Speaking of ZeroSpace, we are working on a different method of tracking character injury for our heroic games (of which ZeroSpace will be the first one). Rather than counting down Endurance as an expendable point total, “Endurance” will be used more literally: characters aren’t usually injured at all during a fight, until a hit finally takes them down. We this more closely reflects the source material for games like ZeroSpace, where characters fire off blaster shots (and duck incoming fire), or circle each other while they parry and thrust with laser swords, until the character gets hit and taken down. This also more accurately depicts a setting where a single blaster hit or slash from a laser sword would take a character out of a fight.

The exact game mechanics are still in flux, but it will probably involve the target making a task roll to mitigate a successful attack against them. If they succeed, they have successfully parried, avoided, or just gritted their teeth and taken the hit, with no negative consequences. If they fail the task roll, the same thing happens, but it wears out the target a little bit, and makes them less able to avoid or withstand future attacks.

We are currently experimenting with four levels of impairment: weakened, impaired, exhausted, and incapacitated. Weakened and impaired impose task roll penalties on anything the character does. At exhausted, the character is unable to move or take actions, but they can speak. At incapacitated, the character is genuinely injured: they are unable to move or take actions, and they can respond (slowly) only if another character engages them in conversation. Furthermore, they might have suffered some debilitating injury, such as a getting nasty scar on their face or losing a limb.

What do you think?