Rules Cyclopedia Weapon Mastery?

[Lhorgrim]

I just downloaded the Rules Cyclopedia and started giving it a read. I started with Moldvay Basic and Expert, and never got the Mentzer boxes before moving on to AD&D.

Was weapon mastery an option from Mentzer rules? Was it a popular option? I may be looking back through the eyes of my 12 year old self, but weapon mastery seems to add a great deal of complexity to a, relatively, simple game system.

What are your thoughts? Was it worth the added combat rules? Did it play more smoothly in practice than it looks?

 

[Crothian]

By the rules it is very hard to get. You don't just select it for your character. You have to find someone to teach you, spend a lot of money and I believe a lot of time, and then there is a small percentage chance you will learn it. I liked what they did because it made different weapons really shine and be more then a different damage die.

 

[Magesmiley]

We used it. It did add some complexity, but you didn't really see most of it until you reached higher levels. Higher level characters benefited greatly from it and it also gave a reason to use some of the non-standard weapons.

 

[Alan Shutko]

Weapons Mastery was added in the Master's set. I don't think it was necessarily very commonly used in the day, but I use it when I run games today. It's a nice buff for fighter types to give them something to excel at (anyone can do mastery, but fighters get many more slots) and I like the options it gives players much more than "Weapon Specialization, +1."

 

[Iosue]

Weapon Mastery's presentation was not optimal, IMO. The cramped tables were the result of it being added to the game late in development (Master Set, as Alan Shutko notes), and the RC just followed the same format, since it was an optional rule. It looks much cleaner in Blacky's Dark Dungeons, IMO. In practice, it was actually not terribly complex because it was weapon-centered. You didn't need to know all the Weapon Mastery effects; just the one that applied to your weapon, plus any bonuses. I do think the distinction between regular armor and natural armor was a bit of unneeded complexity.

 

[Xorne]

When I got the Master Set (Mentzer) I didn't have a D&D game going to use Weapon Mastery in, but then I switched from AD&D back to BECMI when the RC came out (I was about 17), and we used Weapon Mastery--and it was great. It fleshed out your character a little and gave you a little bit of identity--if you lived long enough to reap the rewards.

As far as cost/training--most of the characters' experience comes from treasure, and the time was just "in-between" adventure stuff.

At higher levels, my players were managing armies and running kingdoms more than adventuring, anyway!