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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wolf1066" data-source="post: 5194245" data-attributes="member: 88680">The called shot thing pertains to the game I run - an extremely modified version of Cyberpunk 2020.In the core rules, all shots, unless you make a called shot (at negative modifiers, natch) at a specific body  location, are considered snapshots in the general direction of the character and you are rolling to see if you hit anything at all.  If you succeed, you make a random roll for where on the body it hits.In the same core rules, when a grenade is thrown and misses by any amount, you roll on a numbered grid to see where it actually lands around the target zone (pray it doesn't land to close to you...)In the case of a called shot, I apply the same logic (in fact, the same location grid - this time centred on the body location) to a near miss (no more than 5 points) - you miss the head or torso that you called but you might hit something else (or might not), depending on what number you roll on the grid. e.g. there's a lot of air around the head for the bullet to go into and only torso and upper arms below it.  Torso has groin, legs, arms and head surrounding it but there's still a couple of chances of missing all of those (attack whizzes past an ear).That only applies to a called shot, and a near miss at that: too high and the attack could be said to have "missed by miles".With the (default) snap shots - where the "target" is "anywhere on the person's body", a miss is a miss.  A near miss is "you felt the wind as it passed you".It's not a matter of fudging to make it easier on the players or let the NPC get 'em if I'm having a bad day.  It's a matter of reasoned and logical application.You're blazing away at a person and miss, then you miss.You're specifically shooting at the person's "centre  of mass" and you miss by miles, then you miss.You're You're specifically shooting at the person's "centre  of mass" and you only just miss it, then that bullet's going to land somewhere close to that mark - is it the nearby flesh or thin air?Likewise, if a character was wandering along a rooftop and failed his/her balance check marginally, they slither down the tiles and get a chance that their frantic scrabbling (quite natural unless they were unconscious at the time) will snag them a hand hold - and present them with the problem of how to climb back up.Fail that check spectacularly and you cartwheel off the roof onto the street below.In no way do I advocate making up reasons for unwarranted "saving throws" (let alone repeated saving throws) just to keep the players alive no matter how boneheaded their behaviour gets.They fail by enough or there's no plausible reason for a "save", then their boneheaded stunt could get them killed - simple as that.And I extend the same rules to both PCs and NPCs - the PCs have got the same chance of a near miss on their called shot still incapacitating (or unintentionally killing) their opponent as they have of being incapacitated or killed.If they're just blazing away at each other they each have the same chances of hitting or missing as their skill levels permit.They all have the same chance of plummeting to their doom or blowing themselves up or, if their fail is within 5 points of the mark and it's plausible to do so, saving themselves by the skin of their teeth.All those possibilities make for some interesting story-telling.  Win, lose or draw, the story could take all sorts of twists and turns - but should never boil down to "and in one bound, Jack was free".  OK, you survived the slip on the icy rooftop and managed, after a few hairy moments, to pull yourself - battered and bleeding - back up to safety from the spouting you managed to grab as you slithered, scrabbling frantically, past.  Too bad about your buddy who fell to his death...</blockquote>

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