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      The Impossible Dream

    #7: Assessing Damage

*by Hunter Logan*

Jun 19,2003

Last installment, I claimed this installment would be about play

samples. I changed my mind. I think people who read this column know

that play samples are scripts of a play session and that play samples

are good for demonstrating how a game works. Going on about that for a

whole installment seems like overkill, so let me sum up: Use play

samples because they're good and helpful. Now, on to something

infinitely more interesting: Assessing damage in game terms.

Practical Considerations

A designer has at least four practical considerations that should

underlie decisions about damage in a game system.

    * *Complexity:* The number of steps and the difficulty of completing

      those steps, elements that Brian Gleichman calls /Complexity of

      Implementation/. As a designer, you can make the means for

      handling damage as simple or complex as you like.

    * *Lethality:* The amount of punishment a character can take before

      falling out of action. In a very lethal implementation, players

      might actually avoid combat because of the real threat to a

      character's life. In a less lethal implementation, players might

      want to fight a lot, especially if fighting is rewarded.

    * *Realism:* The true-to-life aspects of damage in the game. A

      realistic implementation will bring results that approximate what

      would happen in the real world. In that respect, greater realism

      brings increased lethality. Yet, I maintain that producing truly

      realistic results is extremely difficult. The best a designer can

      do is to produce consistent, believable results.

    * *Satisfaction:* The player's satisfaction with the methods and

      results for handling damage. Satisfaction is an intangible result

      and not strictly limited to issues of damage assessment.

Damage and Play Flow

Like any other aspect of an rpg, the rules and mechanical processes for

handling damage can be expressed through play flow. A lot of this

overlaps with rules for combat, but I've decided not to approach combat

as a subset of game rules for two reasons. First, I think most people

have their own ideas about how combat should run. I don't really know

what I could add to that. Second, combat is not the only time characters

give or receive damage. So, I want to concentrate on the ways and means

for assessing damage. Here is an example:

    * *Event:* A character is faced with an otherworldly horror, a

      creature so bizarre and disgusting that no words could express the

      reality of seeing it.

    * *Decision:* The player doesn't want his character looking at any

      horrific monstrosities. He declares, "I try to get the hell out of

      there as fast as I can, and without looking at that /thing/!"

    * *Resolution:*

          o *Device (unopposed):* The GM has the player roll dice to see

            whether or not the character looked directly at the monster

            while the GM rolls dice to see if the monster looked

            directly at the character.

          o *Evaluation:* The player rolls poorly while the GM rolls

            pretty well. The monster and the character look at each other.

          o *Device (opposed):* Looking into the face of such a monster

            can cause a person to go insane. Thus, the player must roll

            against the monster's effect to avoid psychological damage.

            This is an opposed die roll.

          o *Evaluation:* The player rolls against the GM and the

            monster wins. The GM determines that the character takes 9

            points of /Horror/ against his /Stability/ attribute. The

            character runs off in a panic, screaming the whole way.

Two Specific Issues

I want to address two specific issues related to damage: Armor and the

death spiral.

*Armor:* Designers decide how armor will protect a character. I have

seen three common methods for treating armor. The methods can be

combined as desired.

    * *Makes the target harder to hit:* This idea causes consternation

      for some people, because good armor is heavy and wearing heavy

      armor should make a person easier to hit. Yet, good armor should

      make it harder for opponents to injure the person wearing it. So,

      making the character harder to hit as a result of wearing armor is

      one way to abstract the entire relationship. The trouble is, a

      miss might not really mean an opponent missed. It might just mean

      an opponent's blow bounced off the character's armor.

    * *Reduces the damage inflicted:* This idea seems to make people

      happy. This way, good armor can be heavy. It can even make the

      person wearing the armor an easy target, but the armor will absorb

      some (if not all) incoming damage.

