to have a mechanic for asphixiation, impaired breathing could be related to that somehow.
  Scarring is another example of a secondary effect that can be assumed without mechanical backing, I think.
   Infection is potentially a lot of fun, I'll definately make a write up on that, as a secondary condition.
Brendan:

I definately need Concussions and Burns listed with their own rules. Do you think a joint dislocation is different enough from a fracture to have seperate mechanics for each? Mechanically, I picture a dislocation having the same effects as a fracture, except that it may be easier to fix and quicker to heal.
I've thought about punctured lungs, I'll have to reasearch them to see if they can be done with a combination of internal bleeding/asphixiation, or if they need their rules.
At the very least, all of these things will get writes-ups, with descriptions of how they feel, how they look, etc.

[Jules Morley]

But what about Unconsciousness? I think that makes sense as a stand-alone effect, if you want the possibility for people to be knocked out from a blow to the head, and be otherwise fine (though very sore) when they wake up. That's certainly cinematic at least. Is it terribly unrealistic?

Alas, in a word, yes.

Being knocked out 'IRL' is no fun. If you want Hollywood-style knockouts, go nuts. But if you're after realism, there's no situation where an external event knocks you out that allows you to recover without some other impairment - at least within a 'tactical' timeframe (i.e. during or shortly after combat).

Sure, you can faint from the sight of blood and be OK when you come to, but if you're knocked out from trauma then, guess what? That trauma's still there when you come to. Migraine, double vision, motor impairment, vomiting ... and the chance that you'll drop dead in the next day or so from sub-cranial bleeding (aka rolling a '66' on your Crit tables in Rolemaster :) )

The Primary/Secondary effects notion seems like a good one, though: you've got the actual trauma (broken femur, whatever) and the effects of the trauma (movement penalty, stunned for x rounds, extreme pain, needs setting to heal, chance of wound going bad after x hours untreated, etc).