Ooops, missed the subject line...
Well, I'm glad that my comments on the combat system gathered responses,
even if they were negative. Actually, that's probably my fault; I did
come on a little strong. (I must have been in a particularly bad mood.
My apologies.)
I thought I should add a little more to give people a better idea. Basically,
the thing I object to is that, assuming the average character has 18 to 25
hit points, a single round from a pistol, and even from most rifles or shot-
guns, is not likely to do more than "wow, I've lost some hit points; gee,
maybe I shouldn't charge so many machinegun nests."
I am VERY aware of the reality-playability problem; one of my goals has been
to design a combat system that has as much of both as possible. (I think
my bad mood was a result of some of the sacrifices I have had to make as far
as reality is concerned in order to manage the playability. Of course,
ultimately, the playability is the primary concern.)
Suffice that now, if you shot or stabbed with anyone bigger than a 6 mm.
pistol (like a .25, but with actual killing power) or a boot knife, you can
be in serious trouble. Just like real life. Even the little weapons can
kill on a lucky shot. Shotguns and rifles? These were weapons designed
for (a) killing large animals like bears and (b) overkill on medium-sized
animals like humans.
On the up side, armor (kevlar, etc.) is fairly cheap in my gameworld. And
it will stop most small arms, or at least reduce a killing wound to a bruise
(and maybe a broken rib). Also, hospitals in the future may still be run by
incompetent humans, but they have much better machines. I'm a trained first
aider, so I consider "death" as "when your heart stops and your brain
starts to die from oxygen lack." If someone dies and you get them to a
support unit in the first five or ten minutes, they will recover with no
problem. (Hell, we can do that NOW.) Also, just like in real life, if
you have a trained medic in the party, most wounds that would be fatal
without medical attention can be treated to the point where they are no
longer life-threatening. The character will have to go to the hospital
to finish patching things up, but they will live. My basic rule of thumb
is that serious wounds without medical attention can kill up to 90% of
the time, but WITH medical attention, only kill about 10% of the time.
(By the way, it takes a long time to bleed to death unless you have been
hit in the aorta or femoral artery, so medics usually have plenty of time
to crawl over and work on people.)
Medical stuff...please use these ideas if you like them...Medical drug
slows bleeding (or stops it if it is minor) so medics have more time to
get to you; it also prevents shock. Also, portable cranial support units
("brain boxes") are available to keep a brain alive when the body can't
do it anymore. True, you have to wait for donor body to show up, but
at least you're alive.
Last but not least, and perhaps most interesting to you people, I hope,
is how all this affects the gaming. There is a really interesting effect
when players know that violence is bad for their health...they think a lot
more. The unspoken rules in my gameworld, one of the lessons I try to
teach, is that shooting and stabbing people are not really desirable things
(although they may sometimes be necessary). Killing is dangerous, messy,
unpleasant, and even if you get out of the firefight, there can be legal
reprecussions. (Often, these are more horrifying than the firefight,
as anyone who has dealt with lawyers can tell you.) So, I want people to
THINK before they get into a firefight. And if they choose to do so,
they should THINK about how to get the first shot off (the second unspoken
rule is that if you have to kill someone, do it right).
By the way, I don't run my world with the intention to slaughter my player
characters. My gameworld is dangerous, but if you use common sense, even
in "commando" scenarios where you know there will be a lot of shooting
(NPCs are usually people with skills at the nominal level, and most of
them are of only average intelligence and physical abilities), you have
an excellent chance of coming out without a scratch.
Well, I've rambled on far too long. Take care, all; I look forward to
further discussions.
Mark
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