Actually, I think Tolkien's influence has trapped the fantasy genre in an uncreative rut where 99% of it is just Tolkien fanfiction with the serial numbers filled off. Dwarves, orcs, and elves inspired by Tolkien are everywhere in fantasy. Dark lords and heroic quests to save the world are a dime a dozen. A pseudo-medieval aesthetic inspired by Tolkien is the default.

As an old Studio C skit hilariously illustrated, the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter are the same story repackaged, despite having completely different aesthetics.

Wat?

Quote from: pawsplay on Today at 10:40:02 AMAD&D "speed factor," incidentally, doesn't make sense. It says a dagger is faster than a two-handed sword. That's... not true. Setting aside that you have to account for reach first (which AD&D acknowledges, but doesn't give you guidance on), two-handed weapons are generally faster. A two-handed sword attack is fast. What a dagger is fast at is close in work, but you have to get close in, first.

Ehhh... I mean, it does make sense in AD&D 1e.  In that case, there are rules about when the two hander strikes first, and when the dagger strikes first, and when the dagger strikes multiple times.  These rules are weird and confusing, but assuredly all of your concerns there were given consideration in AD&D 1e. 

In 2e, your complaint is totally vaild.  In that game, the main use of slower weapons is against large beasts and monsters, who have bad initiative modifiers and who take extra damage from the bigger weapons.  AD&D 2e has large weapons as unrealistically terrible in man on man combat.

Sarcastic snippets aren't argument or worth anyone's time.

Quote from: Wrath of God on Today at 07:51:03 AM

QuoteWeird since they have de-aging technology to make him look younger.

In Lynch's "Dune" time?

In Hollyweird, are you smoking something?

Quote from: Neoplatonist1 on Today at 12:18:39 AM

Quote from: jeff37923 on April 22, 2024, 11:46:37 PM

Quote from: Neoplatonist1 on April 22, 2024, 03:17:00 PMIt occurred to me that the main thing holding back the Wokification of all media products is what we might call anthropological realism...

Before I touch this subject, I'd like you to define "anthropological realism" because I have not been able to find a definition online.

As ForgottenF put it above, (1) writing fantasy as if it were history, to which I'd add (2) employing races, sexes, cultures, and religions logically as derived from the inspiring mythos or cultures from which the given fantasy comes.

It doesn't make sense to have Africans in Rohan, for example. In fact it defeats the whole purpose. LotR is a European fantasy, the Rohan are an Anglo-Saxon horse culture; the other races of man are geographically and culturally peripheral.

OK, but doesn't that go back to before Tolkien? In Beowulf there was Grendel, and even Grendel had a mother. In it's most basic form, that is "anthropological realism" in that it is a copy of western family structure.

Remember that in AD&D a combat round is not measuring a single strike attack. A round represents 'numerous attacks which are unsuccessful, feints, maneuvering, and so forth' (DMG p.61). Speed factor has therefore to be seen in the context of what a combat round is in AD&D. It is also necessary to understand that weapon speed only comes into affect if there is a tied initiative - if a fighter with a two handed sword wins initiative against a thief with a dagger, the fighter gets to hit the thief first regardless of weapon speed. It is only when the initiative is tied that the dagger wielding thief goes first due to weapon speed (and, in fact, gains two 'to hit' rolls), to simulate that that the thief has closed in and is temporally past the danger space of the sword.

As to reach - Gygax makes the ambiguous comment about a pikeman vs a person with a faster weapon - 'an opponent surviving the first attack from the bearer of a pike will likely be able to strike several times' (DMG p.66). He does not spell it out, but that comment gives rise to the not uncommon house rule that a weapon with a longer reach gives an automatic initiative win in the first attack. 

Whether any of it makes sense is another matter - According to Luke Gygax, Gary never played weapon speed in his game and we know he also never played the weapon v armor tables and later regretted allowing them being added to Eldritch Wizardry/1e. In addition, RPGers like to pick and choose their 'real life' examples to justify what they like - for example, knight duel HEMA guys like Dequitem on YouTube seem to bear out AD&D one minute rounds - watching those videos a 'damage' strike seems to occur +/- 45s - 1 minute in, on the other hand I have been in fencing bouts where what would be a fatal strike is scored within a few seconds to a couple of minutes.   

Squad Leader was the best.  And Advanced Squad Leader even more so.  I have all of them.
MBT and IDF from avalon hill were, to me, the best versions of Jim Days designs.

Bolt Action, being 'skirmishy' never appealed to me.

If you like SL/ASL, you will like 'Armored Fist'(ww2) and 'Modern War' by Walter Moore Games.(on wargamevault)
They are minis rulesets that cover a lot of detail, but is still quick and manageable.  and cheap.

Modern War is going to need more polish to add in all the drones and stuff.

Quote from: tenbones on April 01, 2024, 12:55:32 PMLet me throw some out there:

Deathstroke vs. Captain America
man I could do this all day...

Cap never loses. Source: I am a major Cap fanboy.

Quote from: Neoplatonist1 on April 22, 2024, 03:17:00 PMSaving gaming from Woke cultural desertification requires rerouting a veritable Congo river's worth of cultural assumptions, including how we look at gaming itself.

As I am wont to say whenever these sorts of situations manifest, "It's nothing a shotgun wouldn't fix." Kill all the communists and you fix 99% of the problem. Tolkien isn't to blame for anything other than being an excellent writer who just so happened to write a British-inspired myth.