Whose rules are these?

[Deleted]

Hi folks,

A while back I became intrigued by the seemingly patchwork nature of the Chainmail rules, which led me to wonder where the various components of the system came from. Since then I've been researching the origin and evolution of RPG mechanics, starting with Little Wars in 1913 and working my way through history.

I've been "in the seventies" for a while now, unpicking the influence Bath's Ancient Warfare (and various other wargames) had on the LGTSA/Chainmail mass combat system, but recently I've hit a stumbling block.

I can't find any detailed information on the rules that were the basis of the Chainmail man-to-man system, published in issue 7 of the Domesday Book under the title Whose Rules are These? This information is obviously critical to understanding of the origin and evolution of OD&D mechanics.

The only information I've been able to find on this system is that it had eight armour types and eight weapon types, that it was a roll-under system and that GG disagreed with some of the target numbers. This is obviously form Jon Peterson's Playing at the World, which has been very useful.

Can anyone help by providing a transcript or précis of the original rules or even just the original matrix?

[Deleted]

Look, a tumbleweed!

Should this go in OD&D study, or is it just that nobody has any info on the original man-to-man rules from domesday book number 7? I'm guessing the original documents are amazingly rare.

Any idea who I might be able to talk to for info?

Maybe its time to move on to the relationship between the earliest 1970's role-playing games and OD&D.

[derv]

increment (Jon Peterson) is about the only one who might be able to help you here. I'm not sure if the original rendering still exists in any form.

[Deleted]

Man, thats sad. But not entirely unexpected. Nobody could have had a clue what their little wargaming community was going to lead to. If only more of them had been pathological hoarders. I'll see if I Jon knows anything.