Having looked at character Abilities and Specialisms in the last two blogs, the only remaining numerical parameter that Hack100 uses to define a character is “Health”.
Other d100 games tend to separate-out a character’s physical condition (typically quantified by Hit Points or similar) from their magical resources (e.g. Power Points or Magic Points). The 3rd Edition of RuneQuest even introduces a third resource, Fatigue Points, that quantifies how tired a character is. In Hack100, we will streamline all of these aspects into a single parameter – Health.
Health is a measure of the general wellbeing of a character. It decreases with injury or illness. If the game’s setting includes magic or similar powers, the draining effect of using such abilities also depletes Health. When a character reaches zero Health, they fall unconscious and are at risk of dying. A character will recover Health with rest over time. There may also be other means of recovering Health such as treatment, spells or potions.
A character’s maximum Health is derived from their Toughness and Will Power Abilities. This is intended to reflect that the ability to “keep going” when things are difficult is dependent on both physical and mental resilience. The maximum Health of a character is calculated by summing the “tens” number from their Toughness and Will Power Abilities and multiplying the result by two. So, for example, a character with a Toughness of 47 and a Will Power of 35 would have a Health of (4+3) x 2 = 14.
Having now discussed Abilities, Specialisms and Health, the numerical aspects of character creation in Hack100 have been covered. In the upcoming blogs, we’ll look at finalising characters so that they are ready to start adventuring.