SDLeary

This is true. In BRP you can fire arrows at the same rate as a 9mm, and that's not really realistic.

SGL.

Yes and no. At least in Cthulhu. There is a spot rule on p.63, current edition.

It is written thus:

This is slightly different from the way it appeared in its first iteration in Chtulhu Now:

The chance there is also one fifth.

Also in Chtulhu Now, if you used the optional Hit Locations rule, you had another option, Aimed Shots, which applied called location shots from RQ to firearms.

SDLeary

Not too shabby Rurik,

BTW, Sandy may have used Jane's to get the weapon damages, but for whatever reason, those numbers were thrown out when they revised the game. First edition CoC damages are different that what is is 5th, and seem to work better IMO.

He was using the Jane's as a reference when working specifically on Cthulhu Now. I'll have to go back and compare those tables to the current edition.

SDLeary

While impact energy isn't a bad metric, its not entirely the whole story, either.

Very true. But for a simple (in terms of combat) game like Cthulhu, it made sense. And it does give a very very good baseline to work from.

By enforcing impailing (I would limit this to first round in a burst, as in the rules), and criticals, you enable almost any round to not only take big hulking types down, but to kill them.

I've been toying with the idea that criticals are auto death in the head and chest, but for NPCs... kindof a toned down mook rule.

Adding special rules for round types, etc., would cover most variation. For example, the 4.6 x 30mm round used in the new MP7 PDW. Its a small and light round (For those of us in the states, the bullet is .177 cal., the same as many air rifles). Because of this the actual standard damage should be low. The round has excellent armor penetration though. On a special, I would allow three rolls of the dice for damage, similar to the way a rapier impales in RQ.

Other options might be impaling for jacketed rounds, and nothing special for unjacketed. Not sure about hollow points and the like though.

The extremely long winded point being that the current tables can be tweaked for better real world performance, and left alone for the light games.

SDLeary

And, FWIW, when Sandy devised the damages for Cthulhu Now, he did use Jane's. IIRC, he based the damage on the amount of pressure at impact.

It seems to make more sense, as listed above, to enforce Impale and Critical hits, along with major wound than to rework the whole list.

SDLeary