    * *Absorbs damage until destroyed:* This idea always struck me as

      being very strange. Armor should be destructible. It's just that

      most designers who treat armor this way fix it so that the armor

      takes /all/ the damage until it's /completely destroyed/. Then,

      its value as protection is completely gone. I think it's better to

      treat the armor as a means for reducing damage; but after so many

      hits, the armor becomes less effective. Eventually, the armor will

      need repair or it will wear away to nothing.

*The Death Spiral:* Each time a character takes damage, the character

becomes weaker and easier to kill. Death spirals are often enforced with

loss of character ability and penalties to the die roll. As a designer,

you have to decide for yourself whether or not a death spiral is

appropriate for your game.

The Deal with Damage

Damage is a universal phenomenon in rpgs. Most every game has rules for

hurting PCs, smashing monsters, and destroying stuff. The means for

doing that are part of the game's rules. The best way to figure things

out is to answer questions.

    * What sort of damage will the players have to track?

    * How is damage inflicted?

    * How is damage quantified?

    * What effect does damage have on the recipient?

    * How is damage avoided or reduced?

    * How is damage repaired?

Damage Types

Not all damage is the same. The sword slash that hurts the body is

different from the bad news that damages the psyche or the blast of

ghostly energy that pierces the character's very soul. In the end, I

think designers choose from four types of damage:

    * *Physical harm* is simply damage to the character's body. This

      happens when a character is shot, stabbed, smashed with heavy

      objects. This may result in bruises, contusions, broken bones,

      assorted internal injuries and a whole lot of pain. Physical harm

      is by far the most common sort of damage in rpgs. It may affect

      the character's ability to do things.

    * *Psychological harm* is damage to the character's psyche. This is

      practically guaranteed to any character in a /Call of Cthulhu/

      game. This may cause the character to lose his grip on reality or

      just go insane. Psychological harm is less common than physical

      harm, but it shows up in a surprising number of rpgs.

    * *Spiritual harm* is damage to the character's very essence,

      spirit, soul, or whatever. This most often happens to characters

      that leave their bodies behind and project themselves into other

      dimensions; but certain monsters in various games are capable of

      bypassing the body to inflict direct spiritual harm.

    * *Material loss* is damage to or loss of a character's stuff. This

      happens whenever a weapon breaks, a crash trashes a vehicle, or a

      character loses the use of any piece of equipment. Players like to

      give their characters toys, and sometimes those toys get broken.

Means of Inflicting Damage

There are plenty of ways to inflict damage, but most of them fit in four

categories.

    * *Weapons* include fists, feet, and any sort of tool or device

      intended to kill people and blow stuff up. These are a primary

      means of inflicting damage in many games.

    * *Character Ability* includes cast spells, psionics, or any other

      means a character can use to project or trigger an effect without

      a weapon.

    * *Unknown forces* include all the creatures of dream and nightmare

      that may or may not exist in the game world. Even seeing one of

      these things might be enough to harm a character, though it might

      be enough for the unknown forces to see the character.

    * *Player decision* includes all the things a player decides to have

      the character do in the game. Certain decisions may damage the

      character, but the player will have the character do these things

      anyway. This is a causal relationship that usually has more to do

      with psychological or spiritual damage than physical damage; but

      anything is possible. A character that uses performance-enhancing

      drugs may develop a dependency; a character with too much

      cyberware may edge toward psychosis; and a character who delves

      too deeply into the Necronomicon will surely go insane.

Quantifying Damage

Once the means for inflicting damage are decided, a designer needs means

for quantifying damage. Here are some possibilities.

    * *Hit points* express damage as an abstract unit. No one really

      knows how much damage a hit point represents. For a small creature

      with a few hit points, a single hit point of damage is a serious

      wound. For a powerful monster with dozens of hit points, a single

      hit point of damage is a scratch. It doesn't even really matter

      how much damage a hit point represents. All that matters is one

      simple relationship: The more hit points a character has, the more

      punishment he can endure.

