help describing how hurt a PC is?

I love the damage sytem of UA. Gives you a chance to really get into the story. Since less numbers are being used in the games description of whats occuring. Makes it more streamline in the Mind’s Eye. Yet I’ll also agree, I have rough time in describing whats goin on with damage.

I usually try to mess with a characters senses with damage.

Haveing been punched countless times in my life, I describe punches with sudden distortion of sounds(I suppose heads shots only), which simply turn to momentary thrums, the throbs, and cracks as needed…i find “fire’ and ‘brick’ work well with severe shots.

Goin into shock? Can’t help ya.

whatnot: If it’s crazy weirdness. I usually rely on my pc’s to relay their personal feelings on the situation, and what they’d do. This usually becomes a 5-10 minute conversation on everyone’s POV’s then as everyone stops lauging someone says ‘Okay, I’m about to freak right out, and need cleaner pants.”

Describing how hurt someone is is always a tricky business. Begin with what happened. Are they shot? Is it necessary for the character to continue on? Let the shot be a flesh wound. Have it hit a meaty part of the body, they feel the pain, it’s intense, the adrenaline kicks in, and they see the injury, it’s a constant burning that flares up when moved, but the limb still can function. If you want it to be more serious, or more damaging a shot, have it bleed heavily, that makes most people aware of the severity of a wound, if you look down and see red pumping out of you, it’s time for a tight belt in a hurry. You can then describe the pain as just the tightness of the tourniquet, and a cold numb after that. If you are a kind GM, let them continue to use the limb, saying, “Your leg still supports your weight.”

If it’s a serious shot, break a bone. use onomanopias (sp?), the cereal elves are great for describing how much it could hurt, Snap, Crackle, Pop, goes your femur.

Shock is a great and wonderful tool to use when they PC’s take a massive amount of damage and you still need the players to think rationally out of the situation they are in. Shock happens right after the injury, and it leaves you vaguely interested in your surroundings, and only mildly concerned with whatever the player was doing before hand. If a player of mine gets hammered by something that takes his body way way low in a hurry, I stop the narration, get a soda pop (or a smoke) something that stops all the action for a minute or two, I don’t answer any of the players questions, wait till they get quite again, and then begin the narration again with a very trivial detail about the room i.e., “you open your eyes and stare at the ceiling. Why do they have holes in the titles on a ceiling anyway?” If the player immediately asks how hurt they are, tell them they are fine. Nothing hurts, you’re doing O.K. Use a very slow dreamlike voice. Try to imagine the wound and how it would hinder someone’s actions in every other way possible but pain wise. Shoulder blade smashed? “You try to get up, but your left arm just doesn’t respond to what you tell it, you look at your hand and forearm and it looks fine, so why doesn’t your arm work?” Guts spilled out over the floor? Have them trip on em.

Hope it helps.