True Violence (Not Shitpost)

 OK, so the last post was me being a little bit puckish, a little bit silly, a little bit goofy with it - but also, I genuinely do think a mechanic like that achieves the basic goals of Violence by Luke Gearing, designer of very well-written and poorly-edited game Wolves Upon the Coast, more or less adequately while being a hell of a lot simpler.

However, if I were to ruin that purity and therefore make it not really very funny but probably more serviceable, I would add the following rules:

• Saves vs. Death succeed on 12+; 8+ if wearing a helmet or in cover; 4+ if both.
• A ballistic vest allows the conversion of a single failed Save into being knocked on your ass; a plate carrier allows you to easily swap in new plates. 
• Autofire imposes a penalty to the Save equal to the number of rounds fired.
• Suppressing fire has a percentile chance of hitting those out of cover equal to the number of rounds fired.
• In hand-to-hand combat, apply a penalty to the opponent's Save, and a bonus to your own, equal to the number of people you have ever killed in hand-to-hand combat.  

 

True Violence

 If attacked, Save vs. Death.

A Really Obvious Solution to Player Consumable Hoarding

See the title. Putting the post out there with rapid turnaround and minimal polish because this is a very low-hanging fruit idea that I haven't really seen done before, and I suspect it might generate some productive discussion/elaboration.

 

Provenance unclear - seems to have been made either by "Artur Popkins," 

"Artur Mukhametov," or "Trevor Henderson."

 

Players hoarding consumables is a classic issue. There's some deep-seated component of our psyche that makes us desperately want to save things for the perfect moment, which results in them not getting used at the right moment. It struck me earlier that there is an obvious solution to this—give consumables both a short-term strong effect and a permanent weak effect. Now there's another consideration to balance the scales: the longer they hold onto the consumable, the longer they forgo the permanent benefit. 

You could introduce a gambling/randomness element here, if you'd like. 

Some obvious worked examples, to illustrate:

1. Elixir of Health - Upon use, restores the user to full HP, and gives a permanent +1 maximum HP.
2. Longevity Pill - Upon use, renders you immune to unnatural aging effects for a day and a night, and increases your maximum lifespan by +10 years.  
3. Tiger Balm - Rub on your hands to lengthen and harden your nails into wicked claws, dealing 1d8 damage. These last until filed off and are disruptive to tasks requiring manual dexterity, but can also be cut down to less obtrusive points that deal 1d4 against unarmored foes.
4.  Scroll of Magic Missiles - Read to cast Magic Missile at 2 MD. Upon use, you have an INT% chance of a flash of insight that permanently teaches you the spell, whether or not you can cast it - knowing the spell does not grant you the MD needed for it.
5. And So Forth - Et cetera...

Please enjoy this good idea that I just had.