[House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by Maz

The same woudl be true for INTERNAL cutting or piercing damage, but there isn't really any way to do that in GURPS without explosions.

I take it you've never critically failed with Black Magic, then? One of the results is a rat stuck in your innards trying to claw its way out.

[Langy]

Anything that does one point of damage to the skull has a pretty fair chance of killing a man from bleeding, so if you mean eventual lethality, that's already somewhat covered.

No, I mean instantly as in 'the pressure from the explosion contained within a skull has a pretty good chance of making it explode like a watermelon dropped from a 100 story building'. An everyday firecracker has enough explosives in it to make a tin can go flying a few dozen feet into the air. As an explosive, it does miniscule damage - way less than 1d-5 by the calculations given in the Basic Set, and that's assuming it uses Black Powder when they actually use Flash Powder, which as far as I can tell is even less dangerous.

If an explosion is enough to injure you if it goes off on your skin, then it's enough to turn your brain into jelly if it goes off within your skull. You can survive a kick to the skull, even if it causes some minor brain damage. Likewise, you can survive a bullet to the skull even if it causes some brain damage. A confined explosion, on the other hand, is another order of magnitude altogether. If a firecracker, again, less than 1d-5 damage, went off within your skull, you would be dead or very, very close to it.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Langy

No, I mean instantly as in 'the pressure from the explosion contained within a skull has a pretty good chance of making it explode like a watermelon dropped from a 100 story building'. An everyday firecracker has enough explosives in it to make a tin can go flying a few dozen feet into the air. As an explosive, it does miniscule damage - way less than 1d-5 by the calculations given in the Basic Set, and that's assuming it uses Black Powder when they actually use Flash Powder, which as far as I can tell is even less dangerous.

Support for this head-splattering claim? Analogy between tin can flying into the air and a skull being reduced to an expanding cloud is extremely non-obvious.

Also, I infer from your statements that you consider x12 grossly inadequate, and want something more like x60, or a no-roll death rule? Since x12 is pretty much never going to give you the head-disintegrating effects from less than one point of damage that you want.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Support for this head-splattering claim? Analogy between tin can flying into the air and a skull being reduced to an expanding cloud is extremely non-obvious.

Check out the equations for an explosion in a confined space vs. an untamped one. Pretty big difference, no?

Now consider that the brain is inelastic tissue.

Ouch, right?

Game over.

[RedMattis]

Well... this thread got a bit off topic, but since a lot of people have seen it without going "Err... no", I'm just going to assume that this make enough sense to use in my future campaigns.

[Maz]

Originally Posted by RedMattis

Well... this thread got a bit off topic, but since a lot of people have seen it without going "Err... no", I'm just going to assume that this make enough sense to use in my future campaigns.

Just wanted to add that my old GURPS group used the rules like you suggest and still does, and have no problems with it.
It does make a big difference when using different sort of ammo (HP and AP) and different caliber guns, but it's not going to break anything, just... make it different.