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[Nicholas1024]

This would complicate it a bit, but how about associated penalties depending on your current wounds? So a broken leg would reduce movement, it's harder to use your sword if you've taken a stab to the arm, etc. Also, if you'd like to introduce death by blunt weapon, you could always use the concept of internal bleeding. It'd probably fit right alongside very heavy bleeding, perhaps 40 healing points, skilled medical attention, and -10 HP per turn.

[10ebbor10]

This would complicate it a bit, but how about associated penalties depending on your current wounds? So a broken leg would reduce movement, it's harder to use your sword if you've taken a stab to the arm, etc. Also, if you'd like to introduce death by blunt weapon, you could always use the concept of internal bleeding. It'd probably fit right alongside very heavy bleeding, perhaps 40 healing points, skilled medical attention, and -10 HP per turn.

As far as I knew, that happens already happened. Then again, I don't know how much Iawastoshort's version differs from the original one.

You could also add some measurent of pain, which (has a chance to) hamper/incipate a player.

[Gatleos]

This would complicate it a bit, but how about associated penalties depending on your current wounds? So a broken leg would reduce movement, it's harder to use your sword if you've taken a stab to the arm, etc. Also, if you'd like to introduce death by blunt weapon, you could always use the concept of internal bleeding. It'd probably fit right alongside very heavy bleeding, perhaps 40 healing points, skilled medical attention, and -10 HP per turn.

I knew I forgot to mention something.There actually are penalties based on those things.

Spoiler: GWSWS 1.2 (click to show/hide)

This is the GWSWS, as lawastooshort calls it, a simple system for tracking player injuries in RTDs. It's evolved over time, and will probably continue to do so.
Injuries
Light Bleeding: Anything from a paper cut to a bad scrape. 10 healing points. [-1 HP per turn]
Heavy Bleeding: Caused by stab wounds, deep cuts, etc. Requires medical attention and 20 healing points. [-5 HP per turn]
Very Heavy Bleeding: Results from major bodily harm, such as impalement or severed limbs. Requires skilled medical attention and 30 healing points. [-20 HP per turn]
---------
Burn: Caused by tissue damage. Requires medical attention and 20 healing points.
Fracture: Caused by moderate blunt trauma. Requires medical attention and 20 healing points.
Broken Bone: Caused by heavy blunt trauma. Requires skilled medical attention and 40 healing points.
Missing Limb: Never heals, obviously.
Health
Players make a healing roll [1d6] for each wound they currently possess, starting on the turn after they receive it. The amount rolled is added to the wound's healing points, and the wound disappears when the points max out. Healing rolls cannot be made for a wound until it has received the proper medical attention. If a wound requires skilled medical attention, only players or NPCs with relevant medical knowledge can apply it properly. Everyone else gets a -2 penalty. Bleeding injuries drain health, of which each player starts with a maximum of 100. If a player has no bleeding injuries, they regain 4 hitpoints per turn naturally.

The first three injury types you see there are bleeding injuries, and they drain health directly. The last four are structural injuries; they don't drain health, but instead provide penalties. If you break a rib for instance, that's -2 to movement and dodge rolls. A missing/broken arm gives -2 to use of two-handed weapons, etc.

As for blunt damage and internal bleeding, I'm thinking that could work. Another possibility is just making huge differences in attack/dodge rolls (like seven or more, not normally possible on a d6) inflict an instant death blow. That way a blunt weapon gradually incapacitates the enemy with wounds and increases their dodge penalty, eventually to the point that a death blow is assured. Which also brings up the question of how to deal with unconsciousness and GAH

As far as I knew, that happens already happened. Then again, I don't know how much Iawastoshort's version differs from the original one.

You could also add some measurent of pain, which (has a chance to) hamper/incipate a player.

Pain penalties could also be a good idea, though I would have to be careful with them. If it stacked with the movement penalty of a broken leg or something, it could add up really fast.


Thanks for the feedback so far!

[10ebbor10]

Well, I suppose you could just made them not stack, or add some kind of adrenalin/other bonus which allows you to temporally negate pain. Or make the pain penalty depend on another painroll. (Ie, the penalty only happens in 50% of the cases).

[IronyOwl]

The total numbers on those bleeding effects seem rather severely spaced. I understand the point is to avoid petty little "You receive a Heavy Serious Medium-Shallow Papercut and lose 1.64892 hp for 4.281643 rounds," but look at the expected damage values:

Light bleeding deals 1 HP per round and requires 10 healing points to fix. Since you gain an average of 3.5 healing points per round, that's 2.9 damage per Light Bleeding effect.

Heavy bleeding deals 5 HP per round and requires 20 healing points, for 28.6 damage per round.

Very heavy bleeding deals 20 HP per round and requires 30 healing points, for 171.4 damage per round assuming you receive skilled medical attention.


So, yeah. A heavy bleed effect is worth ten times a light one, and a very heavy one should nearly kill a player twice over. I suppose if Light Bleeding effects are random irritating accidents, Heavy Bleeding is any actual wound, and Very Heavy Bleeding is any Why Aren't You Dead Yet thing, this makes sense, but it seems a bit odd.

[10ebbor10]

Maybe the bleeding should stop immediatly/ be reduced as soon as medical attention is applied. Untill it's healed there should be a chance for the wound to go open again whenever the character does stupid things. Though that might make it too complicated.

[Gatleos]

So, yeah. A heavy bleed effect is worth ten times a light one, and a very heavy one should nearly kill a player twice over. I suppose if Light Bleeding effects are random irritating accidents, Heavy Bleeding is any actual wound, and Very Heavy Bleeding is any Why Aren't You Dead Yet thing, this makes sense, but it seems a bit odd.

