Hamlet’s Hit Points

“A critical hit! Whether you approach Hamlet’s Hit Points as a writer, as a critic, as a film buff, or as a gamer, you’ll find that Robin Laws is there ahead of you, pointing the way. An unparalleled game designer and best-of-breed game master, Robin reminds us that narrative is worth it: worth creating, worth studying, and worth nurturing in any format, with or without dice.”

— Kenneth Hite, author of Tour de Lovecraft

The Bones

Hamlet’s Hit Points

by Robin D. Laws

ISBN: 978-0-9818840-2-8
6×9 inches • 196 pages • softcover
$20 (US)

Available now.



 …if you want to get one (or more) copies of just this book.


 …if you also want to pick up The Bones: Us and Our Dice or Things We Think About Games.

About the Book

See Your Stories Like Never Before

Hamlet’s Hit Points presents a toolkit that helps make storytelling in any RPG easier and more fun by classifying story beats and letting you track their ups and downs from hope to fear and back.

Armed with these tools, you’ll be equipped to lay compelling track for an emotional roller-coaster that will keep everyone at your game table involved, excited, riveted.

In these pages, you’ll find definitions of nine critical story beats. You’ll read about the relationships between those beats. You’ll also find complete analyses of three stories you know already—Hamlet, Casablanca, and Dr. No—to show you how the system works.

Written with roleplayers in mind, Hamlet’s Hit Points is an indispensable tool for understanding stories, in games and everywhere else.

Ordering Information

Orders for Hamlet’s Hit Points placed on the Gameplaywright web site ship directly from us, processed and mailed by our own hands. In addition to ordering the book from us, you can also…

Gameplaywright books including Hamlet’s Hit Points are available to retailers through hobby game distribution channels via Impressions Advertising & Marketing. If you’re a retailer having any difficulty finding our titles, please don’t hesitate to e-mail service@gameplaywright.net.

An ePub edition of Hamlet’s Hit Points is planned, but we’re hesitant to suggest a release date because we’re not sure how long it’s going to take us to create that file, given the graphic complexity of the book’s layout. If you’re sick of waiting, we’d probably find a gentle e-mail request to get a move on motivational. (Check the sidebar for e-mail addresses.)

The Beat Icons

The beat icons and arrows illustrated by Craig S. Grant and used in Hamlet’s Hit Points are licensed for use under a Creative Commons license.