Shaking out harm???

[cjnodell]

Hi everyone. I would like to start off by saying that I love the system. It seems realy cool and i can not wait to play it. I have been going over the rules, and I can not understand the following for the life of me...

"After Bringing Down the Pain, harm shakes out. That means that all damage collapses into the low end of the harm tracker. As an example, if you had checks at 2, 3, and 6 on the harm tracker, they'd collapse to 1, 2, and 3 after Bringing Down the Pain. This applies even to harm from before Bringing Down the Pain, so feel free to get in a nasty scrape if you're hurt."

So how dose "Shaking out harm" work? It kind of looks like harm was divided in half and rounded up... but i dont think that is what is going on.

I think that i would help me best if someone could give me an alternitive explaination (domb it down for me) followed by some examples.

Thanks in advance!
Charles

[Ricky Donato]

"Shaking out Harm" means that Harm slides down to the lowest level on the Harm tracker. Here are some examples:

Before:
1
2 X
3 X
4
5
6 X

After:
1 X  // This used to be 2, but it slid down to the lowest available level
2 X  // This used to be 3, but it slid down to the lowest available level
3 X  // This used to be 5, but it slid down to the lowest available level
4
5
6


Before:
1
2
3 X
4
5 X
6 X

After:
1 X  // This used to be 3, but it slid down to the lowest available level
2 X  // This used to be 5, but it slid down to the lowest available level
3 X  // This used to be 6, but it slid down to the lowest available level
4
5
6

Before:
1
2
3
4 X
5
6 X

After:
1 X  // This used to be 4, but it slid down to the lowest available level
2 X  // This used to be 6, but it slid down to the lowest available level
3
4
5
6


Does this help?

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Charles,

You are making simple things complex. Look at "all damage collapses into the low end of the harm tracker."

I will try to demonstrate via text pictures:

Code:

Harm at
1(X)  2( )  3(X)  4(X)  5( )  6( )

turns to
1(X)  2(X)  3(X)  4( )  5( )  6( )

The harm at 3 fell into the empty space at 2. The harm at 4 then fell into the empty space at 3.

Or, to look at it vertically:

Code:

6 ( )
5 (X)
4 ( )
3 (X)
2 ( )
1 (X)

becomes

6 ( )
5 ( )
4 ( )
3 (X)
2 (X)
1 (X)

The harm falls down to fill the empty spaces. I realize on the character sheet that the chart is in the opposite direction - maybe you can imagine harm floating upward.

[Andrew Cooper]

Hey Charles,

It works like this. 

Bob Brings Down the Pain.  He has no Harm filled out at the start.  During BDTP, he takes a 3, 5 and 6 Harm.  This means he has a box checked off on the 3, the 5 and the 6 lines of the Harm ladder.  After BDTP is over, all that Harm drops into the lowest rungs on the ladder.  They become 1, 2, and 3 Harm and the 5 and 6 Harm boxes become unchecked again.

Another Example...

Bob Brings Down the Pain.  He has a 5 and a 6 Harm filled out at the start.  He goes 1 round of BDTP and doesn't take any Harm.  He then Gives, allowing the other player to succeed.  Afterwards his two Harm drop into the 1 and 2 Harm spots on the ladder and the 5 and 6 spots become unchecked again.

[cjnodell]

Thanks everyone. I figured that it would be something simple like that. I do tend to make things overly complex. It all makes sense now. Thanks again for the quick responses.

Charles

[Karasu]

Quick question. I understand how Harm "Shakes Out" after BDTP, but does that shaken out harm heal over time, without some form of aid?

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Check out page 43. You can self-heal by spending a number of pool points equal to your harm. The points must be from the same pool as the harm.

[Ricky Donato]

Clinton, can you self-heal at any time (even during BDTP, for example)? That isn't clear from the rules.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Ricky,

You can! If the rules don't put in a restriction, you can do something at any time.

[Chris Peterson]

Collapsing harm is like playing Tetris. :-)

[Eric Sedlacek]

You can! If the rules don't put in a restriction, you can do something at any time.

We specifically observed during our game that it was a good idea to self-heal right after bringing down the pain.  Also, if you have a bunch of harm, you can self-heal the lower ones, bring down the pain, and then self-heal the lower ones again. 

Smart TSoY shoppers do not pay retail for self-healing!