Prometheus’ Locational System V 1.0

 

Hit Locations & Shadowrun

            The only major problem that I have with the abstract combat system of Shadowrun is that it doesn’t include many provisions for locational damage.  While this does promote fast game play, I find that it dampens the tension that a player should feel after his character is shot, punched, knifed etc.  Imagine how much more your players would dread taking damage if they knew that every hit they take has the chance of causing them serious additional penalties!  Unfortunately, most such systems are very complex and can slow down play considerably.  In an attempt to preserve what is good about locational systems while maintain Shadowrun’s admirable flow of play, I have created a system that I believe provides a good balance.   Indeed the system is so simple that it only requires two simple steps.

 

Step 1: Determine Location

            After a player takes physical damage roll on the following table to determine where the damage is centered.  Note that the system does not yet encompass stun damage.  Also, a GM must use some discretion about whether or not physical damage can be considered locational.  For example, it would make little sense for a player to roll on the table after taking damage from poison.  In some cases a GM may wish to summarily determine the location of damage.  This should be used to prevent things like monofilament trip cables from causing head damage. 

 

	Random Hit Location Table		Head Hit Location Table
Roll (2d6)	Hit Location	Roll (1d6)	Hit Location
2	Head*	1	Head
3	Arm**	2	Eyes (Roll 1d6. Even=Right Odd=Left)
4	Leg**	3	Ears (Roll 1d6. Even=Right Odd=Left)
5	Torso	4	Head
6	Torso	5	Nose
7	Torso	6	Head
8	Head*		Limb Hit Location Table
9	Leg**	Roll (1d6)	Hit Location
10	Arm**	1,3,5	Right Arm or Leg
11	Torso	2,4,6	Left Arm or Leg
12	Head
	* Roll on Head Hit Location Table **Roll on Limb Hit Location Table

Example: While on his way to a meeting, Fast Freddy is jumped by a group of gangers.  One of them hits him with a pistol shot.  Freddy’s player rolls 2d6 to determine location and has the misfortune of getting a 2.  Ouch, head damage!  Noticing that the table refers him to the Head Hit Location Table he rolls 1d6 and gets a 1.  It looks like Freddy took a shot to the straight to the head itself not one of its components.   Now, if Freddy had been hit by say a poison dart instead of a bullet, the GM might determine that the dart caused no damage and that the poison was non-locational.

Step 2: Hit Location Effects

Since you know where the blow fell, it is time to determine what extra effects it caused.  First determine staged damage as normal and apply it to the character.  Note that all effects listed here are in addition to those from regular damage. Now refer to the appropriate table to discover the additional affect.  Unless otherwise noted, the effects are downgraded when the character heals past their threshold.

General Effects Table:

Head
Moderate	+1 to all target #.
Serious	+2 to all target #.
Deadly	Character is knocked out or instantly killed. (At GM's discretion)
Arm
Moderate	+2 to any actions requiring damaged arm. Roll 1d6.  On a 1 or 2 anything held in the hand is dropped.
Serious	+4 to any actions requiring damaged arm. Roll 1d6.  On a 1,2,3, or 4 anything held in the hand is dropped.
Deadly	Arm is effectively disabled and may be destroyed at GM's discretion.   Anything held in the hand is automatically dropped.
Leg
Moderate	-2 to walking and running speed.
Serious	-4 to walking and running speed. +3 to knockdown target #.
Deadly	Leg is effectively disabled and character falls prone.
Torso
Moderate	No extra effect
Serious	No extra effect
Deadly	No extra effect

Head Specific Effects Table: 

Ear
Moderate	+2 to all perception tests involving hearing for 1d6 turns
Serious	+2 to all perception tests involving hearing for
Deadly	Character is temporarily or permanently deaf. (At GM's discretion)
Eyes
Moderate	+2 to all perception tests involving sight for 1d6 turns.  +1 to all tests for 3 turns.
Serious	+2 to all perception tests involving sight. +2 to all tests.
Deadly	Character is temporarily or permanently blind. (At GM's discretion) Also, character takes a Head hit of 7M.  Use only body and karma to resist.
Nose
Moderate	No extra effect
Serious	+1 to all tests
Deadly	-1 CHA until plastic surgery is performed.

Example: Well our good friend Freddy has been hit in the head by a pistol blast.  Now the pistol’s damage code was staged up to Serious and Freddy was unable to stage it down.  The GM looks at the head table and finds that a serious head wound causes an additional +2 to all target numbers.  In other words, when combined with the +3 modifier from a regular serious wound, Freddy has a +5 to all target numbers.  He is definitely in trouble!  Luckily some chummers pull him out of trouble.  Later on, with the help of a friendly street doc, Freddy heals back down to a Moderate wound thus reducing his extra modifier to+1.  When he eventually drops to a Light, there will be no remaining extra modifier from the head hit.

Additional Considerations

            Pretty simple, eh?  Well unfortunately there are still a few things that must be considered for the system to be fully functional.  All of these, however, are not especially essential to the system and thus can be looked upon as optional rules. 

Aimed Shots

    With the addition of hit locations to the rule system aiming at specific parts of the body becomes too important of a consideration to be solved through an abstract 'called shot'.   To deal with this when a player makes a called shot or more accurately an aimed shot, apply the following modifiers to his target number:

Torso	+1	Head	+3
Leg	+2	Eye/Nose	+4
Arm	+2	Ear	+4

If the player manages to get two or more successes against the modified target number he or she had successfully hit the requested area.  If he or she only gets one success, however, roll on the Random Hit Location Table.  The GM may declare that some weapons may not be aimed at some locations.  Some GM’s may wish to only use this system for aimed shots.

Armor Considerations

            Since location plays such a large part in this system, it begs the question how does this relate to armor that likely does not cover a runner’s entire body.  To deal with this I recommend you make a small chart like this to keep track of coverage at each location.  Coverage is easy to determine with a little common sense.  For example, a vest only covers the torso but an armored shirt covers the torso and the arms etc.

Location	Ballistic	Impact
Head
Torso
Arm
Leg

Lethality Balancing

            Some of you may have noticed that under this system locational damage (gun wounds etc) are more detrimental than non-locational damage (poison, falling damage etc.).  If you want to maintain a balance between the two I suggest adding a small modifier to the power of non-locational damage or taking a little away from locational damage.  This value will vary with your group’s style but around +/- 2 would probably provide a sufficient balancing effect.  To many, however, this imbalance is slight enough that it shouldn’t cause significant game play problems.

Conclusion

            I hope that this optional system is of use to you and your group.  Right now the rules are fairly rough and have yet to be exposed to rigorous play testing.  If you have any suggestions send an e-mail to me at relic1@hotmail.com.