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<blockquote data-quote="Don Durito" data-source="post: 7840394" data-attributes="member: 6687260">Runequest is a game I haven't played.&nbsp; However...<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">one advantage of HP is that they don't really represent anything.&nbsp; They are, as is often said, a pacing mechanism.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">As a result they're the perfect mechanic for a zero to hero game.&nbsp; They do a good job of tiering monsters.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">They're simple to track - the maths is simple - you're not tracking separate wounds for hit locations etc.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">there's no death spiral - it's like a game of tennis rather than a game of Basketball - in theory no matter how far you are behind you can still win right up until you can't.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">All of this pretty much makes them the perfect mechanism for a game of resource management and attrition - which is D&amp;D.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">They're abstractness, once one learns not to think about it, faciliates some of the basic assumptions of D&amp;D i.e. that you can be in the epicentre of a fireball and not be dead (or that right in the centre you can still somehow save from half-damage.)</li>
</ul>On the other hand:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">it's not all that clear what actually happens - other systems with hit locations can create a more concrete fiction.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">&quot;Critical existence failure&quot; - the &quot;I'm fine until suddenly I'm dead&quot; situation - doesn't feel realistic and D&amp;D does a poor job of really getting across the feeling that you're PC is heroically struggling to carry on despite wounds.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">The maths may be simple but it's still maths - a system such as Savage Worlds cuts out almost all of this maths.</li>
</ul>In conclusion, I think I would say that HPs proved to be the most popular approach because they're the best approach for D&amp;D style of gaming.&nbsp; They are the system that best handles resource management and attrition,&nbsp; zero to hero scaling and allows the illusion of plausibility to exist in the face of implausible situations (What exactly does your longsword do to that Tarrasque?).So HPs are popular because D&amp;D is popular.&nbsp; (There is an element of circularity to this of course - one could argue that one of the reasons that D&amp;D is popular is because they use HPs, but it's a part of a whole ecosystem.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Don Durito, post: 7840394, member: 6687260"] Runequest is a game I haven't played. However... [LIST] [*]one advantage of HP is that they don't really represent anything. They are, as is often said, a pacing mechanism. [*]As a result they're the perfect mechanic for a zero to hero game. They do a good job of tiering monsters. [*]They're simple to track - the maths is simple - you're not tracking separate wounds for hit locations etc. [*]there's no death spiral - it's like a game of tennis rather than a game of Basketball - in theory no matter how far you are behind you can still win right up until you can't. [*]All of this pretty much makes them the perfect mechanism for a game of resource management and attrition - which is D&D. [*]They're abstractness, once one learns not to think about it, faciliates some of the basic assumptions of D&D i.e. that you can be in the epicentre of a fireball and not be dead (or that right in the centre you can still somehow save from half-damage.) [/LIST] On the other hand: [LIST] [*]it's not all that clear what actually happens - other systems with hit locations can create a more concrete fiction. [*]"Critical existence failure" - the "I'm fine until suddenly I'm dead" situation - doesn't feel realistic and D&D does a poor job of really getting across the feeling that you're PC is heroically struggling to carry on despite wounds. [*]The maths may be simple but it's still maths - a system such as Savage Worlds cuts out almost all of this maths. [/LIST] In conclusion, I think I would say that HPs proved to be the most popular approach because they're the best approach for D&D style of gaming. They are the system that best handles resource management and attrition, zero to hero scaling and allows the illusion of plausibility to exist in the face of implausible situations (What exactly does your longsword do to that Tarrasque?). So HPs are popular because D&D is popular. (There is an element of circularity to this of course - one could argue that [I]one[/I] of the reasons that D&D is popular is because they use HPs, but it's a part of a whole ecosystem.) [/QUOTE]

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