(TFT) A Point of Damage

[<Gavin@TheFantasyQuest.com>]

I think of "one point of damage" as being "how bad does it hurt on a scale
of One-to-Ten"?  This works for most folks, but then there are Heroes who's
knob goes to Eleven.  And ever tougher guys' knobs go way-higher
(12,13,14...).  

I only quantify damage within the scope of the game itself, not compared to
real-life.  Coincidentally, the game "models" real-life already (abstractly,
but surely enough), so the science is already done _for_ me.

For me, it comes down to this:  "When the smoke has cleared, did it feel
like we just fought a melee?"  That the way I like my TFT!

Gavin Gossett
The Fantasy Quest
(615) 944-3805

Gavin@TheFantasyQuest.com


-----Original Message-----
From: tft-admin@brainiac.com [mailto:tft-admin@brainiac.com] On Behalf Of
Joey Beutel
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 5:23 PM
To: tft@brainiac.com
Subject: Re: (TFT) Price of new Magic Item - Paramount Armor

I'm somewhat similar. Though I wouldn't say that I'm against rules feeling
realistic (or even being realistic....) as much as it is that I just find it
inefficient for rules to go beyond a certain level of detail, and to get rid
of a certain level of abstraction.

Within a gunfight, for example, you have countless possibilities for the
exact LOS of a character, the exact location a bullet hits, etc etc.... its
better for, say, a skirmish game for squad on squad combat, to abstract that
aspect a bit. In doing so, they can still be realistic in the overall
results of a bullet wound without having to learn exactly the hyrdostatic
impact of the bullet from different angles on different specific points on
the body (though perhaps more general hit location tables are useful).

I guess my point is: game design is a complex thing.
On Jan 28, 2011, at 3:38 PM, Joe Hartley wrote:

> On Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:40:02 -0500
> Joey Beutel <mejobo@comcast.net> wrote:
>> Well similar to color (with its spectrum), we have the entire 
>> rulebook as a set of things our games have in common. Even if we 
>> ignore parts of the rules.
>>
>> On Jan 28, 2011, at 2:43 AM, Jay Carlisle wrote:
>>>> Again...
>>>> Does anybody actually know what 1 point of damage is supposed to 
>>>> mean?
>
> The conversation about abstraction vs. realism in TFT is one that's 
> gone on for years.  I'm an abstractionist, so to me one point of 
> damage means around 1/12th of a starting character's total ability to 
> withstand injury.
>
> What kind of injury should that be?  What's a dagger to the gut really 
> worth?  What's an arrow in the arm really going to do?  These things 
> matter a great deal to Jay and others who are adding detail galore to 
> their systems. It's all pretty arbitrary to me, though.
>
> I'm on record as having been drawn to TFT for its simplicity and its 
> use of multiple 6-sided dice which brings a bell-shaped curve of 
> probability to the game rather than the flat line a single D20 brings.
>
> I love Jay and his maniacal research into all the aspects of the game 
> that he brings, but it's an approach that isn't my cup of tea.  With 
> all the games I play, I find that the more realistic the game tries to 
> be, the less into it that I am.  I got into gaming through some 
> friends that enjoyed wargaming, and have moved little stacks of 
> cardboard chits around on a map for a long time, but after a weekend 
> of being bored to tears with Advanced Squad leader, I find I'd rather 
> play Battle Cry.
>
> It was the same for me with RPGs.  I started with Melee & Wizard and 
> expanded into ITL, and when I was asked to play in a D&D game, I was 
> astonished to see how slow the game went, with rolls for everything.  
> Maybe that was just a case of one DM and his desire for accurate 
> modeling, but I saw it in every D&D game I played or witnessed, where 
> TFT always flowed and allowed the adventure to move forward.
>
> So, what's one damage point?  Anything we want it to be!
>
> --
> ======================================================================
>       Joe Hartley - UNIX/network Consultant - jh@brainiac.com Without 
> deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa ===== 
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