Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
I was speaking with an acquaintance today about Classic Traveller, and I discovered, even though my conversation partner had played CT for decades, that he didn't really understand the damage rules. I suspect he house-ruled the game at some point in the distant past and has been playing it that way for so long that his memory has been fooled into thinking that's the way the game is played by the book.
I wonder how symptomatic that is--thinking the game is one way when it is really another.
I think the CT combat damage system is brilliant. It's got so much edge and grit to it. Most damage has potential to take a character out, but, yet, there's plenty of room for the PC to not be damaged too. This forces players to respect combat and move cautiously, from cover to cover, during a game.
TWO WAYS TO APPLY DAMAGE
CT applies damage in two ways. All damage is summed and then taken from a single physical stat on the victim, with the stat chosen randomly. Or, damage is thrown, with the defending player applying the damage to the physical stats of his character in groups of points equal to that shown on the dice.
As an example, let's look at a victim with physical stats 867.
The victim is hit with a weapon that does 3D damage. Damage is rolled, getting: 2, 5, 1.
The first method above, commonly referred to as the "First Blood Rule", would apply 8 points of damage to one of the victims stats with the stat chosen randomly. If we rolled STR randomly, then the victim would have stats 067 after damage is applied.
The second method used in Classic Traveller described above has the player playing the victim pick and chose how each damage die will be applied to the three stats. So, a player could take 5 points from STR, 1 point from STR, and 2 points from END, leaving the victim with stats 165.
WHEN TO USE EACH DAMAGE METHOD
How you chose which damage method to use is simple. If a victim is at full health, with no damage having been applied to him, you use the First Blood Rule. Otherwise, if the victim's stats are less than maximum, you use the other method.
Simple as that.
So, if our victim has stats 867, and 3D is applied, with the dice being 2, 5, 1, then all damage is totaled and taken from a single stat randomly.
If our victim with stats 867 has taken damage previously, leaving him with stats 857, then the second method of damage distribution is used (where single, whole die of damage is applied at the defender's option).
WHY THIS IS BRILLIANT
This system is brilliant because, at any time, damage can take a character out. Yet, this is unlikely to happen most of the time. So, a fine balance is maintained keeping PCs alive but facing the prospect that, in response to any attack, the PC can be laid out unconscious, severely wounded, or even dead.
WHAT DOES LOWERED STATS MEAN?
If a character has taken damage, but no stat has been reduced to zero, this does not mean that the character is troubled with a wound. At worst, the character is winded, tired, bruised, scratched, or otherwise hampered with very minor wounds.
If a stat check is needed, and the character's stat is lowered due to wounds in this fashion, the character uses the full stat (not the lowered number). Likewise, encumbrance is based off of the character's full STR, even if STR is lowered due to wounds in this fashion. If DEX is lowered due to wounds, this does not affect the character's gun combat bonus or penalty.
The lowering of physical stats to 1 or higher really means little in the way of actual wounds. It's a somewhat abstract system for keeping track of how much damage a character can take, akin to, but different than, hit points used in D&D. Think of it as you do the abstract methods you find in first person shooter computer games where your health is lowered and gradually raises itself as you play. No effect is applied until you reach zero hit points in those types of games. In Classic Traveller, the method is similar.
WHEN WOUNDS MATTER
As described above, wounds mean little until one stat is reduced to zero or lower. When this happens, a true wound is indicated.
One stat at zero is enough to take the character out of the fight, but it also indicates a wound that will heal fairly easily and quickly. With one stat at zero, the character is incapacitated, unconscious, unable to act.
Two physical stats at zero is the point at which the character is considered to have suffered a serious wound. Two stats at zero indicates the character has suffered a deep stab wound, a gunshot wound, serious physical trauma, and the like.
When all three stats are reduced to zero or below, the character is considered dead.
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
What I've described above are the "official" Classic Traveller damage rules. But, there are several sections in CT that encourages GMs to tinker with the rules, customizing them to taste. Without going so far as to create a house rule, one can "get the gist" of what these rules means as written.
