I am also not a fan of widespread application of the Gritty Damage rules.

I let my table spend a fate point to avoid taking the wound when they got hit for Massive Damage. I was worried it would be too generous till we got into it and I started doing "wounds" with the Voie. Pretty much the only thing my BI table did with fate was resisting wounds and they ran out by the Giant Fight which felt to me about right.

Two or three of my 7 party members would have been taken out half way through the BI if I had been Lawful Neutral as a judge. Better they keep standing till near the end.

Eric

Uses of Fate to reduce the severity of Massive Damage:

1) Increase your AR by your Fate Score (therefore amount of damage taken is less than Fortitude)
2) Increase your Avoidance by your Fate Score (to avoid damage in the first place)
3) Increase your Fortitude by your Fate Score (therefore the damage does not bypass the defence)
4) Fate Point to counter the Wound
5) Fate Point to auto-stabilize

is #4 the official wording? I dont think that is how that works....

These are merely suggested ways of using a Fate Point to make this less crazy. Ultimately the mileage depends on the GM within the bounds of the Campaign Rules.

You use Fate to counter the negative effects of the wound. It doesn't prevent the wound.

As far as speeding up combat, speeds up killing NPCs with 1 or 2 wounds. For the other side, PCs that would have survived combat because they were "vanquished" may now be permanently dead, especially the 2 wound PCs, because Fort Defense is "around" a third of your stamina.

Now, is this massive damage rule in full use, permitted as an option, or was it BI only?

right so your putting actual rules with suggested rules, people might get confused
Spending fate is on page 319 ARPG



are the ones that apply to avoiding taking a wound, there are some that apply to recovering from a wound also but they are a diversion from the topic at hand

@lbxzero, the rule was announced to be in effect for the entire campaign, all the time by Eric Weiner at the beginning of the BI

"In effect" is very vague and open to misinterpretation.

This means, ultimately, where ever official PCI events are played (Con's, Harvesters supported game days, etc) they expect people to play with Gritty Rules. That said, Home Games do not need to.

I would like to suggest a "trial period" of the Gritty Rules in the main campaign to see how it really fairs outside of a BI environment. The GMs than Email the staff (or report here) with how it worked, and then a final word is brought down.

Warning to my players tonight: we'll be playing with these rules though any deaths by wounds will not be considered binding until I have the data to suggest that this is the best path for the campaign. If nothing else we need to work our way into the rules rather than change something suddenly.

Using a Fate Point to negate a wound from massive damage is not set in stone anywhere in the official rules. None the less i though going all gritty through the whole BI with multiple encounters with Xbows and giants was a good way to more or less permanently down the half the party before going in to the final encounters. So that's how I ran it. And my experience as a judge largely bore out my guesses.

I think it's a good idea in a BI situation where you face 8-10 combat encounters.

yeah, im not an official source, thats why im hoping Joe or Tony posts something official