rules

Various rules
Taken directly from the book "Your First Steps" by Athlon M. Topia II

Misc. Combat Rules (As far as rules go, I'll only upload what I see fit to upload, I don't want it complete enough for someone to swoop in and steal it. My copyright is good, but going through any kind of legal fight is just to costly. So I want everyone to know that if it comes down to it, I will ask for substantial damages to cover my costs, and then some. So just be cool)

     This particular section is going to cover special rules in combat. Mainly concerning weapons that are designed to hit more than one area, or more than one target at a time.

Damage locations. A humanoid being's body is divided into 10 locations. a D10 will be rolled to see which location takes damage dependent on the type of weapon used, or whether it's a called shot for a specific location. (called shots hit the location you aim for unless you miss the "to hit" roll) Higher skills will enable a player to deduct 1 from their location roll for every 4 points in skill, so that eventually every shot will be a head shot. Example, a player with a pistol skill of 4, hits someone in the left arm but with his skill the attack can be upgraded to a head shot. subject to change via playtesting and feedback
Head = 1
Left Arm = 2
Right Arm = 3
Body = 4=6
Left Leg = 7-8
Right Leg = 9-10

Keep in mind the "damage type" is also added to the effects of the type of weapon used to emit the damage. A plasma mini-gun for example will have it's standard range reduced, but it will have a "DOT" added to the damage as well. As far as weapons go, I was thinking that I'd make projectile weapons "standard", then each other "type" would have a modifier that would be used to calculate what would change on a projectile weapon to make it something else. For example, a standard chemically propelled pistol has a range of 10, but plasma weapons have, say 40% less range. So a plasma pistol of the same tech level would only have a range of 6. It would make designing weapons over all easier IMHO. As always, input is always welcome. I will have to go back and change a few things though.

Pulse
Pro = Knockback and extra damage to flesh. NO recoil. (Means auto-fire shots can all hit the same location, except mini-guns.)
Con = No armor penetration. Damage reduced to 1 against armor.

Ion
Pro = Emp effect does extra damage to electronics, more accurate.
Con = Less overall damage compared to other weapons of equivalent TL.

Plasma
Pro = Massive initial damage and damage over time (DOT) continues to burn away.
Con = Less accurate, power hungry, low range. 3 round burst only if autofire (heat build up)

Particle
Pro = Impacts deal explosive damage which hits more areas of armor, can cause knockback, can cause secondary explosions.
Con = Power hungry, knockback is not reliable, can hurt yourself in close quarters, can be dispersed in heavy smoke or flak. (premature impacts) Not autofire capable.

Laser
Pro = Highly accurate, deals pinpoint heat damage which causes punctures in ships hulls or body armor. NO recoil and no sound. (Means auto-fire shots can all hit the same location despite the rules below, except mini-guns.)
Con = Does less damage than equivalent TL weaponry, can be disperssed in heavy smoke or flak. (beam is disrupted/reflected in transit)

HI-Laser
Pro = Highly accurate, energy is emitted for a longer duration so the beam can "sweep" across a target to "cut" the target. Typical laser weapons fire for fraction of a second, where as Hi-Intensity lasers fire for a full second.
Con = Power hungry, does less overall damage compared to an equivalent TL weapon. The beam is noticeable and not as suitable for stealth like a regular laser.

Magnetic
Pro = Naturally armor piercing, works in any environment, range is near unlimited in space (Barring anything in the projectiles flight path.)
Con = Requires energy and projectiles to function, recoil can be a problem, noise is definitely a problem. (Sonic booms in an atmosphere, recoil is dangerous in Zero-G.)

Sonic
Pro = Causes "stress" fractures in a target, each consecutive shot does more damage than the previous as the fractures worsen.
Con = Low range and must have some sort of an atmosphere to carry the sound waves, does NOT work in the vacuum of space.

Mini-Guns = Whether energy or projectile will still follow these same rules, AS WELL AS their damage type rules. IE, laser, pulse, plasma.
A player character must have a strength of at least 8 in order to wield a mini-gun regardless of damage type or suffer massive penalties to hit rolls. Skill in using the weapon is meaningless if you can't lift it. Because of the amount of ordinance spit out of these weapons each point of skill gives a cumulative +2 to hit rolls if the character meets the minimum strength requirements to wield. Keep in mind that some weapons may be heavier and may require more strength to use.

