Re: [DL] Bleedin'

["Matt the Drifter" <deviantsevant@msn.com>]

> At what point does a character with a Serious or worse wound stop
> bleeding? Only when medical treatment is received?

Or when they die.

> A related question is what happens to a character's Wind once it reaches
> the negative of their original Wind and they take the wound to the Guts?
> Does it keep going down, doing additional wounds at each multiple of their
> original Wind, or something else?

Yes. Wind loss continues and they recieve another wound to the guts at each
negative multiple of thier wind.

> Reading the rules makes it look like it's /very/ likely a wounded
> character will bleed to death if there isn't a doctor or supernatural
> healing available within a few minutes. That doesn't really bother me, but
> I don't understand exactly how it all happens. How does that "magic hour"
> fit into that bleeding rule? I can't imagine anyone with a Serious or
> worse wound living much more than 10 minutes. (120 rounds x 1 Wind + 10
> Wind for natural recovery is still -110 Wind. A character with 18 Wind to
> start with is dead at that point, even if they had no Guts wounds and all
> of their Wind when they started bleeding.)

People bleed real good. Most deaths by gunshot are not a factor of the
actual wound and what it destroys internally but of the shock and blood
loss.

Your math failed to take into account the fact that once the gut has a
critical wound, the wind loss escalates to 2/round, so they die even faster
=]

As far as your question goes the rulebook says that anybody can stop
bleeding and restore all wind with a Foolproof(3) Medicine:(any) roll. This
check takes about 5 minutes, but for the sake of characters on the edge I
usually rule that they can pretty much stop bleeding in time to save even a
character on the brink of death, they just can't really act for the next 5
minutes or so.

 The "golden hour" refers to how long a character has before traditional
medice won't be able to help heal his wound (not wind). Within an hour a
sawbones can get in there and dig out bullets, reset limbs, etc. and stave
down the wound a level or maybe two if they are really good. After that its
time for your body to heal on its own. If not treated within that hour the
wound is too swollen/infected/ healing on its own for a doctor to do it any
good.  This golden hour has nothing to do with Wind, seein' as how wind
comes back naturally and if you don't stop the bleedin you won't last an
hour.

Think of it kind of like stabalizing a dying character in d20. They don't
get any HP back, but they aren't bleeding out anymore. Or like the
difference between Paramedics and Doctors. Paramedics just try to keep you
alive long enough for a doctor to actuall attempt to "heal" you. In DL, the
paramedics are your posse members and they better act fast 'cause losin'
1-2-3+ Wind per round is gonna kill you quick.

I've seen people on this list that tally up Wind loss for each wound, so two
serious wounds and a critical are gonna bleed you out 4 points a round.

The moral is Guns are Dangerous. Deadlands actually makes them so, unlike
many other systems. I like.

Matt the Drifter