Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="MGibster" data-source="post: 9588484" data-attributes="member: 4534">Roles resembled but weren't quite the same back in the 80s and 90s as they were when codified by MMORPGs in the 2000s.&nbsp; These days, a tank is an individual who is suppose to get punched in the face instead of anyone else in the party getting punched in the face and very often have abilities to keep &quot;aggro&quot; on them.&nbsp; Aggro being aggressive actions taken by the bad guys.&nbsp; In the early 90s, a tank, sometimes called a brick, was a member of the party who could both dish out and take damage.&nbsp; They might seek to protect other party members, but didn't necessarily have any ability to keep aggro on them.&nbsp; Examples of tanks/bricks might include troll street samurais from Shadowrun, Colossus of the X-Men from Marvel Superhero Role Playing Game, or a Fighter from AD&amp;D.&nbsp; We didn't technically have what I'd call a dedicated Striker or Damage Per Second (DPS).&nbsp; Like I said, the tank/brick was expected to deal out damage.&nbsp; Sometimes I heard Magic-Users described as glass canons, something that could dish out a lot of damage but certainly couldn't take it, but I don't think that was super common.&nbsp; A Thief in AD&amp;D got a sneak attack, but on the whole, a Fighter of the same level was going to do more damage over a few rounds.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MGibster, post: 9588484, member: 4534"] Roles resembled but weren't quite the same back in the 80s and 90s as they were when codified by MMORPGs in the 2000s. These days, a tank is an individual who is suppose to get punched in the face instead of anyone else in the party getting punched in the face and very often have abilities to keep "aggro" on them. Aggro being aggressive actions taken by the bad guys. In the early 90s, a tank, sometimes called a brick, was a member of the party who could both dish out and take damage. They might seek to protect other party members, but didn't necessarily have any ability to keep aggro on them. Examples of tanks/bricks might include troll street samurais from Shadowrun, Colossus of the X-Men from Marvel Superhero Role Playing Game, or a Fighter from AD&D. We didn't technically have what I'd call a dedicated Striker or Damage Per Second (DPS). Like I said, the tank/brick was expected to deal out damage. Sometimes I heard Magic-Users described as glass canons, something that could dish out a lot of damage but certainly couldn't take it, but I don't think that was super common. A Thief in AD&D got a sneak attack, but on the whole, a Fighter of the same level was going to do more damage over a few rounds. [/QUOTE]

Verification