Alright, guys. It's time for me to show off and to figure out if this thing will work. For the record, it was my original intention to include a hit locations system in my game. But up until now, I had no idea how I was going to do that. I saw the MRQ SRD and saw stuff like rules for impaling, and whether you decided to leave the weapon in or rip it out (awesome) but also that an attack might have to make four rolls (roll to hit... other guy rolls to dodge... roll your hit location... roll your damage). The thing that from the beginning seemed obvious to me was that hitting and deciding where you hit had to be part of the same roll. But it didn't really click how to do that until I looked at mechanics where rolling high on a roll-under meant a greater degree of success. My system was roll-over, but I figured it was worth a shot. So here... the lower you roll, the more lethal the hit location.

The more I look at the way it works, the more I like it.

For context, doing stuff in my game you roll a 3d6 and add mods. Also, this system uses my crazy initiative rules found elsewhere on these boards. Another thing that's nothing revolutionary (just requiring an action to dodge, giving three actions a round, and leaving no constraints on how many of each action you take) but another thing with results I just like (mimicing AoOs without a whole other ruleset, actually giving a half decent incentive to delay, etc).

Anyway, the way it works is this: Your low rolls are headshots. Mid-range rolls hit the torso. High rolls hit limbs. A working model (may need tweaking) below.
3:Automatic miss.
4-6:Headshot.
7-10:Chest.
11-14:Abdomen.
15:Left Leg.
16:Right Leg.
17:Left Arm.
18:Right Arm.

So the way stuff works is this. Headshots happen really rarely. Not only are they marginalized on the bell curve and stuff, but also it'll be rare for you to be able to hit anyone with that low a roll. When it does become possible for you to hit someone with a very low roll, it's probably because they didn't defend (yay consequences for tactical errors) or because they have a vastly inferior defense (yay mooks). The chest and abdomen are where attacks are going to gravitate most, thanks to the bell curve. Lastly, limbshots will be rare because of the bellcurve, but in the case of a vastly superior defense (we're talking about mooks trying to shoot dextrous PCs here) the few shots to hit will probably be arms and legs, giving that general impression that the dextrous character is moving, and that he just didn't get all the way out of the way (hence the hits on the periphery). Anyway, not claiming any kind of realism or anything, but I like the way results are skewed.

Last thing I need to cover is called shots. Basically, each part will get its own modifiers to defense, its own hit points, and different penalties for being damaged. There will be a miss by one rule. Abdomen to chest and chest to abdomen. Legs to abdomen. Arms to chest. Headshots just straight up miss (no miss by one hit somewhere else bit). Tactics with called shots will vary. Mooks would have low defense, so you could try for just headshot after headshot if combat was your thing. With other foes, shoot till you hit and aim for the spot you already hit (as opposed to spreading the damage around). Or, if you want to incapacitate, break their legs.

Things I don't much know how to incorporate into a hit location system yet include explosions (I can imagine an explosion doesn't just hit one or two locations) and knocking people out and stuff. The latter is pretty important. I don't want it so any time you want to interrogate someone you break their legs. It's a nice vivid thing, but the norm should be either "he's still breathing" or just knocking someone out with a bit of blunt force or something.

Anyways, whaddaya think?

I think it's easier to buy this:

Heh.

I'd use that in my own game, but I'm trying to sell something, and trying to use only d6s. Requiring folks to buy a little labeled d12 or putting up a d12 chart for my games are just not things I want to do, in this case. If I use a dice gimmick, I'll wait until a second edition and have d6s labeled 0 to 5. Assuming I can sell them myself.

Teehee. When I was first playing GURPS 3E, we were taking the "groin area" rather literally, i.e. mostly the nads and not the whole lower abdomen. And it came up whenever you rolled 11 on 3d6...