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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5895305" data-attributes="member: 42582">I recently reread Moldvay Basic, and I don't think it's as thin on combat or as rich on other stuff as is sometime suggested.There are rules for fighting. Character classes are heavily (though not exclusively) defined by their fighting ability (eg weapon and armour proficiency, the way that a halfling's great dexterity is mechanically expressed via bonus to hit with ranged attacks), and their ability to withstand damage (hit points). Clerical turning is explained in terms that relate to fighting (eg their are no rules for performing an exorcism of a possessed child). Many spells are also aimed primarily at fighting (eg the Sleep spell is defined mostly in terms of its effects in combat, rather than - for example - its effects when cast on someone in the middle of a tense debate; the Fireball spell is defined in terms of the damage it does to combatants, not in terms of - for example - its ability to set fire to flammable objects).There are rules for saving throws, which are to do mostly with avoiding threats to life and limb (whether arising from fighting, or from traps).There are rules for reactions, which (except in the case of henchmen) are framed mostly in terms of whether or not the NPC/monster in question will fight you. There are rules for morale too, which mostly deal with whether or not the NPCs/monsters you are fighting will run away or surrender. (Interestingly the reaction and morale rules don't intersect - so there are no rules for making NPCs/monsters surrender by scaring them.)There are rules for finding traps and for dealing with tricky doors (eg opening stuck ones, listening at thick ones that don't have keyholes).There are price and weight lists for gear, nearly all of which is oriented either to fighting or to looking for traps.There is a reward system, in which recovery of treasure and character improvement are tightly entwined (although fighting can play a secondary role in character improvement).And that's about it, I think.It's not a bad system (except the Thief ability percentage are in my view woefully and absurdly low), but it doesn't have much to offer if you want to run a game with not very much fighting, not very many traps and only ordinary house doors. For example, if your players decide to try and deal with the Caves of Chaos by making friends with the inhabitants of the Keep and getting them to stage an all-out raid on the Caves (a completely viable scenario of intrigue and borderland politics), you're basically on your own as far as action resolution and XP awards are concerned.</blockquote>

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