Roll to Move HP
The reason why everyone argues about HP systems is because “Roll to Move” and “Roll for Damage” are mechanically identical
To be clear, I’m not saying that roll to move is a bad mechanic. Game mechanics are neutral, it’s all about how a designer uses them. What I am saying is that if 5e’s HP system was turned into a stand alone racing game, every space on the track would be blank
On the other hand, a game like Cairn would only have a few blank spaces right at the beginning of the track, then every space afterwards would reduce your stats in some way, making it feel like you’re approaching death
Some of the games I have designed, namely Prop Master and AWNER, map their HP to the DVPRS, a pain scale used by the VA. Treating the HP track as a pain scale may not have any mechanical effects, but it does act as a neat roleplaying aid for players
A creative HP alternative that’s not roll to move would be “puzzle box” combat as described in The 1 HP Dragon
Anywho, I’m not posting this blog to throw shade or give alternatives that are not roll to move HP systems, I’m here to lean in and design bad games
LETS ROLL
What if we replaced the HP track with the most popular roll to move game on the market right now, Magical Athlete?
To give the boardgame space on the table, let’s turn this game into a “first person shooter” where the players are the game pieces, and the seats around the table is battle map (going to steal this from my game Heads Tails Tooth & Scale)
TACTICAL ATHLETE
4-6 Players
setup
Set the table with n + 1 chairs, where n is the number of players. Before the game starts, players will write their turn number on their hand starting with the player with the empty seat to their right, and continuing in ascending order clockwise around the table
Set up the game Magical Athlete on the table, following the standard rules the game provides — except players will only do a single snake draft, collecting two racers each
move to roll damage
On your turn, you must move to a different seat at the table. You may select the empty seat, or you may force an adjacent player to swap seats with you. The chairs themselves stay at the same position at the table. Take your dice and cards with you as you move
After you have moved, you can either attack or rest
To attack, select one adjacent player and roll your die to move their character on the board. Follow the rules of the character you are moving
To rest, discard your first racer from the board, and then place your second racer at the start line. Each player can only rest once per game!
you are finished line
A player is eliminated once their racer has been moved to the end of the track
If a player is eliminated by any other means (M.O.U.T.H.) and still has their second racer card in hand, they will rejoin the race at the start line on their next turn
haunted dice
If a die roll matches ever matches the number written on the back of an eliminated player’s hand, the ghost of the eliminated player may choose to modify the die roll with +1 or -1
who wins?
Determine your own win conditions. Play as a free for all, or create teams. I’m not your dad. Go have fun
