Harm in G&R - 1HP is all you need
I'm obsessed with HP (or the lack of it) for a while now. I know from my experience with Blades in the Dark, Trophy and Slugblaster that I prefer harm to be narrative and that I don't want it to be its own sub-system. Don't get me wrong, I do play games with numerical HP and it's not always bothering me, but I never love it. But getting rid of it is suprisingly difficult.
My favourite example of how I want physical harm to work is the 2400 (or 24XX) series of micro games by Jason Tocci. Lasting harm, called hindrances, are inflicted as consequences of failed rolls. Players can reduce them by breaking an item. Everything else is part of the GM's judgement or negotiation between the players and the GM. Hindrances are cleared when it makes sense. That's it. Sure, there are a lot more nuances in the original text (go read it!) but generally that's how harm works.
In Slugblaster and Trophy (and Carved from Brindlewood games) any kind of lasting harm, physical or otherwise, comes in the form of conditions. In Slugblaster there is a second level of severity that comes as an adjective. Slugblaster and CfB games have an upper limit to the number of conditions you can have. When you exceed it, worse things happen. But generally it's very freeform.
What's essential to me isn't only how physical injuries work for player characters but also how it works for NPC's. I want enemies and NPC's to be complex, dynamics obstacles. They are puzzles that can be "solved" by the right action with the right tools, although most don't just have one solution. What keeps them from simply being overcome is their capabilities to resist and the fictional situation they create.
Lucky for me I don't need to elaborate on this, because Clayton Notestine has done it in his influential blog post about the 1Hp Dragon and his follow up about dying from the 1HP Dragon in a much smarter way than I could.
For Grass & Rubble I straight up copied Jason Tocci's amazing work:
Harm & Conditions
Note lasting injuries and afflictions on your character sheet. They may hinder your actions, make them outright impossible (you can’t climb with a broken arm), or have unique effects. The GM will tell you how harm can be cleared depending on its severity:
Light: Clears during rest or when it makes sense. Examples: Dizzy, bruised, sprained, exhausted, blinded, drunk.
Serious: Clears with treatment during rest. Examples: Wounded, bloodied, cracked bone, dislocated joint, concussed, nauseated.
Critical: Takes you out for the moment and clears with treatment during downtime. You can’t act meaningfully until someone stabilizes you. Examples: Shattered limb, cracked spine, heavy bleeding, lost sense, head trauma, knocked out.
Fatal: Deadly or permanently incapacitating, either way it’s the end of your character’s journey. You may take one last action though. Examples: Deadly wound, lethal poison, crushed skull, mangled limbs.
Defense
Mark 1 Dread or break a piece of gear that would protect you to deny harm and turn it into a complication.
I've talked about Dread in a previous post. I think it's fine, but there is one thing I never quite liked: Why would players ever accept Critical or Fatal harm instead of using a defense? Do they really have a choice? As Grass & Rubble is a horror game in its core, it's deadly and risks are often quite impactful. It follows the same philosophy as 24XX games do: If they meet their opponent on equal ground, the risk matches the players ambition. Trying to shoot someone in a gunfight risks getting shot down. Trying to kill risks death. There's a lot that players can do to mitigate risks, but when critical or deadly harm is on the table, denying it seems like a no brainer.
This is where Claytons most recent post comes in. What if I introduce my version of the Doom Roll? Fitting it into the Luck Roll format, it looks like this:
Doom Roll
When a player suffers critical harm or suffers harm when they already have 3 harm conditions, their character is down. They roll 1D6 under a cup. The result is revealed when another character checks on them or after they are left unattended for an hour. On a 1: They are dead, but might speak some last words. On 2-3: They are unconcious and in a critical state. Repeat the roll after an hour if they don't get professional medical help. On 4-6: They are fine (except for the critical injury).
Fatal harm would be cut. Sure, if the fiction dictates it players can die without any Doom Roll but in most cases a Doom Roll is warranted. This version does give more of a choice to the players when it comes to fatal harm. I need to see how this actually works in play.