Need a bit of GM help

[Razzinold]

Ok so, normally I play Rifts, but now playing an HU game and I'm finding i'm lacking certain clarifications I guess.
So not only am I new to HU but I'm also new to being a GM, only done a handful of games, all in the Rifts setting.
So I have player who has played for years, one off and on over the years but still a little green, another who's played a fair bit over the years but hasn't bothered to memorize stats, rules, etc and now two brand new players to RPGs.

I find I'm lacking proper explanations to certain areas, not sure if this is my inexperience as a GM (now I know I made an amazing player, not bragging or anything but was complemented numerous times by various gm's for my playing ability but i'm still kinda shaky as a GM) or if it's the game itself not being clear.
Here is one example that happened on Saturday, two of my players were attacking a group, one player shot a guy, rolled 2d6 and got a crap roll and rolled two 1's, the other guy punched someone, rolled 1d6 rolled a 5 (plus his PS bonus because he has a PS of 32). So I found myself at a loss to try and explain to a player how one guy's punch did more damage then their Glock.
As a player this never really came into question for me, playing Rifts I found it was always md guns vs MDC armour, or SN strength doing MD damage vs mdc and if I was just a regular human in Rifts I punched people who were not wearing armour.

So I said to the player, "I know you rolled to strike and succeeded, yes you hit them but the damage was low because it was possibly a graze, or you hit them in the shoulder, where as the other player punched the guy in the neck."

Did I handle that wrong ? How do you guys explain such varying degrees in damage output in Heroes Unlimited ?

[Severus Snape]

I'd say you did a pretty fair job of explaining how the bullet did little damage but the punch did more damage.

Not all attacks are created equal. You can shoot someone with a gun and hit them in the leg, causing them to bleed and limp but not die. Alternatively, you can punch someone in the throat and crush their trachea, causing them to suffocate and die. Two totally different attacks with completely different outcomes, and not the ones you'd think. And this happens in the real world.

Don't fret over the small stuff like this. The player who rolled poorly was looking for an excuse to get you to fudge what happened and award more damage because, in his mind, guns do more damage. You explained it right and stuck to your guns. That is the right call.

[Juce734]

I think you handled the situation right.

[Razzinold]

Thanks for the support guys. To clarify they weren't upset with the damage they did that attack, they were honestly confused by such a varying degree of damages (they are relatively new to gaming) and I didn't think it was an unfair question. One would assume a bullet would do more damage then a punch, even though I know it's not always the case, and that would not be a ridiculous assumption. Also, they probably also were not that upset because on the next turn they pulled out their second Glock (paired weapons) and rolled two successful called shots to the head from less than 10 feet away. Dude collapsed to the floor missing most of his grey matter, lol

Well that being said I guess will continue on Gming like that, just trying my best to explain how/why things are like that, I'm glad to see I'm on the right track. (Like I said fairly new to being the GM)

[Noon]

Are they aware of how different genre's often handle the same thing in very different ways?

It's just the genre - punching is the thing for the genre you're playing in.

[Juce734]

Thanks for the support guys. To clarify they weren't upset with the damage they did that attack, they were honestly confused by such a varying degree of damages (they are relatively new to gaming) and I didn't think it was an unfair question. One would assume a bullet would do more damage then a punch, even though I know it's not always the case, and that would not be a ridiculous assumption. Also, they probably also were not that upset because on the next turn they pulled out their second Glock (paired weapons) and rolled two successful called shots to the head from less than 10 feet away. Dude collapsed to the floor missing most of his grey matter, lol

Well that being said I guess will continue on Gming like that, just trying my best to explain how/why things are like that, I'm glad to see I'm on the right track. (Like I said fairly new to being the GM)

You are playing with blood loss right? If so then for each gun shot wound that is 1 hp per melee I believe. So in all actuality the gun does do more damage. Plus if the attacker was close the gun should still do more damage based on that.

