Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
Today is Part 12 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Men & Magic - Volume 1.
OK, so today we are going to look at the Alternative Combat System. A couple of things about this, it is really not the alternate system, it is the primary system. To explain: 1. Arneson used the Chainmail system briefly and the players (now that they were playing just one character and not an army) did not like one hit and you are done, since they were not starting as the Chainmail Super Hero, they were starting off as normal men(i.e. 1st level). So this was abandoned quickly and a new system devised. 2. Per Rob Kuntz, Michael Mornard and others who were there, Gygax never used the Chainmail system during or after the play-testing of OD&D.
So you might ask, why is the alternate system called the alternate system if in fact it was really the primary system. Easy answer, Gygax in writing OD&D down substituted a lot of his own mechanics for the ones that Arneson used. This resulted in several things, one is that OD&D (at least the first three books) do not use any percentiles which Arneson was fond of, using a 20-sided die roll instead (d20), second is that a lot of Chainmail was incorporated back into OD&D as compared to Blackmoor and a lot of references to Chainmail were added. For instance if you use initiative, it is very helpful to refer to Chainmail. By leaving some of the information out and referring to Chainmail, Gygax hoped to and did sell more copies of Chainmail. He could have just added a very few pages to OD&D, but he chose not to and that is obviously the reason.
As another example of this, you are urged to go get the Outdoor Survival board game which was made by someone else. This could have been avoided by simply adding a couple of paragraphs to OD&D and a folded simple black and white sample map to the box set. My take on this is that it was easy to throw a few sales to Avalon Hill and that everyone that did not go that route could figure it out. I think that Gygax assumed that anyone who did not get Outdoor Survival, likely did not need it. Remember that this was written for an intended audience of other wargamers and the penetration of the non-wargamer market was unexpected.
We continue:
Although it is fairly easy to assume in the context leading up to this part of the rules that attacks would generally do 1-6 points of damage each, it was not stated as such. It was not until the 5th printing that the following was added below this table:
A few other things to note. It has become fashionable to refer to normal men and women as zero level characters, but this is not the case at all. Note above that normal men are equal to 1st level fighters as regards the "Alternate Combat System'.
Chainmail Reference: But the Fighting Capability of Magic-Users and Clerics in Chainmail terms is less than everyone else, since 1st level Fighting-Men are Man+1 and Magic-Users and Clerics are only equal to one Man not one Man+1. But in the alternate system they are the same as everyone else.
Also of course in the alternate system the progression is
One thing to note is that some monsters are less then one hit die, so anything one hit die or less is equal to a 1st level character or a normal man. A monster that is 1+1 hit die is a step better than a normal man. Now it becomes clear the advantage that monsters have in contrast to Fighting-Men, a 2 or 3 hit die monster is equal in attack capability to a 4th to 6th level Fighting Man, a 4 or 5 or 6 hit die monster is equal to a 7th to 9th level Fighting Man. In fact a Fighting-Man does not gain a comparative advantage until he reaches 16th level and up needing a 5 to hit Armor Class 2, when 11 hit die and up monsters still need a 7 to hit Armor Class 2. Because at 15th level the Fighting-Man is still lagging behind an 11 hit die monster. As an example if you are a 15th Level Fighting-Man in the original game, you would need a +1 to Hit Magic Weapon to be equal to an 11 hit die monster and a +2 weapon to gain the advantage.
Also note this:
Now the other thing is how do you apply it, we did not subtract the +1 (or better) for magic armor from the to hit roll, we applied it to improving the Armor Class, so AC 2 became AC 1 and so on and extended the table(not by writing a new table, just adjusting on the fly). That way of applying the bonus is how it was done when later you officially had negative AC and Thac0 enter later versions of the game..
The second thing of note is that missile weapons used the above table to long range and you adjusted the AC at medium and short range. For example at Medium Range an AC of 6 would become an AC of 5 for the table and at Short Range an AC of 6 would become AC 4.
Also note is that this is the original descending Armor Class system where the numbers decrease from AC 9 to AC 2 as Armor Class improves. Some other games and later versions of D&D use Ascending AC where the number gets bigger as the AC improves. I have not changed and will not, I like the original system and am thoroughly familiar with it and see no need to change and it is part of the flavor of the game. A lot of mechanics changes over the years are to "make the counting easier", my question is always "Why?" I think it is a good thing to play games where you have to count quickly in your head. IMO, even these days, that is a useful ability to have. YMMV.
Tomorrow we will get into the Saving Throw Matrix and possibly start on looking at Magic-User Spells.
Today is Part 12 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Men & Magic - Volume 1.
OK, so today we are going to look at the Alternative Combat System. A couple of things about this, it is really not the alternate system, it is the primary system. To explain: 1. Arneson used the Chainmail system briefly and the players (now that they were playing just one character and not an army) did not like one hit and you are done, since they were not starting as the Chainmail Super Hero, they were starting off as normal men(i.e. 1st level). So this was abandoned quickly and a new system devised. 2. Per Rob Kuntz, Michael Mornard and others who were there, Gygax never used the Chainmail system during or after the play-testing of OD&D.
