Small Cuts

Part of the greatness in OSR lies in how the PCs change over their harrowing adventures, this can take place in many ways, especially the wounds that the PCs endure. Some really great systems implement wounds, such as the up-and-coming Electric Bastionland. Studying these systems, I've realized that so far that I have no mechanical rules for longer lasting wounds aside from the stuff that Into The Odd gives you upfront. I think it might be my duty to my players to make my game more lasting and weird, adding injuries won't necessarily cut anything away from the game. Except for many PC's limbs, that is.

Now the hero cries in vain. (Selkie Inguene)

So, basically how I plan to do this is to make different small tables for different damage types of damage. Whenever the PCs take critical damage (for those of you who don't play Into The Odd, this means that they fail a STR save when damaged), they will roll 1D6 on the table corresponding to the damage type. The tables follow this general structure:

Roll D6

1-3: Scrape. Three variations of a serious scrape that takes the PCs down to critical damage. The normal effects of critical damage occur, the PC is knocked out and if they aren't tended to within an hour, they die. These are more or less different descriptions of taking critical damage to a certain source of damage.

4-5: Wound. Two variations of a woeful wound that takes the PCs down to critical damage, along with some sprinkles on top. The PC is knocked out, but if they wake up, they will have some other detrimental effect applied to them that will need to be fixed.

6: Deathblow. A dreadful deathblow. Think of the worst thing that could happen to a PC. Guess what, it happened, and the PC is still living (maybe) with this grievous gift. The PC still is under the effects of critical damage, but they bleed out in 1D6 minutes and if they wake up, they will have a deathly detrimental effect applied to them that will need to be fixed, if it even can be.

Pretty simple, right? So, to celebrate the upcoming new year, all the morbid mistakes we have made, and my new job as a certified nursing assistant, here are some wound tables for you all:

D6	Piercing Damage
1	You pass out, slouching on the piercing blade You are now critically damaged.
2	You stumble to the bloodied ground after getting stabbed You are now critically damaged.
3	Your lungs give out under the stabbing pain You are now critically damaged.
4	The blade is stubbornly stuck in a body part and refuses to get out You are now critically damaged You also now have the blade that pierced you stuck in a body part. You leak lots of blood if you physically exert yourself. If the blade is ripped out of you, you take 1D6 + 1 STR damage.
5	A filthy infection spills from your stab wound You are now critically damaged. You have a serious infection, too, congratulations.Take another D6 damage, you also cannot naturally gain HP through rests until you properly treat this.
6	A stinking pile of blood and guts exits your new gaping wound You are now critically damaged, except you die in 1D6 minutes. Decrease your STR to what it is now, minus half of the damage taken. This lasts permanently or until you find some weird solution to this problem. If this damage brings your STR to 0, you are dead as you violently void your insides.

D6	Bludgeoning Damage
1	The bludgeon enters your skull, out leaves your consciousness You are now critically damaged.
2	The bludgeon crunches in your chest, your lungs give in You are now critically damaged.
3	An unsettling crack is heard as you drop to the floor You are now critically damaged.
4	The force of the impact forces your lunch and your insides out of you You are now critically damaged. You will die in 1D6 minutes by choking on your own blood and vomit if not tended to.
5	The world is constantly shifting, the throbbing pain in your head is the only thing you can focus on You are now critically damaged. At the start of every session, the GM rolls 1D6, this represents “trauma points”. They can spend a “trauma point” to make you drop everything and fall to the ground, puking.
6	Your face is reconstructed as the bludgeon forces it into angles that aren’t natural You are now critically damaged, except you die in 1D6 minutes. Your face has now been reconstructed, along with your skull. Roll 3D6, this is your new permanent WIL score, decide what happened to your face.

D6	Slashing Damage
1	The small cuts amount to too much, liquid life ebbs and flows away from you You are now critically damaged.
2	You collapse to the floor as your blood spills through your slash wounds You are now critically damaged.
3	Your body is overrun stinging pain as you release a blood-curdling scream You are now critically damaged.
4	Your insides churn in pain, your insides are mixed about by the blade You are now critically damaged. At the start of every session, the GM rolls 1D6, this represents “trauma points”. They can spend a “trauma point” to make you loudly cough a wad of blood as you internally bleed,.
5	Your vision turns red, your face stings in searing pain, you are forced to close your eyes You are now critically damaged. A giant facial gash now fills your eyes with constant blood, painting the world red. You can only see 25 feet in front of you, you decrease your DEX by 1D6+1. This lasts until you can get proper stitching. If this takes your DEX to 0, you lose that eye.
6	The last thing you hear is your flesh tearing at the seams, you collapse in sharp pain You are now critically damaged, except you die in 1D6 minutes. Choose a random limb, that limb is hewn, it is barely hanging from tendons and cannot function until it is treated somehow. If left like this for 1D6 rests, the limb is useless and must now be amputated.

D6	Burning Damage
1	The searing pain of the fire travels up your nerves like a thunderbolt as you collapse You are now critically damaged.
2	Your lungs fill up with ash and smoke, your lungs give in and you fall to the floor You are now critically damaged.
3	Fire begins to spread up your body, you drop to the ground in a mix of panic and pain You are now critically damaged.
4	You can feel the burns leaving a mark on you your blood and ash marks the ground You are now critically damaged. You’re also ugly as shit now, burn scars fill your face. The GM will decide how people treat you based on your newfound ugliness.
5	All you can feel is the wrath of the fire, you can feel something burning away You are now critically damaged. The fire temporarily burns one of your main sensory organs to a crisp, you cannot use one random sense for 2D6 days.
6	The pain is all you can focus on as you crumble to the floor, bits of you disintegrating You are now critically damaged, except you die in 1D6 minutes. One of your senses is lost permanently, another sense is lost for 2D6 days.

That's basically it for the examples. You can easily restock these tables with gruesomely creative results instead of just having one table with mediocre results. An optional rule so bigger weapons have more UMPH to them is to enforce that when the PC fails their STR check, you add half of the weapon that brought the PC down's damage to the PC's STR score. If this result is equal to or higher than the PC's roll, they roll 2D6 and take the highest result when rolling on the wound tables. If you want the more intense wounds to be less common, just make every roll on the wound tables a roll of 2D6, where you take the lowest result. As you can see here, it makes it so there is a 75% chance that the PC is just KOed, while higher results are less common.

There are still many different damage types that I have to add, such as cold damage, toxic damage, psychic damage, and many more. But, the damage has been done, I'll see you guys and gals again after new years!

Don't let the fireworks hit you, otherwise you'll have
to roll 1D6 on the burning damage table!
(Source Unknown, Not Mine)