Plot Armor: Difference between revisions

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* A great many games have points you can spend on various things including not taking damage. Plot Points in ''[[Firefly|Serenity]]'', Chips in ''[[Deadlands]]'' etc. etc. ''[[The World of Darkness]]'' games generally don't have this but in ''[[Kindred of the East]]'' [[Half Vampire|Dhampyr]] actually do have Plot Armor in the form of Passive Joss, which is a form of involuntary luck that sometimes stops them being hit by throwing freak events in the way.
* A great many games have points you can spend on various things including not taking damage. Plot Points in ''[[Firefly|Serenity]]'', Chips in ''[[Deadlands]]'' etc. etc. ''[[The World of Darkness]]'' games generally don't have this but in ''[[Kindred of the East]]'' [[Half Vampire|Dhampyr]] actually do have Plot Armor in the form of Passive Joss, which is a form of involuntary luck that sometimes stops them being hit by throwing freak events in the way.
* The Games Workshop ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' game gave major characters something like "Fate points"—allowing them to shrug off wounds just ''because'' they're major characters. The number of fate points a character gets is determined by how good their final fate in the films and books is—for instance, Aragorn, Sam, Gandalf the White etc. have high fate point counts, whereas Boromir, Denethor, Grima Wormtongue etc have low counts.
* The Games Workshop ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' game gave major characters something like "Fate points"—allowing them to shrug off wounds just ''because'' they're major characters. The number of fate points a character gets is determined by how good their final fate in the films and books is—for instance, Aragorn, Sam, Gandalf the White etc. have high fate point counts, whereas Boromir, Denethor, Grima Wormtongue etc have low counts.
* The Decipher ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' game also had several traits that allowed heroes to survive because they're heroes. One was even called "Armour of Heroes," which allowed an unarmored PC to claim protection equal to leather armor. This went away if the PC put on actual armor (you must *trust* the script immunity!), though shields were allowed.
* In ''[[GURPS]]'' there's an option to play a "cinematic campaign", which basically allows the DM to run the show based on [[Rule of Cool]]. Characters start out with ''twice'' the normal point allowance (and they're considerably more badass than ordinary people to begin with), they get special bonuses in combat, and they can save an unspent character point or two to shake off a bad injury as "just a flesh wound."
* In ''[[GURPS]]'' there's an option to play a "cinematic campaign", which basically allows the DM to run the show based on [[Rule of Cool]]. Characters start out with ''twice'' the normal point allowance (and they're considerably more badass than ordinary people to begin with), they get special bonuses in combat, and they can save an unspent character point or two to shake off a bad injury as "just a flesh wound."
* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' has a "karma pool" for each character. You can "burn" one or more dice to give yourself a bonus to some challenging roll at a moment of dire need. The karma is gone once used, but survive long enough and you'll get more.
* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' has a "karma pool" for each character. You can "burn" one or more dice to give yourself a bonus to some challenging roll at a moment of dire need. The karma is gone once used, but survive long enough and you'll get more.
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* West End Games' old ''[[Star Wars]]'' RPG had this trope codified in the rules. No matter what else happened, you would rarely die. They called it "Script Immunity" and a number of people still identify this trope by that name.
* West End Games' old ''[[Star Wars]]'' RPG had this trope codified in the rules. No matter what else happened, you would rarely die. They called it "Script Immunity" and a number of people still identify this trope by that name.
* ''[[Heavy Gear]]'' uses a system that rates [[NPC]]s by chess pieces, to help GMs to maintain the [[Metaplot|continuity]] of the overall [[The Verse|fiction]]. Pawns are considered [[Nominal Importance|nameless extras]], who are [[Red Shirt|completely expendable]], while the fates of Kings, Queens and Rooks are important figures, who are [[Immune to Fate|intrinsic to historical events]]. This is completely optional, as many players prefer to play the game in [[House Rules|their own way]].
* ''[[Heavy Gear]]'' uses a system that rates [[NPC]]s by chess pieces, to help GMs to maintain the [[Metaplot|continuity]] of the overall [[The Verse|fiction]]. Pawns are considered [[Nominal Importance|nameless extras]], who are [[Red Shirt|completely expendable]], while the fates of Kings, Queens and Rooks are important figures, who are [[Immune to Fate|intrinsic to historical events]]. This is completely optional, as many players prefer to play the game in [[House Rules|their own way]].



== Toys ==
== Toys ==