New Damage Apportioning System for StarCluster - All Out Of Time and Beyond

Some changes in damage apportioning for StarCluster 4 - All Out Of Time. I really liked some aspects of the changes I made specifically for Sabre & Planet, but other aspects of that system would not work as well in other settings, so I combined the standard SC 4 damage-handling system with the one I used in S&W. It has what I think of as the best of both methods, so I will be using it from now on in most new games, and I will be offering it in a Toolbox.

Attached is the upper left corner of the new character sheet. You set it up the same as standard SC4 - take your attribute score (say 11) divide it by two and round up (6) and black out the damage boxes until only that number is open - so for this example of the 8 boxes available, 6 would be left open and two blacked out.

In play, for each point of damage, you check off a damage box until all of the damage boxes for one attribute are checked. Once all the boxes are checked for that attribute, you check the Status box at the end - i.e for STR, the status box is Strained. This means you have stained some muscles, and until you get this fixed, you operate at a Large penalty for any check related to this attribute.

So if you are using the StarPool resolution system, and you have Strained checked, you would lose two dice (the Large penalty for StarPool) for any STR-related skill check.

Damage boxes heal naturally over time, but Status Boxes need medical attention and treatment to heal. You can still use the alternate Attribute Pool or 3 Status box (Hindered/Wounded/Stunned) methods if you prefer them.