History ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill / TableTopGames

* When the Ravnos Antediluvian [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Zapathasura]] reawakens and devours every one of its nearby descendants and ravages Bangladesh and India within minutes during the Week of Nightmares meta-plot in ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'', it takes ''three'' [[ChineseVampire Kuei-Jin]] [[PhysicalGod Boddhisattvas]] working together just to stall the ancient vampire's rampage. And not wanting to take chances with a being this powerful, [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension The Technocracy]] carpet-bombs the battlefield with [[FantasticNuke "spirit nukes"]] so badly it sends shockwaves to other planes of existence, [[TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion whipping up a maelstrom in the Shadowlands]] and [[TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen cracking the prison of fallen angels within the Abyss]], setting ''two'' potentially apocalyptic events into motion. And ''that'' only killed the Boddhisattvas preventing the Technocrats' [[PhlebotinumBomb orbital mirrors]] from blasting the Antediluvian with concentrated sunlight, which [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat appears to finally destroy the monster]] after tanking three god-tier vampires and waves of nuclear fire.
** Despite all that, familiarity with the setting produces an element of FridgeHorror. As the Ravnos Antediluvian, Zapathasura wields the Vampiric Discipline of Chimerstry at its highest, most impossible levels: a blood magic which crafts illusions. [[OhCrap That's right,]] [[PlayingPossum after all that neither the Technocracy nor the Kuei-Jin can be sure they actually managed to kill it.]]
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Corporation}}'', this is the ethos of Eurasian Inc.. Their attitude is that too much firepower is never enough, that conserving ammo is for poor losers, and they have insurance to cover collateral damage. Accordingly, their iconic soldiers are heavy weapon specialists, or "Nukes" in the lingo.

** Mitsuhama Computer Technologies uses this trope as a disincentive for Shadowrunners to run against them: Their Corps security is based around the concept of the "zero zone", which covers all their corporate territory -- within the zero zone, there is zero penetration, and zero survival. Consequently, while other {{Mega Corp}}s will hold back security because it's cost-inefficient [[PragmaticVillainy to throw too much military hardware at a petty burglary or some scientist getting kidnapped]], Mitsuhama will pull out all the stops and not stop until either the offenders are reduced to tiny red smears on the walls or they've run out of security personnel in that hemisphere. Consequently, most runners avoid running against Mitsuhama because the cost of entry and escape are so much higher than average.

** Despite all that, familiarity with the setting produces an element of FridgeHorror. As the Ravnos Antediluvian, Zapathasura wields the Vampiric Discipline of Chimerstry at its highest, most impossible levels: a blood magic which crafts illusions. [[OhCrap That's right,]] [[PlayingPossum after all that neither the Technocracy nor the Kuei-Jin can be sure they actually managed to kill it.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Mekton}}'' has nuclear bullets. ''Nuclear'' bullets? It also has, among other things, MIRV remotes packing enough missiles to make ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' jealous (oh, and these can be nuclear too); the [[WaveMotionGun Core Cannon]], which is a hundred times too large to fit on the average mecha and could vaporise one seven times over in one shot; energy beams that can hit every part of a target a potentially infinite number of times; power reservoirs that can absorb your enemy's blasts, then project them back in a bolt of horrible doom that outshines the sun; and Excessive Scale, which is more or less reserved for building [[StarWars Death Stars]], [[ThatsNoMoon planet-sized battle fortresses]], and the Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann. The sourcebook that introduced most of these systems introduced several harder-to-damage kinds of armour plating to make up for the increased quantities of damage.

*** ''Apocalypse'' just takes it UpToEleven (and then 40,000). A Strength value of 10 is considered the highest you can go in the normal game. ''Apocalypse'' one-ups this with the D rating, which automatically wounds regardless of any modifiers and inflicts [[ChunkySalsaRule Instant Death]], as well as automatically penetrating any tank it hits. On top of that, there's also the Void Missile, which includes the D-Strength value as well as having the ability to just remove any models it hits (with only Invulnerable Saves being able to save you) regardless of any rules (Vehicles and Eternal Warriors usually don't suffer as bad if they're hit by a D-strength weapon, but Void Missiles outright negate their ''existence''). On top of that, all of the templates got doubled in size (and many of these possess the D-strength).

* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' has plasma generators, nuclear cone rifle rounds, nuclear ''hand grenades'', all of which not only kill the target but reduce it to a thick yellow spray of component atoms. In 2nd Edition, where the damage table went from 1 (may be stunned) to 20 (probably vaporized), nukes had a damage rating of ''30'' (standard-issue armor will not even come close to saving you).
** And then there's the Warbot Mark IV, rivaled for size only by Alpha Complex itself (and maybe a Giant Radioactive Mutant Cockroach or two).