It goes without saying that weapons such as miniguns fire a "spray" of ordinance, all targets in a cone starting from the weapon itself will be damaged. The primary target closest to the weapon will take full damage while targets further back will take a percentage. If a target is in the cone, it will be damaged, so only one "to hit" roll is made for the primary target of the attack. If the primary target is hit, then all targets in the cone are hit, with primary target, or closest target to the gun taking full damagae, and all others taking a percentage, roll a D10 once for each additional target in the cone and whatever it comes up as is the percentage of the damage that additional target takes. IE, 2 = 20%, 6 = 60% . Up to 10 total targets can be hit. Debatable, might not be enough, might be to much, need to nail down exact range and size of cone. Input, as always, is welcome. Mini-Gun damage will be applied in a horizontal damage pattern to 2 locations to each target. The total weapon damage will be halved and applied to each location. The damage spread is always the same, if one arm is hit, then the chest is hit as well regardless of which arm. If the chest is hit, then one arm (random) is also hit, if a leg is hit, then both legs are hit. If the head is hit, only the head is hit. (Keep in mind, some armor and power-armor might have shoulder mounted equipment, if the head is hit, then that item is hit as well. Power Armor will have it's own hit tables if it has any additional attackable parts.)

Full Auto (rifle) = Any weapon that fires 5 or more shots in a single squeeze of the trigger is a full auto weapon. Don't get snippy with a real world definition, if I can be given a valid reason for why it should change and it still be kept fluid in my game world then I'll change it, otherwise it is what it is. Full auto weapons hit as many locations as half the "bullets" fired rounded down. So, a 5 round burst would hit 2 locations, 6 would hit 3 etc etc. Each location takes an equal percentage of the total damage. If a 5 round burst does 10 damage, then 2 locations would take 5 damage each. Damage calcs are also rounded down. A 6 round burst does 10 damage, then 3 locations will take 3 damage. HOWEVER, I'll try to make it so that damage calculations will always be whole numbers. So a 6 round burst will be 12 damage. I just gotta remember to do it in the first place.
One "to hit" roll will be made for each burst.
Any burst type less than a full auto burst, unless noted otherwise, only hits ONE location and applies full damage to that location.

Full Auto (SMG or Pistol) = Because recoil is harder to compensate for in these smaller weapons, the spread is higher. Unless otherwise noted, all SMGs and Pistols fired on full auto have a -2 to hit and always hit 3 locations. Damage calcs are rounded down. (these negatives can be negated with high strength, high skills (5 smg/pistol skill), or external devices)

Explosives (Particle weapons) = Roll on hit table 1 time, that location recieves full damage, then go up the hit table 2 times, and down 2 times for a total of 5 locations hit. Example, if a 7 was rolled, that means the left leg is hit, the body takes two hits because locations 6 and 5 are two down, then locations 8 and 9 would take a hit as well. Meaning the left leg would get hit again, and the right leg would take damage as well. The first location takes full damage, each additional location recieves half damage. updated/modified 10-28-12

Explosives (Ground based/Landmines) = Both legs take full damage on a succesful "to hit", up to 20. Every additional 20 points of damage moves up the hit chart another level. Example- First landmine only does 20 damage, so both legs take 20 damage. The next mine does 30 damage, so both legs take 20, and the torso takes 10. The next mine does 40 damage, legs 20, torso 20. Next mine does 60, legs 20, torso 20, right arm 20. Here is where my late wife would come in handy, she was better with explaining things like this. It sounds good in my head, but not so good after I've pounded it out in print. Also, I want mines to be dangerous, but survivable, which is why the damage is done the way it is. PCs will be knocked down. (refs discretion, a full conversion borg might just shrug it off unless it's legs were totally destroyed)

Explosives (Missiles, Armor Busters) = Most of their explosive power is directed straight forward to penetrate armor, stop cyber-psycho 'borgs, or drop a pissed off Chihuahua. Damage only hits 1 location for every 40 points of damage. Each additional 40 points of damage moves up the hit table 1 level. Additional damages Works as landmines.

Explosives (Missiles, Hi-Explosives) = Damage is directed in all directions. The first 40 points of damage causes an AOE of 20ft, each additional 40 damage adds an additional 5ft. Everything caught in the initial blast radius takes full damage to all locations. PCs may make a dexterity roll to minimize damage by dropping to the ground and "taking cover". Players who succesfully take cover recieve only half damage unless said player was the specific target of the attack. Anything caught outside of the initial 20ft will take half damage up to the maximum blast radius. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. This may make more sense if a player has the explosives skill and knows best how to minimize damage from an explosion, or maybe athletics/acrobatics or some combination there of. Needs some thought and feedback.

