The table has labels, yes. But there are no explanations of how to use the table in the context of the rest of combat. Who goes first, or in what sequence when written orders are compared? How many attacks do you get? How are spells and missile fire resolved in relation to the melee attacks -- the missile section implies all missile fire is done after melee, but what about spells? How does morale, referenced elsewhere in the rules, come into play in combat? Can you move in combat? The surprise section refers to an "extra move segment", which implies some move/attack relation ...
None of these questions are insoluble. Most of them have solutions in the text. Many of them are trivial. A few of them suggest that you haven't even glanced at the page. I mean, there's only one section of rules on morale in the LBBs and it contains the rules for making morale checks in combat (brief though they may be). And movement during combat is referenced repeatedly.
As I said before, there's nothing perfect about the system or its presentation. (And, of course, the references to the non-alternative combat system are just gibberish to be ignored.) But the claim that OD&D was unplayable without
Chainmail is, as Plane Sailing said, balderdash.
Yeah, in my mind both OS & Chainmail are mandatory for the 3LBs. How do you play overland adventures without the first?
Almost trivially.
OUTDOOR SURVIVAL is referenced in three capacities:
(1) As a good resource for an outdoor map if you don't have one prepped. (But, explicitly, "Exploratory journies, such as expeditions to find land suitable for a castle or in search of some legendary treasure are
handled in an entirely different manner." Emphasis added. And then explicit rules are given on the next page for how to make such a map.)
(2) Terrain penalties are "as stated in OUTDOOR SURVIVAL", but these are then immediately summarized in the same sentence.
(3) When lost, you should roll 1d6 and consult a chart in OUTDOOR SURVIVAL.
Only this last one is in any way problematic. And despite never having seen OUTDOOR SURVIVAL, I'll bet I'm able to guess how 1d6 should should be used to determine random direction on a
hex grid.
Dude, you better not be dissin' Gary here.
I'll grant the poor organization of EGG's work (can't comment on OD&D, but AD&D 1e PHB and DMG are pretty confusingly laid out), but don't diss Gary's writing. He was a superb craftsman of prose. His writing style is not only elegant, it is downright inspiring. Nothing "confusing" about his writing at all.
Is it cheating to just point at the initiative rules from AD&D1?
Here's one of my favorites from OD&D:
Volume 1 - Men & Magic said:
The "common tongue" spoken throughout the "continent" is known by most humans. All other creatures and monsters which can speak have their own language, although some (20%) also know the common one. Law, Chaos and Neutrality also have common languages spoken by each respectively. One can attempt to communicate through the common tongue, language particular to a creature class, or one of the divisional languages (law, etc.). While not understanding the language, creatures who speak a divisional tongue will recognize a hostile one and attack. Characters with an Intelligence above 10 may learn additional
languages, one language for every point above 10 intelligence factors. Thus, a man with an intelligence level of 15 could speak 7 languages, i.e. the common tongue, his divisional language, and 5 creature languages. Of course, Magic-Users spells and some magic items will enable the speaking and understanding of languages.
Do you think he meant to give elven, dwarven, and halfling PCs only a 20% chance of speaking common? Because that's what he wrote.
And this one is pure gold:
Levels Above those Listed: Progressions of Dice for Accumulative Hits, Fighting Capability, and Spells & Levels may not be evident. An 11th level Lord would get 10 +3 dice and fight as he did at the 10th level; but at 12th level, he could get 11 + 1 dice and fight at Superhero + 2. At 13th level dice would be 11 + 3 with Fighting Capability at Superhero + 2. A 17th level Wizard would get 9 + 3 dice and fight as a 16th level, just as an 18th level Wizard would get dice of 10 + 1 with no change in Fighting Capabilities — the change coming at the 19th level, fighting then being done at Wizard + 3. An 11th level Patriarch would get dice of 7 + 3 with Fighting Capability unchanged; at 12th level dice would be 8 + 1 with no change in fighting; and at 13th level the Patriarch would get 8 + 2 and fight as a Superhero - the next change in Fighting Capability coming at the 17th level.
This passage fails on so many levels: It leads off by suggesting that it will make evident the progression of class levels so that higher levels can be calculated... but then fails to do that. Instead Gygax chooses to take information that he could have just as easily included on the tables printed immediately above this paragraph and render it into a block of needlessly obfuscated and confusing text.
