Re: [HoE] Re:Massive Damage

[Darrin Bright <darrin@neobright.net>]

At 12:28 PM 11/3/99 -0800, you wrote:
>>>I've noticed PCs usually get off very lightly when
>confronted with
>massive
>damage.  A solution to this would be reduce
>effectivness of armor...
>kevler
>probably isn't much help from an explosion.  (It would
>help with
>shrapnel though)
>
>Any one else got any thought on this?<<
>
>I agree completely.  Most of the time, it's far easier
>to kill someone w/ a derringer than a stick of
>dynamite.  I've been contemplating using the BNW
>system for massive damage (i.e. roll damage- wounds
>are applied to EVERY part of the body.), to put the
>fear of TNT back into my posse.

Hmm. I *like* that idea a *lot*. But yeah, as written the rules for
explosions/massive damage are a little too forgiving. It depends on the
explosive, but in general when something goes boom it isn't always the
shrapnel that nails you, it's the compression wave. Stuff like your
eyeballs and eardrums popping, and the system shock is just something I
don't see armor helping a lot with. Well, ok, if you've got a tank around
you, you should be fine, but on the other hand, if a grenade goes off
inside the tank, you're just dead. Period. Twilight 2000 apparently had
rules for handling explosives that took compression waves and reflections
into effect. Apparently it was a real bitch and actually involved cube
roots *shudder*.