HI-Laser = Are commonly used to "sweep" across a target. Hit locations are figured just like a mini-gun. Unlike a mini-gun however there is no cone effect, you aim at one target, hit only one target, but hit up to 2 locations on that one target. Should more than one target be hit? When I originally thought this up I was picturing someone cutting down several enemies at once. The "Rider at the Gates" was running from a bunch of "Bugs" and they were swarming everywhere and he was using a Hi-Laser to cut large swaths through them so he could escape. I guess since lasers aren't going to be as damaging as other weapons of their TL is would be ok to allow them to hit more than one target. Feedback, thoughs, reasonings ETC are much appreciated. Keep in mind, that "Tales From Space" was bedtime stories for my kids long before it was a game. I guess I should remember that as well, heroes in stories are always more powerful and heroic than the sum of their weapons.

Shotguns = (Shot) While shotguns can be loaded with many types of ammunition, from shot to solid slugs, to emp rounds, in this instance we're going to focus only on shot rounds and damage. "Shot" shells always hit 3 locations, the primary hit location and 1 up, and one down. Meaning If you roll a 6 for hit location, you also hit location 5 and 7. Full damage is done to the primary location, while secondary locations each recieve half damage.

Shotguns = (Flechette) Are small slivers of metal, monofilament, whatever designed to do as much damage as possible to flesh. The trade off with these shells are less to no armor penetration, lower range, but you hit a total of 5 locations, the primary location, and 2 up, 2 down- the primary location recieves full damage, and each additional location recieves half damage. I'll need to put some thought into auto-fire shotguns, as always, feedback is welcome.

Sonic = Sonic weapons can fire a focussed beam hitting only one location, or can spread like a shotgun. "Stress" damage is easy to calculate, each consecutive shot does 25% more damage than the previous shot, based on the initial damage. Example, if a sonic pistol does 8 damage, then the next shot will do 10 damage, the next will be 12. Another example, the first shot does 20, the next will do 25, the next 30. The damage bonus is 25% of the initial damage. Should I make the 25% additive? Like, in the first example, 25% of 8 would make 10, then 25% of 10 would be 12.5. Sonic weapons could potentially be insanely powerful in long drawn out land battles. Somethin' to think about.

Sonic (Concussion Grenades) = Are meant to disrupt and stun a group of targets. They do very little actual damage but can potentially knockout a group of targets. If a Concussion Grenades damage is greater than the AR and or HP of a beings helmet (no actual damage is done), then the target is knocked out. Otherwise a being needs to make an Endurance check to see how the grenade effects them. Regardless of "save", a being caught in the blast of a Concussion grenade will suffer a -1 to all rolls for a certain amount of turns. If a being fails the endurance check, then by whatever amount the roll was failed by is what the being suffers to his skill rolls. Haven't decided on time frames yet. Beings in fully environmental Heavy Armor only suffer half the effects and can't be knocked out, and Power Armor isn't effected at all. If a being isn't wearing a helmet, then just the head's own HP is calculated against. Even unprotected and unarmored head can survive just fine, it could be chalked up to luck or grace or whatever.

Super-Size ME!!
     As alluded to above (unless I deleted it), Power Armor can potentially have more hit locations. Examples are wings, mounted weaponry, engines, sensors etc. A suit of Power Armor that has additional hit locations will have it's own modified location chart that will be rolled on instead of a standard humanoid hit chart. Other than potentially more locations to hit, damage is calculated just the same. Also, Power Armor's hit charts has the "1 = headshot" replaced with "1 = powersupply". Meaning if you roll a 1, you hit the powersupply which it could potentially shut down the power armor completely. "2" becomes a headshot. Also note, that destroying a suit of Power Armor could be potentially fatal to the pilot, and the attackers depending on the type of power supply. Refs discretion as usual, however there will be different types of power supplies that can and will have explosive side effects if damaged, the extent of such effects is up to the REF and feedback. Scoring a power-plant hit doesn't gaurentee a kill, it just makes it easier.

