DURF minus HP and XP
Here are three modular adjustments to the wound system in DURF and DURF Expanded
REMOVE WOUNDS AS HP:
I have a lot of opinions about HP systems in general, but I explicitly believe that WOUNDS should carry significant narrative weight. I don’t like the idea that all of my wounds could be healed with a full nights rest in a safe haven… BAD LUCK on the other hand fits so much better with DURF’s original system!
Death should not be the only outcome when failing a Hit Die check. Simply changing the wording to “bad luck” opens the doors to character altering wounds (be they physical or psychological wounds) when calculating the severity of any given risk
ADD DEATH BARGAINING:
If you decide to keep death as the default result of failing a Hit Die check, allow players to voluntarily sacrifice an important item, or take on a wound, that will result in a significant burden on role play decisions
inspiration: Lucky Star’s blocking rules
REMOVE XP AND LEVELING:
I’m personally not a fan of xp and leveling systems, so let’s consider situational Hit Dice based on risk assessment…
| RISK RATING | HIT DIE |
|---|---|
| Extreme Risk (Red) | 1HD |
| High Risk (Orange) | 2HD |
| Medium Risk (Yellow) | 3HD |
| Low Risk (Green) | 4HD |
…One of the required trainings I have for my profession uses a “Decision Making Matrix” to assess the risk that other people are in. I’ve wanted to apply it to TTRPGs for a year now, but haven’t thought of pairing it with DURF until now
see below for image description
| Catastrophic | MEDIUM | HIGH | EXTREME | EXTREME | EXTREME |
| Major | MEDIUM | HIGH | HIGH | EXTREME | EXTREME |
| Moderate | LOW | MEDIUM | HIGH | HIGH | EXTREME |
| Minor | LOW | MEDIUM | MEDIUM | HIGH | HIGH |
| Negligible | LOW | LOW | LOW | MEDIUM | MEDIUM |
| Rare | Unlikely | Possible | Likely | Certain |
Y-Axis “Severity of Harm”
Catastrophic: Death will occur, or the level of injury will lead to permanent or irreversible ill-health
Major: Psychological or physical injury will require treatment leading to long term incapacity or disability
Moderate: Psychological or physical injury will require treatment and/or lead to medium term incapacity and ill-health
Minor: Psychological or physical injury will be non-permanent and/or cause no lasting ill-health
Negligible: Psychological or physical injury will be minimal
X-Axis “Likelihood of Behavior”
Rare: Will probably never happen
Unlikely: Is not expected to happen, but it could
Possible: Might happen
Likely: Will probably happen
Certain: Will undoubtedly happen