[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Dalin

Another option I've been rolling around in my head is to somehow retool the hit location system to be less explicit.

One option is to look at each monster and decide whether a particular called shot is needed to defeat it – whether because of unusual advantages like Supernatural Durability, special disadvantages, or just high HT and piles of HP that nobody could hack through with anything less than hits to high-value locations. If the creature wouldn't take extra injury from the easiest such location to hit (common with traits such as No Vitals and Homogeneous), move to the next-easiest one. For these monsters, simply rule there's a generic -x to hit, where -x is the penalty for the location. There's no need to describe the details . . . just say that such a fell foe requires seeking a loose scale or other weakness, in the manner of Bard the Bowman.

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

That said, perhaps I've always run with a different kind of kids, but every early gamer I've ever met, on being introduced into a combat situation, goes for the kill. They often want to go straight for the head and do maximum damage. They may not be bloodthirsty as a matter of course, but when they do get into combat, they don't take half measures. So don't introduce hit locations, but be prepared to trot them out when you're asked for them, because you will.

That has been my experience. It may be that all the parents I know are lax, but kids seem to know all about Capcom-style fighting games and even UFC matches, and have no issues with head shots, liver punches, curb stomping, etc.

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Can always do something like:

-4 to skill: any injury past armor is tripled
-8 to skill: any injury past armor is quadrupled OR armor is halved

That's a pretty cool idea. Note that it can be combined with the one I offered above, so that triple damage on a monster with a required -7 to hit calls for -11. This maintains the value of high skill and makes fighters a lot more competitive with casters.

Originally Posted by tbone

For the young'uns, though . . . I don't know, I think there's a bit of a mismatch between "let's play a game of hacking at enemies with swords" and "let's not have too much gore".

I tend to agree.

Originally Posted by tbone

Don't drop hit locations; as you note, they're important for tactics, and fun for high-skill characters. But drop (or rename) the ruder ones like eyes and groin, and leave out grislier combat effects like dismemberment.

Whatever happens rules-wise, avoid gory description of it.

That's the best advice yet: Don't talk gory. Generations of kids have survived fading to black or cutting to James T. Kirk pulling on his boots to sidestep the matter of sex. I'm sure the same is possible with violence. You can have fighting without explicit groin shots and horrible bleeding wounds simply by not using those words.

Whether that's a good idea is off-topic for this forum and perhaps on-topic for a forum about child psychology. It suffices to say that there are those who feel that hiding the consequences of violent actions by, for example, taking the blood and gore away tends to desensitize kids.

Originally Posted by tbone

Use lots more "foe runs away when at half HP" sort of situations. That's often realistic, is just as fun for the players, and avoid all the corpses and gibs.

Yeah, "And Stay Down!" (Exploits, p. 86) doesn't get a lot of love. I think it's a good, simple, and even realistic rule. Just go through the list of monsters and decide "1-HP tap, major wound, 0 HP, or -1×HP," and also "cower, play dead, flee, or surrender." That gives 16 possible combinations that aren't "scream and bleed out messily."

Originally Posted by tbone

I would imagine that all of these concerns and remedies really only matter for flesh-and-blood creatures. "Mom, we chopped the heads off of three evil priests" could raise an eyebrow; "Mom, we shattered a skeleton and disintegrated a ghost" sounds like spookhouse-level fun. For young players, I'd focus on constructs, skellies, slimes, crushrooms, all the monsters that aren't about blood and messy deaths.

That, too, is sage advice. Just limiting encounters to monsters in the Construct, Demon, Divine Servitor, Elder Thing, Elemental, Plant, Slime, Spirit, and Undead classes will solve the problem nicely . . . and if the kids come from homes where demons and such aren't a comfortable subject, leave out Demon and Divine Servitor (or rebrand monsters in those classes as belonging to one of the others, probably Elder Thing, Elemental, Spirit, or Undead) . Doing this won't really limit the game that much.

For that matter, it doesn't take much tweaking to use Animal, Faerie, Hybrid, and Mundane monsters that ought to bleed and squeal. Making heavy use of "And Stay Down!" should do it. Using that rule for these monsters but not for the supernatural ones above ought to keep high skill and special abilities useful. And if you want, you can always have the seeming ogres, orcs, tigers, etc. be magical creations summoned by a wizard, and simply go "poof!" and turn into treasure if defeated. Kids used to video games won't even find that odd.