     Combots will also have their own dedicated hit charts, but there will be some special considerations whether it be NPC Combots, or PC combots. Since Combots are basically walking behemoths of mass destruction, an NPC Combot will have it's reactor/powersupply have more potential hits on the hit chart. Instead of just needing to roll a 1, you need a 3, 2, or 1. This simulates how in anime the hero always seems to get that lucky shot that takes out the super bad guy in one hit. Scoring a power-plant hit doesn't gaurentee a kill, it just makes it easier. A PC driven Combot still only needs a "1" for a power-plant hit.Subject to feedback Keep in mind, all this stuff still has to bypass armor, shields, fields, etc. If you can't defeat this, then, well, why bother.

Thoughts and meanderings

     I played a game a long time ago called "Rifts" (Rifts is copyright by Palladium, they make great games*) that had 2 damage systems. SDC, which stood for Structural Damage Capacity, which mimicked the HP's of standard building materials, and MDC, which meant Mega Damage Capacity, which mimicked the capabilities of armor. Weapons that did SDC damage had a hard time damaging MDC material. For instance, a 9mm pistol could be fired into a tank all day long and the tank wouldn't take any damage, but if you used a .50 cal squad based machinegun, even though it was an SDC weapon, it could potentially cause light damage to a tank because it spewed out an enoumous amount of SDC damage. Basically 100 SDC equalled 1 MDC, and most times an SDC weapon isn't capable of damaging an MDC piece of armor unless it can do enormous amounts of SDC damage. In order to damage MDC equipment, you needed weapons designed to damage MDC equipment.
     In TFS I didn't want to have 2 systems like that. So I decided to scale armor values such that as you go up in size, from combat armor, to Power Armor,to Combots, that using simple hand held weapons will not be able to produce enough damage to get past the armor levels of the larger "vehicles". By doing this I strayed a little from what I originally envisioned from keeping armor levels and HPs at low levels, but I believe by going up in size like this, I'm really not straying to far. It will still be possible to damage these larger war machines, power-plant hits, and crits will still be doable, just using a 9mm is very very unlikely to take down a 50ft Combot with a howitzer leveled at your face.
     I've not decided on the exact scaling yet, (This is where my son would step in.) but I'm leaning towards a factor of 2 for Power Armor, meaning typical PA has 2 times the Armor and HPs for an equivalent TL of non-powered Heavy Body armor. And Combots have a factor of 5. And this is where my wife would step in to make this actually make sense.

ZOOOMMMMM pew pew pew Spaceships!!!
     Spacecraft are in a class all on their own. They are designed to withstand micro-meteorite impacts that could totally disintegrate the average being in heavy body armor. Generally, it's a given that hand held weapons will NOT damage a spaceship of any size. debatable, it's entirely reasonable that a "fighter" can be damaged by a hand held RPG, but I think in a videogame setting it would to hard to code without using 2 damage systems which I don't want to do, in the PnP setting it would be easy as the REF could just "fudge" the numbers. Feedback, as always, is welcome. A weapon designed for ship to ship combat will damage a space craft, a weapon designed for anti-personell will not. The EXCEPTION to this will be Combot weapons, they are large enough that on a direct hit a being will be varporized, so they can damage space craft of all sizes.
     Like everything else, space-craft will have hit tables, but rarely will more than one location ever be hit. Missile/torpedo volleys, and specific types of weapons will hit multiple locations, but most weapons will only ever hit one location. NPC ships will have easier to hit power-plants like Combots to immitate anime so that "Heroes" can be heroic and take down the badguys easier. While PCs will have a standard hit table. Powerplants, beyond any doubt will have side effects when it comes to hits. While this is somewhat debatable when it comes to Combots or Power Armor, there is no debate on this when it comes to space craft. Certain power-plants can and will have explosive consequences. Watch Robotech or Macross for instances where a lowly Veritech/Metal Siren-Valkyrie etc demolishes a battleship. As an example.
     Individual missiles/torpedoes will only hit one location, volleys however, hit more than one. Each individual missile/torpedo will have it's hit location rolled, so that a volley of 5 could hit 5 different locations. Torpedoes tend to be much heavier and slower versions of missiles. Torpedoes are generally "ship" killers with payloads so large that they could devestate most ships. But due to their size and speed they can be shot down easier than missiles. Missiles are much much faster, but carry smaller payloads. They are generally fired enmasse volleys so that it is harder to shoot them down. While each individual missile does light damage compared to an equivalent TL torpedo, large clusters of them can be devestating.
     All missiles and Torpedos are self guided with a bonus "to hit" equal to their tech level. So a TL 5 missile/torpedo would recieve a +5 to their attack roll. However, due to a torpedo's size and slower speed a Phalanx/CIDS gunner doesn't recieve a negative modifier to shoot them down. Where as a missile, which is smaller and moves faster causes defensive systems and gunners to recieve a negative "to hit" modifier of -2 to shoot them down. These can be offset with higher tech levels. This is considering that all tech levels are the same. If the TL of the missles or torpedos is higher than the TL of the defensive gunners by 1 point, then an additional -1 is added. If the defensive gunner's TL is greater by 1 point for example, then a +1 is added. Other items, like flak, sand casters etc can increase/decrease bonuses as well. Yet another instance where my son would come up with some brilliant psuedo science to fill in the gap here.

