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<blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 6303167" data-attributes="member: 6688937">At the risk of de-railing this thread, I think that, in-part, that's&nbsp; because HP (especially in combination with traditional healing) are such&nbsp; an incredibly and profoundly terrible and ineffective way of emulating the type of&nbsp; wounds/stress/consequences that happens in the relevant fiction or in&nbsp; reality. That is, bereft of any relevant guidelines from either the fiction or from real life, you are forced to rely on knowledge of the HP total. In games like Fate, where consequences have narrative descriptors, this is not the case.I'm not sure how I'd personally answer that poll. I've seen and participated in a wide and curious spectrum of behavior and group table-policy on the issue. For the most part, IME, tables tend to lean toward the practice of putting a &quot;thin veneer&quot; of rather sloppy and inconsistent narrative over the whole wounding/healing thing. That is &quot;He's doing pretty bad&quot; vs. &quot;He's got an arrow wound in his thigh that's bleeding profusely.&quot;&nbsp; How much this is enforced can vary greatly, depending on how much distinction people make between themselves and their characters. I've even seen a table where &quot;How much are you down?&quot; player-player talk had to be preceded with some kind of &quot;I examine his wounds&quot; talk.Personally, I think that traditional D&amp;D healing and HP mechanics almost force a world where everyone has little energy bars floating above their heads. Yet, I often get raged at when pointing that out on HP threads, so it seems to me that people want it both ways at once. Maybe its okay for some mechanics and not for others? I dunno. Personally, I suspect people like the idea that playing D&amp;D means playing LotR, but in reality they often end up playing OotS....and don't want to admit it. ::shrug::IME, most players don't actually trust the others' judgement. So &quot;Help me, lest I fall!&quot; is often immediately followed by a &quot;How far are you down?...3 out of 38?...Jeez, alright...I'm running to help him, can I make it there and still cast?&quot; Otherwise, yeah, that's the kind of thin veneer I'm talking about. Way, way back in the day, I played with a 1e DM who didn't let you know your HP totals....that was a very different game indeed.And, to be clear, I'm perfectly fine playing in a OotS-style world....once in a while. It can be fun. However, it doesn't seem to be what a lot of people are shooting for when they set up a campaign, even if they still have fun when its what they get. Its the bait-n-switch that gets me (especially when contrasted with games like Fate.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ratskinner, post: 6303167, member: 6688937"] At the risk of de-railing this thread, I think that, in-part, that's because HP (especially in combination with traditional healing) are such an incredibly and profoundly terrible and ineffective way of emulating the type of wounds/stress/consequences that happens in the relevant fiction or in reality. That is, bereft of any relevant guidelines from either the fiction or from real life, you are forced to rely on knowledge of the HP total. In games like Fate, where consequences have narrative descriptors, this is not the case. I'm not sure how I'd personally answer that poll. I've seen and participated in a wide and curious spectrum of behavior and group table-policy on the issue. For the most part, IME, tables tend to lean toward the practice of putting a "thin veneer" of rather sloppy and inconsistent narrative over the whole wounding/healing thing. That is "He's doing pretty bad" vs. "He's got an arrow wound in his thigh that's bleeding profusely." How much this is enforced can vary greatly, depending on how much distinction people make between themselves and their characters. I've even seen a table where "How much are you down?" player-player talk had to be preceded with some kind of "I examine his wounds" talk. Personally, I think that traditional D&D healing and HP mechanics almost [I]force[/I] a world where everyone has little energy bars floating above their heads. Yet, I often get raged at when pointing that out on HP threads, so it seems to me that people want it both ways at once. Maybe its okay for some mechanics and not for others? I dunno. Personally, I suspect people like the idea that playing D&D means playing LotR, but in reality they often end up playing OotS....and don't want to admit it. ::shrug:: IME, most players don't actually trust the others' judgement. So [SIZE=3]"Help me, lest I fall!"[/SIZE] is often immediately followed by a [SIZE=1]"How far are you down?...3 out of 38?...Jeez, alright...[SIZE=3]I'm running to help him, can I make it there and still cast?"[/SIZE][/SIZE] Otherwise, yeah, that's the kind of thin veneer I'm talking about. Way, way back in the day, I played with a 1e DM who didn't let you know your HP totals....that was a very different game indeed. And, to be clear, I'm perfectly fine playing in a OotS-style world....once in a while. It can be fun. However, it doesn't seem to be what a lot of people are shooting for when they set up a campaign, even if they still have fun when its what they get. Its the bait-n-switch that gets me (especially when contrasted with games like Fate.) [/QUOTE]

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