Monday, January 25, 2016

MY FAVORITE MONTH IS DISMEMBER

I rewrote the Death and Dismemberment table again.  As well as the Insanity table.  I did this because I am a crazy.


Goddamn, the old one was complex.  I don't know why I ever thought it was simple.

Anyway, this was all precipitated by a D&D game I ran last night, wherein a couple of players died, going from full health to dead dead dead in one fell swoop, with no chance to run away.

Yeah, they were first level, and first level is supposed to be squishy.  Was there sub-optimal playering?  Perhaps.  Was there sub-optimal DMing?  Perhaps.  Was there sub-optimal dungeon design?  Perhaps.  But I can't fix any of those things right now.  What I can fix right now is system.

Compared to my old Death and Dismemberment Table, this one is. . .

  • Smaller.  Only 3 lines instead of the prior 6.  Why did I think I needed 6?  Christ.  
  • About 20% fewer dice to roll, on average.
  • Less superfluous.  (Of course you fall over if you get your leg hacked off, why even waste a fucking entry stating that?)
  • More injurious.
  • Less deadly.  In fact, instant death isn't even on the table any more.
  • The injury sources are more comprehensive: fire, acid, lightning, eldritch, non-lethal.
  • Just as shoddily styled.  Three tables, three different ugly formats.
New ways to fuck up characters includes:
  • Crushed Throat.  You cannot speak louder than a whisper.
  • Crushed Ribs.  You suck at holding your breath.
  • Burned.  You cannot wear armor.
  • Split Personality. Roll up a new level 1 character that uses your current physical stats, but new mental stats.  The class must be different from your current one.  Each session, alternate between these two characters, each one tracking XP separately.
I dunno.  I think there's less chaff and more good, usable stuff.

But shiny new thing is the Fatal Wound thing.  That's what I'm going to replace "Dying" and "Instant Death" with.  We'll see how it works out.

I don't think I've posted pictures in a while, have I?  Here's a bunch.









4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. At the top of the chart, it says severity is a d10 + lethal damage, but in the example, you roll a d12? And shouldn't it be 2 fatal wounds? And 16 days disabled? Or am I mathing wrong?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The mathing wrongly, it was me. I changed it from a d12 to a d10 at the last minute to soften up the table a bit more. I've since fixed it; thanks.

      Delete