steven@qubix.UUCP (06/08/84)
References: (*****) >> Mr. Maurer seems to forget that the AD&D combat system is very abstract. >> It doesn't even try to be realistic. But, if he's going to criticize the >> rules, I wish at least he'd get them straight. >> >> There are a lot of minor inconsistancies in the rules, but in 5 years of >> playing and 4 years of DMing I haven't run across ANY major inconsistancies. Perhaps I am just easily confused by "minor" inconsistancies, such as realism. >> What are you talking about? The player's handbook states on page 102 >> that combat movement is 10 times exploratory movement. That's 120 >> feet/minute. As a DM, I only enforce the slow movement if the party is >> trying to make *very* accurate maps--accurate enough to tell if the >> walls are thick enough to hold secret compartments or passages, for >> example. This means that outdoors, in the same time it takes for a fighter to attack, I can run 360 feet (12" x 3feet/yard x 10 segments). Wow, I've never run into a DM who plays this 'correctly'. Well I guess that makes all thieves a win, since they can backstab just about anybody during every combat round. Gosh, that means that if I decided to run away from a combat, by the time 15 to-hit rolls had been made, I could be a mile away. Even this is slow, characters at their best do a 15 minute mile?? Seriously though, do most people when they are playing (A)D&D really believe that for every to-hit roll that they make, a whole minute has gone by? While I have never refereed (A)D&D, other than in impromtu style (no rules, just play), I have played in a whole hell of a lot of (A)D&D, and have never gotten this impression at all. I must admit, that thats what it seems to say in the book though..... >> Sure, it's not super-realistic, but it's really well play-balanced so >> that no class overwhelms the others. Also remember the rule of KISS-- >> Keep It Simple Stupid. I've played in some very detailed combat >> systems, and, believe me, they can get old real fast. Well, of course, I prefer a classless society :-> Are those "detailed combat systems" just variants on D&D? I have noticed that many people try to patch the system, and end up with a convoluted mess, completely unplayable. Steven Maurer