     Particle/Explosive weapons used in space combat still only damage one location, however this is where their explosive personalities can really come in handy. Particle weapons can cause secondary explosions, so hitting a power-plant, docking bay, or anything reasonable as judged by a REF can cause a chain reaction explosion that can cripple or outright destroy a ship. Explosions, regardless of what causes it, bypasses all shield and field technolgoy. The explosion and damage itself might be mitigated by a shield/field, but the concussion isn't.

     Spacecraft have much more to keep track of when it comes to combat. All ships have ARmor and HP to keep track of, but also Internal Structure, and in large ships, Crew. Internal Structure is easiest to damage with EMP weapons, it represents all the electronics, gadgets and gizmos inside the ship which makes the ship, "work". Any damage that bypasses the AR damages the armor of a certain hit location, if the HP of that location is destroyed it doesn't mean that location is destroyed, it just means the outer skin is no longer protecting the innards. Once that outer skin/armor is gone, then the insides or "Structure" start taking damage. If you defeat the armor/HP of a gun turret the gun is still functional, it's just now open to direct attack and anything hitting it will inflict full damage without armor mitigation. Defeating the AR/HP of a ships power-plant is disasterous as Power-Plants have no internal structure. Once that armor is gone, you're probably screwed. (Again, makes it easier for heroes to be heroic.) Crew can be damaged by the concussion of explosions, to many locations having their Structure defeated, boarding actions, or by specific types of weapons which I haven't decided on yet. If a crew is defeated then the ship, regardless of damage, is dead in the proverbial water.

* At one time I had Every "Rifts" book published and available in my little 'burb up to the first Coalition war campaign sourcebook. I can't remember it's specific name, but it was the first book that introduced the newest Coalition equipment like the updated Samas and Skelebots. This was about the time I lost my family and I wound up selling all my gaming books to cover various expenses. 20+ plus Rifts books, 5 or 6 Cyberpunk books, 3 Robotech books, 3 Shadowrun books, 2 Mechwarrior books, 2 Mutants Unlimited books, 1 Skraypers Book (this was originally entitled Nightbane I believe), 1 Gurps book, 2 Mekton Z books (I eventually bought these back, I loved this set), The Palladium RPG system (D&D clone, but MUCH better IMHO). My family and I had loved our weekly gaming sessions. We all played, and my wife was so into miniatures that she even made a scale model of a burned out city that was quite frankly, immaculate. It was beautiful and I wish I still had it and the close to 150 miniatures she collected. Back in the late 90s/early 2000s if we didn't own it, we had access to friends that did own it. This wasn't counting the videogames we owned, don't get my started on the videogames. Make no mistake, the family that plays together, stays together. When my surviving daughter has some free time from work she still shows up on my doorstep with her Mekton Z character sheet ready for anotehr adventure. Unfortunately, because of our mutual loss, she can't bring herself to help with TFS any longer. I don't think she's looked at a single shred of TFS info in the last 10+ years. All game systems mentioned are copyright by their respective owners, while I can't remember specifics of each one, Rifts, Palladium RPG, Mutants Unlimited, Skraypers/Nightbane, and Robotech are copyright Palladium Games. Cyberpunk and Mekton Z are copyright R. Talisorian Games, hell I can't remember them all, but they're all owned by someone and I enjoyed them all at one time. They're all worth a buy if you've got the money to spare. Support the good stuff, boycott the shit. This includes digital media, buy the good stuff, dump the shit, and let the developers know if their stuff is good or is shit. Long live Palladium, R. Talisorian, Interplay/Black Isle, and Troika. Death to EAxis and Microshit.