In no particular order:
His rationale: an escalating HP system is an abstraction of how proficient a PC is at avoiding damage. If the PC chooses not to avoid the damage, he takes the realistic results of his actions.
That's your choice, but its not what the _rules_ do; its you essentially using GM fiat or a house rule.
Rulesets generally don't directly address metagaming the RPG system's handling of damage. When the players are metagaming in such a way as to abuse the game's mechanics, the GM has to exert control.
I'm not talking about metagaming by optimizing your PC or something like that, I'm talking about taking actions that not even the main protagonist in the cheesiest of action flicks would take, like sucking on an Uzi on full auto to prove how tough he is (assuming, of course, he's not actually Kal-El).
Every one of the RPGs I've ever played has either explicitly or implicitly allowed or expected houseruling and GM fiat.
You need to play more varied games then.
(as well as various comments about HRs and Rule Zero)
I've played games in approximately 50 systems, and up until I sold a lot of stuff to Half-Price Books, owned another 60 or so, covering horror, sci-fi, fantasy, western. Some were playtests that never made it to publication.
Not a one has barred HR, & several go so far as to say that some or all of the printed rules contained in the books are optional.
Unless and until a game system comes complete with a Mafia Legbreaker to enforce the RAW, the GM still controls the lethality of the game.
Unless and until a game system comes complete with a Mafia Legbreaker to make the GM design encounters with a "system reccomended" level conflict or roleplay, the GM still controls the lethality of the game.
For example, in the past 10 years, I've been in several major D&D campaigns. In the earliest one, combat occured once per 4
sessions, on average. In the one that followed that game's demise, I could count on 2-4 melees per session.
Same ruleset.
Not possible in DitV. The GM sets up a town (i.e., a situation), and then the players make things happen. A DitV GM has absolutely no power to just declare that a PC dies, nor force a player into a conflict where death is part of the stakes whether they want that or not.
So I can't set up a town where a disease like smallpox is rampant (at the time, incurable- the disease ran its course and you either died or you didn't)? Or ravenous demons dominate? Or something as simple & RW as a madman sniping at passersby from the highest point in the town (like the church belfry)?
A GM can't declare a PC who falls 100' or gets shoved into the ironsmith's (active) forge dead?
I didn't see any of that barred on their site.
And should I choose to run a psychopathic killer out on a first date with Miss Victim...er...Buffy Lancaster?
You wouldn't be playing Breaking the Ice, that's for sure.
How so? Again, nothing on the site says
anything about the constraints of the quality of human being you're roleplaying.
Again, not possible. Destiny is a mechanic in Sorcerer and Sword. If "King of Aquilonia" is on your sheet, it is inviolate. The GM can do nothing to change that.
Sure he can...he defines the meaning of "King of Aquilonia." He decides if Aquilonia is a major, minor, or possibly even non-existent country. He decides if Aquilonia is currently a democracy or a socialist collective with laws on the books calling for the execution of those claiming to be royalty of the nation. He decides if the title is honorary or meaningful. He decides if there is another equally valid claimant to the throne (say, an identical twin brother, seperated at birth), or if the PC with the title is legitimate or a usurper.
They generally don't give any one player the power to say "You die!" without having to somehow interface with the system.
In one, the controlling player has the power to say "I die!"
In the other, a group of players acting in concert have the power to say "You die!"
That's merely a case of shifting the power, not eliminating it.
Danny, there are games (like the ones I mention) where GM fiat doesn't exist. That's part of the point I'm trying to make.
You haven't proven it- the links provided give no support to your claim. In fact, the point may not even be provable without an actual demonstration of one of the systems you're pointing to.