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PC A sneaks up to an unsuspecting PC B (having succeeded on a mobility vs observation roll), points his shotgun at B's head. Pulls the trigger, which causes B to be broken. B rolls on the crit table and gets an impaled thigh. How would you narrate the result of the shot?

a) B gets shot in the head anyhow (and perhaps dies), or

b) B is hit (or almost hit), doesn't die, a struggle ensues, and PC A lets off one more shot, and this time PC B's leg is blasted (or some other 10 second variation that justifies the "impaled thigh").

I would rule that B got broken and has now has an impaled thigh.

The player that controls PC A should know that there are no 'body location aimed hits' in Alien (some signature attack has that). The PC A player should have said that he is doing a Sneak Attack on PC B and not have added a description that require dice rolls (until he makes the dice rolls). There is a talent (=Killer) that lets you switch the dice, making it a higher chance for a lethal critical injury.

If PC A didn't achieve what he wanted with his Sneak Attack, he can as his next action do a Coup de Grace on him to finish him off and if his character has problem with that type of actions, there is a talent for that as well (=Merciless).

If you point a shotgun at someones head youre not going to hit their thigh.

Its a situation the rules dont adequately cover.

In that situation I would allow the player to aim at their head but with a significant penalty on the dice, probably -3 or -4. that way the player still gets the option of a head shot but theres also still incentive to take a shot without aiming at a specific body part.

But if they hit them in the head with the penalty, I would allow the victim's head to get blown off lol.

Why shouldnt another player sneaking up behind you with a shotgun be just as deadly as xenomorph sneaking up behind you with a headbite? its the same exact thing.

If you point a shotgun at someones head youre not going to hit their thigh.

Its a situation the rules dont cover in a way that makes sense.

In that situation I would allow the player to aim the shot at their head but with a significant penalty on the dice.

So you allow targeting various body locations in combat in your game. So in one go, you have removed the use of two talents (Killer and Merciless) and possible also the use of armor. It is not hard to hit someone in Alien and it is even easier during a Sneak Attack. May I ask what penalty you would use?

edit: I shall mention here that I am talking about Sneak Attacks. If I rule that someone is defenseless I would force the player to use the Coup de Grace rule. I know that normally someone has to be broken to be defenseless, but there are situations where you can be defenseless in other situations. Being tied up on a chair for example or being held.

So you allow targeting various body locations in combat in your game.

if its a sneak attack sure. a sneak attack means the target isnt defending themselves.

its no different than having a xenomorph sneak up on someone and headbite them. since xenomorphs can aim for specific locations why shouldnt players be able to? a shotgun to the back of the head kills a human just as dead as a headbite.

So you allow targeting various body locations in combat in your game. So in one go, you have removed the use of two talents (Killer and Merciless) and possible also the use of armor. It is not hard to hit someone in Alien and it is even easier during a Sneak Attack. May I ask what penalty you would use?

do people even take killer or merciless? they seem pretty low on the priority list for talents. I dont have a problem with obsoleting talents people never take anyway.

I also dont believe in coup de graces requiring an empathy roll. its entirely upto players whether they want to be evil or not. the game system shouldnt force players to make a roll to see if they can behave how they want to behave. thats not roleplaying.

And I dont think a high empathy character necessarily has to be a moral character either. I would argue that a character like Hannibal Lector would have high empathy (although wits is arguably his key attribute) because he understands how to manipulate and control the emotions of others even if he doesnt possess those emotions himself.

As it’s player vs player I would follow the rules, and apply the thigh injury. It could be player A turns at the wrong moment, knocks off player Bs aim and that’s how the thigh shot comes in.

So you allow targeting various body locations in combat in your game.

if its a sneak attack sure. a sneak attack means the target isnt defending themselves.

So you allow targeting various body locations in combat in your game. So in one go, you have removed the use of two talents (Killer and Merciless) and possible also the use of armor. It is not hard to hit someone in Alien and it is even easier during a Sneak Attack. May I ask what penalty you would use?

do people even take killer or merciless? they seem pretty low on the priority list for talents. I dont have a problem with obsoleting talents people never take anyway.

I also dont believe in coup de graces requiring an empathy roll. its entirely upto players whether they want to be evil or not. the game system shouldnt force players to make a roll to see if they can behave how they want to behave. thats not roleplaying.

Just to be clear, not defending and being defenseless is not the same thing. The target of a Sneak Attack may move, twist his body in the last moment, the reason why a sneak attack may miss. Coup de Grace is used on defenseless targets (being broken normally).

In an RPG, you play a character with all the characters abilities, background, skills, etc, all the ups and downs. That is as much roleplay as 'they do what they want', even more so, since they actually play the character in front of them with all his ups and downs, not just a character in their head, despite of what ups and downs the character in front of them have. But this is an old debate that doesn't have a winner and will most often end badly.

