alternate wound penalties

[Lxndr]

In other words... sometimes it DOES make sense to cut yourself?

[Luke]

::sigh::

come on, we're not seriously going to have this discussion are we?

[Lxndr]

No.  It was late and I was punchy.  Sorry about that.  Honestly, I understand the philosophy that little things turn into big thing.

But something's been gnawing at me, and I think I finally figured out what it's supposed to be...

...doesn't your philosophy imply that once you get a big thing, then the little things don't count anymore?  Say, for instance, you've got a guy with a black eye (Superficial, +1DN).  He then gets a knife to the gut (Midi, -1D).  

At that point, the adrenaline and endorphins and the whole fight-and-flight stuff has kicked in, so would it be unthinkable for the +1DN penalty to go away?  (And, at least until THAT fight is over, no more DN penalties should apply, but further dice penalties should).

Just thinking aloud here.

[Luke]

You know, that's a perfectly fine way of doing it. I think EABA does something like that as well -- only the biggest wound counts.

what happens there, though, is you make it a little harder to wear someone down and incapacitate them. this is a feature of the system I like very much.

However, we have been playtesting a middle ground. I've been allowing players to shrug off Superficial Wounds with a Health test (not artha). The Shrug counts the same as the Artha shrug (only lasts until the end of the scenario/encounter). It's fun, because it gets players more involved in keeping their characters on their feet.

-L

[Lxndr]

My vestigial proposal, such as it was, would be:

* Once you get a die-penalty, ignore DN penalties (except for the purposes of adding three together to get another die penalty).  So it wouldn't be JUST the biggest wound counting, but once the adrenalin kicks in, the DN penalties go away.

This still makes it a LITTLE harder to wear someone down than before, but not nearly as hard as "only biggest counts."  Three superficials, two lights, or one light and one superficial, will still give another die penalty - their DN penalties are just ignored because of adrenaline and endorpins.

But maybe that's too complex.

[Luke]

nah, that's cool.

Trolls are allowed to do something like this with their Numb trait.

I see absolutely no problem with this, if it fits within your style of play. The wound modifiers really aren't that big a deal.

-L

edit: though considering you haven't actually played the game, i highly recommend (to you and everyone else reading this post) that you try BW, as is. I think you'll be surprised how well it plays and how much sense it makes. Look at what the system encourages and discourages -- follow its lead and you'll be pleasantly pleased, i think.

[Lxndr]

Oh, apart from changes appropriate to the setting, as we've discussed in the other thread, I'm fully committed to using the rules as stated.  But my mind tinkers regardless.

[rafial]

However, we have been playtesting a middle ground. I've been allowing players to shrug off Superficial Wounds with a Health test (not artha). The Shrug counts the same as the Artha shrug (only lasts until the end of the scenario/encounter). It's fun, because it gets players more involved in keeping their characters on their feet.

This sounds like a great idea.  I was pondering something similar myself.  I'm curious to know if in your current playtesting the shrug is made when the wound is inflicted, or if the characters need to take an action to "shrug".

[Luke]

try this:
Ob 2 Health test to Shrug +1 Ob/+1 DN. Takes two actions. (See Jet Li in Fist of Legend).

Ob 4 Health tes to Shrug -1D. Takes four actions. (See..., the one, um, with  the broken arm... damn it, can't remember reference).

Shrugging removes wound penalties temporarily. After the scenario/encounter all wound penalties are restored. If this knocks the character out, so be it.

Also, if you're using the new wound penalties, allow Immediate Attention to (immediately) restore 1D of wound penalty. The remaining dice heal as normal.

-L