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Graphic representation of injury

3 replies [Last post]
Thu, 10/02/2014 - 11:18
Jonsan
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Joined: 02/09/2010

I'm on a team designing and writing a table-top RPG and I'd love some input. Characters in the game can suffer four levels of injury(Minor, Serious, Critical, Lethal). Each level of injury causes a reduction in physical stamina and the character gets a negative modifier based on the most sever injury suffered. As a character heals they move down the line, so lethal injury heals into a critical injury and so on.

So when the character gets injured the player goes through these steps:
Reduce stamina by a number associated with the injury level
Mark the injury only if it is worse than existing injury
Keep in mind the penalty caused by the most severe injury (the penalties don't stack)

I'm trying to figure out a good way to represent this on the character sheet. All feedback appreciated.

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Thu, 10/02/2014 - 12:07
#1
DifferentName
DifferentName's picture
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Joined: 09/08/2013
Some thoughts

The character sheet could list the injury types, with one or more tokens to mark which level of injury they're at. This way you clearly see what your penalty is. while one counter on the correct spot would be good to show your health if there's a wide range of numbers, if there are only a few health points, you could use a few counters so if the table gets jostled it's still clear how many health/damage counters you have.

What you're describing makes me want to see abilities based on relative health, like a berserker who can actually get stronger while damaged, or a paladin with some kind of heroic last stand ability that they can use once while they're hurt.

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Thu, 10/02/2014 - 12:29
#2
Despot9
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Joined: 07/26/2008
World of Darkness has 3

World of Darkness has 3 levels of damage. Bashing, Lethal, and Aggravated. The way they denote it is a / for bashing, and X for lethal, and an asterisk for Aggravated.

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Thu, 10/02/2014 - 16:48
#3
Zag24
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Joined: 03/02/2014
A card as counter?

There's something about the adjective "lethal" that makes me think one shouldn't heal from such a wound. Maybe it's the whole, you know, 'dead' aspect. :-)

Anyway, I like the previous idea just fine, where there are two counters, one for current stamina and one for highest injury level. However, if you're looking for another way to represent the same thing in one counter, how about this?

The row along which you indicate the current stamina is along the edge of the board, with the current value being indicated because a card is tucked partly under the board (at the right position) with half of the card showing. The card is a special injury card, with "Lethal" and "Critical" on opposite halves of one side, and "Serious" and "Minor" on the opposite halves of the other side. A player flips the card around to show his current state, and tucks it under the board at the right position to show his current stamina level.

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