    * *Attribute reductions* express damage as a direct reduction in the

      recipient's attributes. A light wound might reduce a single

      attribute by a point or two. Serious wounds may cause several

      attributes to drop simultaneously. Of course, this is really just

      a variation on hit points. Instead of subtracting the damage from

      a pool of points, the player subtracts the damage from his

      character's attributes. The big difference here is that an effect

      is immediate. Lowering an attribute reduces the character's

      capabilities.

    * *Damage monitors* express damage in levels with descriptors. They

      are represented as a table on the character sheet. A light wound

      might count as a bruise or scratch. Mortal wounds put the

      character near death.

    * *Descriptions* express damage verbally. This might well be the

      most explicit way to express damage. It is often used to support

      other methods of damage measurement.

    * *Combinations* allow the designer to use more than one method to

      produce a more complex, more complete method of quantifying

      damage. A designer might combine hit points with verbal

      descriptions or damage monitors with attribute reductions, and so on.

Damage Effects

Once the damage is measured, it usually has some mechanical effect. Here

are some possibilities.

    * *Reduced Resource:* Many games include some sort of

      damage-absorbing resource, such as hit points. Damage causes a

      reduction in the resource. When the resource is completely spent,

      the character falls out of play.

    * *Special effect:* The damage produces a specific effect with

      undesirable consequences. Special effects may make a character

      extremely vulnerable using results such as stunning, holding,

      petrification, or loss of limbs. They might also radically affect

      a character's behavior, inspiring fear, confusion, or changes in

      allegiance.

    * *Reduced abilities:* As the character takes damage, the character

      suffers a reduction or loss of abilities. This is a real problem.

      As the character's abilities are reduced, his likelihood of

      suffering further damage increases. This results in a death spiral.

    * *Increased abilities:* As the character takes damage, the

      character's abilities actually increase. I haven't seen this in

      too many games, but it seems the idea is to make characters more

      determined to succeed, more motivated, and more dangerous as they

      approach the end.

    * *Altered player decision:* As the character takes damage, the

      player may have to alter his plans or make decisions about the

      plight of the character. A player has many motivations and the

      situation certainly plays a part, but adding damage to the

      equation may make the player more cautious, more daring, or more

      willing to sacrifice the character.

Avoiding and Reducing Damage

In game terms, damage is usually best avoided. If a character can't

avoid taking damage, the player can at least take steps to reduce the

amount of damage. Of course, a lot of this is up to you as the designer.

You can provide the means for reducing or avoiding damage as part of

your game design. Here are some possibilities.

    * *Character Ability:* The designer provides abilities that allow

      characters to reduce or avoid damage. A very stealthy or invisible

      character may be able to vanish from enemy view. A very fast

      character may be able to dodge attacks. A heavy, thick-skinned

      character may be able to ignore or absorb attacks. A very skilled

      character may be able to outmaneuver enemies, never giving them

      the opportunity to do any harm.

    * *Expendable resources:* The designer provides hero points or other

      expendable resources that allow characters to avoid or reduce the

      damage taken in a situation.

    * *Equipment:* The character employs a startling array of equipment

      for reducing damage including personal armor, energy shields,

      magical rings, potions, spells, or advanced technology that allows

      a character to avoid taking damage. All this stuff has the net

      effect of increasing character ability.

    * *Player Decisions:* The best way to avoid damage is to stay out of

      situations that result in damage. That includes combat and the

      dark, terrible places in many game worlds. Of course, the GM might

      have something to say about that. If the situation is unavoidable,

      some characters may still choose not to participate. Players can

      always have characters hide, run away, or surrender in order to

      avoid the situation. The designer can't really control player

      decisions, but the decisions a designer makes about damage will

      influence player decisions. If characters can take a lot of damage

      without much trouble, the player might make different decisions

      than he would if character performance really starts to suffer

      after just one or two hits.

Repairing Damage

Once characters take damage, players will want some way to make repairs.

This might also extend to pets, vehicles and other important equipment,

because a player may consider a character's pet, vehicle, or equipment

as an important aspect of the character. Thus, when any of these take

damage, the player will want to repair them, as well.

