Well this one came as no surprise. When asked which damage rules they prefer when playing an older version of D&D/Labyrinth Lord/Swords & Wizardry, variable or unified damage, a huge majority of gamers voted that they liked variable damage the best. Seventy-seven people voted on this poll (I believe this is the largest number of votes on any poll posted here on the Outer Dark) and 72% voted for variable damage. I guess this shows that not all weapons are created equal in the minds of most old-school D&Ders.
Personally, I have used variable damage as far back as I can remember. Judging by the date of when I first played D&D I know I had to of played in least a couple of games where we used the Holmes basic edition. I did not own a copy of this edition and did not actually get to read over this rulebook until I was in my late teens. Roughly a year after my first experience playing D&D I received a Moldvay basic edition for my birthday. I poured over that rulebook countless times back in the day, but until very recently I did not even realize that the unified d6 damage rules were actually included as the default damage rules and the variable weapon damage rules were considered "optional". To be honest I am not sure I missed out on anything by glossing over the default damage rules and going straight for the optional.
3 comments:
Well, you know where I stand, but I wonder: how many of the people who prefer variable weapon damage have ever tried the universal 1d6? It's pretty hard to say that you 'prefer' something when it is all that you know.
This is a very valid point. And one that we may never get to the bottom of. Maybe we should put it out there somehow -- the "d6 for all your weapon damage needs" challenge.
1d6 for weapon damage is fine if other differences behind weapons are accounted for in the game. weapons aren't all crafted or wielded equally (what army fielded hordes of straight razor experts?)
In D&D why the heck would anyone use any two handed weapon if you are relegated to attack last in the round (or ever other round as in holmes) if the weapon is only inflicting 1d6 damage with no discernible benefit.
To me variable damage is really just 1d6 damage with the modifiers for chance to hit and impact vs armor built into the different damage dice rolled.
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