Is there a way to have mental Hit Points with DF?

[b-dog]

As far as old school goes I remember people on these boards talking about how they did not like the Tomb of Horrors because it was too much “save vs poison or die” type game. I remember that the poison rules in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy did damage instead of just a single roll to determine in your PC lived or died. So I don’t think Dungeon Fantasy is just like old school DnD. It has some improvements that make it more fun to play. A charm spell roll is really a save or die roll, if the PC makes the roll nothing happens but if he fails then he is out of play.

[tbone]

Over the years I've seen a lot of praise for Call of Cthulhu's Sanity Points. And maybe that's a perfectly good mechanic for the genre. But whether or horror or fantasy or whatever, I've come to appreciate GURPS'/DFRPG's treatment of applying actual mental conditions (or not applying them, if the individual resists). "Sanity" isn't some actual quantity, and the loss of it has no particular meaning unless it yields some specific mental effects. I'm fine with GURPS dispensing with the "middle-man" stat, and getting right to applying those effects.

I'm on board Kromm's cautions, but if you do want to experiment with something like Mental HP . . . well, as I always say, it's just a game; hack at it! Start with Will as the pool, think of some appropriate affliction caused by a mental "Major Wound" (Stun? Fright Check?), then effects of having points reduced to less than 1/3 (big penalties on Will rolls and self-control rolls?), and down to 0 and lower . . .

If you come up with something that plays well, it'd be fun to hear about it.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by tbone

I'm on board Kromm's cautions, but if you do want to experiment with something like Mental HP . . . well, as I always say, it's just a game; hack at it! Start with Will as the pool, think of some appropriate affliction caused by a mental "Major Wound" (Stun? Fright Check?), then effects of having points reduced to less than 1/3 (big penalties on Will rolls and self-control rolls?), and down to 0 and lower . . .

I hear that some hack even wrote a supplement that could help with that . . .

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by tbone

Over the year's I've seen a lot of praise for Call of Cthulhu's Sanity Points. And maybe that's a perfectly good mechanic for the genre. But whether or horror or fantasy or whatever, I've come to appreciate GURPS'/DFRPG's treatment of applying actual mental conditions (or not applying them, if the individual resists). "Sanity" isn't some actual quantity, and the loss of it has no particular meaning unless it yields some specific mental effects. I'm fine with GURPS dispensing with the "middle-man" stat, and getting right to applying those effects.

I'm on board Kromm's cautions, but if you do want to experiment with something like Mental HP . . . well, as I always say, it's just a game; hack at it! Start with Will as the pool, think of some appropriate affliction caused by a mental "Major Wound" (Stun? Fright Check?), then effects of having points reduced to less than 1/3 (big penalties on Will rolls and self-control rolls?), and down to 0 and lower . . .

If you come up with something that plays well, it'd be fun to hear about it.

This is fundamentally the thought process behind the design of Conditional Injury in Pyr 3/120

[Refplace]

Something like what your requesting was done in Pyramid #3/83 Alternate GURPS IV, Possessions Under Control.
But as Kromm pointed out its beyond the scope of this forum, so thats all I will post here.

[Black Leviathan]

You're essentially talking about Fatigue Points. Fright Checks often reduce them due to the strain of fear trauma. Wear someone down enough and they'll fall unconscious. Effects that psychically drain your power take away FP. Exhaustion and strain eat away at this pool. It is recovered by rest and comfort or meditation.

[Raekai]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I hear that some hack even wrote a supplement that could help with that . . .

Originally Posted by Refplace

Something like what your requesting was done in Pyramid #3/83 Alternate GURPS IV, Possessions Under Control.
But as Kromm pointed out its beyond the scope of this forum, so thats all I will post here.

No one's gonna mention "Mad as Bones" from Pyramid: #3/103: Setbacks? That's my favorite rendition of mental HP/FP (called SP), and I know from experience that it hardly takes any work to add to it the Dungeon Fantasy RPG because it's short and self-contained.

You could treat charm-type or fear-type effects like the Side Effect (target makes a Will roll at -1 per 2 SP damage) or Symptom (effect happens after target has taken 2/3, 1/2, or 1/3 of their total SP from the attack) enhancement from GURPS. I've done the same there as well. I'm not a big fan of "save or suck" stuff, especially in RPG video games.