OD&D Melee range and occupied space in BECMI/RC

[Michael Linke]

I'm not seeing any mention in BECMI/RC D&D regarding how far a character can reach with a melee weapon, or how much space on the map a character occupies. A lot of old dungeons are done in 1"=5' scale, but with some tiny, two square rooms that would never properly contain a D&D combat if we assume the modern 5' area for a character in combat.

While I could allow several characters to cram onto a map square rules-wise, so many of my models are mounted on 1" bases. I'm thinking of instead upscaling these old dungeons to 1"=10'. Or is it intentional that Room #3 of Zanzer Tem's dungeon isn't the party ganking a lone Goblin, but rather an unplanned 1-on-1 brawl in close quarters?

 

[CleverNickName]

The BECM/RC rules assumed a more "theater of the mind" style of play as the default, and didn't use a battle mat or grid. Things like reach, flanking, and occupied space didn't really enter the game until later. Adding them in will be no small task....good luck!

If it were me, I'd just take the numbers whole-cloth from 5th Edition, and redraw all of the maps to make combat a little more sensible. Or not; it can also be good to force the players to think carefully about cover, battlefield position, and movement.

 

[Helldritch]

@CleverNickName got it right. There are no grids on BECMI/RC. Everything was theater of the mind. There were possibilities for mini if you had the chainmail game but otherwise, it was TotM. Whether it was a good thing or not depends on your personal taste. One thing for sure, it made the DM's a lot more complicated as descriptions had to be very precise so that everyone would see the same thing in their imagination.

 

[Michael Linke]

While BECMI was Theater of the Mind, i could have been more specific in my title. Several RC Era introductory products included large poster maps for their dungeons, and roughly 1" wide cardboard fold-up miniatures. It does seem that it was intended, if not stated, that a 1"=5' square was meant to support a single character, even if it's never mentioned in the rules. I'm mostly wondering if anyone has used miniatures for this ruleset, and what scale they found worked best.

 

[Michael Linke]

...but even with "theater of the mind" in effect, it would be good to have some guidance as to how many people we should expect to see fighting in a 10' x 5' room.

 

[zarionofarabel]

...but even with "theater of the mind" in effect, it would be good to have some guidance as to how many people we should expect to see fighting in a 10' x 5' room.

Nah. It never seemed to matter. Or more importantly, you just went with whatever seemed logical.

 

[Marc_C]

I've always used cardboard cutout or miniatures with D&D since B/X 1981. On page B61 Moldvay actually gives a few guidelines:

"PLAYING SURFACE: Combats are easy to keep track of when large sheets of graph paper, covered with plexiglass or transparent adhesive plastic (contact paper), are used to put the figures on. The best sheets for this use have 1" squares, and the scale of 1" = 5' should be used when moving the figures. With water-based markers or grease pencils, an entire room or battle can be drawn in just a few seconds. When the battle is over, the board may be wiped off, leaving it ready for the next combat. Dominoes or plastic building blocks can also be used to outline walls and corridors. When using figures, the DM should make sure that a solid table top is used, so the figures won't fall over when the table is bumped."

"MINIATURE FIGURES: D&D adventures are more interesting to play when figures are used. Metal miniatures (about 15 to 25 millimeters high) are often used, for they can be easily painted to look like real dungeon adventurers. Many excellent figures are designed specially for fantasy role playing games. These are available from TSR or from local hobby stores. If metal miniatures cost more than the players want to spend, many companies make inexpensive packs of plastic figures. These are not specifically made for fantasy role playing, but can easily be adapted for it. Inexpensive plastic monsters of many sizes are also available in local stores."

Since only one human size miniature (with the base) fits in a 1" square, we assumed that is the maximum number of persons or creatures that could occupy it. Kobolds and halflings were smaller, so 2 models per square. Larger creatures occupied 2 (horse), 4 (giant) or 6 (dragon) squares.

We didn't allow moving through enemy occupied spaces but allowed movement through friendly spaces, as long as there was enough movement to move pass them.

Edit: reach was based on weapon size. Regular weapons (including 2H swords) attacked only the adjacent squares. Pole Arms could attack up to 10' (2 squares).

 

[thirdkingdom]

I'm not sure if is ever explicitly mentioned, but I have always played with the rule that characters with pole-arms can attack from the second rank in formation.

 

[Marc_C]

I'm not sure if is ever explicitly mentioned, but I have always played with the rule that characters with pole-arms can attack from the second rank in formation.

Very good tactics. Allows two PCs standing behind one another to take two attacks against a single enemy. I allowed this too. Humanoids did it all the time.

Also, I allowed PCs to step in the same square of a human-size enemy if they were grappling, brawling or if the enemy was dead on the floor.

 

[Michael Linke]

RC does explicitely allow ranked fighting with pole arms, but there are penalties if the front rank is wielding 2-handed weapons, or if the front rank is larger than man sized.