So you might ask, why is the alternate system called the alternate system if in fact it was really the primary system. Easy answer, Gygax in writing OD&D down substituted a lot of his own mechanics for the ones that Arneson used. This resulted in several things, one is that OD&D (at least the first three books) do not use any percentiles which Arneson was fond of, using a 20-sided die roll instead (d20), second is that a lot of Chainmail was incorporated back into OD&D as compared to Blackmoor and a lot of references to Chainmail were added. For instance if you use initiative, it is very helpful to refer to Chainmail. By leaving some of the information out and referring to Chainmail, Gygax hoped to and did sell more copies of Chainmail. He could have just added a very few pages to OD&D, but he chose not to and that is obviously the reason.
As another example of this, you are urged to go get the Outdoor Survival board game which was made by someone else. This could have been avoided by simply adding a couple of paragraphs to OD&D and a folded simple black and white sample map to the box set. My take on this is that it was easy to throw a few sales to Avalon Hill and that everyone that did not go that route could figure it out. I think that Gygax assumed that anyone who did not get Outdoor Survival, likely did not need it. Remember that this was written for an intended audience of other wargamers and the penetration of the non-wargamer market was unexpected.
We continue:
ALTERNATIVE COMBAT SYSTEM:
This system is based upon the defensive and offensive capabilities of the combatants; such things as speed, ferocity, and weaponry of the monster attacking are subsumed in the matrixes. There are two charts, one for men versus men or monsters and one for monsters (including kobolds, goblins, orcs, etc.) versus men.
Although it is fairly easy to assume in the context leading up to this part of the rules that attacks would generally do 1-6 points of damage each, it was not stated as such. It was not until the 5th printing that the following was added below this table:
All attacks which score hits do 1–6 points damage unless otherwise noted.Also while it is not noted, it should be obvious that you need to roll the target number in the table or better with a 20-sided die (d20) in order to successfully hit.
A few other things to note. It has become fashionable to refer to normal men and women as zero level characters, but this is not the case at all. Note above that normal men are equal to 1st level fighters as regards the "Alternate Combat System'.
Chainmail Reference: But the Fighting Capability of Magic-Users and Clerics in Chainmail terms is less than everyone else, since 1st level Fighting-Men are Man+1 and Magic-Users and Clerics are only equal to one Man not one Man+1. But in the alternate system they are the same as everyone else.
Also of course in the alternate system the progression is
Level 1-3 4-6 7-9 10-12 13-15 16 & up Fighting Men
Level 1-4 5-8 9-12 13-16 16+ Clerics
Level 1-5 6-10 11-15 16 & up Magic-Usersso the fighting ability of Clerics lags a little and of Magic-Users it lags quite a bit.
One thing to note is that some monsters are less then one hit die, so anything one hit die or less is equal to a 1st level character or a normal man. A monster that is 1+1 hit die is a step better than a normal man. Now it becomes clear the advantage that monsters have in contrast to Fighting-Men, a 2 or 3 hit die monster is equal in attack capability to a 4th to 6th level Fighting Man, a 4 or 5 or 6 hit die monster is equal to a 7th to 9th level Fighting Man. In fact a Fighting-Man does not gain a comparative advantage until he reaches 16th level and up needing a 5 to hit Armor Class 2, when 11 hit die and up monsters still need a 7 to hit Armor Class 2. Because at 15th level the Fighting-Man is still lagging behind an 11 hit die monster. As an example if you are a 15th Level Fighting-Man in the original game, you would need a +1 to Hit Magic Weapon to be equal to an 11 hit die monster and a +2 weapon to gain the advantage.
Also note this:
All base scores to hit will be modified by magic armor and weaponry. Missile hits will be scored by using the above tables at long range and decreasing Armor Class by 1 at medium and 2 at short range.You might ask why is this note only applied to the Monsters Attacking Table and not to the Men Attacking Table. Three reasons come to mind, one is that it just was overlooked that some monsters might be wearing Magic Armor or using Magic Weapons. The second option would be, it was assumed that monsters would not be using Magic Armor or Weapons. The third option is the one that we went with, we just assumed it applied to both tables and went on with the game.
Now the other thing is how do you apply it, we did not subtract the +1 (or better) for magic armor from the to hit roll, we applied it to improving the Armor Class, so AC 2 became AC 1 and so on and extended the table(not by writing a new table, just adjusting on the fly). That way of applying the bonus is how it was done when later you officially had negative AC and Thac0 enter later versions of the game..
The second thing of note is that missile weapons used the above table to long range and you adjusted the AC at medium and short range. For example at Medium Range an AC of 6 would become an AC of 5 for the table and at Short Range an AC of 6 would become AC 4.
Also note is that this is the original descending Armor Class system where the numbers decrease from AC 9 to AC 2 as Armor Class improves. Some other games and later versions of D&D use Ascending AC where the number gets bigger as the AC improves. I have not changed and will not, I like the original system and am thoroughly familiar with it and see no need to change and it is part of the flavor of the game. A lot of mechanics changes over the years are to "make the counting easier", my question is always "Why?" I think it is a good thing to play games where you have to count quickly in your head. IMO, even these days, that is a useful ability to have. YMMV.
Tomorrow we will get into the Saving Throw Matrix and possibly start on looking at Magic-User Spells.
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