[gurps] Fright Checks for Mortal Wounds

[Erik Holmes]

Does anyone else out there use fright checks for serious or mortal wounds?

One thing I've found in GURPS is that while the combat system is deadly it
can also be hard to kill or take someone down 'instantly'.

In my games I've always Gm'd things where when an opponent takes a serious
wound, like a crippled limb, thrown knife to the neck, etc, they are pretty
much out of the fight. My reasoning is that even if a dagger in the neck
dosen't kill someone that round, they know they are dead. Knowing that you
are going to die and watching yourself bleed to death seems like a good
reason for a fright check to me.

The question came up for me recently though when I was playing with another
group of GURPS players that I hadn't played with before. They tended to run
things D&D style and we were forced to chop away at our enemies until every
hit point and death check was made.

When I run things I just tend to assume that someone with a serious wound is
out of the fight. I see this as just me role-playing the NPC's. If I'm just
some mercenary or hired thug and suddenly my arms been taken off I'm not
going to be worried about doing my job anymore. Obviously there are
exceptions to this, but I think they are exceptions and not the rule. If I
really have any question about how they would react I roll a quick fright
check.

Anyone else tried this? Any idea what a good penalty would be for such a
roll, if any?

"I didn't spend all those years playing D&D and not learn a little something
about courage." 
	-Some Dork, The X-Files 
	
Erik Holmes
Shoby187 at yahoo.com
AIM: ErikHolmes
ICQ: 2593395 
MSN: Shoby187 at hotmail.com 
Y!: Shoby187 at yahoo.com


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