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2785: Re: [MUD-Dev] Integrating PK
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From: Adam Wiggins <nightfall@user1.inficad.com>
Newsgroups: nu.kanga.list.mud-dev
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 01:58:51 -0700 (MST)
References: [1]
Organization: Kanga.Nu
[Chris L:]
> at 08:58 AM, Adam Wiggins <nightfall@user1.inficad.com> said:
> >Yeah, well this is just the nature of the weapon. Fists qualify as a
> >blunt object made of flesh and bone. For the exact same reason a
> >club is going to be a lot more likely to KO someone than actually
> >kill them.
>
> Its worth talking to someone who has some direct combat experience
> (tho an ER tech would do as well). To take the classic example, it is
> damned difficult to hit someone on the back of the head with
> <whatever> and knock them unconcious without killing them. The line
> between KO and DOA for head blows is extremely vague, fuzzy, and
> treacherous.
Yes, as I think I've mentioned before, my partner and I talked to two
ER/OR nurses each with over a dozen years of 'real' experience on
these matters while designing our wounds system. There's a lot of
interesting stuff with brain swelling, reactions by various
portions of the brain (specifically all that crap hanging under the
gray matter itself), hemoraging, and so forth. However I didn't
code any of the wound system and it's been a while; maybe I'll see
if I can dig up some of the old documents to post here. Interesting
reading whether it's useful to you or not.
At any rate, I've been involved in and/or witnessed plenty of fistfights
and I've yet to see anyone die from blows sustained in combat. On the
other hand, KOs are a bit rarer thing that Hollywood would like us to
believe - usually one of the combantants just decides they are beat and
stays down. I think the main 'advantage', persay, of blunt attacks
for non-lethal damage, is that it takes either a large amount of force
and/or a very specific target location on the body to actually kill
someone. An arrow going through the torso is a pretty easy method, however -
it's not difficult to hit a lung, and even a weakling can pull a bow
with a large enough draw weight to transfix an unarmored, fully-grown
man. By the same token a poorly-aimed, weak dagger blow can potentially
cut open an artery (takes at least mild force) or open a wound which
will cause a good amount of blood loss and a nasty infection. Bludgeonous
attacks take a little more effort; a childhood friend of mine was recently
put into a coma by a man quite a bit larger than him who spent half
an hour working him over with a heavy lead pipe. He was hurt badly and lost
most of his teeth, but not dead - I would wager that the same attacks
from a dagger or a sword would have rendered him pretty much mincemeat.