From: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
Subject: net.rpg.slug: Damage (was: Re: damage system for Steffan's SLUG)
Date: 19 Nov 92 01:26:03 GMT
		<1992Nov18.131410.954@oz.plymouth.edu>
		<1992Nov18.175824.2605@zip.eecs.umich.edu>
Organization: Plymouth State College - Plymouth, NH.

[Note I changed the subject to net.rpg.slug for those with kill files.]

bshsiung@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Bernard Hsiung) writes:

>     Perhaps the GM could assess damage by the degree of success that a
>character achieves when making a card draw.  Normally, if you succeed, you do
>so with an Average success result.  Borrowing the Result Point idea from
>another posting (see:  I do read the rest of the group!), when you succeed,
>subtract the number on the card that you draw from your skill to get a number
>of Result Points with which you can improve your result.  For example, if your
>skill is Poor (3) and you draw a 3, then you succeed with 0 Result Points and
>must have an Average result.  If you draw a 2, one lower, then you have 1
>Result Point, and can purchase a Good result.  If you draw a 1, two lower, you
>have 2 Result Points and can purchase a Superior result, which might cause
>someone you struck with a knife to be Very Hurt, rather than Hurt.  

I like this, and think it's more workable than what I proposed.  I'll
wrestle with it some.

BTW, this is very much how Lost Souls (and its sister game, Legendary
Lives) handles all results.  Looking for important books on someone's
desk?  Roll versus Perception and the degree you make it by is how many
books you find - if there any to find at all, that is.  They handle
everything this way, but use a table, something I want to avoid.  (You
look on the table and count columns you made it by . . .  All their
results are in terms of Good, Great, Awesome, etc.)

>Maybe you
>can buy other "special effects", such as reduced damage from your opponent or
>disarming, with your Result Points.  This is clearly generalizable to other
>skills.  Negative Result Points can be used by the GM to purchase undesirable
>effects, such as critical fumbles.  (Or give your opponent extra Result Points
>to apply to *you*.)

Hmmm - maybe.  Seems like you'd have to get to Excellent or Terrible
level, though.

>     Unfortunately, implementing this would mean that we'd have to rescale the
>Terrible, Inferior, Poor, Average, Good, Superior, and Excellent ratings for
>skill resolution.  

You lost me here.  Why would we have to rescale?

>Also, the variation in success levels is too great (the
>chance for getting any result that your skill level allows your character to
>achieve is the same)

Lost me here, too.  If we go with either a bell curve or a modal curve,
either way, by definition, some results will be more common than others,
yes?

>Maybe you can fiddle with the
>costs of various results:  suppose that a Good damage result costs 2 Result
>Points, a Superior damage result 4 Result Points, and an Excellent damage
>result 6 Result Points, or some other combination that you prefer.

If you're right above, this sounds very good to me.

>    Personally, I would probably go largely with my original proposal and
>leave the judgement of "not Hurt / Hurt / Very Hurt" up to the GM, after she
>considers all factors, including armor.  I don't feel that there's very much to
>gain by adding the finer resolution of damage points.  (After all, what does it
>matter if you were shot by a big gun or a small gun, stuck with a small razor
>blade or a large sword?  What matters is how badly hurt you were!  The GM can
>use your combat draw with her common sense to figure this out, and its side
>effects, if any.)
>
While this is certainly freeform, and I admit a GM isn't going to use
freeform unless she's skilled at improvising, it will at least require
some good guidelines to be written - GM hints.  If we do that, I wouldn't
mind going with your original, simpler proposal.

Care to try writing it up so that any experienced GM could feel
comfortable with it?  (I don't think SLUG will be for novice GMs!)

-- 
  - Steffan O'Sullivan		         sos@oz.plymouth.edu