Re: [HOE] More on Shotguns... (longish)

[Theo McGuckin <tsm@jlab.org>]

> There have been some good ideas and discusions about Shotguns.

It's nice to get a good, hard-core, meaty, discussion going every now and
then :)

> First, assume that Buckshot is being used.  I surely hope the character's
> are asking for bird-shot.  But, if anything smaller than Buckshot is used,
> reduce the die type to D4

I don't think it's ever occured to any waster to use WEAKER rounds :)
You could also make up rules for rock-salt that just does stun and wind
damage...

> I believe the shotgun shells of the time were full-metallic (not 100% on
> this though).  Paper was available, but I'd suspect that the average
> character would be grabing metallic shells over paper (no need to specify).

Really? That's a new one on me. Are there modern (i.e. for HoE) metal
shotgun rounds? All I've ever seen are the paper/plastic shells.

> Modern shotguns gain extra range by using Chokes.  A choke makes the end off
> the barrel smaller than the guage of the shell, and forces the shot into a
> tighter pattern, thereby making them more effective at a longer range.  I do
> not know if shotguns of Civil War era had Chokes.  I doubt it though.

They did. Well they did according to the Knuckleduster's guide to the Wild
West. That's why I was wondering about tapered barrels and slugs.

> For Slug rounds, use your rifle score at -2 to the roll (no real sights on a
> shotgun).  If a character wanted to make up a skill, Shooting: Shotgun
> Slugs, I'd consider letting them.   +5 to the base range for using Slugs

Why rifle? It's still a shotgun, and the problem with shooting slugs is
covered by the -2 to-hit (changing the base TN from 3 to 7, ouch!). Range
is still short because the barrel isn't rifled so the shot is just as
inaccurate (essentially all your doing is just throwing "stuff" out the
end of the barrel).

> With Double Barrel shotguns, the shooter can either take 2 separate shots in
> one action, using 2 to hit rolls and 2 location rolls, or fire both barrels
> simultaneously, making 1 hit roll, and one location roll for both shots.
> Each round is counted separately for damage, then the wounds applied at the
> same time (prev example.  14 and 13 equals 4 wounds vs 27 = 4 wounds.  This
> makes the DB shotgun VERY effective at close range, as it should.

I wouldn't let them fire two shots at two locations and rolls. Either you
pull the trigger and it's all going to one place, or you pull one trigger,
get not backed a foot and reset to pull the other trigger (requiring two
actions). 
Actually the previous example was 15 and 15 for damage, which could be 4
or 5 wounds depending on whether you add them together or not.

> I'd like to figure out some way to merge Target Size with Called Shot.
> Hitting a Rabbit is about the same as shooting a man in the head.  Hitting a
> man in the chest is the easiest part.  There should be no penalties for
> doing so.  Haven't put much thought to this though, yet.

Well hitting a rabbit (size 2) has a TN of 9, while hitting a man's head
is 11. I guess you could make some kind of logrithmic scale for size vs.
TN to make it harder to kill the rabbit, but that's really just splitting
hares. HA! Splitting HARES! I couldn't resist using that one! Anyway...
I figure the penalty for the shot to the chest is because you're aiming
for a specific location. I think cops and such are told to aim for center
mass because it's the biggest area. But their not really doing a "called
shot to the guts" their just aiming at the biggest part of the guy and not
complaining when the shot gets him in the head anyway.
In the end it's a penalty because you're aiming for a smaller area (just
the torso vs. the entire person).

If you wanted to you could rule that the player has the option of hitting
the guts (no gizzards, no roll for location) or rolling for location every
time he hits...

Theo McGuckin - SysAdmin, JLab

        "I am not in, from, nor have I ever been to, Idaho!"