Author: Shanya Almafeta (---.psknet.net)
Date: 09-16-2002 20:07
This is just my opinion, but I think maybe you went at the hit point system from the wrong direction. The damage rolled represents how critical the wound is. Your hit points represents how much you can take before the combined shock and tissue damage is too much for your system to sustain.
Let me illustrate with this example. In CoC, four investigators are trying to stop a group of cultists. The cult catches on that a certain group is asking obtuse questions about them, and orders the investigators to be taken out. In the gunfight, the four player-characters characters each take a gunshot, and for illustration's sake, each investigator takes 8 points of damage.
Investigator #1 has 9 hit points; the gunshot reduces him to 1 hit point. He's right at death's door; his system is barely holding him together. He passes in and out while he's recovering.
Investigator #2 has 11 hit points; the gunshot reduces her to 3 hit points. Although she's in a bad way as well, more or less bedridden, she's at least stable enough to stay conscious, and perhaps make a few phone calls while in the hospital.
Investigator #3 has 14 hit points, the lucky bastard; the gunshot reduces him to 6 hit points. Although he's definately not at the top of his game, he's at least healthy enough to be released by himself, provided he takes it easy and doesn't strain himself.
Investigator #4 had 6 hit points, poor fellow. The shock knocked him unconscious, and when the 'reasonable interval' for first aid administration passed by without anyone helping him, he bled out and died.
In all the above examples, the damage done was the same; the only difference was each person's ability to cope with the damage -- their hit points.
Excellent article, by the way. I may incorperate some bits into a homebrew RPG.
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