True 20 Combat

[Akrasia]

... In the end, we didn't find the combat -any- quicker using True20 ...

My experience has been different (but then I find it very difficult to run anything but very simple combats in 3e without some kind of graphical representation of where people are -- and doing this takes time).

But then again, as I said, I don't agree with the assessment that d20 is a mini's based wargame ...

The combat section in the 3.5 PHB -- and WotC's marketing strategy -- certainly created a different impression in my case.

 

[scadgrad]

As already mentioned True 20 has almost as many combat options as D&D, even a few that aren't in D&D such as the parry/dodge distinction and the finesse attack rules in Conan. The difference is that True 20's combat options don't focus the player on tactics and book keeping which have a tendency to slow down the game and take players out of the mood. True 20 allows for faster play whilst still keep things varied....

I think this is a pretty telling comment. One thing about REH's Conan action sequences is that they're over and done with very quickly. Conan is a pretty straight forward opponent who usually just overpowers opponents and finishes them with but one or two strokes (one could argue that it's just because he spends so much time fighting mooks I suppose). That more than anything else defines the gritty nature of the combats. I've just finished reading the 2nd compilation of REH's original drafts and I can tell you that were I to run or play in a Conan RPG of any stripe, I'd want to see that same sense of urgency. The Paralysis by Analysis syndrome that I've seen so often in d20 just causes combats to drag to the point where those desparate struggles in the REH short stories have been overwhelmed by minutia.

I just don't ever remember our boy the wild Cimmerian ever resorting to things like tripping, using a spiked chain or other wonky reach weapon silliness, tumbling to get a flank with the aid of an ally (like Conan needs an ally in HtH), sundering someone's weapon (unless he's cleaved right through it into their skull). Nope. It's pretty much move in close and plant a broadsword squarely in the enemy's chest or the like. and I don't remember the big guy ever suffering from an AoO or indeed, even worrying about one. Need to get away, just run like hell.

YMMV and perhaps your group requires all of those 3.5 trappings, but the original REH materials certainly doesn't seem to indicate that anything of the sort is going on.

 

[scadgrad]

Removing the tactical grid is IMO a significant removal of D&D's tactical side given how many abilities refer to grid use. YMMV

I couldn't agree more and I would think that Hellhound would at the very least be willing to admit that this is a far cry from the way that most people play 3.5 D&D.

To carry that train of thought even further, it would seem to me that if you could do without the battlemat and minis, than doing without the rules that go along with them would be the next step. Particularly if one found a reasonable set of rules (which it sounds like T20 might be and C&C certainly is) to achieve the level of verisimilitude that your group requires.

 

[Denaes]

I envy Hellhound if he can do this -- but it certainly has not been my experience, or that of any 3e players I know.

I could in my 3e game.

Of course I wasn't using AoO's and some of the less cinematic feats taken out (like I ruled that you could have your weapon drawn for free 98% of the time)

In retrospect I was practically playing BESM d20, but years before it came out.