-- One stat at zero, as written, renders the victim unconscious. Really, what this rule does is incapacitate the character. Does he really need to be unconscious? No. He just needs to be unable to act. Instead of unconscious, maybe the character is stunned--conscious but might as well be unconscious. Maybe the character is conscious but completely unable to react, liking laying on the ground, gasping for air, after being close to an explosion.
-- Once one stat is reduced to zero, it is then that wounded levels are used for dice checks and things like measuring encumbrance. Thus, if a character with stats 867 is reduced to 067 due to gunshot damage, the GM can rule that the actual gunshot was caught by the target's cloth armor but the impact knocked the victim down and rendered him unconscious for a bit. When the character regains consciousness, his stats are returned to halfway between the wounded and maximum state. So the 067 physical stats are raised to 467. It is here that the character should be considered to have a STR 4 for encumbrance and dice checks because he is recuperating from a pretty mean bruise on his chest.
-- Special situations like broken bones (a person can be totally conscious but unable to move with a broken leg), or blood loss, or other types of specific damage should be handled by the GM. A quick and easy rule I used to use is to apply a special situation to the victim when the successful attack throw showed natural doubles. Otherwise, I'd just follow the rules as written. So, in our continuing example, if the gunshot that rendered our victim to 067 was achieved on an attack throw that totaled 9 but was summed to that number with modifiers and a dice throw that showed two fours (+1 for skill), I would apply some special aspect to the damage (blood loss, chance of a broken bone, hindered or negated movement, etc). On the other hand, if that attack throw of 9 was achieved by a dice throw of 5, 3, +1 for skill, I'd just apply damage normally with no special effects.
In this way, there's a small chance that the victim will suffer some ill effect not specifically covered by the rules. And, I'd scale this effect along with the type of damage done. Damage that doesn't reduce a stat to zero might encourage me to apply some temporary hindrance to the character (like a punch to the face making the victim's eye close for a bit). Damage that reduces one stat to zero might influence me to impose some longer hindrance, as in a half movement penalty due to a sprained ankle until the character rests.
Damage that reduces two stats to zero would net a more serious special effect. Here, I'd rule about a broken bone, or scare the player with blood loss, or describe some horrible internal injuries that require surgery soonest.
Of course, this type of special damage would only be applied if natural doubles were thrown on a successful attack throw.
I wonder how symptomatic that is--thinking the game is one way when it is really another.
I think the CT combat damage system is brilliant. It's got so much edge and grit to it. Most damage has potential to take a character out, but, yet, there's plenty of room for the PC to not be damaged too. This forces players to respect combat and move cautiously, from cover to cover, during a game.
TWO WAYS TO APPLY DAMAGE
CT applies damage in two ways. All damage is summed and then taken from a single physical stat on the victim, with the stat chosen randomly. Or, damage is thrown, with the defending player applying the damage to the physical stats of his character in groups of points equal to that shown on the dice.
As an example, let's look at a victim with physical stats 867.
The victim is hit with a weapon that does 3D damage. Damage is rolled, getting: 2, 5, 1.
The first method above, commonly referred to as the "First Blood Rule", would apply 8 points of damage to one of the victims stats with the stat chosen randomly. If we rolled STR randomly, then the victim would have stats 067 after damage is applied.
The second method used in Classic Traveller described above has the player playing the victim pick and chose how each damage die will be applied to the three stats. So, a player could take 5 points from STR, 1 point from STR, and 2 points from END, leaving the victim with stats 165.
WHEN TO USE EACH DAMAGE METHOD
How you chose which damage method to use is simple. If a victim is at full health, with no damage having been applied to him, you use the First Blood Rule. Otherwise, if the victim's stats are less than maximum, you use the other method.
Simple as that.
So, if our victim has stats 867, and 3D is applied, with the dice being 2, 5, 1, then all damage is totaled and taken from a single stat randomly.
If our victim with stats 867 has taken damage previously, leaving him with stats 857, then the second method of damage distribution is used (where single, whole die of damage is applied at the defender's option).
WHY THIS IS BRILLIANT
This system is brilliant because, at any time, damage can take a character out. Yet, this is unlikely to happen most of the time. So, a fine balance is maintained keeping PCs alive but facing the prospect that, in response to any attack, the PC can be laid out unconscious, severely wounded, or even dead.
