The main problem is that the pool that you utilise to improve your character is also the same pool that you use to influence events within the game. Initially this feels fine but I soon came to find that the presence of HP in NPCs only depleted PCs of HP. If the NPC bumped then so did the PC and vice versa. Once the NPC had used all their HP then the heroes - with bigger reserves could use theirs to win the contest. All that had happened was that I had 'cost' the PCs some extra HP to win the contest - with the potential impact that would have on PC advancement. If I wanted the heroes to advance I had to provide wodges of HP which, if they didn't spend, would skew their success in subsequent adventures.
I've decided to change the way I use HP in my game. I present HP as the players ability to pull the narrative to their liking - they are what they can use to take control of the story for a short while. No NPCs have HP. If I want to give the PCs a hard time I just up the abilities of the NPCs. After all, if the heroes meet the NPC and contest with them, successfully or not, and then subsequently meet them again - how many HP should the NPC have?? This method removes that question. I can decide if I want the NPC to have progressed ability-wise and ignore HP.
I also intend to give out two kinds of HP. There will be generic HP given out at teh start of a session that they can keep track of in a box while HP given at the end of a session will be 'rune flavoured' which they'll have to inscribe on their character sheet. If the heroes have been fighting beastmen then one of the HP they get will be a beast rune, if they've been arguing in the clan about what should be done about a situation I might give a law rune as an HP. In this way the characters may build up a collection of runes that would be reflected in minor game effects.
For example, if a character is holding in his HP pool, five death runes, then spending the night in someone's barn might result in the spontaneous abortion of pregnant animals resting near by or the death of flowers outside the window of his room.
I might also allow a death rune to be used to advance certain abilities as if they were related to the recent adventure - even if they weren't. I think this might provide some game colour to what is currently a meta-game mechanic.
Finally I intend to make HP less necessary for character advancement. I think that I will allow some kind of check for advancement whenever a character uses an HP to bump a skill (this is a throwback to the RQ skill advancement check) but it fits that as the player wants to improve a certain skill enough to spend character advancment points (what HP are efectively) then 25% of the time that should mean the skill gets better. This could be done by making a simple contest against the skill+20. I would also allow the character in the example above to add five to an advancement check where death might play a part for his five death runes. So HumaktMan with Sword Combat 5W uses an HP to bump his skill during the adventure - at the end of the adventure he'll be allowed a contest at 10W versus 5W2 to determine whether his skill would become 6W.
Just thought I'd air this and see what people think.
Stephen McGinness
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