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The Editions Need a Better Nomenclature
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<blockquote data-quote="Philotomy Jurament" data-source="post: 4528096" data-attributes="member: 20854"><p>While it's true that Holmes is sorta its own thing, I think there are a lot of factors that push it pretty firmly into the "OD&D" category:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Attribute bonuses. These are clearly derived from OD&D. Prime requisites, in particular, are completely unlike the AD&D or B/X approaches.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The equipment list matches <em>Men & Magic</em> almost verbatim.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Movement is handled like OD&D, with two moves per turn (e.g. a man in plate mail with a move of 6" explores 120 ft. per turn), rather than like AD&D or B/X.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Handling of traps, secret doors, etc. matches <em>The Underworld & Wilderness Adventure</em>, including details like traps only being sprung on a roll of 1-2.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Magic swords work like they do in OD&D, with the bonus applying to the "to hit" roll, only, and any "special" bonus applying to both "to hit" and damage. Thus, a <strong>sword +1, +3 vs. dragons</strong> is +3 to hit and damage against dragons, but only +1 to hit and +0 damage against everything else. Again, this is an OD&D distinctive.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Magic armor and shields work like they do in OD&D, with the bonus applied as a penalty to the enemy's attack roll, rather than modifying AC. </li> </ul><p></p><p>The Holmes initiative and combat sequence rules aren't like any of the editions. However, OD&D lacked rules for handling this (unless you count <em>Chainmail</em>), so all sorts of house-rules were used. The Holmes rules bear similarities to other OD&D house-rules for combat, including the Perrin Conventions and perhaps some of the rules from Judges Guild.</p><p></p><p>In general, the differences in Holmes strike me as being variants or house rules on a solid OD&D base. Some stuff, like the % to know spell table, looks like it was imported from AD&D (perhaps during Gary's editing process). Some stuff seems more like Holmes's own additions. And some of it could be traced to Supplement I, of course. In any case, I'd definitely call Holmes an OD&D variant.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Philotomy Jurament, post: 4528096, member: 20854"] While it's true that Holmes is sorta its own thing, I think there are a lot of factors that push it pretty firmly into the "OD&D" category: [list] [*]Attribute bonuses. These are clearly derived from OD&D. Prime requisites, in particular, are completely unlike the AD&D or B/X approaches. [*]The equipment list matches [i]Men & Magic[/i] almost verbatim. [*]Movement is handled like OD&D, with two moves per turn (e.g. a man in plate mail with a move of 6" explores 120 ft. per turn), rather than like AD&D or B/X. [*]Handling of traps, secret doors, etc. matches [i]The Underworld & Wilderness Adventure[/i], including details like traps only being sprung on a roll of 1-2. [*]Magic swords work like they do in OD&D, with the bonus applying to the "to hit" roll, only, and any "special" bonus applying to both "to hit" and damage. Thus, a [b]sword +1, +3 vs. dragons[/b] is +3 to hit and damage against dragons, but only +1 to hit and +0 damage against everything else. Again, this is an OD&D distinctive. [*]Magic armor and shields work like they do in OD&D, with the bonus applied as a penalty to the enemy's attack roll, rather than modifying AC. [/list] The Holmes initiative and combat sequence rules aren't like any of the editions. However, OD&D lacked rules for handling this (unless you count [i]Chainmail[/i]), so all sorts of house-rules were used. The Holmes rules bear similarities to other OD&D house-rules for combat, including the Perrin Conventions and perhaps some of the rules from Judges Guild. In general, the differences in Holmes strike me as being variants or house rules on a solid OD&D base. Some stuff, like the % to know spell table, looks like it was imported from AD&D (perhaps during Gary's editing process). Some stuff seems more like Holmes's own additions. And some of it could be traced to Supplement I, of course. In any case, I'd definitely call Holmes an OD&D variant. [/QUOTE]
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