WHAT DOES LOWERED STATS MEAN?
If a character has taken damage, but no stat has been reduced to zero, this does not mean that the character is troubled with a wound. At worst, the character is winded, tired, bruised, scratched, or otherwise hampered with very minor wounds.
If a stat check is needed, and the character's stat is lowered due to wounds in this fashion, the character uses the full stat (not the lowered number). Likewise, encumbrance is based off of the character's full STR, even if STR is lowered due to wounds in this fashion. If DEX is lowered due to wounds, this does not affect the character's gun combat bonus or penalty.
The lowering of physical stats to 1 or higher really means little in the way of actual wounds. It's a somewhat abstract system for keeping track of how much damage a character can take, akin to, but different than, hit points used in D&D. Think of it as you do the abstract methods you find in first person shooter computer games where your health is lowered and gradually raises itself as you play. No effect is applied until you reach zero hit points in those types of games. In Classic Traveller, the method is similar.
WHEN WOUNDS MATTER
As described above, wounds mean little until one stat is reduced to zero or lower. When this happens, a true wound is indicated.
One stat at zero is enough to take the character out of the fight, but it also indicates a wound that will heal fairly easily and quickly. With one stat at zero, the character is incapacitated, unconscious, unable to act.
Two physical stats at zero is the point at which the character is considered to have suffered a serious wound. Two stats at zero indicates the character has suffered a deep stab wound, a gunshot wound, serious physical trauma, and the like.
When all three stats are reduced to zero or below, the character is considered dead.
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
What I've described above are the "official" Classic Traveller damage rules. But, there are several sections in CT that encourages GMs to tinker with the rules, customizing them to taste. Without going so far as to create a house rule, one can "get the gist" of what these rules means as written.
-- One stat at zero, as written, renders the victim unconscious. Really, what this rule does is incapacitate the character. Does he really need to be unconscious? No. He just needs to be unable to act. Instead of unconscious, maybe the character is stunned--conscious but might as well be unconscious. Maybe the character is conscious but completely unable to react, liking laying on the ground, gasping for air, after being close to an explosion.
-- Once one stat is reduced to zero, it is then that wounded levels are used for dice checks and things like measuring encumbrance. Thus, if a character with stats 867 is reduced to 067 due to gunshot damage, the GM can rule that the actual gunshot was caught by the target's cloth armor but the impact knocked the victim down and rendered him unconscious for a bit. When the character regains consciousness, his stats are returned to halfway between the wounded and maximum state. So the 067 physical stats are raised to 467. It is here that the character should be considered to have a STR 4 for encumbrance and dice checks because he is recuperating from a pretty mean bruise on his chest.
-- Special situations like broken bones (a person can be totally conscious but unable to move with a broken leg), or blood loss, or other types of specific damage should be handled by the GM. A quick and easy rule I used to use is to apply a special situation to the victim when the successful attack throw showed natural doubles. Otherwise, I'd just follow the rules as written. So, in our continuing example, if the gunshot that rendered our victim to 067 was achieved on an attack throw that totaled 9 but was summed to that number with modifiers and a dice throw that showed two fours (+1 for skill), I would apply some special aspect to the damage (blood loss, chance of a broken bone, hindered or negated movement, etc). On the other hand, if that attack throw of 9 was achieved by a dice throw of 5, 3, +1 for skill, I'd just apply damage normally with no special effects.
In this way, there's a small chance that the victim will suffer some ill effect not specifically covered by the rules. And, I'd scale this effect along with the type of damage done. Damage that doesn't reduce a stat to zero might encourage me to apply some temporary hindrance to the character (like a punch to the face making the victim's eye close for a bit). Damage that reduces one stat to zero might influence me to impose some longer hindrance, as in a half movement penalty due to a sprained ankle until the character rests.
Damage that reduces two stats to zero would net a more serious special effect. Here, I'd rule about a broken bone, or scare the player with blood loss, or describe some horrible internal injuries that require surgery soonest.
Of course, this type of special damage would only be applied if natural doubles were thrown on a successful attack throw.
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