2013/07/29

The unsolved problem of Combat in Dungeons & Dragons

I had been thinking for pretty a long time about making a series of posts devoted to the intricacies of D&D's combat.

What i am interested mostly in is the different schools of thought that have always existed, showing that D&D (and AD&D) combat system are unsolved problems as of now, and that different players and dungeon masters are entitled to use different approaches to combat, depending on which philosophy they abide by.

My main intention is to show lesser-known combat systems that have (in a sense) been forgotten and that i maintain are superior to others.

To begin with, an hidden gem from the past, an alternative combat system for D&D from 1979.

I think several game masters around the world have always used this instead of the "official" method.

I admire the profoundity of Mr. Sapienza's detailed analysis, he had visions in his mind.

To see FULL SCREEN images, right-click and the choose "open link in new tab".





















3 comments:

Tony said...

I think the first version of this system was seen in The Wild Hunt issue 36 from 1979.

Hedgehobbit said...

Looks like he was a fan of Runequest but his system has all the work with none of it's advantages. I thought I was clever in coming up with the idea of using Con hit points until your rolled hp total exceeds it.

The main problem with D&D's combat system isn't Fighters not getting a bonus each level, it's the utter reliance on heavy armor for survival. Sapienza only makes it worse with his assertion that all Fighters do is train in heavy armor. That severely restricts the kinds of characters that can be represented by the Fighter class.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure that's a problem. I see fighters as late medieval men at arms, which would make wearing a steel suit a really good idea in melee.

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