Let's dive deep into something that's near and dear to every tabletop RPG player's heart: health systems. We all know the classic "hit points go down, character gets sadder" approach, but there's a whole universe of creative and engaging mechanics out there.
The first corruption system I ever saw was in Aberrant. As a super powered being you could voluntarily and involuntarily take a point of taint. You would get more powerful or survive a death blow, but you could never reduce it. Once you got 10 points your character was lost and became an NPC. It was separate from the HP system but connected in a couple of ways. It was an interesting system to play.
That's a great question. I might have to follow-up and do just that! I wrote a newsletter awhile back looking at creating a Module game, and then thinking about which modules to add to your game based on your Theme/Genre that you were trying to invoke
I really loved reading this. I would be curious to see how you would alter an existing system to fit a genre and general feel. Not from the angle like "let us fix XYZ's health system" but more like "If you wanted to run XYZ but it's modern day and there's a horror theme" then explain what you might add or remove to help fit that system/timeline/theme.
The first corruption system I ever saw was in Aberrant. As a super powered being you could voluntarily and involuntarily take a point of taint. You would get more powerful or survive a death blow, but you could never reduce it. Once you got 10 points your character was lost and became an NPC. It was separate from the HP system but connected in a couple of ways. It was an interesting system to play.
Love that! I can see how Memento Mori probably got its roots from that!
Cubicle 7's Middle-Earth setting had a similar corruption system, which I liked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_in_Middle-earth
Unfortunately they lost the license (as everyone does).
Hey Eric,
That's a great question. I might have to follow-up and do just that! I wrote a newsletter awhile back looking at creating a Module game, and then thinking about which modules to add to your game based on your Theme/Genre that you were trying to invoke
https://jfacegames.substack.com/p/exploring-a-full-module-game-design
Let me know if this scratches some of that itch in terms of designing a health system for such a game!
Good post. With lots to chew on.
I did a more historical survey here.
https://randallhayes.substack.com/p/i-hate-hit-points
I really loved reading this. I would be curious to see how you would alter an existing system to fit a genre and general feel. Not from the angle like "let us fix XYZ's health system" but more like "If you wanted to run XYZ but it's modern day and there's a horror theme" then explain what you might add or remove to help fit that system/timeline/theme.
It would be a fun exercise for sure.