From: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Newsgroups: rec.games.design
Subject: Re: FUDGE Damage Proposal
Date: 14 Dec 92 17:55:51 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Dec14.175551.27431
Reply-To: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Organization: Columbia University

"Peter F. Delaney" <pd1x+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) writes:
>> I would like to make a comment about this as compared to my suggested 
>> 'Wounding-as-a-Contest-between-Damage-and-fixed-Wound-Resistance', where 
>> you track wounds separately from WR, which remains constant.
>
>Hmm, this sounds nicer.  I haven't read your system, unfortunately,
>since I'm in the middle of finals right now.  But this sounds superior
>and simpler.

	That may also be because I didn't detail it because I'm also in 
the middle of finals. @-)

	The basic idea was pretty much the same as Travis someone-or-other 
proposed: Wound Resistance is a constant attribute which represents a 
combination of size, toughness, armor, etc.  Each attack is given a rating 
on the Terrible to Superb scale, and then damage is resolved as a contest 
between Damage and Wound Resistance. 

	The Damage Rating for a given attack will generally have the degree 
of success added to it, but not always. For explosions, poison, and others, 
there will be no 'hit successes' to base damage off of - they will have a 
fixed Damage Rating. (This case is not described by the present FUDGE 
'objective damage' system). In general, damage will be determined similarly 
to the present system: maybe a base level for type of attack, +/- for Strength 
in muscle-powered weapons, and +N for the degree of success of the hit. 

	The degrees of success for the Damage vs. WR will have a fixed 
result: Scratch, Hurt, etc. (as on the subjective damage scale). These will 
then be added together by some fixed rules: maybe two wounds of the same type 
combine to make a wound of the next higher type, maybe they are just added 
up the way wounds are now. 

	IMO, this has the advantage of more intuitive scaling than either 
Peter's or the present FUDGE damage systems, and you don't have to write 
down a different damage scale for each Hit Points stat: there is only one 
sequence to remember. 
	We've already discussed the scaling problem in Pete's system. The 
present system has a similar weakness. Two people of equal skill with 
Terrible Strength and Terrible Hit Points in a slugfest will be unable 
to hurt each other: their damage modifier is -4 (-2 for Str, -2 for unarmed 
combat), and they can never hit by more than 4. OTOH, two people of equal 
skill with Superb Strength and Superb Hit Points will damage each other 
fairly quickly. This is not very intuitive. 
	If you adopt Wound Resistance as described above, then it is very 
clear how it scales. Someone with Good WR will take an Good attack the 
same way that someone of Fair WR will take a Fair attack. 

	This introduces more variability into damage than the present system 
(since damage is determined by *two* contests), but I don't think that is a 
bad thing. I dunno - what do other people think? 

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