Musings on Game - HP

Why design a roleplaying game? The reasons, for me, are many.

I first started playing roleplaying games when I was about 13. At the time, for lack of a roleplaying group to be a part of, I subjected my two younger brothers to my immature Dungeon Mastering. I made mistakes, quite a lot actually, but learned how to be a better DM with every one of them. In High School I joined a roleplaying group, and we played every Saturday night until we discovered the joys of alcohol and women, and suddenly roleplaying went by the wayside. I never did give up gaming, though. I simply switched from tabletop RPGs to tabletop miniatures, and card games, and board games, and video games. Quite a lot of gaming, it occurs to me as I look back at it now. Fast forward quite a few years (I'd rather not discuss exactly how many), and a friend of mine convinced me to get back into tabletop RPGs. That was on the order of three or four years ago. During that time, I've done a lot of thinking about what I like and what I don't like about the RPGs that I've played (not many, as it turns out. D&D, AD&D 1st & 2nd eds., D&D 4E, 1st or 2nd edition Shadowrun, and 4th ed. Shadowrun. I have, however, read complete many many other game systems rules. So many that I will not post them all here).

So what don't I like, then? And please, excuse my ramblings. They may seem slipshod and hit-or-miss, but for the time being I'm just putting it all out there. And, there are so many things (which is why I'm doing this blog, in order to organize all of it) that I will probably end up stretching this over a series of posts.

1) I don't like Hit Points. I never have. Now, don't get me wrong. I understand the need for them. I just don't like them. Why? Because, at least as they are used in D&D (and subsequently every Computer RPG ever made), they give rise to a phenomenon where a character at a certain level need no longer fear the lethality of a crossbow (or insert favored weapon here). Arrow to chest? No problem, I've got 63 more hp. Bring it, gobbos! Yeah, I know. It's an abstraction. But an abstraction of what, exactly? Morale? I've heard that one. And it doesn't make any sense. In Dungeons and Dragons, a character's defenses are given a score. And their health is given a score. If I were to bypass a creature's defenses, and lower their health, then they have taken damage. At first level, that was great. A hit from a longsword was often enough to cleave the pesky critter in twain. But you try that same thing at 5th level, fighting a 5th level creature, and suddenly your hit from said longsword doesn't do crap. You still hit the pesky critter. You still bypassed its defenses. You are still using the same weapon, with the same strength, as you did before, but now it means less. A LOT less. Sweet. I hit the Fiery Whatsit and did 11 damage. Now I only need to do that 17 more times. Man, this is great. I sure am glad I leveled up so I can fight these great evils that have also leveled up just like me.

I recognized this problem even when I was fairly new to the world of RPGs, although I didn't know exactly what it was that was bothering me. All I knew was that it didn't take very long before I didn't want my PCs to advance beyond the 3rd level. The 3rd level seemed about perfect to me. It was enough that the PCs weren't being taken down by fuzzy bunnies, but not too much that certain creatures (such as the quintessential kobolds and goblins) were no longer a threat. Of course, you can't do that as a DM. Character growth is one of the essential aspects of any RPG, and how do you grow as a character if the DM caps you at level 3?

And then I discovered Shadowrun. Shadowrun, in many ways, blew my mind. But the way that most affected me was the idea of static HP. Everybody got 10 Health, and that was it. No more, no less, ever. Suddenly a whole new world opened up to me. Holy crap, I thought. Holy mother-loving crap. Of course, it didn't take long before I recognized that Shadowrun was a flawed system itself, and I found the aforementioned joys of women & booze, which took all of my attention away from games. At least for a little while.

Next up: AC (Armor Class)