tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323276912086013429.post1717387699636111520..comments2024-03-23T04:06:43.528-04:00Comments on The Retired Adventurer: Abolishing Exploding Damage for GunsJohn Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318244888477546773noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323276912086013429.post-50616481562157806202020-02-11T01:12:38.940-05:002020-02-11T01:12:38.940-05:00This is way late to the party but modern firearms ...This is way late to the party but modern firearms are often less deadly than their 19th century counterparts. Tatsuji Inouye was able to start mapping brain functions during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905 because with the introduction of jacketed high velocity ammunition for the first time you had people who were shot in the head and survived. In general modern military ammunition is quite poor at transferring kinetic energy to flesh even when it has considerable penetration power. My thought is that most weapons damage should "explode" to represent the possibility of lethal hit unless there are specific called shot rules in play.Steveghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07061412994661583425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323276912086013429.post-11688274932342906572012-06-15T22:18:08.408-04:002012-06-15T22:18:08.408-04:00Yeah, exploding damage for firearms is pretty much...Yeah, exploding damage for firearms is pretty much 100% crap. Back in medieval times there was a call to ban springloaded crossbow bolts because of the ease with which they could penetrate armor. It's hard to give a musket that much more of an advantage.Brian Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05563309422791320114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323276912086013429.post-31567663047648588762012-04-23T18:53:26.421-04:002012-04-23T18:53:26.421-04:00It's funny you mention "stepping off a st...It's funny you mention "stepping off a street curb", because last month a girl I knew broke both the bones in her right shin when she tripped stepping over a 4 inch high planter.<br /><br />Regarding guns and psychology, while people hesitate with swords, they also very rarely shoot to kill unless they have been trained to do so as a reflex (there are a few other confounding factors here - David Grossman's book On Killing covers them). Instead, they mostly fire to scare off the other person. <br /><br />From what little reading I've done, combat situations are mostly dominated by whoever is best able to keep their shit together and act in a purposeful, controlled manner. It's one of the reasons that I think roleplaying games ought to measure character's ability to remain calm.John Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17318244888477546773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323276912086013429.post-71859819615263400292012-04-22T23:44:49.359-04:002012-04-22T23:44:49.359-04:00Firearms are more deadly than melee weapons in the...Firearms are more deadly than melee weapons in the modern day, because few people are trained with melee weapons, and as they feel the thing penetrate flesh, they hesitate. A bullet once fired doesn't hesitate and always goes in as far as physically possible. <br /><br />So the difference is psychological or cultural, and at most is an argument for damage being related to or limited by character skill. <br /><br />As for damage, humans are funny things, really. Some people have been shot multiple times and survived, others have broken their ankles stepping off a street curb. A good argument for random damage!Hanley Tuckshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13047638048463160737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323276912086013429.post-43539023283108071352012-04-18T18:51:41.209-04:002012-04-18T18:51:41.209-04:00I tend to let crits deal with hits in a critical l...I tend to let crits deal with hits in a critical location, so I still don't favour guns over swords there. A hit means that just that to me, with the capacity to defend one's self being AC or whatever defense statistic one uses.<br /><br />Also, musketballs are mainly penetrating weapons, just as arrows are. The chance of surviving one is basically the same as any other force rapidly penetrating the skull (including rapiers and arrows). While a musketball moves more quickly, its mass and permanent cavity are smaller than either an arrow or rapier. There's a term used sometimes in discussions of wounding of the "ocular window", which is the small region on the front of the skull that has to be penetrated to actually incapacitate someone. Otherwise, you end up with a lot of holes in cheeks, missing ears, and cracked skulls, but not necessarily fatal wounds.<br /><br />I will say I've actually been amazed since I started reading to find out how unpredictably effective being shot is. Even falling down in pain clutching the wound is a learned behaviour that only happens some of the time.John Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17318244888477546773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323276912086013429.post-43980634229110327862012-04-18T09:49:15.594-04:002012-04-18T09:49:15.594-04:00All of your above comments are true, but I have al...All of your above comments are true, but I have always imagined the exploding damage on D&D firearms (for example) to represent a blow in a critical location.<br /><br />You cannot defend yourself from gunshot as you can from melée weapons, so I imagined the critical system was really not applicable. Additionally, while a man may survive a sword-cut to the head or an arrow in his face (both well-documented) I think it unlikely that a musket ball in a similar location would be as forgiving.JDG Perldeinerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07632961831809544262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323276912086013429.post-13446525463520301002012-04-18T07:37:45.164-04:002012-04-18T07:37:45.164-04:00Musket balls do a fine and dandy job of ripping so...Musket balls do a fine and dandy job of ripping someone up and putting them down becasue they are round blobs of lead and not shaped modern bullets. That said there really is no reason for firearms to inflict more damage on a successful hit compared to a well placed sword blow. Firearms made it easier to dish out the damage at range than did all the alternatives, one can become effective with a firearm with weeks of training as compared to years required for all the alternatives.<br />Any reason for exploding damage on guns (beyond the DM/game wants to make them cool) is just as justifiable applied to all other weapon types.JDJarvishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07691101939920824546noreply@blogger.com