lmaher@uokvax.UUCP (06/07/84)
#R:ittvax:-140600:uokvax:2400036:000:637 uokvax!lmaher Jun 6 20:00:00 1984 Six feet a minute is 360 feet an hour, or a little over half a mile in an 8-hour day. This may be proper for spelunkers, but for the typical 10' wide dungeon corrider? And if you drop everything (for Movement 12") and run flat out (x10), you make 11 miles a day, which implies that in D&D, a marathon takes 18-20 hours. No armor, no mapping, but a 20 hour marathon. Excuse me if I laugh. (And yes, I was in the SCA too.) Not a jab at people who play D&D (I used to), but just at the D&D rules themselves. Smials & Snails, perhaps? Carl (formerly uok!crigney) ..!ctvax!uokvax!lmaher ..!duke!uok!uokvax!lmaher
hakanson@orstcs.UUCP (06/08/84)
Once again I must agree -- the table is all wrong with respect to the
number of attacks a fighter would get. A *round* consists of ten *segments*,
and therefore such spells as SLEEP and MAGIC MISSILE can be gotten off in
less than a round (but most GM's won't allow more than one spell/round).
But there are spells such as the 3rd Level Druid spell CALL LIGHTNING which
take a *turn* (ten rounds, and thus ten attacks) to complete. It does last
for a bunch of turns, but you only get to call one (very painful!!) bolt
every turn. Needless to say, the Druid casting this spell must be well
protected, i.e. not in melee. This is the type of spell one uses in large
battles, from concealed locations, and is especially effective at sinking
ships from a distance.
The AD&D system does have its faults, but the time for spells is not one
of them -- a lot of work obviously went into attempting to make it realistic.
The problems seem related to the fact that the rules are too complicated,
and thus cause confusion. The people I play with have spent a lot of time
in the past arguing over interpretations of the rules, which is the only
way we have been able to come to a general consensus.
Marion Hakanson CSnet: hakanson@oregon-state
UUCP : {hp-pcd,tektronix}!orstcs!hakanson