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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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cooldog cotangent
<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=98&t=98> (1) new
cranial_index 01-31-2006 20:46 01-31-2006 20:46 new
CORONA <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=97&t=97> (1) new
corn_chamomile 01-31-2006 20:25 01-31-2006 20:25 new
Fendi Spy Bags WHOLESALE@WizardReplica.com
<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=95&t=95> (1) new 514
12-02-2005 10:55 12-02-2005 10:55 new
Designer Handbags Wholesale@WWW.WIZARDREPLICA.COM
<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=94&t=94> (1) new 868
11-14-2005 19:41 11-14-2005 19:41 new
REPLICA HANDBAGS LOUIS VUITTON REPLICA WHOLESALE@
<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=93&t=93> (1) new 794
10-20-2005 21:37 10-20-2005 21:37 new
Death/playing style
<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=92&t=92> (1) new Searcher
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
<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=85&t=85> (5) new Sérgio
Mascarenhas 07-18-2003 03:07 07-23-2003 02:38 new
Thanks, Hunter
<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=80&t=80> (4) new Allan
Sugarbaker 07-16-2003 00:18 07-17-2003 19:34 new
Realism <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=74&t=74> (3) new
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
Armor <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=54&t=54> (9) new
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
<http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=110&i=51&t=51> (2) new rhyme
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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