    * *Time:* Given time, most wounds heal. Depending on the wound or

      circumstances in the game world, the character may suffer some

      sort of permanent effect as a result of the injury.

    * *Expendable Resources:* The player may be able to spend points or

      use disposable items such as healing potions or stim packs to heal

      the character's wounds.

    * *Character Ability:* Just as a character may have the ability to

      inflict damage, a character might also have the ability to repair

      damage. Doing this may or may not require parts and equipment.

    * *Extraordinary Means:* When the inflicted damage is beyond normal

      means for repair, the player may still have options. The GM may

      thoughtfully provide more extensive healing and/or repair

      facilities for rebuilding characters or vehicles, such as

      hospitals and dry docks.

End Note

Designers can really tweak game play by choosing appropriate methods of

assessing damage. This is an important part of an rpg design; and good

design is a matter of conscious thought, logical choices, and deliberate

decisions. I can't tell you how you should design your games; that's up

to you. All I can do is offer a way of thinking about design. I'm

interested in your opinions about this article; so don't be shy about

posting. Next time, I'll go one step further and talk about designing

death into a game. Thanks for reading.

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 Death/playing style

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09-22-2003 11:35  	09-22-2003 11:35 new

 Death and actual immortality

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=89&t=89> (3) new 	Cpl Ferro 

07-19-2003 08:53  	01-13-2006 15:22 new

 Non-death death

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Mascarenhas  	07-18-2003 03:07  	07-23-2003 02:38 new

 Thanks, Hunter

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Robin  	06-20-2003 01:23  	06-25-2003 02:34 new

 Something you might have mentioned.

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=65&t=65> (3) new 	Yamo 

06-19-2003 16:13  	06-19-2003 18:11 new

 BTW, excellent column, Hunter!

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=63&t=63> (2) new 	flyingmice 

06-19-2003 13:11  	06-19-2003 18:13 new

 Armor and Damage Thereto

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=56&t=56> (2) new 	The Student 

06-19-2003 08:45  	06-19-2003 11:44 new

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flyingmice  	06-19-2003 08:29  	06-20-2003 06:12 new

 Death spiral and unconsciousness

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=53&t=53> (7) new 	Torben

Mogensen  	06-19-2003 07:31  	06-20-2003 06:52 new

 lucky or skilled

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05-12-2003 18:49  	05-13-2003 09:25 new

 Absolute, unopposed and opposed

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=48&t=48> (2) new 	Torben

Mogensen  	04-16-2003 02:19  	04-16-2003 09:26 new

 0-9 open ended = brilliant!

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=31&t=31> (8) new 	Vibropod 

03-12-2003 10:41  	07-18-2003 01:28 new

 Smooth rerolls

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=27&t=27> (10) new 	Torben

Mogensen  	03-12-2003 00:47  	03-16-2003 23:57 new

 Resolution Mechanics

<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=25&t=25> (8) new 	Kyle

Schuant  	03-11-2003 22:14  	03-29-2003 21:28 new

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------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Previous columns

    * #8: True Death </news+reviews/columns/dream17jul03.html> by Hunter

      Logan, 17jul03

    * #7: Assessing Damage </news+reviews/columns/dream19jun03.html> by

      Hunter Logan, 19jun03

    * #6: Putting Theory to the Test

      </news+reviews/columns/dream12may03.html> by Hunter Logan, 12may03

    * #5: Resolution Mechanics II

      </news+reviews/columns/dream14apr03.html> by Hunter Logan, 14apr03

    * Resolution Mechanics I </news+reviews/columns/dream11mar03.html>

      by Hunter Logan, 11mar03

    * Player Goals </news+reviews/columns/dream10feb03.html> by Hunter

      Logan, 10feb03

    * Balance of Power </news+reviews/columns/dream20jan03.html> by

      Hunter Logan, 20jan03

    * Play Flow First </news+reviews/columns/dream01jan03.html> by

      Hunter Logan, 01jan03

      Other columns </news+reviews/columns.html> at RPGnet

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