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Post by jimlotfp on Oct 8, 2008 10:52:33 GMT -6
I'm sifting my way through the OD&D rules and trying to recognize how they differ from and how they are the same as later editions... and really interested in how they interact with Chainmail. I have saved all the pdfs down as rtf files and reformatted them so I've had a good look through the rules. These Fighting Capability tables are really confusing me. For example: Swordsmen... fight as "3 Men or Hero -1" So they would be somewhat equivalent, yes? OK then... a Magician fights as "3 Men +1"... when he gains a level and becomes an Enchanter, he fights as "Hero -1." Someone explain this please.  |
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Post by coffee on Oct 8, 2008 11:09:07 GMT -6
I'm sifting my way through the OD&D rules and trying to recognize how they differ from and how they are the same as later editions... and really interested in how they interact with Chainmail. I have saved all the pdfs down as rtf files and reformatted them so I've had a good look through the rules. These Fighting Capability tables are really confusing me. For example: Swordsmen... fight as "3 Men or Hero -1" So they would be somewhat equivalent, yes? OK then... a Magician fights as "3 Men +1"... when he gains a level and becomes an Enchanter, he fights as "Hero -1." Someone explain this please. This is because Chainmail is NOT one combat system. It is, at a minimum, three. There is the mass combat (heavy horse vs. light foot, etc.) There is the man-to-man rules (sword vs. Chain + Shield, etc.) And then there is the Fantasy Combat Table, on p. 44 (Dragon vs. Elemental, etc.) Hero, Superhero, and Wizard are all entries on the Fantasy Combat Table. The usage of these categories in the Fighting Capability listing reflects this. A Fighting-Man at 3rd level (Swordsman), fights as 3 men or Hero-1. That means this is the first level at which he can use the Fantasy Combat Table, instead of the Man-to-Man Tables. A Magic-User, as you pointed out, doesn't have such a category until 7th level (Enchanter), at which point he can finally fight on the Fantasy Combat Table. I hope this has cleared this up for you. It took quite a while and much thought and effort for me to grasp this understanding, so I know how it goes. |
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tank
Level 3 Conjurer
Posts: 58
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Post by tank on Oct 8, 2008 11:14:02 GMT -6
Hey, you cleared it up for me!
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Post by Finarvyn on Oct 9, 2008 4:16:33 GMT -6
Yeah, the Chainmail system in many ways is like the Warhammer miniatures rules, to mention something still in print. You get piles of guys fighting each other in this big battle and a character has the potential to fight like a small pile of guys by himself.
My son recently ran a D&D-style dungeon crawl using slightly modified Warhammer miniatures rules and it played pretty well. My players had a blast and wanted to play in his world again. (Now we may have DM-wars as we get to fight over who runs the next game.)
The scale of Chainmail bothers some folks, though -- if each figure on the battlefield represents 20 soldiers, then if a person fights as "3 men" is that like 60 soldiers? For me, I don't bother thinking about scale and things run more smoothly. :-)
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