MGT Only: Chargen injuries (MGT 1e)

[Adam Dray]

I'm rolling up a bunch of random characters for a convention game. Mostly Navy characters.

At first, I thought the mishap injuries were pretty terrible. On average, you'll lose 1.8-3.5 points off your three physical characteristics per injury (average 2.67). If you roll a 6, you'll lose 5-10 points off your three physical characteristics.

However, the next section of the rules explains that for 5,000 Cr per characteristic point, you can get that healed and get your characteristics restored. With a good 2d6 +rank roll, your career organization might even pay for some or all of it. A Navy character gets 75% of this cost covered with a 4+ roll, 100% coverage at 8+. Your money benefits automatically are reduced to pay towards this medical cost.

Army, Navy, and Marines cover more injury repair cost than other careers, but all cover some.

Assuming you're rank 0, you have a 8.33% chance of paying for it all, a 41.66% chance of paying for none of it, and a 50% chance of paying just 25% of the costs.

Say you roll as badly as you can roll. That's 6 points off, say, Strength, and 2 points off Dexterity and 2 points off Endurance. 10 points total. That's 50,000 Cr of medical bills. If you're rank E0, you have 8.33% chance of paying all 50Kcr, 50% chance of paying 12,500 Cr, and 41.66% chance of paying 0.

Not bad odds, really. With a couple ranks on your shoulder, your coverage gets better. An E3 is guaranteed at least 75% coverage, with an 83% chance of full coverage by the Navy.

Am I missing something? Is it basically a mishap injury system without any real teeth? Is there ever a reason to take the characteristic point loss instead of the medical debt?

I know the optional/variant "Iron Man Character Generation" rules on page 40 say that a mishap is instant death, not an injury.

 

[DickNervous]

I agree that it does seem to lack teeth, at least how it is written, but it is simple enough to add some teeth to it. :devil:

Here are some examples:

• Missing Parts: If a character loses 3 or more points on a single injury roll they have actually lost part of, or a whole limb. So if they roll a 3, perhaps they lost a few fingers or toes. A 4 might be hand or foot, 5 from the elbow/knee, and the entire arm/leg. And that can't be "fixed" for Cr5000 per point, it would require cybernetics, if they are available.
• Crippled: If a character looses half of their points for all three, they are crippled in some way. So if their total for physical traits is 22 and they end up with 11 or less, they have a serious problem. Perhaps they lost both legs/arms or had a catastrophic back injury or something like that. Again, way more expensive to "fix".
• Limited Coverage: Serious injuries, such as the ones listed here, could also have limited coverage. Sure, they will pay 75%, up to Cr50,000. Or something like that, which would force the player to take on more debt.
• Crushing Debt: Finally, if the player retires with more than a specific amount of debt, you could make it so that they are hunted by debt collectors or have to work it off before they go adventuring.

Of course these are all things that add to the role-playing of the character and may not really have any impact in a convention game. It's a shame that when my group rolled characters none of them suffered any serious injuries....

 

[Condottiere]

Or body parts get repossessed to pay off that debt. which basically means you can swap physical attribute points for cash, or lack thereof.

 

[Adam Dray]

Or body parts get repossessed to pay off that debt. which basically means you can swap physical attribute points for cash, or lack thereof.

Are you literally looking over my shoulder? Wow.

So, this is in the context of an adventure I'm writing, titled "Merchant of Dennis," a slightly comical take on Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. I've borrowed a few plot devices from the play, and wrapped them around a pretty typical "muster out of the Navy and try to buy a free trader" plot.

One of those plot devices is "a pound of flesh." The loan shark in the adventure likes to take body parts from people who don't pay him in a timely fashion. He sells them on the black market.

 

[Adam Dray]

I agree that it does seem to lack teeth, at least how it is written, but it is simple enough to add some teeth to it. :devil:

Oh, I can add teeth easily. I was just wondering if I totally missed something about this.

I think the system would benefit from a better chart with finer grades of coverage. I'd probably also add Soc as a DM, because pretty people get better treatment. ("Pretty" in a general sense including socially better.)

For convention play, I don't really care. It just ends up being background color.

Of the 12 characters I rolled, only one had serious injuries and medical debt that they'll start play with. Two others had serious injuries and medical debt that they covered with their money benefits. Two or three others had serious injuries that the Navy covered completely.

 

[aramis]

I'm rolling up a bunch of random characters for a convention game. Mostly Navy characters.

At first, I thought the mishap injuries were pretty terrible. On average, you'll lose 1.8-3.5 points off your three physical characteristics per injury (average 2.67). If you roll a 6, you'll lose 5-10 points off your three physical characteristics.

However, the next section of the rules explains that for 5,000 Cr per characteristic point, you can get that healed and get your characteristics restored. With a good 2d6 +rank roll, your career organization might even pay for some or all of it. A Navy character gets 75% of this cost covered with a 4+ roll, 100% coverage at 8+. Your money benefits automatically are reduced to pay towards this medical cost.

Army, Navy, and Marines cover more injury repair cost than other careers, but all cover some.

Assuming you're rank 0, you have a 8.33% chance of paying for it all, a 41.66% chance of paying for none of it, and a 50% chance of paying just 25% of the costs.

Say you roll as badly as you can roll. That's 6 points off, say, Strength, and 2 points off Dexterity and 2 points off Endurance. 10 points total. That's 50,000 Cr of medical bills. If you're rank E0, you have 8.33% chance of paying all 50Kcr, 50% chance of paying 12,500 Cr, and 41.66% chance of paying 0.

Not bad odds, really. With a couple ranks on your shoulder, your coverage gets better. An E3 is guaranteed at least 75% coverage, with an 83% chance of full coverage by the Navy.

Am I missing something? Is it basically a mishap injury system without any real teeth? Is there ever a reason to take the characteristic point loss instead of the medical debt?

I know the optional/variant "Iron Man Character Generation" rules on page 40 say that a mishap is instant death, not an injury.

It's got teeth, but they're blunt. It was thrown in late in the MGT 1E process, wasn't well playtested. Keep in mind, much of what was in the playtest files was junked at the last minute.