Hit Point Narration

[Mark Hope]

Always. My players don't know their characters' hit points, so all the numbers are kept behind the screen and they get a narrative representation of what's going on.

 

[Argyle King]

I narrate wounds. I prefer HP systems in which HP represents something tangible.

With that in mind, I would say I narrate HP more often than not.

 

[delericho]

I voted "sometimes". My intention is to do so more often - that every attack should be narrated. The reality is less impressive, in that I'm frequently busy with a bunch of other monsters as well, and would rather move on with the combat rather than spend even a couple of seconds narrating beyond "a hit, 5 damage", or whatever.

 

[Verdande]

Depends on what I'm playing and whether the vitality system lends itself to actually meaning anything.

In D&D, I'll usually give it a quick "The demon hits you in the head with its tentacle, that's 20 hit points lost," because hit points don't really mean anything on their own. It's a completely abstract number that dwindles when you get smacked, and that doesn't do anything until you are completely out. I'm not sure how else I'd narrate that sort of thing.

In pretty much any other system, attacks get more narration, mostly because the game doesn't have as many of them and I don't get bored as fast. How many different ways can you describe a sword attack before you start to repeat yourself, anyways?

Always. My players don't know their characters' hit points, so all the numbers are kept behind the screen and they get a narrative representation of what's going on.

See now, this is bizarre to me. I like to have my players know what's going on mechanically. This is partly because we're all aware it's mechanical abstractions and we're cool with that, and partly because I really don't want to keep track of everything myself.

 

[Mark Hope]

See now, this is bizarre to me. I like to have my players know what's going on mechanically. This is partly because we're all aware it's mechanical abstractions and we're cool with that, and partly because I really don't want to keep track of everything myself.

Bizarre. OR... awesome!

Sometimes I don't even tell them what game we're playing. We had this kick-ass game the other week where half the group thought they were tackling the Tomb of Horrors. Turned out we were playing the Willow boardgame. Ha! That showed them!

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I rarely narrate damage myself, but I've gotten in the habit of inviting players to narrate crits and kills.

I have a pretty concrete idea of what what damage and HPs are though, so I could be narrating more. (Damage is damage, and HPs are a kind of superhuman protection.)