Let's Talk About Health, Damage, Wounds, Death and Related Mechanics

Thomas Shey · May 14, 2026

Eidit: its too late in the day to be worthwhile doing this response, if it ever would have been.

Tonguez · May 14, 2026

Micah Sweet said:
It is appropriate to the tone of the show, but IMO not the genre of the show, which frequently has people using their powers in physical conflicts.

It was a good choice for Supermann though. His powers are too great for gameplay so better to make it about his emotional stakes than his superpowers

gtwucla · May 14, 2026

For hp & damage, I like anything that raises stakes and doesn't take too long. That usually means whenever damage is taken, I want to have some sort of penalty, but I also still want to be able to succeed. Either the probability of success is reduced by the penalty or it requires more resources, more cleverness to overcome.

As for death, I like systems where dying is a consequence of the player's choice and not something they stumble into on accident. And it should be permanent or have some transformative consequence.

Micah Sweet · May 14, 2026

MichaelSomething said:
They ignored parts of the rules and books and just used the D&D name to attract players. Sort of how you ignore all the gamisms and abractsion of 5E yet play 5E cause that's where the players are.

I don't ignore the rules though. Where did you get that I did?

Micah Sweet · May 14, 2026

Tonguez said:
It was a good choice for Supermann though. His powers are too great for gameplay so better to make it about his emotional stakes than his superpowers

The comics manage to use his powers, as do the various films and the shows (including Smallville). Having the game about a fantasy superhero show be mostly about emotions was not a bad choice, but not IMO the best choice. I would have preferred a more simulative approach (absolutely possible with supers RPGs), and layered the emotional stuff on top. Pendragon is a good example of this style.