Ouch that Hurts!

Hello heroes! It was an incredibly eventful back half of 2023. I went to U-Con in mid-November where I ran six M&M events, Galaxy Con in December where I ran two M&M events, and I ran a special event at Around the Table in Lynnwood, Washington over the last few weeks. As I said, these were all Mutants & Masterminds, but what I didn’t tell people until they sat down was that I was playtesting the new damage rules for our upcoming Valiant Adventures Roleplaying Game, and let me tell you, they were brutal!

These new damage rules are meant to simulate the grounded and dangerous combat of the Valiant Universe and it certainly did that in spades. Essentially, there are now two damage tracks: one non-lethal and one lethal that changes the way damage is applied to characters.

The new damage track is as follows:

• Succeeding at a Toughness resistance check now incurs 1 Bruise (non-lethal) or 1 Injury (lethal) which reduces your resistance checks by 1.
• Failing a Toughness resistance check by 1 degree incurs 2 Bruises or Injuries and the Dazed (non-lethal) or Stunned (lethal) condition.
• Failing a Toughness resistance check by 2 degrees incurs 3 Bruises or Injuries and the Staggered (non-lethal) or Wounded (lethal) condition.
• Failing a Toughness resistance check by 3 degrees incurs the Incapacitated (non-lethal) or Dying (lethal) conditions.

I quite enjoyed how the new damage affected gameplay. Every attack felt substantial, with both heroes and villains finding themselves in a lot more danger. It sped things up significantly (which as everyone who has ever played a “one shot” with me can attest to is a good thing for me.) The players really seemed to enjoy it when the villains were taking a lot more damage from each attack, not quite so much when it was done to them, but overall it felt in keeping with the tone Steve and I are trying to capture for Valiant Adventures. I did not show off some of the new things we have in store for Healing, Regeneration, and Toughness but I’m excited to see how those changes interact with the new damage.

I’d tell you more about some of my theories, but I can’t do that until we get a little closer to our launch date for the Kickstarter. Valiant Adventures Roleplaying Game is coming soon and we will be doing playtesting for it over on the Mutants & Masterminds Patreon. Keep an eye out on this space for more details as the Kickstarter gets closer and over on the Patreon if you want to be among the first to try these new rules out for yourself. Just make sure to pack some gauze and ice packs. I have a feeling we’re going to be beating up a lot of player characters in the next few months!