Combat and Damage

[The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]

Check me on this please: the Damage Trait is used completely differently than other Traits. In essence, it functions as Hit Points until you run out, at which point you roll with it to stay functioning.

Is that right? Because, if so, I must say, it strikes me as off. I was actually rather expecting it to function as the Damage Save in True20/M&M. As with the Mass Combat rules, I’m tempted to suggest some such implementation that keeps the core mechanical idea in place.

[thegreyelf]

And I expect the response overall (as was with me) will be, "write it up for the scrolls, but the official release should be as much like the original as possible."

But you're right; it is different than the other talents.

[markkrawec]

drsamsara said:

Check me on this please: the Damage Trait is used completely differently than other Traits. In essence, it functions as Hit Points until you run out, at which point you roll with it to stay functioning.

Is that right? Because, if so, I must say, it strikes me as off. I was actually rather expecting it to function as the Damage Save in True20/M&M. As with the Mass Combat rules, I’m tempted to suggest some such implementation that keeps the core mechanical idea in place.

Funny you should mention. That sort of ablative system struck me as out of place too, so I started thinking about ripping off the Blue Rose damage save system.

My initial train of thought went something like this: each colour represents a wound level. Every time you get hit, you make a resolution check against your damage resistance talent. If your result matches the attacker's result, you don't suffer that wound level. Green would work like hurts - you can rack up an unlimited
number of them, but every one you get imposes a -1 column shift on all checks, including further damage saves. Yellow and orange are wounds so grave that from now on, your resolution checks only succeed on those colours. Red would be a combination of disabled & dying; you're so badly messed up that if you fail one more damage check, you're dead.

[The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]

When I saw that there was a Damage Trait, I thought: "My god! Another current so-called innovation that's really 20 years old!" But it isn't.

Some alternate rules here woudl be great for the Scrolls, because this seems so wrong to me. And my intial thoughts were very close to yours, Mark.

[The Evil DM]

thegreyelf said:

And I expect the response overall (as was with me) will be, "write it up for the scrolls, but the official release should be as much like the original as possible."

But you're right; it is different than the other talents.

But remember- this is the Conan game. not Blue Rose.
It's supposed to be brutal, quick and deadly. re-read any of Howards fight scenes in the conan stories. they didnt last 7 melee rounds. they were lightning quick and deadly:

Fighting as he had never fought before, straining every last ounce of
effort to parry the blade that flickered like lightning about his
head, Zaporavo in desperation caught a full stroke near his hilt, and
felt his whole arm go numb beneath the terrific impact. That stroke
was instantly followed by a thrust with such terrible drive behind it
that the sharp point ripped through chain-mail and ribs like paper, to
transfix the heart beneath. Zaporavo's lips writhed in brief agony,
but, grim to the last, he made no sound. He was dead before his body
relaxed on the trampled grass, where blood drops glittered like spilt
rubies in the sun.

Conan shook the red drops from his sword, grinned with unaffected
pleasure, stretched like a huge cat...

"The pool of the Black one"

[The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]

Couple of different responses:

1. Emulation. But that guy isn't a PC. Conan (a PC) suffers such damage as would kill any three other men. He survives his own crucifixion for Crom's sake! The PC's ought to be able to do likewise.

2. Formal. It seems terribly inelegant to me, to have a basically unified mechanic except in this case.

That said, I don't think the proposed hack is the only one that would work. The other option I thought of is to try and do something more along the lines of MSH, where your hit points are factored in from several different sources.

[CleanCutRogue]

Hi everyone... my first post!! I feel deflowered.

um... ew.

Anywho, I think the core game mechanics shouldn't be changed, but your ideas are perfect for a webzine article. I was VERY tempted to change stuff in the Digitally Remastered version of Alpha Dawn Star Frontiers book I did (and in the end DID put an optional rules section in the back of it that included stuff I'd used over the years), but the strength of that document and the following it's gained is because I didn't change the core rules.

But Star Frontiers, like the Conan game (I'm still reading it), was a game that had a bunch of innovation and promise, but was unpolished because of the age in which it was published. Dragon Magazine had a ton of variant rules for SF... so I followed suit with the webzine I put out each month. That's where variant rules go.

Then later... maybe after a year or so... consider making a revised rulebook that includes all the most popular variant articles from your webzine (use polls here or at RPG.NET) and create something you're all proud of because it evolved and grew with the project.

That's my $0.02 :-P

[thegreyelf]

I agree with Bill.

[markkrawec]

admin said:

re-read any of Howards fight scenes in the conan stories. they didnt last 7 melee rounds. they were lightning quick and deadly

This is where the enemy/foe distinction comes in handy. Set cultist #487 gets hit; he fails his Damage check; he drops. The PC's player gets to describe in what manner.

When you consider that sample NPCs have Damage in the high teens or even twenties, & combatants are most likely to do 1 or 2 points of damage at a time, the system as written isn't conducive to fights that come to a lightning fast conclusion either, unless someone suffers a specific wound.