Why Hit Points?
Or, “Why is our hobby stuck in quantifying things that could be qualities?” Whether we use hit points, stat pools, clocks like in Blades in the Dark, or anything else that is a numerical representation of a concept, I feel like we are losing a chance to have much more interesting roleplay and narrative without them.
When I was a new player, I would have been even more drawn to tabletop games if I had started with a game where consequences were just phrases you’d write in slots to describe a lingering narrative consequence of a bad roll.
Apparently, I’m an outlier though. Folks like crunch. Still, I’m always baffled that a roleplaying community doesn’t gravitate more toward the semantic consequences rather than numerical ones.
I’ve reached the point where I can’t even play games with frequent numerical consequences, like when the rulebook says every hit point represents bruises and minor aches.
Does our hobby/culture value hit points mainly because of familiarity, speed, ease of play, the ability to choose whether to roleplay or not, something else? When you lose a hit point, do you feel like it’s more satisfying to adjust that number and imagine the bruises/cuts, or would it feel more satisfying to only write down the consequences that are more, well, consequential?
Every system has its place, but I am surprised at which system is still so dominant after all these years. No hate to those who enjoy the opposite of what I enjoy. Please no hate to me either lol.