And for the talents and all that, if you have skipped all those things in your game, then ok. At least I understand your answer.

Just to be clear, not defending and being defenseless is not the same thing. The target of a Sneak Attack may move, twist his body in the last moment, the reason why a sneak attack may miss. Coup de Grace is used on defenseless targets (being broken normally).

which is exactly why I would impose a significant penalty. to account for such things.

again if xenomorphs can do it... players should also be able to do it. a xenomorph can headbite, so why cant a player cant shoot another player in the head? that seems arbitrary and wrong. its not like xenomorphs are any better at killing humans than humans are. humans have killed way more humans and for way longer than xenomorphs have. humans have gotten quite good at it.

I would absolutely allow a player to shoot another player in the head if the circumstances made sense. I wouldnt make it easy to do. But I would let them attempt it.

And for the talents and all that, if you have skipped all those things in your game, then ok. At least I understand your answer.

I think everybody skips them. As far as talents go they could be a lot better, especially merciless. No one is going to waste the chance to get a better talent over a worse one when they cost the same amount of XP.

Just to be clear, not defending and being defenseless is not the same thing. The target of a Sneak Attack may move, twist his body in the last moment, the reason why a sneak attack may miss. Coup de Grace is used on defenseless targets (being broken normally).

which is exactly why I would impose a significant penalty. to account for such things.

again if xenomorphs can do it... players should also be able to do it. a xenomorph can headbite, so why cant a player cant shoot another player in the head? that seems arbitrary and wrong. its not like xenomorphs are any better at killing humans than humans are. humans have killed way more humans and for way longer than xenomorphs have. humans have gotten quite good at it.

I would absolutely allow a player to shoot another player in the head if the circumstances made sense. I wouldnt make it easy to do. But I would let them attempt it.

And for the talents and all that, if you have skipped all those things in your game, then ok. At least I understand your answer.

I think everybody skips them. As far as talents go they could be a lot better, especially merciless. No one is going to waste the chance to get a better talent over a worse one when they cost the same amount of XP.

The fact that Xenomorphs are handled differently from human adversaries by having special rules isn't arbitrary; it is a choice in design from the game creators and works very well (...at least in Forbidden Lands--I haven't played Alien yet). You as the GM let the dice determine what kind of attack the Xenomorph attempts, it's actually similar to how crits work except where the hit lands is determined in a different order:

• For the Xenomorph you roll a D6 which determines what the Xenomorph attempts and if the attack succeeds in dealing enough damage it gives a certain crit result.
• For the human you roll to attack and if it is successful in dealing enough damage, you roll for a critical injury which determines what actually happened.

To me, combat or situations like sneak attack is nerve wrecking and panic inducing which makes shit go wrong. Even if the PC wants to "shoot someone in the head" the PC does not live in a vacuum and is not perfect. The dice are confusion, uncertainty and chaos in a situation.

Let Chaos rule

--

As for the original question, I as a GM would rule like Fenhorn. I'd probably make some kind of description like a sixth sense/a slight noise/a smell/a movement/a shift in air pressure made B discover A in the last second just before the shot goes off. Instinctively B moves his head and makes a grab for the the shotgun which results in the barrel being brought down and when the shot goes off it hits the leg. It's what the dice say happened.

The fact that Xenomorphs are handled differently from human adversaries by having special rules isn't arbitrary; it is a choice in design from the game creators and works very well

agree to disagree.

if xenomorphs can make aimed attacks theres no reason humans shouldnt be able to either. a human is just as capable of aiming their shotgun at someones head as a xenomorph is of aiming its inner jaws at someones head. there is nothing inherently special about xenomorphs that would allow them to aim for peoples heads but not humans. it is arbitrary.

I wouldnt always allow aiming at specific body parts. but certainly if you sneak up on someone and they fail their observation roll you should be able to aim your shot where you want (albeit with a hefty penalty of say -3 or -4 to your attack roll).

Also im not a big fan of signature attacks on Xenomorphs. Xenomorphs being speed 2 or speed 3 combined with having instakill attacks can cause the party to get completely killed off in one turn. Ive seen it happen. Its not a fun experience for anyone. I dont really like unconditional instant kill attacks (especially on speed 2-3 creatures). I believe the circumstances have to make sense for that type of attack to be setup. Which is why I dont use signature attacks and instead use my own flowchart. I only let Xenomorphs headbite targets that are surprised, grabbed, prone, broken, or otherwise immobile. That way the players get a fair chance of reacting to it, and it builds suspense because they know the headbite is 100% coming if they dont stop it.

My advise is dont let the rules stop you from telling the narrative that makes the most sense. And also dont make your players feel like they couldnt change their fates. Always give them a chance to get out of an instant kill attack with a roll. Whether its an observation roll, block roll, opposed CC roll to break being grabbed, etc... or their solution could even be something entirely unconventional that isnt covered in the rulebook that they should still be rewarded for.