In the revised paperback edition of GODLIKE: Superhero Roleplaying in a World on Fire, 1936–1946, we made a lot of minor changes and a few substantial ones. Here is the revised section on the rules for weapon damage so you can use them with your old Godlike books.
Base Damage of Weapons
Depending how complicated you want combat to be, you can either use modifiers for different ammunition types (so a 7.92 SmK round is more damaging than a 7.92 Mauser round), or use damage for each weapon type (so every machine gun is as damaging as any other machine gun, despite the ammunition type used).
Additional damage, Penetration and Area affects of ammunition are listed at the beginning of each weapons section. To determine what kind of performance an individual weapon has with a different ammunition type, simply add the round’s modifiers to the base damage rating of the weapon.
Example: Shotzy wants to fire a MG42 loaded with 7.92 SmK (H) ammunition, instead of standard 7.92 mm ammunition. With the new ammunition type, the weapon inflicts width+3 in shock and killing damage to a human target per hit instead of width+2. In addition, it has Penetration 2 at close range.
Base Damage Rating Table
| Weapon Type | Base Damage Rating |
| Pistol | Width in killing and in shock |
| Carbine | Width + 1 in killing, width shock |
| Long Rifle | Width + 2 in killing and in shock |
| Submachine gun | Width in killing and in shock |
| Machine gun | Width + 2 in killing and in shock |
| Grenade | Width + 1 in killing and in shock + Area dice. All targets in 10 yards take 2 shock to each location. |
| Anti-personnel mine | See rules on this page. |
| Anti-tank rocket | Width + 1 in killing and in shock + Area dice |
| Mortar | Width + 2 in killing and in shock + Area dice. All targets in 10 yards take 2 shock to each hit location. |
| Cannon | Width + 3 in killing and in shock + Area dice. All targets in 20 yards take 2 shock to each hit location. |
| Flamethrower | 1 killing + Area dice + Burn (each hit location is on fire except the head) |
Note: Area dice are only rolled if the target is hit. Otherwise the shot goes wide and they are ignored. It’s usually sim- plest to use one Area roll for all targets in the blast radius, but you can roll for each separately for variety. If a blast is concentrated on a single target or in a tight space, double the Area damage.
For a direct hit with a rocket, mortar or cannon, if it penetrates armor the target takes all Area dice in the indicated hit location, and Area damage applies to all targets both inside and outside the armor. If it fails to penetrate, Area damage applies only to targets outside the armor.
Example: Ivan throws a grenade at a German in a foxhole who’s feeding ammunition to his two compatriots. Ivan’s Coordination+Grenade is 6, and he rolls 6, 4, 9, 5, 7 and 7. A 2×7 hit. Only then are the 3d Area dice of the grenade thrown, for a 1, 5 and a 5. So the main target takes 3 killing and 3 shock points damage to his torso (the initial 2×7 hit + 1 for grenade damage), 2 points of shock to all hit locations, 1 point of killing to the left leg (the 1) and 2 points of killing to his right arm (the 5s).
His compatriots take 2 shock points to all hit locations, 1 point of killing to their left legs and 2 points of killing to their right arms from the Area dice.
A Note On Mines
Mines attack only when a target passes over them, so a high level of finesse on the part of the operator is not necessary (all that’s needed is a skill in mine-laying; without that, even setting up a mine becomes a dangerous task). A mine is triggered automatically when a stray step or significant weight is placed upon it. Unlike a typical Area explosion, the blast focuses upward into the victim or vehicle that triggered it.
A standard anti-personnel mine does 1 point of killing to each hit location rolled on the Area dice. In addition, each odd Area die does 2 killing to the victim’s left leg and each even Area die does 2 killing to the victim’s right leg. Finally, the victim takes 4 shock to every hit location.
A standard anti-tank mine does all its Area damage to the vehicle’s hit location that activated the mine, usually a front wheel or tread. See p. 307 for optional details.
In addition, each person within 5 yards of any mine’s blast takes 2 shock to each hit location and 1 killing to each location indicated by the Area dice.
A mine always uses its base Penetration rating, not modified by the width of an attack roll.
Example: Captain Rickoff steps on a land mine. The mine’s 5 Area dice against him roll 4,8,5,4,10. Rickoff takes 2 killing to his left arm (the 4s) and 1 each to his right arm (5), torso (8) and head (10). Next he takes 8 killing to his right leg (the 4s, 8 and 10) and 2 killing to his left leg (the 5). Finally he takes 4 Shock to every location. It’s a bad day for Captain Rickoff.
Order and download GODLIKE: Superhero Roleplaying in a World on Fire, 1936–1946 today.
