Collateral damage from missed attacks

[Harry Canyon]

Hi all,

 

So how many GM's worry about the 'side effects' of a missed attack? (I'd imagine that this would mostly apply to ranged attacks, but proximity of 'delicate' objects might include HtH attacks.) Do you just allow them to 'miss everything'? Make a roll? Only if the attacker has Unluck? Something else?

 

Just curious how others handle this in their games.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Take care,

 

Derek

[Hermit]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

It depends a lot on if Ive established crowds are or or not in the area and the players have been told so their characters can react accordingly.

[Robyn]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

So how many GM's worry about the 'side effects' of a missed attack? (I'd imagine that this would mostly apply to ranged attacks' date=' but proximity of 'delicate' objects might include HtH attacks.) Do you just allow them to 'miss everything'? Make a roll? Only if the attacker has Unluck? Something else?[/quote']

 

Wanton property destruction. Burn, Tokyo, burn!

 

Ahem.

 

[David Johnston]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

Yeah. I fit into the wanton property destruction category as well. In the last game I ran, the players ended up merchandising their images with the proceeds going to damage repair.

[Rapier]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

Depends on the situation.

 

After the first couple phases all the normals will have run for the hills and the street is clear, so its not much of an issue.

 

It also depends a lot on the currect setting (small S). If they are in a mall and let loose with a couple of errant Energy Blasts I make a Luck/Unluck roll to see if an innocent bystander is hit.

 

Knowing this and the heroes. If you are a villain and know that the heroes hate to hurt innocents, wouldn't you stage things so that you hit places with large numbers of innocen bystanders?

[ThothAmon]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

After a supers fight the terrain really should look like post-conflict Bosnia or Afghanistan. Such results also give the lawyers an opportunity to feed :E

[Weldun]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

After a supers fight the terrain really should look like post-conflict Bosnia or Afghanistan. Such results also give the lawyers an opportunity to feed :E

Try having a group of PCs in which the majority have 6-10 DC AoE Killing Attacks, and aren't afraid to use them.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

Try having a group of PCs in which the majority have 6-10 DC AoE Killing Attacks' date=' and aren't afraid to use them.[/quote']

 

Pass, thanks.

 

I generally let property get smashed about via Knockback and Area Effects, but rarely sweat missed single-target attacks unless the entire battlefield is somehow hazardous (gasoline barrels, pipes pumping scalding-hot steam, etc).

 

And unless there's some DNPC or Unluck action going on, the crowd *always* bugs out during Segment 12. Sometimes I even let them Abort To Trample Each Other In Panic.

[Weldun]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

+20 Dex, Only for Initiative (-1), only for the first segment of combat (-2), only for movement actions used to escape combat zones (-1). Real Cost: 12 points.

 

You could have it as the signature power of "The Survivalist!":lol:

[Hermit]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

I like the "Abort to Trample" option

[Edsel]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

I pay pretty close attention to collateral damage in my Dark Champions campaign. The vigilantes have to watch their public image pretty close. If a lot of innocents get caught in cross-fire or if a lot of excess property damage gets done they'll have to worry about public pressure that can result in anti-vigilante task forces and such. Anytime that civilians are in the line of fire I will check to see if misses can hit them. So far they have been lucky in that no bystanders have been hit (only six sessions so far thought).

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

Collateral damage is mostly for color and drama. And although I usually have the normals clear out quickly, there may be some paralyzed with fright that act as an impediment and may need to be saved. I figure most buildings and stuff have insurance against paranormal battles, so the legal issue of property destruction usually only comes up if someone is trying to cause trouble for the heroes or if one of them is totally callous about it (like using other people's cars as thrown weapons on a regular basis).

 

Of course in a dangerous setting there are always risks of broken power lines, gas leaks, collapsing structures, and explosions. Such events regularly occur at the villains' secret headquarters so that the whole thing can go up in a giant fireball with the heroes barely escaping ("no one could have survived that!"). I sometimes tell the characters to roll a few dice just prior to some potential catastrophic event occuring, but not because I necessarily pay attention to the roll, just so they will think twice about using a firebolt spell in a gas refinery (plalyer: "I rolled a 12." GM: *wincing* "Well that was close! You only nick the pipe so it is just scorched and slighly deformed. You hope it doesn't burst before someone can repair it"). And if the players persist in being reckless, well, they have high REC so their hair can grow back quickly after the explosion.

[McCoy]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

Depends.

 

If there are civilians present, then yes, need to keep track of the misses.

 

If in one HQ or the other, where important equiptment may be damaged, yes.

 

If someone with martial dodge or missile deflection defined as dodging states they are standing in front of one opponent and taunting another to shoot at them, yes.

 

Other than that, just when someone rolls an 18.

[Blue]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

Collateral damage is a function of four things:

• Heroes being ignorate of others; People and property can get hurt
• How dangerous the environment is (Fighting on an oil rig, in a chemical warehouse, in a sub underwater, etc.)
• How much unluck the hero or the villain have
• How much I feel like bothering with all this on a given day. If there's too much going on in the fight I may ignore collateral damage

[input.jack]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

I usually only track missed attacks when:

 

Someone is firing at someone who has other people behind them in Line of Sight

 

Someone is using a Ranged Killing Attack (at all)

 

Someone is using a Ranged Normal Attack over about 10 dice

 

Someone is using a HKA next to something important or valuable (You missed Molok by 5? Make a Dex roll to see if you hit the priceless statue hes standing next to. You rolled an 8? Lucky you!)

 

Naturally, when people get knocked back into things, or things get thrown around, theres also damage. And if someone spray-fires an auto weapon, theres gonna be property damage for sure!

[GoldenAge]

Re: Collateral damage from missed attacks

 

Depends on the situation.

 

After the first couple phases all the normals will have run for the hills and the street is clear, so its not much of an issue.

 

It also depends a lot on the currect setting (small S). If they are in a mall and let loose with a couple of errant Energy Blasts I make a Luck/Unluck roll to see if an innocent bystander is hit.

 

Knowing this and the heroes. If you are a villain and know that the heroes hate to hurt innocents, wouldn't you stage things so that you hit places with large numbers of innocen bystanders?

 

Agreed.

 

In addition, we map out most battles (sometimes with 3D cityscape models). Maps make it easier to determine if a random shot will hit anything and allows the heroes to see what's behind their target.

 

I feel that it’s a must to (at the very least) loosely track collateral damage. If one doesn't it's hard to justify the use of random buildings/NPCs/vehicles as last-ditch moral dilemmas for the heroes.

 

I love it when a villain, down on his luck and minutes away from a nice 6'x6' room in Sing Sing, looks around and notices a building teetering on the edge of collapse (perhaps due to a heroes mistake). With one, last ditch effort, he can tip the scales and initiate the building's destruction. Then, interrupting his own blood-choked cackling laughter, he can point out to the heroes their only choices:

1. Finish the job and apprehend him...

Or

2. Rush to rescue countless innocent bystanders and millions of dollars in property damage.

 

Good fun!