Re: (TFT) Doing damasge modernly

[Eric Coles <eac42@columbia.edu>]

Hi,

Agreement, with a few thoughts.  The .22 to the chest is generally more 
dangerous because it (due to speed) is a penetrative weapon - more 
equivalent damagewise to spear than to club.  But lots of people have taken 
.22s to the torso and lived.  The modern weapon I would treat as equivalent 
to a light club would be, for example, the rubber "crowd control" 
rounds.  Which can still kill if you're unlucky.  I tend to think of a 
high-powered rifle round as equivalent in damage to a charging lance 
(6-2).  It's a lot lighter but a lot faster.  A bazooka will definitely 
smear people - but explosives have always changed the equation (see 
Petard).  As for a minigun, it isn't the power of the rounds, it's the 
number.  IIRC most models I've seen are using .223 - I wouldn't give that 
more than 1+1 damage (keeping in mind that my MARKSMANSHIP talent was like 
FENCING for modern weapons - double and triple damage was not uncommon), 
but if a dozen or so rounds hit....  I tend to think of it more like 
Wizard's Wrath.  For a minigun I would probably just roll 3d6 to see how 
many rounds hit, then roll the damage.  For a Uzi burst, I'd roll d6 for 
rounds, then damage.  That's where the really killer damage starts.  And 
that makes flak vests usable since they're not trying to stop 6d6, modern 
armor will stop say, 4,5, or 6 hits from EACH round (Fine Plate might stop 
2 from each).

Best,

Eric



At 12:36 PM 12/1/2004, you wrote:
> Yes. As Eric says, the main difference between most high-tech missile 
> weapons (bullets and lasers) and low-tech weapons (arrows and swords) is 
> that it's harder to stop the low-tech weapons with low-tech armor.
>
> Ignoring or greatly lowering (divide by 3 to 5?) damage reduction from 
> most low-tech armor is a good approach. One exception would be shot gun 
> pellets (lots of low-penetration projectiles).
>
> If being detailed and realistic, then note that while a battleaxe or a 
> mace _to_the_head_ are good examples of weapons that can be as lethal as 
> gunshots, light low-tech weapons like a club, or mace to the shoulder, are 
> not so deadly in single hits to non-vital areas. However, realistically 
> speaking, both bullets and light primitive weapons, but I'd say especially 
> bullets and even more true of light lasers and shotgun bits or grenade 
> fragments, assuming armor penetration, hit location determines the effect 
> of the hit, much more than weapon type.
>
> Giving a bullet a higher or lower damage rating depending on whether it is 
> a .22, a .45, or a shotgun blast, mainly corresponds to shock effect, like 
> a primitive weapon. The difference though is that a low-shock primitive 
> weapon (a light club) won't kill on a hit to the chest over the heart or 
> spine, but a .22 likely will. Similarly, a bullet can graze or hit only 
> flesh and do very little damage, so I would think damage would have 
> several dice but minuses rather than plusses, to allow a chance for 
> low-damage and high damage hits. Or, make it a two-stage process, one for 
> hit location, the next for damage and effect.
>
> Also, there are weapons which will make soup of lightly-armored people 
> (miniguns, bazookas, even light cannon).
>
> PvK
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