Backpack full of explosives, and it goes off??!!

[garhkal]

Ok.. So say a PC (or npc) is carrying a bunch of explosives and gets HIT by an explosive (say a grenade or missile)..
How do you
A) Determine if it sets OFF those explosives?? Some like Detonite and Thermite Plasticine do give rules for what can cause them to go off (high energy/fire).. But what of say thermal detonators, their own grenades or missiles??
B) Determine how much damage is going to get dealt??
C) figure out if the PC (or npc) can even dodge out of the radius, or is he just boned??
D) decide on a blast radius??? Some items do give one, such as grenades and missiles, but others dont such as detonite and T.P...??
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[jmanski]

I think you have to be creative here. I'd say the Dodge actually lets him toss the backpack clear of himself if he rolls well. As for setting them off: I'd say only TDs and other unstable items would be in danger. If they do go off: BOOM!

YMMV
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[garhkal]

Well the situation i am referencing is one a DM mentioned happened a month ago at a local con. Party had 5 (out of possible 8) pcs, got jumped by a group of 8 stormies.. one of which had an incendiary grenade launcher and so shot at the guy looking like he was wearing the biggest stuff (well carrying the most). DM hit, and rolled damage putting the PC to incap..
Which is when he asked "so what happens now to the 6 fist sized cubes of Detonite, 4 thermal detonators, 8 impact and 4 concussion grenades and 2 KG of thermite plastacine i am carrying?""
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[Zarn]

The way I play it, thermal detonators can be considered to be the equivalent of small amounts of anti-matter, barely kept in check by a magnetic bottle - and is one of those little things that is actively trying to kill you.

Anyways, in Legends canon they're fusion grenades (I believe I read some fluff about the baradium reversing its polarity and becoming anti-matter at the point of detonation a long time ago, but I can't find the reference), and trigger a thermonuclear fusion reaction - quickly succeeded by a rather large release of energy.

I would likely use a few dice depending on the situation - 3d6 being someone tossing the backpack a few meters, 6d6 being actively slamming a thermal detonator with a hammer - and roll them looking for 1s. If I get one, boom. And the player character is at ground zero.

Detonite is more like Semtex or C4 - a stable, putty-like explosive. It should detonate only when charged with electricity, extreme radiation or tremendous kinetic energy. I would likely ignore most external influences for detonating it, unless we're talking getting hit by a railgun or being in environments where radtrooper armor would be more suited.

Plasticene thermite gel is noted as being "ignited by an electronic detonator". I would likely have that being as stable as detonite, basically.

And for C) I would go for boned if the player character was carrying excessive amounts of boom-boom, while I would likely allow some sort of test to throw away something if they were carrying more sane amounts of boom-boom.

Blast radius? Half the amount of explosive carried in kg, in meters? So 4 kg = 2m, 16 kg = 8m?

[Naaman]

Chris Kyle (I think) actually got six kills with one shot: his target was with 5 other dudes and he happened to hit the guy in his suicide vest such that it took out the whole group.

In my opinion, the one with the explosives takes full damage automatically. Anyone in the blast radius must try to dodge, and I'm thinking a penalty should apply for the unexpected nature of the explosion. Its one thine if you see your enemy wind up to through a grenade, call "frag out!" or whatever. But when the guy next to you just explodes....

As for damage, you might calculate it like combined fire: increase damage by +1 (+1D may be more appropriat in some cases) for each explosive ccharge set off.

[shootingwomprats]

Well guys, this is just my two cents, your mileage will vary. Whether they explode or not? I feel like that is a speed of plot thing. If you want a TPK or run a crunchy game? Then by all means come up with something.

I am a big one on simplicity, so here goes.

To start with I do not like graduated damage by range band for explosives. Its too crunchy and though it makes real world sense, this is Star Wars, reality checked itself with hyperspace travel and no need for gravity plates.

I would say pick a Volatility for the items and roll that against the damage done by the explosion. If the result is Heavily Damaged or better they detonate.

