I think specific hit locations (expecially for called shots) is something that works best house ruled. If someone wants to slow someone down by shooting them in the leg, I tell them to make a called shot, and then go from there depending on how well they do.

No Hit Locations! No Called Shots (except for effect)!

No intelligent discourse! No reasonable debate (except for sarcastic effect)!

Never played it. Probably never will.

Amen bradda.

1) Hit locations = slower fights.

2) A little bit of creative thinking can easily replace hit locations in a system with graduated successes.

3) Hit locations cause endless bloody arguments ("He couldn't possibly have hit me there!).

4) Increased damage due to location hits in a system with Smartlink 2's is just SO a bad idea (+4 TN for a called shot goes down to +2, means a sammie will need 4's for that beloved Headshot o' Doom).

I'm not saying hit locations can't be done and done reasonably (I've always had a soft spot for the clunky but fun Millennium's End overlays). I just think they don't work with Shadowrun's core mechanic concepts (which seem unlikely to change beyond recognition in SR4).

On a related note, on the existing "called shot to bypass armour" concept - I wonder if perhaps making the TN dependent on armour coverage might make an otherwise unpopular concept work a bit better? Say, the standard +4 vs an armour vest... +5 versus jacket type armours... +6 versus longcoats or other 3/4 coverage armous... +8 versus things like FFBA3 that cover the majority of the body?

I'd contest the 1-2 second slowdown, if only because one of the main points of hit locations is to reflect the differing lethality of locational hits, but still.

And of course you have the creativity to wing a hit location on the fly. If you didn't have that kind of creativity you wouldn't be a roleplayer. Deadly wound without enough overdamage to kill straight off? Lung shot, filling with blood; the big veins in the leg punctured, whatever. I know you can handle that

If you really want to have a huge degree of versimilitude in theory you could try to use what data is out there concerning where people are commonly hit in most firearms engagements and try to come up with a variable probability chart for most circumstances.

Under most circumstances you could probably get by with 4 charts (1 for frontal shots, one for dorsal shots and one for each of the sides) and toss out nonsensical rolls for when body position or cover indicates a strange result. If you want really complex you'd probably want a chart for firing on prone, kneeling, targets at a significant change in elevation and various hard cover charts. Obviously you could really go wild but you'd likely need a computer to run simulations accordingly

Not saying it wouldn't be an interesting extension for the game but I can see it being of limited interest for most.

Every time I hear someone argue that hit locations could be interesting but would be necessarily cumbersome, it is invariably followed by a ludicrously detailed and unplayable example. My point, which I can only assume has been willfully ignored, is that this is not necessary, and that there are far simpler, much more elegant solutions that achieve the detail and realism of hit locations without requiring books of charts to be consulted every time someone takes a shot. It can, in fact, be done far more elegantly than the much vaunted and praised canon SR3 rules and their near deified levels of abstraction.

Granted it would be cool if those databases were easily accessible (I figure a variety of gun manufacturers, protection manufacturers and health authorities have them on top of some law enforcement groups) but such is life. Although I suspect that they are so heinously complex as to be hard to generate probability charts for anyone but skilled statistician.

Using what seems to pass for anecdotal evidence and guesstimating based on how ballistic protection seems to be progressing it does seem to indicate that the vast majority of gun related injuries involving trained combatants meaning serious harm to each other that torso injuries would be the vast majority of lifethreatening injuries.

Perhaps one method for doing a hit location chart would be to determine the damage caused first and then correspondingly indicate the location based on that. So a L wound caused by a gunshot is either an extremity shot or a very low powered firearm hit to the torso. Correspondingly a D+ hit is the result of hitting a critical organ etc. The main problem with this is that many weapons have base D damage ratings but you could develop a workaround I imagine.

I definitely don't want 4 or more separate hit location charts, rolls, or even modifiers that come up regularly. Simplicity is very important to me, too. I also don't think it'd be very logical to use random hit locations but base them on the damage dealt: for me, the varying terminal effects based on the random hit location are a major reason for having such rules in the first place, and additionally traumas to the head and torso which correspond to SR Medium or Light wounds or no damage at all are quite common IRL.

Yeah capping limb hits to S is pretty smart as there are indicators of hydrostatic shock killing people peripherally wounded they are certainly not a high percentage. Granted something like having a femoral artery severed is likely going to kill you without prompt treatment but those type of hits might be better represented in a torso grouping.

However I would still note what hits are base D in damage before reduction to S to have tests for permanent effects and maybe if I was mean magic loss

If you want to go for a single location chart I'd go with fairly small number of zones.

I'd actually go with a d100 chart unless you are really tied to using only d6 or god forbid exploding d6s as to get decent probability charts d6 mechanics becomes very ugly and I hate doing the math for converting them

d100 chart

01-05 Right Calf or Foot (Maximum of Serious Damage Hit, +2 TNs for athletics, reduction in speed)
06-10 Left Calf or Foot (Same as above)
11-20 Right Knee or Thigh (Maximum of Serious Damage Hit, reduction in speed, +2 to Athletics TNs)
21-30 Left Knee or Thigh (Same as above)
31 Critical Right Leg hit: Nerves or Femoral artery severely damaged (No maximum damage, reduction in speed if D must remain prone, +4 (+6) to athletics TNs)
32 Critical Left Leg Hit (same as above)
33-65 Standard Torso hit (Treat as standard hit)
66-70 Critical Torso Hit (Stage damage up +1 Damage Code)
71-75 Right Hand or Forearm (Maximum of Serious Damage Hit, +2 to Ranged Combat TNs and technical TNs)
76-80 Left Hand or Forearm (Same as Above)
81-85 Right Upper arm Sholder Hit ( Maximum of serious damage hit, Maximum Lifting capacity reduced 25%)
86-90 Left Upper Arm or Sholder (Same as above)
91-97 Standard Head Hit (Treat as standard hit, +2 TN Ranged Combat Modifiers, +4 to any Social TNs)
98-00 Critical Head Wound (Stage Damage up +2 Damage Codes, TN 8 willpower to accomplish any tasks on top of standard cranial damage modifiers)

Of course this is quick and dirty and might be too grim and gritty for most people but it's definitely going to make people get concerned about the occasional head shot.

Gernades would likely be reduced power from thier current stats but cause multiple rolls on the chart.

I'm mixed about whether damaging elemental manipulations should do a gernade style effect

okay so i really should not have opened that can of worms...sorry, sort of. I had ot thought about how much more difficulty it would add to the system for most.

I will agree that the called shot (simply a +4 mod) could use some re-work or removal.