Re: [HoE] [HOPLER] Arson ?

["Steve Crow" <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

>From: Darrin Bright <darrin@neobright.net>
>Reply-To: hoe@gamerz.net
>To: hoe@gamerz.net
>Subject: Re: [HoE]  [HOPLER] Arson ?
>Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 18:29:19 -0400
>
>Steve Crow wrote:
>
> > Are bullets consider "flammable or explosive" for the purposes of Arson?
>
>The lead slug? No. But the fulminate (firing cap) and powder certainly are. 
>But
>I'm not sure how those work with Arson, since the flammable stuff is 
>entirely
>cased in metal.
>

What would happen if you heat it considerably, as Arson (sort of) does?

> > Probably not.  But what about grenades?  I'm not sure that even a modern 
>day
> > grenade would necessarily be detonated by (relatively brief) exposure to
> > fire such as that generated by the "burst" of Arson.  Would a 2081 
>version
> > one...?
>
>Well, that depends a lot on what kind of grenade, but exposing any grenade 
>to a
>lot of heat or an intense flame is a bad idea, unless you want it to blow 
>up. I
>don't have my books handy, but isn't there a power called Detonate to 
>handle
>this? If that's the case, I'd say Arson has a low chance to set off bullets 
>and
>grenades unless the heat/fire is of sufficient duration.
>
>

Actually, there is a chance cited for Arson detonating "explosives and 
flammables."  Basically, it's 40% i.e, the Marshall is supposed to make a 
Onerous (7) check on a d10 (presumably nothing happens if the Marshall busts 
on this roll :) ).

However, the example given when the Marshall should make the check is "spook 
juice."  Spook juice in a bottle?  Spook juice in a sealed metal container?  
Spook juice sitting in a cup that the target is holding?

And Arson has a TN of 7.

Now, Detonate has a TN of 11 to detonate an unseen explosive (which is what 
a grenade would be).  My concern (well, one of my concerns, along with the 
vagueness of this "flammables and explosives" thing) is that Arson actually 
seems _better_ at detonating stuff.  TN 7 and a 40% chance (plus doing flame 
damage and setting the target on fire to take more damage) _and_ exploding, 
or TN of 11 and no other peripheral effects.

Of course, that depends on what Arson was actually intended to cause to 
explode.  I can appreciate that the check to detonate due to Fire exposure 
from Arson should be somewhat variable and subject to Marshall discretion.  
But the intent of what this Syker ability was intended to do, and my own 
lack of knowledge of 20th century military technology (much less the 21st 
century) makes it very hard for me to make this determination.

I don't want to disallow it, and would be tempted to say that grenades don't 
detonate no matter what.  But if Pinnacle worked out the strain costs and 
designed the miracle so that Sykers _could_ go around doing that, that's a 
viewpoint I'm tempted to respect...

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