Hitting Targets of Opportunity in Combat

[GWJ]

From a game perspective, I don't like random hit locations, as another roll slows combat a bit. Roll dice, look at table, and then, when it's a weird location that doesn't get hit much, read the effects of hitting that location.

But random hit locations are just an option... You can hit random or target particular location. Reading effects? Come on, if you're in fight, and your group use hit locations (because some groups probably don't) - you should know effects of every location. There are really small notes, and very similar - just few multipliers and special effects. If we're using hit locations, I feel comepelled as the GM to knowing all rules which we're planning to use. And even totally new players are knowing them too, after maximum 3 hits "in the play".

And if one of players will want to hit that "weird location", you will read it anyway, don't you? :P

Heck, if they really like swinging at necks, they might have paid for a Trademark Move to reduce the penalty by one.

Or the technique "Targeted Attack" to remove this penalty by 3 :) And hey, I really don't think that someone would attempt to random roll in combat, to hit one of very "rare" locations like head or neck... This is probability like critical hit :P

Oh, and one more thing about random rolls - I bought handful of small spotted d6, and my players are normally play with dice with spots (not numbers), but each player have also 3 dice with numbers, not spots to rolls like that, to speeding play. If someone is attacking random location, he simply roll 6d - 3d with spots is for attack roll, and 3d with numbers is for location - in one moment. Ditto with Fright Checks for example. Or similarly, when someone is making an attack roll, there is white 3d for attack roll, and red dice for potential damage roll (this is also helpful for descriptions of missed hits ;) ). You should try something like that, in my games this was really speed up fights, however first 2-3 game sessions may be little weird, but you probably quickly get used to this, and don't want to play without it anymore :)