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 lives'' off this. Their average pistol — which shoots .7 calibur explosive gyrojet rounds — would be an invocation of the ChunkySalsaRule by anyone else's standards. That's not even counting the standard lasgun of the Imperial Guard, which cleanly blows off the heads and arms of unarmored humans, or the pistols that fire molecule-thick shuriken or bugs that ''eat their way through your body to your brain in the brief few seconds that make up their lives.'' Oh and did we mention the flamethrower pistols that nuns in jet packs can wield [[GunsAkimbo akimbo?]]

*** ''Planetstrike'': possibly the only ''40K'' expansion suited for less than 3000 points in which dropping fragments of a starship on your enemy, blasting a [[FrickinLaserBeams Frickin' Laser Beam]] from orbit into the heart of their base, and pummelling them with a meteor shower, are all standard tactics. The ship fragments, in the inaugural Planetstrike battle report, were described as going through a Guard Valkyrie flyer "like a sledgehammer through a pane of glass." Ouch.

* This is a mechanic in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy Battles'' where someone who fully obliterates a foe in a challenge is rewarded with a higher combat resolution.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' without the 40K is pretty big on the overkill factor, as well. The Orcs aren't quite as obsessed with [[MoreDakka dakka]] as the Orks, but only because they've been too busy beating the crap out of everything else to invent it themselves.

** Most high-level spells tend to run towards this as well, especially when used on lower challenge rated monsters. For example: Meteor Swarm. While its 3.5 Edition incarnation was... [[CoolButInefficient underwhelming]], it's been buffed considerably since then. As of 5th edition, it has a range of one mile and launches four [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin meteors]], each of which do an ''average of 120 damage in a forty foot radius''[[note]]20d6 fire and 20d6 bludgeoning[[/note]]. For perspective, an Elder Dragon, which is meant to be a challenge to a 4 man party of max level characters, tends to have around 350 health. [[note]]The 3.5e version was similar, but did less damage per meteor and didn't allow more than one meteor per casting to actually affect the same creature.[[/note]]

* In ''TabletopGame/BattleSpirits'', though the card isn't legal, this defines Amaterasu-Dragon. First, it gets 10000BP for each core on it, which very quickly makes it stronger than any other spirit. It also can't be affected by effects, and has a triple symbol. There's also Ultimate-Gai-Asura in the overkill department, with 50000BP. Saigord-Golem and Ultimate-Castle-Golem are the deck destruction equivalents of this, because they can destroy 15-18 cards in a single go. And Libra-Golem could potentially do even more.

* Invoked in ''TabletopGame/IronClaw'' which actually has a mechanic where dealing more damage to an enemy than it takes to kill them has an effect on game play. Specifically, nearby allies [[OhCrap become afraid]], there's not enough of the body left for any Necromancy spell that requires a body to work on them, and even the game's only true resurrection spell -- while it can still revive them -- is unable to completely restore them from their severe mutilation and leaves them permanently disfigured.

** "The Book of Vile Darkness" has a particularly vicious spell: Apocalypse from the Sky. The damage per square foot isn't stunning by the standards of 9th-level spells, but the blast radius is ten ''miles'' per caster level. According to the description, the spell ''typically levels forests, sends mountains tumbling, and wipes out entire populations of living creatures."[[note]] For reference, you need to be level 18 to cast 9th level spells giving it a minimum radius of 180 miles. That's an areas roughly the size of Ireland.[[/note]]
*** The cost of casting that is maybe even more overkill -- casting it takes an artifact (high grade {{Unobtainium}} and likely better used another way) and [[BloodMagic damaging your own constitution]] to the extent of killing an average person (severely weakening tougher casters), does even more damage to the caster's wisdom (non-wisdom based casters without overly high wisdom scores are likely to make themselves helpless in an instant) and even damages your wisdom ''just by being prepared''. And it takes an entire day to cast. Still, it has its uses. There is a spell (Sadism) that grants you a bonus on your die roll based on how much damage you inflicted last round. If you just wiped out an entire continent, you can basically succeed in any die roll. Actually, that roll is likely to be overkill too.
*** In ''Elder Evils'' (a book entirely dedicated to {{Eldritch Abomination}}s), one such Evil, Atropus, the World Born Dead, can only appear / be summoned when a great amount of deaths occur in a catastrophe. One way that the book details that could happen can be by an attack of a demonic army upon the Material Plane. The other... is Apocalypse From the Sky.

