MGT Only: Wound Damage Optional Rules for MgT2e2022

[Spinward Scout]

Wound Damage Optional Rules

Thank you to the folks who posted info for me in the Traveller "deadly" Combat Rules discussion and Are all Aimed Shots also Called Shots? Threads. I had these ideas for a while and never pushed myself to resolve them until those two Threads showed up. So, this is what I'm going with for House-rules for Wound Damage. I tried to make sure that it works with the current Mongoose version. And I compared it with the posts in the Threads I listed. I didn't try to add any penetration rules from Striker. Just tried to keep it basic. And I hope I didn't reinvent the wheel too much. I still think there should be repercussions to certain Hit Locations, but couldn't really wrap my head around it. Maybe another time. And it would have to be rewritten for a being with different limbs - like a Hiver.

But these Optional Rules will make Combat even deadlier.

I almost felt like I was working on a Computer Program. Which I find very interesting and fun.

Let me know what you think and if you see anything that wouldn't work.

_____

I think the order that Characters lose Points from Damage should be:

- Endurance
- Dexterity
- Strength

Endurance first because the Core Rulebook uses Endurance as Fatigue, and Strength last because when someone is in a Coma or received massive Trauma, Doctors will say things like the person doesn't have the Strength to live. Or something similar.


Called Shot
- Any Aimed Shot can be a Called Shot
- And a Called Shot MUST be an Aimed Shot
- Pick Hit Location
- Apply Modifier of Location to Attack roll
- Add an extra die to any Damage unless Exceptional Success on Attack (see Critical Hit)
If the Called Shot misses
- And the Attack roll still hits
- Resolve Attack normally
- Otherwise, it's a complete Miss

Critical Hit
- Exceptional Success on any Attack
- Double maximum dice Damage
- Then add Effect

Bleeding
- Total Wounds which bring Endurance to 0 cause Bleeding
- Character Loses 1 Point every Round
- For the number of Rounds equal to the last Damage taken
- Or until First Aid is applied

Internal Bleeding
- Any Damage which brings Endurance to 0 from a single Attack causes Internal Bleeding
- Or any Total Wounds that bring Endurance plus any other stat to 0 causes Internal Bleeding
- Character Loses 2 Points every Round
- If First Aid is applied, lose only 1 Point every Round
- Until Medical Care, Surgery, or an AutoDoc is successful in Treating the Wound Damage


Hit Locations

1.) Head (-2)
2.) Neck (-2)
3.) Center Mass (Chest) (-1)
4.) Center Mass (Abdomen) (-1)
5.) Groin (-3)
6.) Extremities (see Arm/Leg Tables)

Extremities
1.) Arm
2.) Leg
3.) Arm
4.) Leg
5.) Arm
6.) Leg

Arm
1.) Upper right arm (-2)
2.) Upper left arm (-2)
3.) Lower right arm (-3)
4.) Lower left arm (-3)
5.) Right hand (-4)
6.) Left hand (-4)

Leg
1.) Right thigh (-2)
2.) Left thigh (-2)
3.) Right shin (-3)
4.) Left shin (-3)
5.) Right foot (-4)
6.) Left foot (-4)

 

[mike wightman]

For a really long time I have seen it as:

Any damage remaining is applied to the physical characteristics of the wounded party, with the controlling player deciding how the points are allocated.

Strength - damage to muscle or ligament
Dexterity - damage to sensory and nervous system
Endurance - organ damage, blood loss

An exceptional success cause all damage to a single characteristic, determined randomly. This represents the massive trauma that can occur if something vital is hit:
Strength - bone broken, tendon severed or massive ligament damage at a joint
Dexterity - head/spine hit
Endurance - major organ punctured/nicked artery

Most muscle tissue and bone that is damaged to reduce Strength is found in the arms and legs, or a grazing wound to the torso that rips muscle and cracks ribs but doesn't penetrate to the internal organs.

A blood vessel or organ hit that reduces Endurance represents a strike to a major vein, artery, or penetration of an organ.

A senses or coordination hit to reduce Dexterity is either a hit to a sensory organ - usually indicating a head hit - or minor damage to the spine, or a hit to the hands or feet.

The amount of damage can then be used by the referee or player to describe the severity of the wound.

 

[Spinward Scout]

For a really long time I have seen it as:

Here's what the Mongoose 2022 book says about it.

Damage is initially applied to a target’s END. If
a target is reduced to 0 END, then any excess
damage is deducted from either the target’s STR or
DEX (target’s choice of which).

I was always under the impression (probably mistaken) that Damage had to be applied evenly between the three stats. I'm not sure where I got that.

 

[mike wightman]

It is yet another difference between MgT and CT.

 

[whulorigan]

Here's what the Mongoose 2022 book says about it.


I was always under the impression (probably mistaken) that Damage had to be applied evenly between the three stats. I'm not sure where I got that.

• In CT you were supposed to apply individual whole damage dice to individual stats, respectively *, except on a first-blood hit when all dice went to a single stat initially.

* (I don't think we ever did that - in fact we may not have read the rules closely enough back in the day to notice).​

• In MgT, if you apply damage evenly between the stats you will have an IMMEDIATE problem, because in MgT a Serious Wound requiring SURGERY and Professional Medical Treatment is DEFINED as being ANY TIME that all three stats have at least one point of damage. This meshes with the way the first aid, natural healing, medical treatment, and surgery & recovery rules work (they are inter-related).

 

[whulorigan]

• Here's what the Mongoose 2022 book says about it.
  
