Medical rules...

[Jim LotFP]

OK.

Adventuring is dangerous, so any character in an RPG is going to be in danger. Which means sooner or later, serious injury.

Games don't deal with healing very well. Just wait and rest, and BOOM, good as new. Doesn't take into account horrible medical conditions back in medieval/Renaissance days, it's just another way of downplaying the idea of getting into life and limb threatening situations.

LotFP: RPG, it's one roll per healing period, determined if you got better, got worse, and it's all based on the character's stats, not some random figure.

Now all I need to figure out is how to make decent autopsy rules. If characters can be poisoned, get diseased, and get injured, a doctor should be able to determine how someone died. And would death by a spell be detectable by a doctor? If someone gets fireballed and dies, can a medical examiner tell it was magical fire and not 'real' fire?

Coming soon, the new supplement, LotFP: RPG- Quincy! What's Jack Klugman's combat skill level, anyway?

 

[Jim LotFP]

Now all I need to figure out is how to make decent autopsy rules.

Done.

While the rules will support combat monsters, damn will they be miserable in any subsequent published official adventures.

 

[The King In Yellow]

Mmmm.
Medieval medical skills, even during the Renaissance, were sketchy at best. Remember, there wasn't knowledge of human anatomy till way after Davinci.
A chirurgeon would be able to tell you that a person died of these wounds, had caught this or that plague, and be able to generally identify what caused any wounds. "That's an animal bite. Of a large animal. Maybe a bear. Or possibly a gargentherexor."
Anything related to the transmission or treatment of disease would be right out. Bathe? Hell no. Wash wounds? Probably, but god knows the quality of water used.
Leeches are right in. Leeching was very popular up to the Victorian Age. So was drilling into the skull to let out bad air in the brain.
I agree that wounds should take for-fucking-ever to heal, depending on the severity and the conditions. As for getting more detailed then that - probably not necessary.

 

[Jim LotFP]

Mmmm.
Medieval medical skills, even during the Renaissance, were sketchy at best. Remember, there wasn't knowledge of human anatomy till way after Davinci.
A chirurgeon would be able to tell you that a person died of these wounds, had caught this or that plague, and be able to generally identify what caused any wounds. "That's an animal bite. Of a large animal. Maybe a bear. Or possibly a gargentherexor.".

The rules already dictate that it can be determined what KIND of weapon/animal caused wounds/death, but not what SPECIFIC weapon/animal did it. No fingerprinting, either. And in a world where religion wasn't necessarily as strong, or in which magic might exist, I'm thinking knowledge of anatomy might have been explored sooner.

But I thought some devices thrown into the rules to make murder mysteries better, couldn't hurt.

"This arrow came from THIS BOW, your honor!" isn't something I'm building into the game.

Anything related to the transmission or treatment of disease would be right out. Bathe? Hell no. Wash wounds? Probably, but god knows the quality of water used. Leeches are right in. Leeching was very popular up to the Victorian Age. So was drilling into the skull to let out bad air in the brain.

Problem with this approach is, what adventurer would ever go to a doctor for an injury if the *player* knows he's likely to be worse off? No, the Medicine skill is going to actually be beneficial for the patient in the game, without getting into detail what the remedies really are. Maybe leeches and brain drilling works in game worlds.

I agree that wounds should take for-fucking-ever to heal, depending on the severity and the conditions. As for getting more detailed then that - probably not necessary.

There are things in the game that a GM can use to stop greater technology/science advances (the Education and skill advancement rules are a great bottleneck here), but I wanted options that would make sure 'medieval' in feel doesn't necessarily mean 'historical dark ages'. Basically the rules won't forbid someone from creating the game world they want for the game, and won't stop me from creating mine, either.