An attempt at justifying AD&D Hit Points

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An attempt at justifying AD&D Hit Points

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Stumps

Mar 19 2004, 02:58 AM

Post #1

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http://www.frontiernet.net/~jamesstarlight...tification.html

This ought to be interesting...
Personally, for the most part I think this guy is full of shit and simply trying to justify a broken system.

I was ok with his "essay" untill this point:

QUOTE (part 1...The "attack" of the issue)

What did bother me, however, was that not one of them saw how hit points or other simplifications could be justified in terms of a sort of 'in world' realism.

QUOTE (part 2...His defense)

I have always had a strange approach to roleplaying games. If a rule came along and on the surface it seemed wrong, instead of immediately dismissing it, I would frequently try to come up with a valid reason why the rule must be that way. Of course most of us already know a lot of those seemingly artificial rules were simply put into the system in the name of game balance.

QUOTE (part 3...Pointing fingure of blame)

For an example in the GURPS system, why would a character that took 'poor' as a disadvantage not be able to accept the generous gift of top quality armor from another PC who was rich? Realistically, the rich PC would be at an advantage to have his strong, but poor friend well armed and outfitted, making them an excellent traveling companion, and the poor man would be better protected as well. So why would a poor man refuse?

QUOTE (part 4...And then he completely contradicts Parts 1 and 2's statement!)

And I know there are a handful of counter arguments to what I'm saying - mostly about a 'good' GM not leaving money laying around in easy to find piles, but that misses my point. They all seem to build on the false notion of trying to justify a rule that was only placed there to prevent players from abusing the system in the first place. It has no 'in world' reality; it's a game rule trying to do a game thing inside the fantasy world where PCs can actually see it - or its effects. This should never be done, and any game system that does this should be corrected if possible.

This is a good read, except that, to the writer, it appears ok to justify AD&D but not GURPS. :?

Just an interesting read I found while looking up different Hit Location, and game functions...

Posts in this topic

Stumps An attempt at justifying AD&D Hit Points Mar 19 2004, 02:58 AM

Austere Emancipator For why D&D-like HPs suck, see here. Mar 19 2004, 09:38 AM

mfb i find it irksome that the many of the people who ... Mar 19 2004, 11:13 AM

Austere Emancipator Yes, it should. Mar 19 2004, 11:20 AM

nezumi It just comes back to realism within the system. ... Mar 19 2004, 01:41 PM

mfb i have no problem with the idea that hp are not re... Mar 20 2004, 12:42 AM

Stumps The interesting thing here, and the reason that I ... Mar 20 2004, 04:34 AM

Stumps My personal take on Hit Points: They're fine.... Mar 20 2004, 04:52 AM

Austere Emancipator QUOTE (Stumps)Final Fantasy uses them exclusively ... Mar 20 2004, 01:03 PM

Kagetenshi This article has a fatal flaw, one that is mention... Mar 20 2004, 11:00 PM

Daishi Hit points make for a decent enough mechanic, but ... Mar 22 2004, 07:10 AM

Austere Emancipator The descriptions of VPs and WPs aren't that mu... Mar 22 2004, 10:22 AM

mfb incidentally, i think the reasoning the author use... Mar 23 2004, 03:38 AM

Frag-o Delux I agree with AE, HP's make a fine cinematic ga... Mar 23 2004, 04:21 PM

Kagetenshi Alignments are perfectly fine as long as you never... Mar 23 2004, 04:49 PM

mfb there are no general penalties for changing alignm... Mar 24 2004, 03:54 AM

Stumps I've always thought that if you have alignment... Mar 24 2004, 06:48 AM

Panzergeist He's basicly admitted that rather than conside... Mar 26 2004, 01:33 AM

Stumps *nods* and proceeds to say that it's wrong to ... Mar 26 2004, 04:52 AM

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