Melee Combatants, Give it a Rest

[riprock]

I've played many campaigns where the participants didn't know, or care to know, about the following passage from p.38 of the AD&D DMG:

The DM must also know how long it has been
since the last time the party took a rest. A party should be required to rest
at least one turn in six (remember, the average party packs a lot of
equipment), and in addition, they should rest a turn after every time they
engage in combat or any other strenuous activities.

I've played in other campaigns where the rule was known but found too difficult for record-keeping in practice. Fatigue points were also suggested and rejected as too complicated.

So all these years, the usual situation has been that the fighters (and other melee combatants) got to hack and slash for sixteen hours a day without stopping for so much as a drink of water, and the magic-users followed them around, usually throwing darts or daggers, since they had run out of spells long ago.

But the original game, as written, actually decreed that fighters *did* get fatigued from all that sword-swinging. Possibly one day I'll write a computer program to do the book-keeping for me so that I can actually use this rule as it was intended to be used.

 

[Hussar]

Wasn't there also something in the DMG about the party resting for two turns after any combat? Or am I mistaken?

Heh, I do know that this was yet another 1e rule that we didn't bother with.

 

[GenghisWayne]

As DM, I track time in the dungeon. I automatically add rest breaks to the time as I tick off the turns. The players are free to say that they won't take a rest break, but the "default" is that they do so according to the DMG.

 

[el-remmen]

This is the kind of thing I just assume happens unless the players say otherwise or time is pressing.

 

[diaglo]

As DM, I track time in the dungeon. I automatically add rest breaks to the time as I tick off the turns. The players are free to say that they won't take a rest break, but the "default" is that they do so according to the DMG.

ditto.

just like bathroom breaks. and stopping to refill water containers. or eat rations. or ad naseum.

you can add as much or as little to the game as you wish.

 

[mmu1]

Looks to me like the original rule required the melee types to take a breather for all of, what, a minute? after a combat, and suggested everyone rest for what amounts to 10 minutes each hour to account for carrying lots of gear.

In most games I was in, the party would spend a lot more time than that after a fight, wandering the battlefield, searching the corpses, bandaging, patting each other on the back, commenting on the monsters, etc. anyway, and outside of combat de facto rest stops would occur all the time when they stopped to examine some tracks, or to look at something glimpsed in the distance, talked about where to go next, and so on.

All of it is pretty common sense, and the rest stops are brief and dispersed enough that they don't make up for the wizard's needs to spend a solid eight hours resting.

 

[diaglo]

Looks to me like the original rule required the melee types to take a breather for all of, what, a minute? after a combat, and suggested everyone rest for what amounts to 10 minutes each hour to account for carrying lots of gear...

segment = 6 seconds
round = 1 minute
turn = 10 minutes

 

[Umbran]

Looks to me like the original rule required the melee types to take a breather for all of, what, a minute?

No. A "turn" was ten minutes.

We used this rule, and didn't find it too problematical. In most cases, the fighters had the option of stopping for ten minutes after a fight, so it was no big deal. In cases where they didn't have the option, the DM was generally keeping close track of time anyway, so it wasn't major extra work.

 

[adwyn]

We always spent alot more time than that arguing over loot after each encounter, so no problem.

 

[diaglo]

We always spent alot more time than that arguing over loot after each encounter, so no problem.

or searching for secret doors.


don't forget mapping. mapping takes time in 1edADnD. go look that up in the books.