Re: [HoE] New Blast Rules (possible spoilers)

[Sam & Max <samnmax1@earthlink.net>]

Steve Crow wrote:

> Since this is in the Marshal section of Iron Oasis I suppose it should be
> precluded by a spoiler notice.  Although since it impacts heavily on player
> characters, I'm not sure why...
>
> Is it just me, or do the new blast/massive damage rules make player
> characters _more_ powerful?  The rules note that they should come as a
> relief to Marshals, but it seems to just "fix" one problem (i.e., PCs using
> chips to avoid a handheld hand grenade) and cause a couple of others.
>
> One is that the damage becomes a bit more powerful overall, which means that
> Doomsayers (Nuke), some Psykers (Arson), and other characters (i.e., anyone
> who invested in a grenade launcher, to a lesser degree) are getting a pretty
> substantial benefit.  Granted, Arson-types probably could use the boost, but
> did we really need to make Nuke _more_ powerful?
>
> Also, the damage-rolling system is _really_ a pain in the ass.  Before, I
> could start out at the further blast radius/circle, roll X amount of dice,
> and then just _add_ to the damage roll as I moved inwards with targets
> closer to ground zero.
>
> In other words, for a 5D12 blast, I rolled 1d12 against anyone 5 radii away.
>   Then anyone 4 radii away, I just rolled _another_ d12 and added it to the
> first damage roll.  And so on, and so on.  I only rolled...well, 5 dice
> total.
>
> Now, you've got to roll 5d4 against anyone in the outermost blast radii.
> Then you've got to roll a totally separate 5d6 against anyone in the second
> outermost.  And 5d8 against anyone in the third.  And 5d10 against anyone in
> the fourth.  And then _another_ 5d12 against anyone at ground zero.  That's
> a total of...25 dice!
>
> Granted, HoE is already kinda "roll-playing" (how many rolls does it take to
> actually hit someone in combat...?  ;) ).  But this seems a bit extreme...
>
> Anyone else notice this?
>

I noticed this a while back when I first read the new explosion rules. The
amount of rolling isn't what bothered me although you have a darn good point,
as I discovered in my posse's latest explosion filled adventure.  The
change to
lowering die types and stopping at d4's does have the advantage that no matter
how many raises or so a Doomie has Nuke's radius remains the same.
D20-12-10-8-6-4 = 60 yards every time.  Now this IS twice as far as it
used to
go. And Doomies are likely to blow themselves up with Nukes limited
range. Not
that Doomies blowing themselves up bugs me. :) Just thought I would
mention it.

    I had a Tanker truck blow up with these new rules and watched as a 10D20
(yeah it was big) explosion reached 60 yards and.. quit. Seemed odd. 
    The whole change does make armor work more accurately against explosions.
Since an explosion is now simply a burst of individual attacks. A stick of
dynamite now simulates your Character personally being shot by 1 to 6
Cannonballs!! if your in the first Radii. A wee bit meaner than it used
to be.
And IMHO a wee bit meaner than it should be.
    Its a bit clunky in most cases.  I kept to the old rules on
explosions and
just doubled the hits.  Say a blast does 7 points against size 6.  Thats two
light wounds. 12 points = 4. Makes explosions meaner but still pretty
quick an
easy. Tried other stuff like seperate ratings for Concussion and fragmentation,
and while they were nice, they ended up being just as clunky.  Oh well.

    BTW I like your Idea on rolling the dice progressively as you move inward.
Is fast and means the damge ramps smoothly. Nice.
--
David Heth
"<BLAM BLAM BLAM> Hey Nazi!  That's American for "I am over here!""