Combat systems
Let me first say, it's an honor to have a chance to chat with you Mr Gygax.
Col_Pladoh said:
In the Lejendary Adventure game I used a different method, but one that is also streamlined and not a step-by-step attempt to re-inact hand-to-hand combat with weapons generally of the medieval period. As i mentioned before, when creatures with natural weapons are thrown into such a calculation, the variables one needs to consider make it a nigh impossible exercise. Magical elements compound the difficulties even further.
If you devise a fast-paced combat system that includes the major elements of actual fighting in armor with the various weapons usual, including monsters and magical attacks and defenses, hats off, and I think the gamers will beat a path to your door
Have you ever seen "The Riddle of Steel"? I think it is a step in that direction, although any time you increase realism that much you run the risk of increasingly lethality to the degree that it changes the gaming experience in ways some people wont like. TROS is fast and realistic, but it's also very deadly. People who want to hold on to their characters can't fight anywhere near as often as they do in D&D.
This idea of realism is something I have always struggled with since the very first time I played D&D in summer camp back in the 70's (I embarassed to say how far back!)
I've got a lot of experience doing medieval fencing and this has gradually seeped into the way I look at gaming. I always had this theory that D&D was kind of at the laymans state of the art for when it was first designed, seemingly with data that came from the wargaming miniatures insustry. You obviously did a lot of serious research well into the development of the DMG... your treatise on Polearms from the original UA is still one of the best resources available on the internet ( I recently posted it to the forum of a very serious Historical European Martial Arts organization and they were amazed)
...anyway, I digress. I always had this theory that D&D was at a fairly high level of historical accuracy for it's time, and that since then, people basically borrowed from D&D or from hollywood or from fantasy novels, with each new generation of role playing game, (and eventually CRPG's and LARPs), while simultaneously, people outside of RPG's learned more and more about real period warfare (even though historical fighting isn't precisely the same as that in a fantasy setting) to such a degree that there ended up being this big gap, to where today hard core medieval fencing enthusiasts and weapon nuts are so very critical of any RPG. They site the 15 lb swords, seemingly nonexistant armor types, impossible double weapons and etc.
I'm kind of in the middle, I really like RPG's and love to tinker with them, I find them at their hyperbolic best fascinating insights into the human condition (like any simulation) and certainly good fun when you have a decent group of people together.
Anyway, I was wondering what you thought of specific ideas such as giving reach advantages to long weapons, allowing the defensive characteristics of weapons to come into play, allowing combattants to choose between aggressive, neutral, or defensive postures, giving armor an ablative or absorbing ability, and etc., with the dilemma of the natural weapons dealt with by some sort of close combat ("grappling", in current D&D parlance) mode...
As to realism and survivability, I think you can always find good mechanics if one looks closely at real life. There is some reason why so many remarkable "heroic" indivudals from history survived so many battles and adventrues. One of the things they seem to be learning just very recently in a lot of the Historical fencing groups is just exactly how effective armor really was. Rivited mail, for example, worn with a padded coat, seems able to endure attacks from most period weapons, including longbows and lances. I imagine thats why people tended to wear the stuff! Nor was it as heavy and bulky as people thought, as you know.
Just a few thoughts, I'm not dogmatic about it like some people, I'd be fascinated to hear what you think.
DB
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