If that was how the system worked, all the players in ERTD would have already bled out ten times over.

It actually works how ebbor said: as soon as medical attention is applied to the wound, the bleeding stops. The healing points are applied afterward, and stop all other effects of the wound (like a movement penalty from a broken leg) when they max out. So Very Heavy Bleeding, which will only ever be caused by ridiculous injuries like severed arms, still takes 5 whole turns to drain a player from full health assuming they don't get it bandaged.

You're exactly right about the spacing, of course. Light bleeding is basically useless, unless I want to be a dick and give a paper cut to a player with only 2 HP left or something. And like I said, rolling a d6 to determine healing amounts may be a bit much. A broken leg could take anywhere from 7-40 turns to heal, based on the RNG's whims.

[monk12]

I could see providing a flat bonus to the d6 roll, which may be modified based on circumstances (medical equipment, cleanliness of surroundings, etc.) That'd help smooth out the healing rate, and provide a nice obvious thing for the various healing skills/items to modify.

What I'd particularly like to see is a standardized attack system for determining severity/location for the wounds given. There was more to this thought, but meh.

In general, my biggest criticism of the GWSWS^TM is that most frequently, the real punishment is having to use up your actions to heal yourself. Yes, being hurt is supposed to penalize you, but it's less than fun when that penalty is "lose next turn trying to heal yourself because you now suck too much to be useful." Especially in the middle of a battle. Mind, this isn't a criticism of the system itself so much as it is of the implementation of said system, but I thought I'd throw it out there in case this thing comes with a "Best Practices" guide.

[lawastooshort]

I have some tables relating to the severity/location issue; they are to be used with caution, however, for they are the reason Davy Crockett sports a heavy bleeding wound upon his severed arm.

Anyway, I've found as a GM, regarding the healing, that sometimes other things are more important than losing another 5HP; who cares about inching another 15th towards death and suffering a -1 to knitting when there's a fascist dinosaur's brother trying to bite your liver off? It makes you prioritise, it makes you problem solve. It puts you in the shoes of your character as you strive valiantly for freedom! It's only severe bleeding that's important during a fight, really, and minor penalties can wait until you reach proper medical professionals.

That said, I do agree, partly. But otherwise, you need an entirely different system (say, 20HP, you lose one each time something bad happens, no healing, get to 0=permadead: where's the fun in that) or a different healing system (I am tempted to again reference Davy Crockett).

[Gatleos]

In general, my biggest criticism of the GWSWS^TM is that most frequently, the real punishment is having to use up your actions to heal yourself. Yes, being hurt is supposed to penalize you, but it's less than fun when that penalty is "lose next turn trying to heal yourself because you now suck too much to be useful." Especially in the middle of a battle. Mind, this isn't a criticism of the system itself so much as it is of the implementation of said system, but I thought I'd throw it out there in case this thing comes with a "Best Practices" guide.

This is part of a bigger problem with RTDs in general, and my system specifically. RTRTD in particular always had a problem with granularity of actions, like the aforementioned "you don't get to do anything fun this turn because you have to heal your friend" problem. The original intention of the RTD system was to have extremely granular actions that could all be resolved with a single dice roll (d6).

Adding in more complex systems conflicts with this simple approach. Most "real" tabletop systems spread actions out over several discrete areas, like an attack action/move action. That may be the key to making injuries and healing fun instead of cumbersome.

The whole reason I created this system in the first place was to have a simple gauge for players' health. That was another problem that cropped up in RTRTD a lot: I had no concrete rules for what injuries did or how long a character could avoid bleeding out, and the players abused it as a result. I'm pretty sure Edgar has a massive bleeding wound right now, but hasn't done anything about it because it doesn't matter.

When there are simple, concrete rules for when a character will actually die and how the player can prevent it, it involves the players a lot more closely and makes them really think about their actions. But the GWSWS hasn't gotten to that point yet, it seems to get in the way just as often as it helps and oh dear I'm rambling again.

[IronyOwl]

Alright, so, I need some outside opinions on this. Basically, I've got this game I'm thinking about running. Technically I don't even think it's going to end up being an RTD, but it could be. The premise is vaguely Minecraftish- basically, the players are hurled into another world via magical catastrophe, and must then set about building, exploring, or whatever. Ravening things will probably also come out of the night and there will likely be NPC tribes of fair hostility. Basic idea is to set up and defend their own little village, but if they want to split up or turn into nomads or whatever that could work too.

So, so far so good. The trouble is that shonen keeps leaking into it; I keep thinking about mouth lasers and blitz abilities and so on. And I think I need some outside opinions as to whether that sort of thing would fit alright, or whether I should try to keep it more serious or at least more mundane.

[Caellath]

I say that too much of mundane and serious would not be befitting of a RtD. Bring the shonen shenanigans and the overall stupidity.

That means yes, go with "that sort of thing". Just make the shonen shenanigans hard to get or there won't be a real challenge nor a sense of accomplishment.

[IronyOwl]

Oh, another thing I could use help with, sort of. More of an invitation to throw ideas at me, really.

New world means the celestial situation is whatever I want it to be. I'd like to go with something a bit more complex than your standard sun, moon, stars, four seasons bit.

Now obviously, anything like that would have to be simple enough for me to memorize or rare enough to not be a pain to look up, but there's still some room there for interesting effects.


So, if you've got any suggestions or ideas for that sort of thing that you'd like to share, I'd like to hear them.

[Dermonster]

You could use the clusterfuck we made in crucible.

[Caellath]

Yep, what we made in crucible sounds fine. Just withdraw any association of the relics and sites to any gods and use it.

If the players weren't spawned in Idathoras then their chances of survival would be at least reasonable.