Failed Parachuting Test (hitting the ground), Poll: 2P, 4P, 6P, 8P or 10P? Options

[Kyoto Kid]

...actually four, the highest altitude achieved by a manned non-powered aircraft (Excelsior III).

[Apathy]

I remember reading as a kid that WWII Soviets used to toss their jumpers out of low-flying aircraft into snow drifts once they ran out of parachutes. They had like a 50% fatality rate, but the one thing they had plenty of was more bodies to pull from.

[Wounded Ronin]

[cx2]

As it happens I heard in one of the wars the Russians only had enough rifles for 1 in 3 soldiers, but I forget whether it was the first or second.

[MaxHunter]

It was in the first WW If I remember correctly....

Back into the thread, I know I have posted a topic about an Halo jump some months ago... If only I could get it back. I had my players perform an Halo jump for that run. A couple of them even learned the skill instead of trusting on Edge longshot rolls!!! LoL. They survived, but ended the fall quite scattered and lost some precious time getting back together.

[MaxHunter]

Bingo! This is the thread: here

It was about Halo jumps, but I believe the whole thread is informative.

The rules I used were the following -complicated but worked out fine- :

[ Spoiler ]

I want the jump to be a detailed and memorable part of the run -it's their first use of the skill in a run- The rolls are just for the thrill / danger factor, description will of sensations will be the focus of that part. To appease the number cruncher in me, however, the jump will involve:

1-composture test to jump. if failed (no hits) the runner will refuse to jump on his own and the rest of the team will have to convince/force him quickly before the jump-frame expires. A glitch would involve some vomiting, a critical glitch means someone fainted. "pass me the salts, quick!!"

2-Second composture check for the diving part of the jump, the runners will have a penalty of -2 on their parachuting roll, each hit on the second composture roll removes one dice penalty. The outside conditions will be: dark, freezing cold and chilling winds, but the goggles, thermal insulation and the respirators they will be given will take care of that.

3-body + Parachuting -HALO specialization applies- with the following modifiers

-1 for Halo jump
-1 for night conditions
-2 if out of practice (probably most characters will train)
-2 for stressful situation (offset by previous composture roll)
-2 for tandem jump (it is a possibilty)

the jump's "scatter" will be handled as per the grenade rules, 2d6 kms in a random direction, each hit "corrects" the jump by 3 klicks. (guesstimation, of course, but good enough for me)

A glitch involves some part of the gear they are carrying gets lose when the parachute opens and falls somewhere. (scatter)

failing the roll enables the characters to roll again to open the parachute before crashing, but the scatter won't be corrected.

A critical glitch means the parachute won't open. fyyyyywww-thump!, smear on the floor -burn edge, or die omae.

4- Landing. Runners will land on harsh terrain, this is a damage resistance test, the amount of damage depends on the previous HALO roll:

Previous HALO roll:
no successes: the parachute opened too low: resist 12 boxes of damage (on second thoughts: 20? see below)
1 hit: 6
2 hits: 4
3 hits or more: 2

This is a Body + half impact armor + parachuting test to resist damage, runners can use gymnastics instead of parachuting if better.

glitching will involve banging some gear badly.

a critical glitch means a nasty accident; for instance: branch has impaled the character, a broken ankle, torn muscles or similar. Some physical penalty/ wound that needs mending will be in order. (bleeding for periodical stun damage; can't run / half walking movement; extra -2 penalty for physical actions, etc.)

Of course, in-fall or pre-fall casting is allowed, but a composture check (force/2, rounded uo) is necesary to sustain the spell. casting while diving receives a -4 dice penalty for horrible conditions. Anyway, too much magic in the air and the jump may be detected, according to magical surveillance around the drop zone.

This is what I got. Maybe it's a little rough, but so are halo jumps. I believe that runners will pull this out, even if it costs them some edge.

Cheers,

Max

[Kyoto Kid]

...the HALO jump into the blizzard was the part I liked about the King of the Mountain run in the old Missions book. Made even the toughest Sammy on the team wet himself. And after that, they hated getting on cargo jets, particularly ones had had drop pallets. :vegm:

[Karaden]

[Kyoto Kid]

...you are correct about air density and speed. After passing through 50,000 feet Col. Kittinger's descent speed dropped by 250 mph.

[TheOneRonin]