[Jockitch74]

If the character who was punching has augmented strength, then would make sense (Superman hits harder then Deadpool). Also depends if you're using blood loss and PV rules. And I tend to agree with the other posters as well. All comes down to circumstance and location of the injury.

[Razzinold]

@Noon, like I said before the player is relatively new (only played rifts a couple times and Nightspawn for a few sessions) so they are not 100% familiar with all the nuances of the various systems yet.

When the first shot was fired the player was not within the 10 foot mark yet, so the point blank rule didn't apply. I am currently not using the PV rules but I think I might start for the next time we play, also for this particular case the person wasn't wearing armour. I didn't have a chance to apply the blood loss really because the guy was dead on the next action.
The guy punching did not have augmented strength, he has a PS of 32 that was attained through training and bonuses (he rolled up the Hunter/Vigilante under the Physical Training category).

Injury location is still a tricky thing I find in these games, for example if they both would have targeted the main body the punch would do more damage then the bullet until I applied things like blood loss or explain it like I did saying "yes you did hit, but it was a graze or didn't strike anything vital".

***On a side note, the player never made a big deal out of it, they only asked once and I answered, i took it upon myself to try and rationalize the situation further, they were happy with the explanation that I gave them. I'm only pursuing it so I can gain a better understanding of the game as a whole to try and improve myself as a GM.

[Noon]

When the first shot was fired the player was not within the 10 foot mark yet, so the point blank rule didn't apply.

Could they have moved in closer before the shot? That's something where you can give them some edge, by seeing if there's some leeway to let them do something even more effective.

[Mediapig71]

Sounds like the situation you describe could happen in any game with random damage. Some damage rolls are always going to be strangely high or low regardless of the weapon... those just represent really good or really weak hits.

One question... did the punching character have a super strength power of some kind, or did he achieve the 32 PS simply from dice rolls and skills? I could be wrong, but I thought punch damage for non super-powered characters was 1D4?

[Razzinold]

In this particular scenario no they couldn't have moved closer first.
Here's what happened.
Player A eases open the door and Player B tosses in tear gas grenade.
Player A enters and goes to the left, Player B mirrors on the right.
Player A engages a target doubled over and coughing, kicks them to the floor, takes a step or two, sees another target and fires the shot that only did 2 points of damage.
Player B ignores their 1st target, because they were immobile on the floor, and instead kicks a person in the face that was on their hands and knees.
Their second attack is when they deliver the strike to the back of the neck of the next person and did more damage then the shot.
This is now when the questions occurred from Player A and we resumed combat. Player A finished off the next target quite easily seeing as how they were using Paired Pistols and were within 10 feet, the target was also under heavy penalties from the effects of the tear gas. None of their targets had gas masks or armour, Players A&B obviously were wearing masks/protective helmets.

[Razzinold]

@Mediapig71

No he has such a stat from rolls, skills and bonuses. He rolled under the Vigilante/Hunter category, I also allowed him to take the fighting style where anything becomes a weapon in his hands (a bit over the top but fit really well with his character concept so I allowed it) so I know he has bonuses from that too.
I can't remember if he rolled a D4 or D6 but with his PS bonus it still did more then the gun.

[Mediapig71]

Doesn't really matter, just curious. Anyway, sounds to me like you handled the situation just fine!

[Epically]

Just remember; you're the GM! Rules are mere guidelines. If you don't think something is right, just change it. In one of my old games I had a house rule where bullets did DMG direct to HP. So, using your example, it may not have done more DMG, but direct to HP will hurt someone a lot more in the long run and is quite scary to the player if it happens to them.

Out of curiousity, what kind of pistol was it? You said 2d6, but I can't think of any pistols less than 3d6.

[csyphrett]

I think you made the right call. Even though bullets in the real world are deadlier than punches, getting shot is survivable depending on the situation while punches can kill you.
CES

[Razzinold]

The pistol being used was a silenced Glock from Weapons Compendium (It could have been 3d6, then it was a 3 they rolled, either way it's the same scenario) but I'm pretty sure it's 2d6.