GOZR Hit Points and Death

In GOZR, you have hit points (HP). I'd say 99% of you know what that means. For the others, a HP is your life force. It's a number that gets reduced when you are hurt by something. When it hits zero, you are dead.

Or are you? And why did I go with something so common, so ho-hum unoriginal as hit points?

DEATH OR DEBASEMENT?

I didn't want zero HP to simply mean death. But I didn't want any fiddly "you really really die at -10" type of stuff. So in the end it seemed obvious to me and a light bulb went off. Just let the damn players decide it.

You get chewed on by a 12-legged lizard and reduced to zero HP. The GM looks at you and asks "Well, are you dead?". It's your choice, see. But a choice with a price.

"I choose death."

Ok, then you make a new character and they get a little benefit for your noble choice.

"No, the lizard chews me up and spits me out because of the nasty taste. I had just ate that dead hinrat we found and the thing's foulness permeated my body. I am alive, but unconscious."

Cool! Now roll on a little table because you can't just cheat death for nothing. You are going to have some kind of permanent problem. A missing limb? A basic stat gets worse?

WHY HP?

Because they work. In action adventure games, in my experience, this kind of system just works. It's a solid mechanic that makes sense and everyone understands it. I fiddled around with different kinds of systems and nothing sang to me. Everything felt like an attempt to avoid HP, but still felt like "you might as well have HP".

I like hit points. What can I say?