Dark Heresy 2: Hardboiled, a reworking of the DH2 Beta damage rules

By comradeda, in Dark Heresy House Rules

Since Dark Heresy 2 reverted to DH1 damage rules, I've been working on taking the ideas presented in the damage system of the first DH2 beta rules.

At least one of the ideas cropped up in the Critical Hits system of Edge of the Empire, so it's not entirely dead. Nonetheless, it was a shame to remove that particular piece of innovation.

This isn't to say that it was perfect. We found that the critical hits looked up on the table were far more dictated by the number of wounds taken than anything to do with what you were shooting at them. Wounds also seemed rather abstract, since all they seemed to represent was a 'climbing' of the critical hits table, which didn't feel right.

Thus, not quite ready for publication, I present Dark Heresy 2: Hardboiled. The name is chosen for the system's attempt to evoke that sort of harboiled PI novel fight where two men in a bar are barely standing after hitting each other pool cues for half an hour. Gunfights are short, brutal, and is often ended by someone passing out from shock or blood loss rather than dying.

Rather than the previous abstract 'wounds', which also had the effect of being the primary determinant of injury, fatigue (the classic) is now what builds during combat. As you take hits and exert yourself, you become slower and easier to plant solid blows on. You also wind up getting worse at the things you're bad at before you drop your A game.

This all sort of comes together, but we're still working out the kinks. You can see a few entries in which I had suffered a significant amount of fatigue writing 180 different crit results. There are also a few places where I haven't gotten around to editing wording and what have you.

Find this still being worked on tract here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Da34IG_d0X0Zz-02j_DOHS2C_HFY9ASpvBqz7owuiBU/edit#

Feel free to comment any corrections, doubts, or whatever else below. It may be taken into consideration. Definitely post anything you think might help with book keeping.

Structurally speaking, I would put the revised Damage/Fatigue rules in the very beginning rather than near the middle/end-ish (since tables). As many of your changes revolve around a redefined rule system, establishing the proper context for those changes upfront will prevent some confusion. I found myself reading your document twice and backwards before I could fully appreciate the different mechanics.

Keep up the good work.

Edited by Asymptomatic

Hey, yeah, sorry about that. It's an evolving piece of work. Will change it now.

I can see a decent number of anonymous animals on the document. I would appreciate any comment, even if it is positive and nothing would change. It does encourage me to keep going with the project.

Sorry for the third bump, but has anyone actually used this yet? It's working out ok in my games (with a few hiccups here and there).