  
  I was always under the impression (probably mistaken) that Damage had to be applied evenly between the three stats. I'm not sure where I got that.

  
  
• In MgT, if you apply damage evenly between the stats you will have an IMMEDIATE problem, because in MgT a Serious Wound requiring SURGERY and Professional Medical Treatment is DEFINED as being ANY TIME that all three stats have at least one point of damage. This meshes with the way the first aid, natural healing, medical treatment, and surgery & recovery rules work (they are inter-related).

NOTE: If you haven't checked out the Healing and Recovery rules in MgT yet, look them over. I really LIKE the way they integrated it together with stats and stat-bonuses. It actually describes what happens to a person when they are at a particular wound level - what rate you will naturally heal based on your wounding, or the rate at which your condition will WORSEN if you don't get to a Doctor ASAP. And surgery is NOT always successful - it can actually do MORE damage on a bad roll.

As a house rule though, I think I might modify the Serious Wound condition definition to be any time a character has all 3 stats damaged AND two of them are at half value or less (dropping fractions). That lets the damage get spread around a bit and still be non-serious, so that I do not have to explain how someone typically will have "0" END and "0" DEX, but FULL STR (for example) before they go to serious wounding condition.

 

[mike wightman]

Each damage die could be applied to any of your characteristics, you get to choose.

 

[Badenov]

Rather than rolling for hit location and modifying your damage, I've always felt that you can define the hit location by the damage rolled. Low damage: An extremity or flesh wound to center mass. High damage: Head shot or severe upper torso hit. Moderate damage: somewhere in be
tween. That gives me a hit location for appropriate drama without grafting on quite complicated rules.

Also, bleeding to death is already assumed in Mongoose rules: A Seriously Wounded character (Damage taken to all 3 stats) regains characteristic points equal to his End DM per day of rest. But at End 0, your DM is -3, so you're basically losing 3 points per day if you're Seriously Wounded. First aid can mitigate this, though it's very situational whether healing from First Aid is better spent in pushing back as much END as you can or eliminating damage to the third stat so it's no longer a Seriously Wounded situation. For End, you'd need an effect of 3 or better immediately (or Effect 6 after the five minutes is up, but within the golden hour) to recover 6 points of End to get a 0 mod and not lose HP per day. So the choice depends on whether your other stats have taken more than 6 damage, and/or if you think you can get the injured person to a hospital quickly.

That said:

I'm not sure what the advantage is to making Traveller even deadlier than it is, but your Internal Bleeding rule would kill off people very often in my games. To some extent, Traveller is an adventure game, with risks and rewards, and this makes any Serious Wound (which has nearly the same definition as Internal Bleeding) an instant death sentence. Even if you get first aid, you need advanced medical care within a handful of rounds (and we rarely had fights so close to medical facilities nor did we carry an autodoc on adventures) or you're dead. Ironically, the Serious Wound can have a higher bar: it allows two stats to 0 and damage to the third stat, where as your Internal Bleeding happens at two stats at 0 even without damage to a third stat.

Your wounds system seems to presuppose certain types of damage, also, which can be problematic. You can lose two stats over time in a boxing or wrestling match and get knocked out, without taking the sort of wound that causes fatal internal bleeding, at 2 points per round. (This is actually a problem in the Mongoose RAW also, though the immediacy of the danger is far less).

If you need More Danger than the 3 points per day, I would campaign to at least roll '2 End per round' back to:
- Character Loses 1 Point every Minute. (Or even every five minutes. This gives an ambulance time to get there, in a TL7 game where players call 911 for an emergency, and even then, only for the sorts of injuries that would cause internal bleeding. Car accidents where a person is mangled but alive come to mind as examples where people are knocked unconscious by damage, but can survive if the ambulance gets there quickly.)
- Once First Aid is applied, lose only 1 Point every Hour, so it's still a death sentence if you don't get to a hospital, but there's time for an ambulance to get them to the hospital to get the advanced care they'll need.

If you're just wanting More Danger in your combat, where any hit can be fatal, the rule that any 6 rolled on damage means you roll the die again will give you piles of bodies very quickly.

 

[kilemall]

I never bought into END first. Among other things in that system it leaves any medical recovery that just zeroes END with negative DMs, pretty steep survival chances if no high tech medical on hand.

My breakdown of stats is STR is bone/structure/musculature and associated blood/vascular, DEX is nervous system/coordination, and END is combined immune system/digestive energy. More varied medical drama if any one or combination of stats are in a hit.

 

[mike wightman]

As I said I see it more as:
END is stamina, which is cardiovascular fitness, organ efficiency, blood.
STR is musculature and skeleton
DEX is coordination, which is sense and response, kinesthetics.

 

[Drew]

I am wondering if there should be something attributed to intellect? If a person is hit seriously enough; his/her ability to rationally think has been reduced from the pain and/or shock. Granted there may be drugs that could be administered before a battle, but combat shock is a reality.

 

[kilemall]

I am wondering if there should be something attributed to intellect? If a person is hit seriously enough; his/her ability to rationally think has been reduced from the pain and/or shock. Granted there may be drugs that could be administered before a battle, but combat shock is a reality.

Sure, INT is on the plate for shock, fever etc not to mention head trauma. EDU could be a good check for memory loss.

 

[mike wightman]

Pain would be a DEX hit reducing your ability to coordinate.

 

[whulorigan]

Pain would be a DEX hit reducing your ability to coordinate.

Loss of blood could lead to the "shakes" giving a DEX penalty as well.
Or a nerve-hit - but that probably falls under pain.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Looks like I might have to rework these a bit. But not right now.

Thanks everybody!