[Solar System] Harmful Stakes... how often?
shadowcourt:
Paul,
I definitely always keep Harm marked by a specific pool, if only because it's useful shorthand for what kind of negative effects the Harm should have (in terms of penalty dice, for instance), and tells the player very clearly what they need to use to heal that Harm. Changing types of Harm (by pool) can be a very effective technique when you've got the measure of a foe, in the same classic D&D technique of sending all your Will-save effects against the big dumb ogre, but probably trying to use the poison cloud type spells against the enemy wizard; targeting your opponent's weak pool can be a handy way to keep him down or make the conflict go faster.
I've also had some games where Harm is marked by specific pool mechanics which are outside the traditional Instinct/Vigor/Reason, which ties in nicely with some of Eero's discussion of alternate pool mechanics in Solar System. For instance, the Stone Age game I currently run has a fourth optional pool, called Taint, which is all about black magic and practices beyond the comfort level of the community. For those willing to unremittingly turn towards witchcraft, skin-walking, and other methods which put the individual ahead of the community, there are Taint mechanics. In terms of Harm levels, if you're unlucky enough to be injured by something which seethes with corruption, you end up with a Harm Level which is marked with two pools, i.e "Vigor/Tainted". Beyond the normal pool expenditure required to heal the Harm, you also need to get yourself purified somehow, typically by the intervention of a shaman or other form of spiritual sanctification. It hasn't come up much, but when it does, it's creepy and fun.
I've sometimes tinkered with ideas about how to even make Harm levels linger a little, to represent characters who are carrying around some sort of wound which we want to come up later. The results have been mixed, and it's sometimes at odds with my own desire that Harm doesn't linger forever and keep a player from ever participating in exciting meaningful conflict in the future, for fear of all the Harm he remains burdened with. In truth, it's probably best to maintain any idea like this as an Effect on the part of the aggressor rather than lingering Harm on the part of the wounded. If I want it to come up again in a game, it's ready-at-hand as that Effect which has been maintained; otherwise, it's gone because we've lost interest in it and the plot has gone elsewhere.
Additionally, you're right about the issue of Harm-as-stakes being sorted out during the negotiation stage when stakes are set in the opening salvo of BDTP. I've never really run into this as a problem, and it'd probably have come naturally to me in that circumstance.
-shadowcourt (aka Josh)
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