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+ Wind in the Flowers: Re-inventing a Game
+
+
+ Systems Change
+
+*R. Sean Borgstrom*
+February 13, 2002
+
+The new edition of *Nobilis* needed a stronger combat system. The game
+itself does not depend on action or physical conflict, but stories of
+combat play a big part in roleplaying games and speculative fiction in
+general. I consider the old combat resolution system a bit weak, and
+that's unfortunate. Many people enjoy roleplaying combat a great deal.
+So we revised the system for greater usability and excitement.
+
+In building a new combat system, I set out to avoid a phenomenon I think
+of as "the death of a thousand cuts." In many roleplaying combat
+systems, if you bruise or nick a character seven, or twenty, or even a
+hundred and fifty times, the character eventually falls over dead. With
+proper design, such systems are realistic. Properly managed, they can
+produce dramatic results. But I don't like this phenomenon in *Nobilis*.
+
+Characters in *Nobilis* transcend biology. Even ordinary humans have a
+mythic, spiritual element to their nature. The Nobilis, the main
+protagonists and standard PCs, have a bit of the /divine/ in them as
+well. If the immortal spirit plays as large a role in sustaining life as
+proper liver and kidney function, slow accumulation of minor mechanical
+damage shouldn't kill a character off.
+
+The first principle of the new combat system is simple. It should always
+take at least one significant blow to bring a character down. An
+assortment of scratches does not suffice to kill someone. There must be
+an actual mortal wound.
+
+Other systems have implemented this idea. Traditionally, a character can
+take an arbitrary amount of damage in these systems, with normal
+deleterious effects, but cannot /die/ without taking a level of the
+deadliest form of damage.
+
+In a way, such games reprise the "death spiral" seen in various early
+and modern systems. The more damaged a character becomes, the easier it
+becomes to suffer further damage. Eventually, the character falls to the
+center of the spiral - incapacitation or death. Healthy characters are
+extremely hard to kill, however fell the blow. After taking a few hard
+knocks, however, the character becomes vulnerable.
+
+Realistically, this makes sense. Certainly, very few character types
+actually get /better/ at avoiding damage when they become wounded. The
+talent is rare and specific and, in *Nobilis*, players should purchase
+the talent as a player-designed Gift. It does not belong in the main
+combat system. The death spiral also makes dramatic sense. Systems built
+around a death spiral tend to make sure that characters /do/ survive one
+or two blows before death. Finally, it makes the character's injury more
+real for the players if it has a mechanical impact on the game.
+
+The standard death spiral bothers me, however, for the same reason that
+nicking and scraping characters to death does. As characters descend the
+spiral, it becomes ever easier to inflict that fatal blow. This
+undermines the purpose of requiring at least one significant attack. To
+me, if someone beats a character into helplessness with a series of
+minor blows, and then finishes them off at leisure with a gun held
+against their eye, it's not the gunfire that killed them. It's the minor
+beating that left them unable to stop their enemy from shooting their
+head point blank.
+
+The first unusual element of *Nobilis*' new combat system works as
+follows. It's not the /last/ blow that must be particularly lethal to
+take one of the Nobilis down. Taking a deadly wound isn't the final
+indignity for a player character. Instead, a character /begins/ to
+suffer the game mechanical effects of damage when they take their first
+terrible injury.
+
+From a traditional perspective, *Nobilis*' new death spiral curls
+backwards. A character has one to three Deadly wound levels. When they
+suffer a truly horrible wound -- damage to the heart, a terrible fall, a
+bullet to the head, serious burns, a lightning strike -- they lose one
+such wound level. Until they run out of Deadly wound levels, lesser
+damage has no game effect. A character also has a few Serious wound
+levels. /After/ they run out of Deadly wound levels, significant damage
+costs them a Serious wound level.
+
+Finally, characters have a few Surface wound levels. When they run out
+of Deadly and then Serious wound levels, even a modest knocking around
+costs them a Surface wound level. When they run out of /those/, they
+die. Characters have between four and nine levels all told.
+
+Before I discuss this any further, I must admit to one obvious flaw. It
+/is/ unintuitive for mortal characters to completely ignore any number
+of Serious wounds received while they still have a Deadly wound level
+remaining. You can lay open all their limbs with a knife, cut their
+stomach, shoot their feet, spray them with mildly toxic gas, hurl them
+into a cloud of angry wasps and then roll them through a fireplace and
+they'll still be good to go. Not just fit and unimpaired -- they won't
+lose even a single Serious wound level, since they still have a Deadly
+wound level left.
+
+I don't have a solution for this. It's an intrinsic part of the system.
+I do have some reasons to think it's acceptable, however. From the
+dramatic perspective, when a character suffers a Deadly wound level, it
+serves as the "cue" to the audience -- the players -- that the character
+is now genuinely at risk.
+
+For those more oriented on realistic results, you might wish to think of
+the miraculous energy that pervades the Nobilis as "ablative vitality."
