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[Meat] wrestling with a Damage Track

By September 11, 2009Uncategorized

Meat will have a combat length of 100 pts per character and a Scene length of X or Y depending on whether you are in the first or second round of combat. The damage length references the length of the dice game Pig, from which the dice mechanic was founded on. 100pts of damage will equal character destruction. This destruction will be survivable from scene to scene unless all your assets are gone. Should you have no assets and you die, your character will be unrecoverable. Jean Grey will not rise again.

Originally, I wanted to build a variable damage track with forks for different consequences. So, say at 20pts of damage your track doubles and the player makes a selection. With one track on Emotional damage and the other on Physical. It’s likely this could be pimped to better use but i haven’t been able to make it work. When doing damage, your opponent would be able to buy points on the alternate track at say .5 of the actual attack in order to either stall the game; and, or cripple your character along two fronts simultaneously. This forked damage track would rejoin at say 40pts and single track up until it forks again later, etc. I haven’t been able to make this work yet.

Currently, I’m working on a single damage track of 100pnts. With some sort of death spiral as you get closer to 100pnts will reward you with additional action tokens; and force short Monologue exposition out of the character immediately. An example of this in play goes as follows:

Mule lands an attack of 30pnts of damage into Red Rocket. It’s an excellent attack. The knockback on the blow allows Mule’s Player to move Red Rocket up to two locations away. We are late into the Minor Action Scene. Both characters have taken heavy damage. On the damage track, Red Rocket crosses a marker for another Action Point and passes a marker for Monologue.

Mule’s player Moves Red Rocket out of the Food Court where they had been battling and to the Mall location. The 30pnts of damage are greater than the damage threshold on the Food Court card (20pnts) so the Food Court must take a Condition. Mule’s character grabs a postit note and writes something down on it and slaps it onto the index card marked Food Court. The postit reads ‘Caved In’. Now Mule’s player narrates the outcome of the attack:

“Mule was sideswiped by Red Rocket’s Thunder Maul but picked himself up off the buckled linoleum floor. The fire light is flickering from the escalator outside. Massive Mule snaps to his feet, denser than a thousand years of old-growth forest. RR is swinging around careless in his victory and Mule’s fist snaps back and catches him just under the jaw. The Rocket loses consciousness for moments and blows his way through the last supporting wall in the Food Court and up through the ceiling into the Mall’s courtyard. Smoke billows everywhere and the cement overhead comes raining down. Mules eyes burn thickly through the haze and he brays his signature cry: “Awwwwnn-hee Awwwwn-HEEE.”‘

That would end Mule’s turn and now as a result of the damage Red Rocket’s player (John) would interrupt the next turn (his in a 2 person game or perhaps someone else’s in a larger game) with an immediate Monologue exposition scene:

Geez, Gary, you really pasted me good. Let’s see, Mule clocked me and sent my guy flying through the floor and into the courtyard of the Mall. Ok, I’ve got it, “Systems Failing. Electric fire burns through Red Rocket’s suit. Severe shortage of systems. The swelling of his jaw is so large that it presses hard against the inside of his helmet. Red Rocket isn’t awake enough to feel the the damage that blowing through 20 inches of concrete floor causes. His rockets are firing full and it’s seconds until the auto-pilot kicks in and shorts out the thrusters. Just enough time for all the pain in the world to come rushing into Red Rocket’s head. His ribs already broken and his armor staved in, the Rocket slides across the floor and readies himself for whatever this damned barnyard animal brings next. His costume torn and his lip bleeding, the Rocket says, “Somebody’s gonna have to teach this Jackass some manners.”

notes: still not certain if knock-back is a condition of severe damage; an option purchased by an action token based on severe damage; or a condition purchased from some of the damage points to lessen the Damage taken but countered with possible unwanted movement.