Unknown Armies:Hand-to-hand damage

Explaining Crit Kills

If you roll that fatal 01 and instantly drop some poor bastard in his tracks, it's not terribly dramatic to say "he dies." Here are a number of plausible one-hit kills for smaller weapons.

With a Blunt Object

• A sharp blow to the temple puts a deadly shock through the brain, resulting in instant death.
• A transverse blow across the bridge of the nose sends bone fragments into a sinus cavity causing the victim to drown in his own blood unless someone performs an emergency tracheotomy within about five minutes. For the purposes of the 01, assume the blow also knocks him out or immobilizes him with pain while he dies.
• An upward blow at the base of the skull (either attacking from behind or by reaching around) breaks the neck or causes instant unconsciousness.
• A blow to the front of the throat crushes the trachea. Intense pain and panic is breathing heavy. Asphyxiation happens soon after.
• A hard thrust right to the bottom of the sternum breaks off a bone called the xiphoid process and drives it into the heart.
• A hard blow directly between the shoulder blades instantly stops the heart.

With a Sharp Object

• Even a small knife driven up into the head through the top of the eye socket kills quickly. (Elizabethan playwright Kit Marlowe died this way.)
• An upward blow under the sternum pierces the heart.
• A shallow slash across the throat causes blood to drain down the windpipe and drown the target.
• A deep slash to the neck causes a rapid bleed-out from either the vein or the artery.
• A long slash along the inside of the bicep from elbow to armpit opens an artery.
• A slash on the inside of the leg from knee to groin opens an artery.