+Their sheer natural health simply /transcends/ damage insufficient to
+inflict a wound level. Like physical armor, a Nobilis' vitality must be
+pierced before the Noble themselves can suffer impairment.
+
+From my perspective, and hopefully the players', this wound system has
+one significant virtue. The damage that characters suffer is "honest."
+In a traditional death spiral, when a character takes a trivial wound
+early on, it could mean the difference between life and death later. In
+this system, a character cannot /suffer/ a trivial wound until they are
+on their last legs -- when they know exactly how much closer to death it
+brings them.
+
+Consequentially, when the characters take that deadly wound dramatically
+necessary to bring them close to death, they have time to react to that
+information. This honesty /does/ reduce risk, but the person running the
+game can compensate with increased danger. It also reduces /chaos/,
+allowing both players and those running games greater control over the
+game world.
+
+R. Sean
+
+
+ What do you think? <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88>
+
+Go to forum! <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88>
+ Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88>
+
+ Topics Author Date Latest Reply
+ James and the Small Caps
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=81&t=81> (2) new Kibo
+08-20-2002 16:29 02-10-2003 01:23 new
+ Art <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=77&t=77> (1) new Lxndr
+04-26-2002 07:36 04-26-2002 07:36 new
+ The Original Nobilis Club
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=76&t=76> (3) new Bret Gillan
+04-17-2002 11:28 03-17-2003 17:48 new
+ Questions & Thoughts
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=64&t=64> (3) new Pyske
+03-20-2002 18:31 05-01-2003 13:03 new
+ Noble Buddhism?
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=61&t=61> (9) new Tlaloc
+03-20-2002 12:17 12-10-2004 01:20 new
+ Noble Suicide <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=58&t=58> (9) new
+Eric Christian Berg 03-20-2002 07:43 01-18-2005 16:27 new
+ Art Notes <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=54&t=54> (4) new R.
+Sean Borgstrom 03-14-2002 16:31 03-21-2002 03:44 new
+ Ack...you just lost my sale
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=45&t=45> (10) new SteveD
+03-14-2002 04:06 03-15-2002 06:29 new
+ Onomastikon working URL
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=36&t=36> (4) new Jorge
+Hernández 03-06-2002 12:51 08-20-2002 16:10 new
+ Why do angels change names ?
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=33&t=33> (10) new philippe
+tromeur 03-06-2002 10:13 12-10-2004 01:34 new
+ R. Sean, some examples?
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=32&t=32> (3) new Arref
+03-05-2002 08:17 03-13-2002 20:28 new
+ Sounds great, BUT...
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=28&t=28> (2) new Kane
+02-27-2002 16:43 02-27-2002 17:30 new
+ Sort of backwards?
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=21&t=21> (8) new Eric Finley
+02-20-2002 14:25 02-28-2002 09:35 new
+ Programmer nature slips out!
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=20&t=20> (2) new Sean
+McCarthy 02-20-2002 13:18 02-21-2002 10:30 new
+ Object Lesson Damage
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=15&t=15> (1) new Darren
+Miguez 02-13-2002 12:45 02-13-2002 12:45 new
+ How about this?
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=12&t=12> (2) new Kristian
+Lund 02-13-2002 11:30 02-14-2002 01:17 new
+ Now, this was strange!
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=9&t=9> (7) new access.denied
+02-13-2002 07:44 02-16-2002 21:44 new
+ Briefs on the other two?
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=5&t=5> (5) new Eric Finley
+01-31-2002 18:39 02-13-2002 10:36 new
+ Forum now works <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=4&t=4> (1) new
+Sandy Antunes 01-31-2002 17:36 01-31-2002 17:36 new
+ limited series <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=1&t=1> (2) new
+Sandy Antunes 01-21-2002 17:41 01-31-2002 17:36 new
+
+ Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88>
+
+ Newer Messages
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=81&a=1&> | Older Messages
+<http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=1&a=2&>
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ * Editing, Development, and Production
+ </news+reviews/columns/wind27mar02.html>
+ March 27, 2002
+ * Affiliations </news+reviews/columns/wind20mar02.html>
+ March 20, 2002
+ * How to be a Hollyhock God </news+reviews/columns/wind13mar02.html>
+ March 13, 2002
+ * Naming Conventions </news+reviews/columns/wind06mar02.html>
+ March 6, 2002
+ * Art Notes </news+reviews/columns/wind27feb02.html>
+ February 27, 2002
+ * Dynamic Nobilis </news+reviews/columns/wind20feb02.html>
+ February 20, 2002
+ * Systems Change </news+reviews/columns/wind13feb02.html>
+ February 13, 2002
+ * Treachery </news+reviews/columns/wind06feb02.html>
+ February 6, 2002
+ * The Emperor to Come </news+reviews/columns/wind31jan02.html>
+ January 31, 2002
+ * The Changing of the Guard </news+reviews/columns/wind21jan02.html>
+ January 21, 2002
+
+
+ Other columns </news+reviews/columns.html> at RPGnet
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