Rpg History on RHampton's Blog

Reconstructed Techniques for Combat

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 19:29:52 -0600

Discerning Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor Combat System - Part 4

Introduction

After decomposing David Arneson and Richard Snider’s Adventures in Fantasy (AIF), it’s easier to understand what parts of combat Arneson wanted to see modeled in a fantasy role playing game. Figuring out which of these mechanics may have been present from the start is a bit of a challenge, but the two 1973 drafts (Beyond This Point Be Dragons and Arneson v. Gygax) provide neat bookends. Arneson’s First Fantasy Campaign (FFC) also fills in many gaps in our knowledge.

Additional Complexities

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 19:38:49 -0600

Discerning Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor Combat System - Part 3

Decomposing AIF

We begin today by looking at Adventures in Fantasy (AIF) by David Arneson and Richard Snider (one of the fellows in the Twin Cities gaming crowd). Snider is well known for adding complexity (see reviews of Powers & Perils by Avalon Hill) though I do find Star Empires to be readable and hope to get in some play next year. Arneson had complained that OD&D differed from the material he sent to Gygax. By looking at the combat system in AIF (published in 1979), I am hoping we will garner some insight into the elements of combat that Arneson found most essential to early Blackmoor’s combat system.

The Robot is the Key

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 21:30:07 -0600

Discerning Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor Combat System - Part 1

Warning! Warning! We are entering on an area of speculation driven by an urgent need to understand the combat system Dave Arneson used in early Blackmoor. It was not Chainmail, but it had aspects borrowed from Chainmail. It was most assuredly not derived from the complex Kriegspiel —> Totten Strategos —> Strategos A(ncients) lineage, though it borrowed concepts from there as well. It also borrowed from the Fletcher Pratt naval wargame —> unnamed ACW game —> ?“Damn the Torpedoes!”? lineage. It is an amalgamation. This 4 part series will give you my best guess at how it operated. It seems quite simple in retrospect. But I’ve been at this for a while.