Example: The character is running for cover but is unlucky and a grenade/missile/whatever explodes near him. The GM rules he is enveloped in the explosion and that the explosives in his backpack have a chance to ignite. He gives the two thermal detonators Volatility 4D and the detonite 6D (it typically needs an explosive cap). The GM rolls damage 5D for a total of 19. The explosives will detonite on 9 or less on the opposed roll.

You could choose to use static numbers to expedite things as well.

Example: Detonite 18 (27+), thermal detonators 12 (21+). Compare the explosion damage versus those numbers or calculate the damage range of +9 and the static number. If the explosion exceeds the volatility numbers those items detonate.

If you wish to keep the damage by range band, the two examples above still work, just be sure to roll the damage for the range band the player is in, compare to the Volatility to the explosive Strength.
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[garhkal]

[shootingwomprats]

[Rusharn]

Unless the explosive specificity says that it is prone to exploding I treat missiles, grenades and thermo detonators as having been designed with fail safes to prevent unintentional explosion from any damage that a human being could survive. So any attack that would risk setting off the explosives would have killed everyone in the blast radius anyway. It saves us from having to track an extra complication for PC's and GM alike, it saves my players unnecessary worry that their explosive weapons may explode for no good reason, and leaves 'made of explodium' and 'hair trigger explosives' tropes as a complication / plot device to add tension to a specific mission or adventure.

[garhkal]

[Zarn]

Microwaves heat food by a different principle - dielectric heating. It isn't "irradiating" much; it makes the water molecules rotate back and forth because of the shifting polarity of the microwave field (and water molecules are dipoles).

Heat is usually transferred through IR (infrared light) unless there is direct contact to facilitate the transfer of heat.

If an explosive is susceptible to intense heat, then an incendiary grenade might cook off the explosive. But if the explosive is susceptible to radiation, heat isn't the first radiation I'd think of.

Alpha and beta radiation are types of particle radiation. Alpha radiation are Helium cores (He+ ions). To protect against alpha radiation, you need a sheet of paper. Beta radiation is electrons (e-). To protect against beta radiation, you need a sheet of metal foil (almost any thickness). Neither seems to be what is meant by an explosive being susceptible to radiation.

Gamma radiation is high-powered light. But, you can get secondary radiation - so-called bremsstrahlung - from electrons that are given a high level of energy from the gamma radiation. So I'd say that if in the vicinity of a powerful source of ionizing radiation, that is when you can get the explosive unstable. And that's X-Ray and gamma radiation.

[Naaman]

Heat is a form of radiation... hence, a radiator.

For that matter, I once had to rescue a squad of infantrymem whose truck was hit by an IED, caught on fire, and the ammo in the truck (bullets) started cooking off. Bullets were being "fired" necause the gunpowder reached high enough temps to just go off.

[shootingwomprats]

[garhkal]

Well got the reply back. He had the TD's all go off at HALF value but combined into one larger boom (7d effectively), and had a secondary explosion from the grenades (again half value but combined as per the combined action chart) which was again 7d). Didn't have the thermite or detonite go boom though. BUT the pc wearing the pack, who was already at Incap from the initial incendiary grenade, took a 2nd Incap from the TDs going off, THEN a third one from the grenades going boom.. pushing him to dead...
The player was actually surprised he wasn't vaped all at once, with all he carried. As for a B/R, he halved what a TD had, and down graded it 1d per blast zone. 2 other Pc's took a wound and a 3rd got a stun only (wookie)..

After the game was done, the player who's PC died went straight into making up a replacement for the next event since that DM was doing 3 total starwars 2e events (NOT part of sparks though).. 3 of the players on the table commended the DM for running it how he did, and was like the one who's pc died' was real surprised he was so light with the possible damage that COULD have happened, and even remarked to them, that their home GM WOULD have had them all go off, even the detonite..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Naaman]

This is how I feel about every "what if" scenario where the rules fall short.