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Message: <blockquote data-quote="transmission89" data-source="post: 8205028" data-attributes="member: 6688441">I’m aware of that article and read it previously. It’s an interesting read and provides food for thought. A couple of critiques is that the Macini paper linked there seems to be all Swedish, but the images in the article seem to be referring to casinos.Here you are dealing with a larger number range than that presented with the 10 to - 10 range. secondly, the algorithm used for THAC0 in the article compares to 20 as an operation, not a method I favour.To be clear on my position: I am not arguing THAC0 is superior. I recognise ascending armour class (aac) is superior in that it’s easier to relate a concept of bigger is better. I happily use aac in modern games I play.I do however reject the idea that THAC0 (in particular, basic subtraction) is complex enough to have an appreciable negative impact on the play of OSR games. With the number ranges offered and the maths proficiency needed to access a game of d&d (either ascending or descending) the difference in calculation time is milliseconds at most.For me it is not worth the time to either calculate on the fly or pre convert ACs and hit bonuses on old modules. That is DEFINITIVELY, measurable time lost doing that (even though the sums are simple, there are at least two mathematical operations I have to make per monster rather than just one THAC0 role) versus a player taking a bit longer.In fact, with the older systems, what gets lost in discussions of THAC0, is that with the low number range and (mostly clear cap), a lot of the time, you don’t even need to make a calculation at all. You can just clock the die roll based off the armour the bandit is wearing. Even if they are heavily armoured, if you roll 2 or 3 points below your THAC0, chances are you’ve hit them.  The same cannot be said so much for aac systems (with potentially more dex modifiers and a more vague AC cap). Of course, there are exceptions to each of these, but the general principle holds.That is why I happily use THAC0 in my OSR games and don’t think it deserves the denigration it gets in online discourse. As always, of course, ymmv and do whatever works for your table.</blockquote>

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