D&D rules don't do books?

[Bendris Noulg]

...I personally don't like the "out-of-the-box" DnD, but I love the house-rules ridden, modified PrC chaos I've been playing and mastering the last years... Sure as hell feels like a good novel at times. Bonus point is that the players never start to cry about game balance, they just want to have a good time.

Excellently said!

 

[Psion]

Yes, but what was the point? Were you trying to drag this thread into some old unresolved argument or something?

To make the point that, if someone uses that old argument on you, that it's just rhetoric designed to make them feel better and not to buy it.

The thread originator is not the only one allowed to bring up points related to the thread, you know. You do not "own" threads you create.

 

[Michael Tree]

I read a few of the original Conan stories a little while ago. I was amazed at just how well the D&D armor class system emulated the feel of the stories. Regularly conan was saved from his injury by blows deflecting off his armor, helmet, and so on. They weren't partially stopped by his armor, as a "Armor as DR" system would create, they were completely deflected by it.

Naturally almost nothing else in D&D was a good fit for Conan, except maybe hit points, but it felt like Conan had an armor class.

 

[mmadsen]

Games are not books. Games are not movies. Some things that work well for those mediums work well for games. Many do not.

Certainly. The key to adaptation is finding what elements do translate naturally from one medium to the next, which need a little work to translate properly, and which just won't work (and have to be replaced).

Perhaps we should discuss what some of those easy- and hard-to-translate elements are?

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I read a few of the original Conan stories a little while ago. I was amazed at just how well the D&D armor class system emulated the feel of the stories. Regularly conan was saved from his injury by blows deflecting off his armor, helmet, and so on. They weren't partially stopped by his armor, as a "Armor as DR" system would create, they were completely deflected by it.

Actually, I like my own little take on this: Health & Resilience (which is actually just Wounds & Vitality with a few extras). In this, Armor provides Resistance and Absorption. Resistance fits the description you describe above (as it reduces Resilience/Vitality damage), while Absorption provides the standard reduction of wounds (and, if the damage rolled is low enough, still emulates the description from Conan and other literary sources).

(Note: In this system, Armor provides nothing to Defense; indeed, your defense is weakened by the ACP of the armor.)

To emulate this effect with standard AC, you'd need to track two values: AC with armor and AC without. For example, if you are wearing a Chain Suit and have a Dexterity of 14, then the Attack roll needs to be determined against both values: 12 or less, the attack is dodged (10 + 2 Dex), while 13-17 means that the blow was deflected by the armor (+5 for the armor).

Unless, of course, the effect is relegated to arbitrary description, in which case any system can emulate it.

 

[Psion]

Perhaps we should discuss what some of those easy- and hard-to-translate elements are?

I'll start a new thread, it's sort of off topic here.
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1470978#post1470978

 

[mmadsen]

In its emphasis on high- vs. low-level characters, D&D matches kung-fu flicks, samurai films, westerns, Batman comics, etc. In other ways, it does not match those genres.

To expand on that, a D&D Fighter dramatically improves his BAB and Hit Points as he levels up, but he does not directly improve his AC (Defense) or Damage. (Although some Feats play into this, most AC and Damage improvement comes from magic.)

In a more typical action sub-genre, AC (Defense) and Damage would increase right along with BAB. Bard kills Smaug with one arrow. Legolas kills a flying Nazgul fell beast with one arrow (in the dark). Eowyn kills the Witch King with one blow (after a certain Hobbit stabs him under his hauberk). Sam seriously injures Shelob with a slash or two and one deep stab (of his elf blade, Sting, granted). Even legendary foes die with one or two good attacks.

 

[buzzard]

Since he who shall not be named decided to spare this thread the argument, we can get back to barsoomian goodness.

So is anyone else here of the opinion that you really don't want Burroughs as your DM? I just finished re-reading the second one, and boy does Carter keep getting smacked around emotionally. Spoilers follow.

Spoiler

First he thinks he killed his son, then he gets sealed off from his wife not knowing if she was just murdered. I mean really, what a sadist.

buzzard