[Runequest] Contemplating House Rule -- Advice?

[Tom Cantine]

Hmmm. That said, though, I think a resistance roll is a little more 
realistic and dramatic, in that a deadline is a little too concrete, 
too predictable. If you know Biff's bleeding out at 1 hp per round and 
he has 5 left, you can make decisions based on that. I think it 
preferable that it be a genuine gamble. "Hold on, Biff! Hold on!" You 
really don't know at what moment it'll be too late to help him.

For something as serious as a PC death, in fact, I think it's probably 
best to have it be something handled behind the GM screen. Even the 
player shouldn't necessarily know the moment, but should be fed some 
subjective "moving down the tunnel toward the light..." embellishment.

On 19-May-11, at 3:54 PM, Robert Hoffman wrote:

> Since we use bleeding rules that already factors in someone's 
> constitution towards the character's ability to sustain life.  Going 
> to 0 is unconscious and negative your max hit points is considered 
> death.  Considering the damage that got you that point bleeding out in 
> 10-12 rounds isn't really all that much in real world time. 
>  
> Also going back to our magic number, receiving a single blow to the 
> head, chest or abdomen that is double the hitpoints +6 is instant 
> death.  If the damage to those locations is just negative its regular 
> bleeding rolls, if its double the hitpoints its the major bleeding 
> rolls.  We've had situations with characters bleeding out of 2-3 
> wounds that they have to roll for individually.  Watching them slip 
> ever closer to the negative hitpoint "deadline" certainly does provide 
> tension,... especially when the rest of the party still needs to 
> finish combat before they can even think of helping their fallen 
> comrade.
>  
> From: runequest-bounces at rpgreview.net 
> [mailto:runequest-bounces at rpgreview.net] On Behalf Of Styopa
> Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2011 2:07 PM
> To: RuneQuest Rules
> Subject: Re: [Runequest] Contemplating House Rule -- Advice?
>  
> On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 1:59 PM, Peter Maranci <pmaranci at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>
> Personally it has always seemed to me that the cut-off of death at 
> zero general HP didn't make sense - it's much too binary for a 
> percentile system. :D
>
> How about this? At zero HP, the victim is unconscious. For every point 
> below 0, they must make a resistance roll of the negative damage 
> versus their CON.
> Not too complicated at all, although I'd make it vs half their con, 
> otherwise you're giving them a boatload of safety net.
>  
> I like it, I think it will add tension when someone is 'at death's 
> door'. _______________________________________________
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