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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 6251372" data-attributes="member: 6680772">Kinda jumping back in the thread here a bit.The key to the rule EW posted is the phrase "mass melee".  Which basically means, in the OD&D/AD&D paradigm, you made and were receiving attacks all during that round by any and every opponent who was in range and attacking.  If it's one-on-one, then there's no problem.  If it's two-on-one, then of course the two guys both attack their common opponent, while the effect of his attack is determined randomly.  This is the same whether it's PCs or NPCs.  A PC can pick out a guy and say, "I'm attacking him," but that guy is standing shoulder to shoulder with his buddies, the player doesn't get to declare which enemy receives any successful hit.  Because once he got into range, he was engaging in strikes, blocks, parries, and dodges from every hostile within reach.  That's the level of abstraction in OD&D and AD&D -- less <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmSrXOANQjw" target="_blank">Final Fight</a>, and more <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=UpicfYXXSs0#t=100" target="_blank">Total War Shogun</a>.The only way, then, for PCs or NPCs to single out a foe is to isolate them.  You keep enemies from running around your armored guys and getting to the squishy wizard by either a) cutting off routes to the wizard (a solid front line or using positioning so that they can't get into range with their full movement), or b) you take the fight to them.  Unlike in 3e and 4e, an opponent can't take an opportunity attack to just run past the fighter: once they are in melee they are stuck there, until their opponent is dead or retreats, or they themselves retreat.  So, say you have three enemies across a line in a hallway.  If the fighter wins initiative, he can run right up to the middle one and say, "I attack."  Even though he may only have one successful attack a round, all three enemies are in range, and thus all three are in melee, and cannot move past him until he's dead or retreats.A goblin may win initiative, have a clear path to the wizard within movement range, and bypass the armored guys to hit the wizard.  But that's the game working as intended -- initiative doesn't mean "order of turn", it means, "the power to act or take charge before others do".  Such an occurrence would represent the party getting caught flat-footed and ill-prepared.  (This is also way the Basic books and modules recommended spreading the party out a bit, and putting the wizards and thieves in the middle of the marching order, with armored folks in the front and back.)I mean, really, this opens up a whole tactical space.  One effective tactic is to have one or two allies act as blockers, tying up defenders and clearing a path for someone to run through (be that to a squishy opponent or to safety).  Part of the intended fun is to devise counter-tactics for such occurrences.  As a whole OD&D/AD&D are much more than a wargame, but at the combat level, it very much is a wargame using individual character as units.</blockquote>

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