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<blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 7915624" data-attributes="member: 6688937">I would make two points in response to this:1)&nbsp; I think that has more to do with D&amp;D discouraging the players from breaking off combat through its combat mechanical oddities. Even in some of the earlier rules, there were popular &quot;parting shot&quot; or &quot;free swing&quot; variants for disengaging. And that's not to mention opportunity loss of XP/treasure. That is, adventuring parties don't generally retreat from combats.&nbsp; Rarely, if ever, do you see one side &quot;drive off&quot; the other without inflicted devastating casualties. In part, I blame this on the HP system, without a &quot;death spiral&quot; combat really is a winner-take-all affair. The loss of &quot;resources&quot; is so trivial that we constantly see DMs appearing with 5MWD problems. Combat carrying only a singular &quot;finality&quot; leads to all sorts of narrative oddities.2) 'No mechanics' actually is something of a limitation. Players (including the GM) are playing a game, they look to the rules to explain/describe how. I've noted that players are often loathe to engage in things that the rules don't cover. Why risk something that may work, when you can rely on your trusty sword for little risk. You can't &quot;game&quot; non-mechanics like you can all the mechanical fiddly bits of a combat system. And when you only have a hammer, everything is a nail.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ratskinner, post: 7915624, member: 6688937"] I would make two points in response to this: 1) I think that has more to do with D&D discouraging the players from breaking off combat through its combat mechanical oddities. Even in some of the earlier rules, there were popular "parting shot" or "free swing" variants for disengaging. And that's not to mention opportunity loss of XP/treasure. That is, adventuring parties don't generally retreat from combats. Rarely, if ever, do you see one side "drive off" the other without inflicted devastating casualties. In part, I blame this on the HP system, without a "death spiral" combat really is a winner-take-all affair. The loss of "resources" is so trivial that we constantly see DMs appearing with 5MWD problems. Combat carrying only a singular "finality" leads to all sorts of narrative oddities. 2) 'No mechanics' actually [U]is[/U] something of a limitation. Players (including the GM) are playing a game, they look to the rules to explain/describe how. I've noted that players are often loathe to engage in things that the rules don't cover. Why risk something that [I]may[/I] work, when you can rely on your trusty sword for little risk. You can't "game" non-mechanics like you can all the mechanical fiddly bits of a combat system. And when you only have a hammer, everything is a nail. [/QUOTE]

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