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Re: Rules Nugget (D&D): Real Hit Points for Real People
Yeah, your description of Star Wars d20 sounds like exactly what I had in mind: start with some "realistic" measure of HP, and let the cinematic "heroic luck" HP stack on top of that. (And I'm not at all surprised that someone else – even a major game – had the idea long before me; it seems an obvious one. Oh well, I don't get to claim any originality credit here. : )
It sounds like a pretty workable solution for a Star War-type game: the heroes will normally not get hurt in any real way (loss of Vitality only), but theoretically could be hurt by, say, a knife in the back. It's interesting that it didn't work out so well in practice (as you note).
Well, how to keep the PCs in mortal danger yet not actually dead – it's the eternal RPG challenge!