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Old 10-21-2015, 01:22 PM   #1
Koningkrush
 
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Default How Do You Handle Bleeding?

I was wondering how other people have handled bleeding rules. I would like to go into detail and be a realist, but it seems like an incredibly tedious thing to do 60 tally marks to show a minute has passed, giving someone bleeding damage.

I figured the easiest thing would be to immediately apply all bleeding damage at the end of combat unless first aid is immediately applied (within like 3 turns). Then, I work out how far they can travel in 60 seconds before hand. So I have a Move per Minute so I can calculate how many rolls would be needed before they reach something like a doctor or hospital.
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Old 10-21-2015, 01:33 PM   #2
johndallman
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Default Re: How Do You Handle Bleeding?

I don't bother with it, if PCs are only slightly wounded, or are prompt with First Aid or healing magic. But fights aren't a big part of what I run.
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Old 10-21-2015, 01:44 PM   #3
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Default Re: How Do You Handle Bleeding?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Koningkrush View Post
I was wondering how other people have handled bleeding rules. I would like to go into detail and be a realist, but it seems like an incredibly tedious thing to do 60 tally marks to show a minute has passed, giving someone bleeding damage.
Just note that it is one roll every minute, not one every second...
"At the end of every minute after being wounded, make a HT roll, at -1 per 5 HP lost." - Basic Set, Campaigns page 420.
Even in the optional rule of Severe Bleeding (Martial Arts, page 138), it is at maximum one roll every 30 seconds.
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Old 10-21-2015, 02:14 PM   #4
Koningkrush
 
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Default Re: How Do You Handle Bleeding?

I know, but how would you know if a minute passed? Would you do it in real time, or would you keep track of each turn that passes until 60 turns is over?

I was also considering only doing bleeding damage for major wounds, and ignoring smaller ones to save time. I think I actually should especially do this since I'm also using accumulated injury.
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Old 10-21-2015, 02:28 PM   #5
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Default Re: How Do You Handle Bleeding?

I really like the bleeding rules, it makes healers more engaged and get different uses from their skills.

The time tracking aspect is really simple in play. I just let the rolls stack up, either as credit or debt as the players figure out what they are doing and how long it will take.
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Old 10-21-2015, 02:32 PM   #6
Litvyak
 
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Default Re: How Do You Handle Bleeding?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Koningkrush View Post
I know, but how would you know if a minute passed? Would you do it in real time, or would you keep track of each turn that passes until 60 turns is over?

I was also considering only doing bleeding damage for major wounds, and ignoring smaller ones to save time. I think I actually should especially do this since I'm also using accumulated injury.
I wouldn't worry about bleeding rolls during combat, unless your combats are extremely long. Outside of combat, the GM can determine how many minutes pass an how many bleeding rolls need to be made depending on the circumstances.
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Old 10-21-2015, 02:33 PM   #7
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Default Re: How Do You Handle Bleeding?

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Originally Posted by Koningkrush View Post
I know, but how would you know if a minute passed? Would you do it in real time, or would you keep track of each turn that passes until 60 turns is over?
Do you find yourself ever spending 60 consecutive seconds in second-by-second combat resolution?
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Originally Posted by Koningkrush View Post
I was also considering only doing bleeding damage for major wounds, and ignoring smaller ones to save time. I think I actually should especially do this since I'm also using accumulated injury.
That would be a pretty radical rules change. Minor wounds and major wounds, using the actual rules, bleed almost exactly the same. (With the advanced rules from Martial Arts, some hit locations bleed differently...)
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Old 10-21-2015, 02:37 PM   #8
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Default Re: How Do You Handle Bleeding?

My group handles it buy not bothering with it. Admittedly we've never really given it a try as we all more or less thought it was to much trouble for what it would bring to the game. We also tend to play games with easy access to some form of healing, though we do occasionally play a more realistic game.
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Old 10-21-2015, 02:40 PM   #9
VariousRen
 
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Default Re: How Do You Handle Bleeding?

My low fantasy campaign uses the severe bleeding rules in Martial Arts, which make bleeding Very deadly without good first aid eqiupment and a trained medic. In combat, ignore bleeding entirely. 60 rounds (30 for some locations) is a huge amount of time, and tracking it every turn is tedious. If you think combat is going on for a long time, call for a bleeding roll as soon as you are done, otherwise let people make first aid rolls (or declare other actions) first.

Outside of combat it's easy to go minute by minute and ask for first aid and bleeding rolls for the minute. If the first aid is successful, the person doesn't take the damage from the bleeding roll. If you are playing online, it's easy to call for everyone to make a roll, apply damage, and let you know if they succeed. In person there's a little harder with all the dice everywhere, but the key is to trust your players to roll and report any successes/important failures. Always ask everyone to pause rolling if someone is making a death check, it's part of the fun.

Bleeding is awesome if done right, in my last session the main fighter of the group took a single stab wound through his armour before forcing the attacker to flee. The only other person he was with didn't have first aid trained, and you can't perform it on yourself. The untrained medic ended up spending a full 25 minutes with the dying warrior, trying desperately to stop the chest wound from bleeding. Meanwhile, the warrior dropped 1 HP at a time, from half HP, to 0, to 3 short of a death check (and he only had HT 10). Every few rolls I'd take a break and ask people what they were doing/thinking, and it was awesome and dramatic. He was eventually saved by a lucky 5 on the first aid roll (despite failing a ton of bleeding checks), but the time was as stressful as being in the middle of combat.

To keep things going quickly skip bleeding in some fights. If the bleeding wounds are light, the group has magical healing, or someone is highly trained in first aid, simply assign a resources cost (x FP, y bandages) and assume they stop the bleeding for everyone eventually. Only go through the rolling process when it isn't obvious that it's possible to save everyone.
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Old 10-21-2015, 02:54 PM   #10
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Default Re: How Do You Handle Bleeding?

Quote:
Originally Posted by VariousRen View Post
To keep things going quickly skip bleeding in some fights. If the bleeding wounds are light, the group has magical healing, or someone is highly trained in first aid, simply assign a resources cost (x FP, y bandages) and assume they stop the bleeding for everyone eventually. Only go through the rolling process when it isn't obvious that it's possible to save everyone.
This. In my realistic games (I also run cinematic games, where bleeding isn't a thing), I treat bleeding pretty narratively. If people took heavy wounds or there is no one with First Aid around (very rare - almost all my players take it), I use the rules. Otherwise, I just say the medic patched people up and move on. I do have much harsher recoveey house rules, though, so that people can be in recovery for months after being badly wounded (but not completing the full recovery just gives things like HT penalties, rather than starting you at reduced HP).
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