History Main / ChunkySalsaRule

* [[{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] has only possessed one instant-death weapon, but it was a doozy. In ''MetroidPrime3'', the Nova Beam can bypass enemies' defenses and go ''straight for the brain''. It takes careful aim with the X-Ray Visor, and not every enemy is vulnerable, but those that are will die instantly -- including minibosses like Metroid Hatchers and Berserker Lords!

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* Surprisingly enough, in the Dungeons-And-Dragons-based universe of ''TheOrderOfTheStick'', this is pretty much averted. The Resurrection spell, besides offering up 5000 gold and diamonds, only needs a few bone shards or drops of blood for it to work. The Disintegrate spell, however, is this. There is NO coming back from Disintegration.

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* Both {{Rolemaster}} and the TabletopGame/MiddleEarthRolePlaying use a combination of hitpoints and additional "critical hits" tables on efficient attacks. The latter go from benign, to broken bones & heavy bleeding, to instant death stuff like decapitation, skull crushing, arrows through the ears or being mashed into a bloody pulp. The magical tables (Impact, fire, cold, electricity...) are even merrier, with vaporizations and liquefactions galore. Not to mention the instakills on critical ''fumbles''. You want to swing a flail in ''Rolemaster'', you're taking your life into your own hands, friend.

[[caption-width-right:348:[[BloodyHilarious I don't think that a stimpak is going to do him much good now.]]]]

* The 40K tabletop {{RPG}} ''{{TabletopGame/}}Inquisitor}}'' used SubsystemDamage, and "crippling" any body part usually rendered it unusable (or, in the case of the chest or [[GroinAttack groin]], unconscious). Crippling the head is instant death.

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* The SCPFoundation averts this to a horrifying degree with[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-186 SCP-186]].
--> He handed me a pair of field glasses. Take a look, he said. I saw the German missing half of his head, still screaming. ... The Frenchman, in his terrible calm voice, explained that his shot had to have destroyed at least a quarter of the soldier's brain tissue. Enough to cause instant death, he said. But watch. I kept watching through the field glasses. The German didn't stop screaming... the Frenchman lined up another shot. The rest of the soldier's head was now gone, and the screaming was replaced by some sort of low grunting, the likes of which I have never heard from men.

* Late in ''DragonBallZ'' Piccolo states that he can heal from almost any injury that doesn't destroy his head.

*** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', the aforementioned perk is the RuleOfCool taken to SerialEscalation normally, good hits will pulp limbs in ''[[BulletTime slow motion]]'' - with ''Bloody Mess'', a powerful hit will '''blow off the target's arms, legs and head''', and when you prove ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill the target will '''''[[LudicrousGibs explode into blood splattering hamburger!!!]]''''' And it makes weapons more powerful to better cause those effects!

* In ''DeadIsland'', a point-blank shotgun blast tears extremities off zombies and humans alike, even if it deals proportionally small amounts of damage. This means that one 420-damage shot to the face can kill a 2000hp Walker zombie by turning his head into brain salad.

* In the first two ''SoldierOfFortune'' games, any shot that [[BoomHeadshot destroys the head]] or severs a limb (or spills the enemy's guts) is a OneHitKill. In ''Payback'', enemies can still fight back for a bit after losing a limb.

* In the d20 ''Stargate'' setting, a character who was merely dead could be brought back via any combination of the Sarcophagus or other random applied phlebotinum the GM allowed, unless said character was reduced to -25hp or lower at which point they were deemed truly dead due to their being 'not enough left for even the Sarcophagus to bring back'

* Presumably the result of being caught underneath a moving [[HalfLife Combine]] [[MalevolentArchitecture Smart Barrier]] (gigantic siege walls that slowly expand outward by raising columns up, inching them forward, and slamming them down with building-shattering force). Understandably this is a OneHitKill regardless of Gordon's hit points.

* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', [[TheMedic Konoka]] warns the rest of the heroes that she can't heal them if they get their heads squashed into a splatter "so be careful, 'kay?" [[hottip:*:Like a tomato!]]

