So I’ve been writing a system to replace harm and I’d like some feedback. It’s a lot like Nobilis’ Wounds or Fate’s Stress Tracks and Consequences. It’s also a bit like Going Aggro – you’re asking someone to change and they can either capitulate or resist and take a wound. Taking a wound means you’re putting up resistance to the change that’s been forced on you – so long as you hold on to a wound, there’s the possibility that things will go back to the way they were. You can consent to a wound at any time, and this clears its wound box. If you give consent and accept it, it’s not something you can ‘recover’ from because it’s you now.
You could resist wounds with moves which allowed you to change the terms of the demand – eg. “When you would suffer a crippling wound, you may instead manifest a mutation emulating aquatic biology – describe how your new mutation has averted the injury. For instance, a severed hand may remain connected to your body by a sinewy tentacle.” You could also have moves which allow you to freely change or undo things about yourself – fall out of love instantly, regenerate, reassert your principles in the face of temptation – moves which render you invulnerable to certain changes, too. “I can’t be frozen”, “I can never stop hating someone” and so on.
Those elements of a person which are more deeply held are harder to change – it’s easier to separate someone from their arm than it is to separate them from their life. I’m really not sure how to represent that mechanically though – rules of thumb for what you have to do to change something deeply held. Maybe you could extend wounds to possessions here – if you’re so close to a sword that you’d refuse to accept its theft, you could get it back so long as you held that wound. If it shattered, you could accept a wound and hold on to the possibility of reforging it. Basically, you take a wound if there’s something you really really like about the way your life is and you don’t want it to change.
Wounds recover given time and the right conditions – things go back to the way they were. I’m sure it’d be pretty clear in practice how much time and what conditions you’d need, but I feel like some guidelines would help. I also need guidelines for what kind of moves a GM can make with your wounds – I’ll probably write up Wound Moves or something. When can they make a soft move? When can they make a hard move? If all your wounds are filled, you’ve changed so much that you’re no longer the person you were – you die, you suffer a nervous collapse, you’ve been brainwashed, possessed, turned into a lizard – whatever it is, you’ll just have to live with it. The change here isn’t organic, healthy and consensual – it’s sudden, traumatic and unwanted. You might take up a new playbook or lose control of the character altogether.
Anyway, I’d love to know what you all think!