Re: [CP] Cover Rules

Steinar Bergstøl wrote:

> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Joni <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>  
>
> > Steinar Bergstøl wrote:
> >
> > Yes, shotguns are quite hard to handle properly in RPGs and I suppose 
> > this is why our group doesn't much use them.
> >    
>
> Yeah, but shotguns just have too much style to ignore completely. 
> There's the "coolness factor" to consider, ya know. :)
Shotguns are way too cool to ignore. There's just something about a load 
of buckshot that says 'I love you'.

> > I think that you could rule 
> > that all of the shots hit one hit location up to and including short 
> > range. After that you can make two hit location rolls to see where those 
> > hits landed and maybe rule that if the second hit location roll is the 
> > same as the first one then those pellets missed as is the case when 
> > range increases. With slugs I would handle it as basically a big rifle. 
> > Anyway I hate the idea of layered armor except of course soft armor with 
> > rigid plates.
> >    
> >
> > Basic book has some rules about shotguns but I don't remember them.
> >    
>
> Yeah, but those rules were the ones which made me go "Huh?  This section 
> definitely needs some work". :)
>
> Basically the rules in the basic book say nothing about the damage 
> effect of buckshot ammo beyond it deteriorating with range and being 
> easier to hit with.  Slugs...  Well...  This is the slug rule as 
> dictated by the basic book:
>
> "These projectiles have normal AP ability vs. all armors.  Damage that 
> penetrates HARD armor is NOT halved.  Damage that penetrates SOFT armor 
> is halved as normal."
>
> Now, technically this seems simple enough.  If the target has any kinda 
> soft armor then the damage is halved.  My big problem with this rule is 
> that this makes layering armor even more important for the PCs, which 
> gets annoying when they _always_ run around with at least two armor 
> layers.  Basically I'm hoping some better rules were added in a later 
> book (or some enterprising player or GM out there made up some better 
> rules themselves).  Anyways, I might just try your suggestion and see 
> how it works.
Running around in two layers of (visible) armor should always be a Bad 
Idea(tm). And hard armor makes it even worse. However, if one does 
insist on doing so, I'd play it this way:

In the average case, the hard armor will be the 'primary' armor, in that 
it will have the highest SP, and the difference will be calculated from 
it. For example, a 25 SP helmet on top of 12 SP skinweave will give a 
slight bonus (+2 iirc?) for a total of 27 SP. I'd rule that a 
penetrating slug would have to deal with 25 hard SP, then 2 soft SP.

If your players have managed to find soft SP that gives more SP than 
hard armor, you might rule it the other way around, I suppose.

As for the spread on buckshot, I've usually played it like Joni says. 
Spread on 'longer' ranges, often by rolling damage, then halving it and 
applying each to each limb (always connected limbs, like arm and 
shoulder.) This makes buckshot pretty worthless at longer ranges, but 
imho that's ok.


Explosions are hairy. Mike has admitted that CP2020 was ill-prepared for 
'military' class weapons. Rocket explosions don't really do 8d10 damage 
in the same sense that a 20mm cannon does 8d10 damage. I usually play by 
ear on this. One thing I've done in the past is roll one damage roll for 
each player, then tell them to apply it to two random limbs. To avoid 
the damage being doubled, I tell them to only take the more painful of 
the two and apply it to the damage boxes. That is, if you take one to 
the torso and one to the arm, your arm may be broken/destroyed, but it's 
the damage to your torso that's going to count on the damage sheet. I 
usually make this damage ignore soft armor (as is plausible).

But I've never really set in stone the rules for either shotguns or 
explosives, which make the game a bit more exciting for my players ;)