More than "old school"

[sirjaguar]

I needed something to play with my old college roommate and my two sons (8 and 10) last Friday. Fortunately I just learned about DaD the day before (yeah, I haven't been paying attention). Bought it, printed it, and didn't stop playing till past 11 p.m. (that's late for us). Then kept playing all weekend with my sons.

Our main RPGs are Labyrinth Lord and Gamma World. Add DaD to the list. Obviously "old school" doesn't mean diddly squat to my kids. DaD's value goes far beyond any such claim. They like it because story telling is important, all the character attributes get used, and low-level wizards can actually do something. Combat is fast (my impression is this is due to using d6s and no initiative rolls), but also nail-bitingly intense. It's easy to make on-the-spot rulings and fit it into the game in a way that feels right.

One teeny nitpick: I think the combat matrix has a typo. The ">1" column and row should be labeled "<1".

Thanks for a winner, Mr. Boggs!


--Lawson

[aldarron]

Thanks much for the kind words. I'm so very glad you are enjoying the game!

[Deleted]

I was suprised that the game doesn't really resemble D&D or Chainmail. Instead it is actually very similar to Warhammer Fantasy Battles; you have a table comparing weapon skills which gives you a number to roll to hit, then the target gets an armor save and then you roll damage.

[aldarron]

That's interesting. I'd have to take your word on that as I know nothing about Warhammer, but of course FS in DaD is quite a different animal from weapon skills. An Armor save is detailed in Arnesons' Advetures in Fantasy and that may, or may not be the saving throw he used in 1972, but it makes sense to use it that way.

The combat system is based on CHAINMAILs Fantasy Table, basically replacing the individual creatures with a representation of thier combat strength in relation to hero's and superhero's, but you can actually replace the whole thing with CHAINMAIL combat if you are so inclined