** Most high level spells tend to run towards this as well, especially when used on lower challenge rated monsters. For example: Meteor Swarm. While its 3.5 Edition incarnation was... [[CoolButInefficient underwhelming]], it's been buffed considerably since then. As of 5th edition, it has a range of one mile and launches four [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin meteors]], each of which do an ''average of 120 damage in a forty foot radius''[[note]] 20d6 fire and 20d6 bludgeoning [[/note]]. For perspective, an Elder Dragon, which is meant to be a challenge to a 4 man party of max level characters, tends to have around 350 health. [[note]]The 3.5e version was similar, but did less damage per meteor and didn't allow more than one meteor per casting to actually affect the same creature.[[/note]]
** So you wanna imprison a potential threat to make sure they don't destroy the world later. Whatcha gonna do, bind them up or put them in prison? Fuck that, with the ''Imprisonment'', you can chain them in unbreakable chains, place them in a gemstone for your viewing pleasure, cast them into a pocked dimension of your choosing or bury them for all eternity.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 lives'' off this. Their average pistol -- which shoots .7 calibur explosive gyrojet rounds -- would be an invocation of the ChunkySalsaRule by anyone else's standards. That's not even counting the standard lasgun of the Imperial Guard, which cleanly blows off the heads and arms of unarmored humans, or the pistols that fire molecule-thick shuriken or bugs that ''eat their way through your body to your brain in the brief few seconds that make up their lives.'' Oh and did we mention the flamethrower pistols that nuns in jet packs can wield [[GunsAkimbo akimbo?]]

** ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' brings this to the extreme within the game's system - no EarthShatteringKaboom, though. Granted, it starts off small with highly gruesome finishing moves between individual units, but reaching the top tier of almost any race brings wholesale death and destruction. The Necron's fully-awakened Monolith, for example, is a slowly-moving, ''teleporting'', troop-producing, death-beam ''spewing'' glacier of epic proportions, and usually signals game over for anyone who receives it teleporting into the back of their one remaining base. Meanwhile, the Imperial Guard Baneblade can take a Monolith down.
** ''Apocalypse'' demonstrates what happens when both sides come to this conclusion at the same time. [[spoiler:Piles of rusted metal coated with guns and {{chainsaw|Good}}s, black hole grenades, tanks large enough to qualify as small cities, and Tyranid horrors that look like bad-tempered hills with spiky legs, happen]].

** In the fiction, after Art Dankwalther received a massive cash bequest from Dunkelzahn's will, he spent it attacking Novatech in the belief that its CEO Richard Villiers, his boss at Fuchi, was responsible for his personal disasters. After the Novatech IPO and the resulting fallout, the Corporate Court decided that they'd had enough of him and ordered him shot... with a [[OrbitalBombardment Thor shot]].

** In the fiction, after Art Dankwalther received a massive cash bequest from Dunkelzahn's will, he spent it attacking Novatech in the belief that its CEO Richard Villiers, his boss at Fuchi, was responsible for his personal disasters. After the Novatech IPO and the resulting fallout, the Corporate Court decided that they'd had enough of him and ordered him shot... with a [[DeathFromAbove Thor shot]].

** "The Book of Vile Darkness" has a particularly vicious spell: Apocalypse from the Sky. The damage per square foot isn't stunning by the standards of 9th-level spells, but the blast radius is ten ''miles'' per caster level. According to the description, the spell ''typically levels forests, sends mountains tumbling, and wipes out entire populations of living creatures."[[note]] For reference, you need to be level 18 to cast 9th level spells giving it a minimum radius of 180 miles. That's basically all of Spain and Portugal.[[/note]]

* When the Ravnos Antediluvian [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Zapathasura]] reawakens and devours every one of its nearby descendants and ravages Bangladesh and India within minutes during the Week of Nightmares meta-plot in ''OldWorldOfDarkness'', it takes ''three'' [[ChineseVampire Kuei-Jin]] [[PhysicalGod Boddhisattvas]] working together just to stall the ancient vampire's rampage. And not wanting to take chances with a being this powerful, [[MageTheAscension The Technocracy]] carpet-bombs the battlefield with [[FantasticNuke "spirit nukes"]] so badly it sends shockwaves to other planes of existence, [[WraithTheOblivion whipping up a maelstrom in the Shadowlands]] and [[DemonTheFallen cracking the prison of fallen angels within the Abyss]], setting ''two'' potentially apocalyptic events into motion. And ''that'' only killed the Boddhisattvas preventing the Technocrats' [[PhlebotinumBomb orbital mirrors]] from blasting the Antediluvian with concentrated sunlight, which [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat appears to finally destroy the monster]] after tanking three god-tier vampires and waves of nuclear fire.

* In ''Star Wars the Living Card Game'', the aptly named Sith mission "Dark genocide" when completed deals 66 damage to all Light Side units with a specific keyword. The average strength of a unit is 2 (or 3 for the more expensive units) and as of early 2016, the strongest Light Side unit has 5 HP. True, it's a reference to [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Order 66]], but still ...

** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=435315 Star of Extinction]]. When it hits the board, it vaporizes a land and deals a whopping 20 damage to all creatures and plaeswalkers on the field. Considering that, barring boosts from other cards, the biggest creature that can be blown-up by this spell [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=414295 only have 13 toughness]], this is plenty overkill.

** And then there's the [[http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/5453/ffi3.jpg Warbot Mark IV]], rivaled for size only by Alpha Complex itself (and maybe a Giant Radioactive Mutant Cockroach or two).