[UA] Secret Wound Point system

[Kevin Mowery]

-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Stalker <dougs at technologist.com>
To: ua at lists.uchicago.edu <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
Date: Monday, April 17, 2000 9:00 PM
Subject: [UA] Secret Wound Point system


>
>Mario Magallanes wrote:
>
>
>
>> Trent Redfield escribió:
>>
>>
>> (BTW, I love the secret damage system. Between "I've lost 26 points, so
>> I've got 34 points, so I'll be a little careful" and "I've been shot!
>> I've been shot! I need a doctor!", there is a beautiful diference)
>
>I've run BI3P and a short,
>introduce-some-plot-hooks-and-leave-the-PCs-wondering-why-it-was-so-easy
>adventure
>
>Durring teh first scene in BI3P one of the players was shot for a whole 5
>points of damage while struggling with an armed opponent.  I figured the
>bullet grazed his upper arm, ripping up the flesh a bit and drawing blood.
>Giving a player 5 wound points doesn't have the same effect as having his
>arm engulfed in pain with blood all over the place, which was enough to
make
>him pause and let his opponent escape.
>
>Does anyone know of anything on teh web that lists what it actually feels
>liek to be seriosly injured in various ways?  I recall reading an article
>several years back about a guy who was stabbed in teh chest.  HE said it
>didn't feel liek being stabbed, it felt like someone hit him hard with a
>cricket bat.  Description like this would help enhance the system,
>especially for PCs who don't have much combat experience.  (Someone whos
>character concept invovled street gangs, drug running and petty theft would
>have a better idea of what being stabbed is like than a wealthy occultist
>with a sheltered upbringing)

    My prime choice would be from the "Howdunit" series of books: _Body
Trauma: A Writer's Guide to Wounds and Injuries_ by David Page.  ISBN
0898797411.  I'd recommend the Howdunit series overall, actually.  A related
book from the same series, which I have not read, is _Cause of Death : A
Writer's Guide to Death, Murder and Forensic Medicine_, by Keith Wilson
(ISBN 0898795249).

    A couple of quick cheats I've found handy: blinding pain, sensations of
white heat or icy cold, and a flash of pain followed by numbness.  Another
good cheat is to talk to people who've been through something similar.  Lots
of people have had broken bones, bone bruises, concussions, or operations
(if anyone's ever trying to move around after getting stabbed . . . .).
    If you *really* want to keep someone in suspense, maybe you'll get lucky
enough to have someone fall unconscious when the party is split up.  Someone
in my last adventure stayed behind to try some computer hacking while
everyone else was out doing stuff.  Problem was, the bad guys found her.
She got chased down a fire escape and shot in the back, doing enough damage
to put her unconscious.  "You see a flash in front of your eyes and feel
pressure and some heat at the small of your back, but no real pain.  Then
everything goes black."  "I'm dead!"  "You don't know."  The player found
out the fate of the character when the rest of the party did.

Kevin Mowery________________profbobo at io.com
"'Jaws' is the warmest, tenderest, lovingest movie of
the year.  I give it four coconuts."               --Idi Amin



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