* In ''{{GURPS}}'', if a character hits -10 times their maximum HP, their body is destroyed utterly if at all plausible for the damage source, and if not they're not just dead, but in terrible shape -- they're reduced to ash, riddled with arrows to the point of being barely recognizable, chopped into tiny pieces, turned to monatomic vapor, etc. Meaning, no resurrection without divine intervention. [[hottip:note:Ways of coming back from the dead that aren't actually ''resurrection'', such as cloning or restoring from a backup of your mind are still fair game, though]]

* The Arms Law combat system used by ''Role Master'', ''Space Master'', and ''Literature/MiddleEarth Role Playing'' had a elaborate critical hit/miss system that included numerous automatically lethal injuries. One of the more humorous entries was for a piercing injury -- "Strike through ear destroys brain. The unfortunate lummox dies instantly, and any ear wax is removed."

* In another Steve Jackson game, Car Wars, the "confetti" rule specifically exists describing the effects of a car being hit ForMassiveDamage: the car is removed from the map, a quantity of debris counters proportional to the car's weight are selected, and the counters are dropped from a given height over the former position of the car.

* In the classic ''Cyberpunk 2020'' taking more than 8 points of damage to any extremity would cause its loss, and losing one's head in this way was instantly fatal, no save. Another rule said that any damage to a character's head was doubled, and most weapons did about 20-30 points of damage per average hit. Suffice to say, a helmet was a smart investment.

* Both Rolemaster and the Middle-Earth Roleplaying Game use a combination of hitpoints and additional "critical hits" tables on efficient attacks. The latter go from benign, to broken bones & heavy bleeding, to instant death stuff like decapitation, skull crushing, arrows through the ears or being mashed into a bloody pulp. The magical tables (Impact, fire, cold, electricity...) are even merrier, with vaporizations and liquefactions galore. Not to mention the instakills on critical ''fumbles''. You want to swing a flail in ''Rolemaster'', you're taking your life into your own hands, friend.
* The slew of damage charts in ''The Riddle of Steel'' contain a number of ways for characters to instantly perish, especially in regards to trauma to the head.

* While it is quite possible and legitimate to win in PVP through traditional HitPoint depletion, in the ''Iron Realms'' MUD game ''Aetolia: The Midnight Age'', it is far more fun and effective to use one of the various Chunky Salsa-esque attacks, of which each character class has at least one. The more visceral examples include Incineration, Disembowelment, Backbreaking, Vivisection, Beheading, and Quartering (in which a pack of werewolves gang up to literally tear the enemy limb from limb). However, for the sake of CompetitiveBalance, all of these instakill techniques require the opponent to be incapacitated in some way, either by direct game mechanics or simply to keep the foe from taking the (usually quite simple) steps necessary to prevent their impending doom.

* In the first ''Battlefront'' game, Jedi were invincible to common soldiers, no matter how much firepower you poured into them (it didn't let you play as them, though). The only way to kill a Jedi is to land a starfighter on top of them (which kills anything),or on cloud city throw them off with a grenade or any splosion . Also, when riding a speeder bike at full throttle any time you hit an enemy infantryman he dies, whenever you hit anything else you die, and whenever you hit a Destroyer Droid with its shields up you both die.

* In ''{{Quake}} I'' and ''II'' both the player and enemies gib if they take enough fatal damage. This is the only way to kill Zombies in the first game. In the second game, enemies can be [[NoKillLikeOverkill gibbed after they are killed]] (even before they hit the ground), which is required to prevent Medics from resurrecting them.

*** There is an optional rule that, if you get three engine hits, there is a chance that the engine will fail to shut down in time. This totals the 'Mech, as well as doing terrible, terrible SplashDamage.

* The Chunky Salsa Rule was the ''Phoenix Command'' system's '''selling point'''... From their original literature: ''"Are you tired of your current small arms combat system? Tired of inconsistencies and rules that simply don't work? If so, we invite you to conduct a short test: Using your current small arms combat system, place the muzzle of a large caliber pistol between your character's eyes. Squeeze the trigger. Continue squeezing the trigger until he falls unconscious. Then have a friend put a band-aid over that nasty .45 caliber dent in his skull, and try not to get him shot too often in the week or two it takes to heal. Now, using Phoenix Command, place the same pistol in the same place. Squeeze the trigger. You now have a choice: you can either roll up a new character or rush the body to a very sophisticated medical facility and discover the joys of role-playing a vegetable.''