Comments on The Core Mechanic: Towards More Cinematic Gaming: Part 3 - The Sword ...

Unfortunatley I have one of the worst memories in ...

2010-06-01T20:04:09.579-04:00

Unfortunatley I have one of the worst memories in existence so I cant give you specific book titles off of the top of my head, but I suggest ancient classical Roman writings, as well as writings from the dark ages after the fall of the western roman empire. I would start with Gibbon and go from there. He is a great historian and is excellent about pointing out his specific sources.
Alternatively just get any picturebook on classical armor and weapons in the greek and roman period. There are countless descriptions about the benefits of the gladius over the long (calvary) sword, and of the mobility of a mobile soldier with a short sword vs the heavily armored phalanx pikemen. The Roman choice of the gladius after the Marius reforms was based on is its speed and armor penetration.
Also on wikipedia look up body armor and bullet proof vests. many of the links join with modern attempts at combined bullet proof / stab proof vests which apparently is excruiciatingly difficult to do. They comment on how essentially the only thing that protects against a dagger stab is thin armor steel plate, which unfortunately is not bullet proof (AK-47's for example can penetrate 1/4' thick armor steel). Ceramic reinforced kevlar is bullet proof but cant stop a sharp dagger which actually is quite effective at cutting through the fibers.

FInally just following the arms race of weapons vs armor through the medieval perior gives more food for thought; how plate was quite effective against most weapaons other than a crossbow, and how as armor got heavyer there was a rapid trend towards picks, hammers, halberds, billhooks, and lucern hammers as these were much more effective at penetrating heavy plate; (grappling aside ie the battle of aguincourt)

Tom W

Interesting ... I'd like to know your sources for ...

2010-05-26T18:27:32.090-04:00

Interesting ... I'd like to know your sources for weapon vs. armor. I have been tackling some of the weapon balance issues from here on in my old school-focused blog.

Interesting Post. Most games seem to have this or ...

2009-05-22T08:14:19.081-04:00

Interesting Post. Most games seem to have this or a similar problem. What's interesting is that AD&D did actually address some this. Each weapon was give a a weapon speed, which was universally ignored. So much so, that I can't find a reference to how it was used. I know some optional initiative systems would use them in some manner. I also know that AD&D had an optional list of modifiers of weapons against certain types of Armor. Again, this was generally ignored. In both cases for better or worse people find these things too complex. Which is why I think most games tend not model such things.

Very good points... a little balance of AC vs. DR ...

2009-05-22T01:27:29.065-04:00

Very good points... a little balance of AC vs. DR as suggested may work, but to be honest the amount of fighting with unarmored, non-magicked human opposition in most games I read about is so small as to make this a non-issue. The ideas presented could lead to some very interesting choices when it comes to various classes...

I actually had a group which relied on staff defense and heavy armor in one of my campaigns. It was... interesting to say the least :).

Slainte,

-Loonook.

Good Post. I really like AC as DR, but am worried ...

2009-05-21T20:35:22.713-04:00

Good Post. I really like AC as DR, but am worried how it would play out in 4e. I think it might work, but I'd love to hear some first hand accounts.

One thing I do want to take exception with. "So why is it that the longsword is so popular in D&D? Same reason it was with the Gauls and with nobles. Swinging a big sword looks cool and makes you feel powerful."

I am no historian, but I do not think that is why the Gauls and nobles used long blades.
;)

"Qualification: you'll have to trust me that my oc...

2009-05-21T10:18:37.242-04:00

"Qualification: you'll have to trust me that my occupation gives me a lot of experience with injuries."

This is true, not many people know that Tom makes his living fighting hobos.

I like what you are getting at but I think that yo...

2009-05-20T19:04:06.270-04:00

I like what you are getting at but I think that you have to keep it simple if you want to give it the mass appeal that WOTC require.

I would be fairly easy to do something based on the concepts already in the game, like heavy versus light armour.

For example:giving

* hammers and picks a generic +2 to hit opponents in heavy armour.

* staffs the defensive bonus

* spears +2 to charge or receive a charge.

* polearms slightly more damage or some DR penetration.

They aren't big bonuses but they are enough to encourage players to take a wider range of weapons. Hopefully the bonuses in someway reflect the real world value of the weapons.

Still what they have done is a big improvement over how it was in 3rd ed.

An interesting step would be to make creatures vul...

2009-05-20T17:59:01.498-04:00

An interesting step would be to make creatures vulnerable or resistant to damage from the different weapon groups.

Cool ideas. I think you could also include moveme...

2009-05-20T17:22:40.157-04:00

Cool ideas. I think you could also include movement rules with bigger weapons which might balance things out some. Huge hammers and swords have a lot of momentum meaning once you're swinging you're going the same direction the weapon is. Wheras with a knife, gladius, or hatchet, you can move laterally while attacking, go up, down, backwards... meaning the guy with the light weapon can sidestep and go spelunking for internal organs while mr big-axe is still discovering the down-side of inertia as his flank is exposed.

Great ideas though I like to go one further and get rid of hit-points myself. They annoy me.

Some interesting idea's here. I think 4e does take...

2009-05-20T16:37:40.305-04:00

Some interesting idea's here. I think 4e does take this into consideration with the proficiency bonus. While this system isn't perfect and doesn't consider what a mace would do to platemail vs what a long sword would do it does work. The problem with implementing systems like this is that they have a tendancy to slow down game play.

However, I do think it would be fun to see the fighter sporting all sorts of different weapons depending on what type of foe he was facing.