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Worlds of Design: Gun vs. Sword
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7802672" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>In a game like D&D, you can apply rules like shield walls and formations in depth (forming for example a phalanx) to give low level humanoid opponents a bit of ability to stand up to higher level groups at about the time they would otherwise start to be easily slaughtered. However, there is some limit to this, because at about that same time, those same groups start to get abilities like 'fireball' and even if you give formations in a shield wall some protection from attacks of that sort it's still likely that low level humanoids in close formation will at minimum take significant casualties and have that formation disrupted by a fireball.</p><p></p><p>One thing I've noticed over the years about dungeon design is it almost invariably exists to give the PC party a vast advantage over their foes. Most dungeons you'll see are anti-fortresses designed to make it impossible for the inhabitants to defend themselves from the attacks of a small group of commandos such as the PCs, and in the context of the article to overturn Lanchester's Power Laws. Specifically, dungeons are designed to make reinforcement difficult, to allow large forces to be defeated in detail by spreading out defending forces piecemeal, to make retreat by an attacking force easy, and to force all engagements to occur at close range such that generally melee can be reached in the first moment of battle. </p><p></p><p>The most egregious examples for me are Gygax's 'Giants' series, where the PC's have basically no chance of winning except for the fact that their foes occupy anti-fortresses designed to render them vulnerable. Where these giants only to keep a good watch and sally forth to meet their foes, the PC's would have no chance against the massed might of boulder throwing giants. Instead, the logic of the anti-fortress is that it is easily infiltrated, that reinforcements don't readily occur, and that the defending forces are divided up into bite sized morsels that can be readily destroyed. There are lots of things on the maps of this sort listed as 'guard rooms', but they are more like anti-guard rooms.</p><p></p><p>Most players and PC's I think seldom have to experience Lanchester's power laws, because I think encounters with masses of missile armed foes at greater than melee range are rare to nonexistent.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7802672, member: 4937"] In a game like D&D, you can apply rules like shield walls and formations in depth (forming for example a phalanx) to give low level humanoid opponents a bit of ability to stand up to higher level groups at about the time they would otherwise start to be easily slaughtered. However, there is some limit to this, because at about that same time, those same groups start to get abilities like 'fireball' and even if you give formations in a shield wall some protection from attacks of that sort it's still likely that low level humanoids in close formation will at minimum take significant casualties and have that formation disrupted by a fireball. One thing I've noticed over the years about dungeon design is it almost invariably exists to give the PC party a vast advantage over their foes. Most dungeons you'll see are anti-fortresses designed to make it impossible for the inhabitants to defend themselves from the attacks of a small group of commandos such as the PCs, and in the context of the article to overturn Lanchester's Power Laws. Specifically, dungeons are designed to make reinforcement difficult, to allow large forces to be defeated in detail by spreading out defending forces piecemeal, to make retreat by an attacking force easy, and to force all engagements to occur at close range such that generally melee can be reached in the first moment of battle. The most egregious examples for me are Gygax's 'Giants' series, where the PC's have basically no chance of winning except for the fact that their foes occupy anti-fortresses designed to render them vulnerable. Where these giants only to keep a good watch and sally forth to meet their foes, the PC's would have no chance against the massed might of boulder throwing giants. Instead, the logic of the anti-fortress is that it is easily infiltrated, that reinforcements don't readily occur, and that the defending forces are divided up into bite sized morsels that can be readily destroyed. There are lots of things on the maps of this sort listed as 'guard rooms', but they are more like anti-guard rooms. Most players and PC's I think seldom have to experience Lanchester's power laws, because I think encounters with masses of missile armed foes at greater than melee range are rare to nonexistent. [/QUOTE]
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