How does natural healing and-or magical curing work when one has sustained Wounds? (I assume it's as normal with Composure)
So there's two ways this can happen. But to explain that I need to give some background on how the Energies (like Composure and Stamina) are restored, as they're predictably integrated into each other.
So, what my system uses is a variant of Hit Dice that I aptly call Energy Dice. Each character will have some number of some size of generic Energy Dice, and these are what are used to restore the 4 Energies. Essentially, when you spend them you can nickel and dime where the total goes or you can drop it in one.
How you gain these is tied into Eating Food; this not only opened up the design space for Cooking and Taste mechanics, but it also in my opinion better represents reality and is much more flexible for adventuring reasons, as while the same timegating we see with DND style Rests is there, the times are much shorter and much more directly consequential. Scarfing down rations will keep you going but taking the time to eat a proper meal is more optimal.
Food in general, like the Poultices and Potions Ill get to in a moment, restore some base Energies, but are what give you some number of some size of Energy Dice (fantasy Coffee for example would give you a jolt of flat Stamina, as well as an Energy die).
But, in order to use those Energy dice, theres two methods. First is naturally; whenever you Rest at least 6 Hours, you will be allowed to spend one of your dice, without expending it, and can disseminate the value you roll on it as you wish. Depending on the types of lodging you've found, or indeed the types of bedding you've made for yourself, you can spend more and get other benefits.
This obviously isn't very efficient for fantasy adventurers that can regularly suplex dragons and go toe to toe with entire armies (my game is a little bonkers), and even with more luxurious lodgings or high level bedding, you'll still be spending a lot of time to recover, especially if your capacity to act is just as high level.
So what adventurers rely on is Poultices and Potions (PP). These let you access many of your Energy dice at any time, but come at the consequence of Toxicity if abused. (You only have a limited store of Energy dice to begin with, but if you have none to spend, the flat restoration these give you instead drain you. See my edit for a clarification)
So, after all that, how Wounds come in and be healed is primarily by receiving one of those PPs. Both can clear any wound in general, but you get bonus healing if you take the care to match up your healing apparatus with the Wound.
Physical wounds are typically better handled by Poultices, and having the right kind will be even better. (Such as, at a low level, a Poultice thats been applied to Stitches will clear a Laceration (the Wound of Blunt/Slashing damage, typically axes and the like) better than a Poultice applied directly or with some kind of Potion. Conversely, a Burn (Fire damage, regardless of whether it was magically conjured or not) is better healed by Potions and so on. There is cross pollination (Salves are the poultice equivalent to Potions; Elixirs the magical equivalent to poultices), but in general if you're trying to optimize you go for whats best.
However, if you're attempting to recover naturally, you still need to neutralize the Wound (happens automatically with PP if you've had a Wound applied multiple times; otherwise you have first aid checks you can make) to not just die from it, and you can only clear a Wound when you've spent at least 2 Energy Dice, so you need to insure that you're keeping up with that if you expect to heal. If you've neutralized a Wound but haven't healed it, you'll basically rip your stitches and start taking damage from it again.
So, overall its still pretty quick insofar as healing goes, but its consistent given the sheer power characters have. If you can casually suplex dragons being thrown out of commission by a stabbing would be a bit silly. But having all this Survival stuff is important for the general vibe Im going for, as Im seeking to build a game where you can become the legendary heroes that other games use as background details, and so the game needs that juxtaposition to emphasize that what PCs accomplish is truly extraordinary, and isn't just a trite and arbitrary power fantasy.
If a character has sustained one or more Wounds but doesn't die, and yet isn't patched up, what happens? Does the character slowly bleed out, or is there a chance the character can recover on its own, or ... ?
Yep so if a Wound is just left to fester, the character will eventually succumb to their Wounds (clever how the language works out there). When you take your max CP twice over, you die.
When someone takes a Wound is there a table or chart etc. that determines where-what the actual injury is, or is it left up to GM and-or player narration to decide?
The latter. My game does model hit locations for the purpose of Durability (players actually have first say in what gets hit depending on how they defend themselves (Shield vs gauntlet for example) and if they can't or choose not to defend themselves then hits will land on the Body, or alternatively be chosen by the Enemy), but I don't personally find much worth in doing hit locations for injuries. (Though to be fair, my take on the Warrior has a move system thats basically doing that, but thats an intentional exception that only comes off that way narratively)
I could though, and I could see myself introducing that as a variant for those who have the extra overhead to run and enjoy them.
Edit: also wanted to note that I resolved Hunger tracking with Energy dice. If you run out, you're starving. Ezpz.
However, when using PP when you're hungry you also begin to accrue Toxicity; the flat amounts they give drain you, but still allow you to roll an Energy die (noted alongside the flat amount the PP restores). So if you get lucky you can push it, but eventually you'll poison yourself to death.
It requires a calculator or a spreadsheet, and it is 146 pages of rules (with a wee-bit of background) about designing firearms with a section on energy weapons too.
