Re: [DL] Rules Tinkerin': Natural Healing

[Steve Wallace <ceesrw@yahoo.com>]

 --- Alan De Smet <chaos@highprogrammer.com> wrote: 
> The comments on the fate chip rules have been
> helpful.  Thanks.
> I'm not certain yet what I'm going to do, but I
> definitely got
> some food for thought.  I look forward to any more
> messages on
> the subject.
> 
> I warned in that message that I was contemplating
> more than one
> tweak to the Deadlands rules.  Well, here are my
> thoughts on the
> second subject: Natural Healing.
> 
> Natural healing is slow.  Wounds are checked for
> natural healing
> once every five days.  This is probably reasonable,
> but
> reasonable and my goal of "pulp high-adventure"
> aren't
> necessarily playing nice together.  In addition,
> wounds become a
> bit of irritation to track.  If the posse is forced
> to keep going
> while wounded, suddenly the players become very
> interested in
> when five days passes.

If your posse used those chips they're racking up,
they don't have to wait a few weeks for wounds to heal
up; so force them to keep going.  They should figure
out chipping the wounds when they get them stops them
getting the shaft for the rest of the adventure...

> In the worst case, say the posse barely escapes with
> their lives
> from a fight.  If they're heavily wounded and
> without access to
> supernatural healing, they'll need to wait a week or
> two to
> recover enough to try again.  Do the bad guys wait
> until the
> posse recovers?  Often not realistic.  Do the bad
> guys
> preemptively attack?  Maybe realistic, but likely
> leave you with
> a dead posse.  

With all those chips?  Maybe a posse with a depleted
Fate pot, but that solves your other problem pretty
well...

> Either way, holing up for a week
> doesn't seem in
> the spirit of pulp heroes.   

True - I make healing rolls every three days in my
games; quick enough to avoid any month rests to heal
up, but not unbelievably fast.  Deadlands isn't *that*
pulpy, after all.
  
> So my first possible change is to move healing
> checks from every
> five days to every day.

Daily is a bit too much;  I find three days works
nicely - and if your posse are chpping wounds, the
worst they'll probably come out with is a Heavy or
Serious wound, which they'll heal up in a week.

> 2) Once per day
> after some solid sleep.  Cuts down on healing if the
> posse is
> tangling with foes that keep coming back (and those
> unfortunates
> with Nightmares.).  

If you do go with every day, take this option.  If the
heroes rest up somewhere relatively comfortable, they
get a shot at healin up.  Otherwise, they're stuck
with their wounds.  Riding all night isn't going to do
them any good - holing up for a night might do.

> Has anyone else tinkered with with the natural
> healing rules?

As I said, three days seems to work pretty well.  It's
a compromise between healing wicked fast and taking a
month out to heal up.  

> Any thoughts on my proposed changes?  

> Am I completely out of my mind?

Your problems do seem to be linked, here - your posse
stack up on chips, while getting wounded and having to
rest up for a month...
 
Cheers,
Steve Wallace

____________________________________________________________
Nokia Game is on again. 
Go to http://uk.yahoo.com/nokiagame/ and join the new
all media adventure before November 3rd.