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PaulofCthulhu
Guest
I was browsing through some old White Dwarfs and found the following letter by Gary, which I'd missed back in the day. A bit of nostalgia, anyway!
Dear WD,
I read the article Combat and Armour Class by Roger Musson with considerable dismay. I t appears that the good gentleman does not know what D&D and is all about. Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy game, of course, and this most reasonably indicates that statements regarding "realism" in a game must go out the window. (Quite frankly, there is no game with any true realism in it, or i t would be real and not a game. Folks seeking realism should go and participate in whatever the game is based on, if possible, viz. if they are looking for realism in wargames they should enlist in the military service.) I t got worse thereafter. D&D is a HEROIC fantasy game. Who can slit Conan's throat at a blow? The examples are too numerous to mention, but the point is that the game is aimed at allowing participants t o create a heroic character who is not subject to some fluke. Getting killed requires a lot of (mis-)play in most cases. How does the fighter escape the dragon's breath? The same way other superheroes do - bending a link of chain or slipping into an unnoticed crevass in the rock he was chained t o or whatever, i.e. the same way all other larger-than- life sword & sorcery heroes manage t o avoid certain death. In summation, most players find that the game of seeking and gaining, with the ensuing increase in character capability is the thing. Combat at best is something t o be done quickly so as t o get on with the fun, and I T MUST NOT BE LOADED SO AS TO GIVE PLAYERS NO CHANCE TO ESCAPE I F I T IS GOING AGAINST THEM. Neither, of course, must i t be a walkover. (And Conan is usually in a shirt of mail in battle!) Enough said.
Best Wishes, E. Gary Gygax, Lake Geneva,-USA.