OSR-ish game with weapon lengths?

Summary:

Are there any OSR type games that care about weapon lengths in combat?

OSR-ish game with weapon lengths?

cr0m 08 Jan 2014 23:33

I've been reading a lot of adventure stories from the pulp era lately, and one thing I've noticed comes up again and again is adventurers facing off with beasts. If the adventurer has a sword handy, he can usually keep the leopard, mastiff or giant snake at bay—or even kill it. If he doesn't have a weapon, he's usually done for. The same goes with armed vs unarmed people, and to a lesser extent, dagger vs sword or spear, etc.

Are there any OSR games or hacks that simulate this sort of thing? If I were running D&D Next, I might grant Advantage to the party with reach, but you know… I'm not.

---

Chris
Vancouver Red Box: a site for old school D&D

Re: OSR-ish game with weapon lengths?

Jedo 09 Jan 2014 02:25

The Space:1889 rules are basically an early version of the GDW house rules (but based on d6 instead of d10/d20) and they are geared toward pulpy/swashbuckling play… and melee weapons have a reach value that comes into play when facing off the Martian Barsoom-type beasties.

Re: OSR-ish game with weapon lengths?

cr0m 09 Jan 2014 20:35

Cool, thanks! I'd heard of this game but never read anything about it before.

---

Chris
Vancouver Red Box: a site for old school D&D

Re: OSR-ish game with weapon lengths?

Invincible Overlord 10 Jan 2014 01:31

Runequest 1 and 2 had weapon lengths as a significant factor in combatant's strike rank, a non-random initiative system. All else being equal, longer weapons strike first. So claws and bites would almost always attack significantly after spears or swords. Also, the beasts didn't have a shield or sword to parry with, and there was no "dodging" in these early versions. So either an animal was often killed or significantly injured before it got its chance to strike, or it sized up the situation and hung back until the pack could close in. To me, this all seems really reasonable, including the beast's assessment of its chances with something ouchy poking at it. Presumably runequesters, like the pulp heroes, are whooshing around with their weapons to daunt animal charges. My cats, of course, would just sniff and nuzzle a brandished scimitar.

Re: OSR-ish game with weapon lengths?

cr0m 09 Apr 2014 17:08

Somehow I've managed to remain completely ignorant of Runequest. Is it one of the BRP games or something completely different?

---

Chris
Vancouver Red Box: a site for old school D&D

Re: OSR-ish game with weapon lengths?

Invincible Overlord 12 Apr 2014 14:07

Runequest is the founding father of BRP. However, when its engine was used for Call of Cthulhu and then generic BRP, many of the features that worked very well for its home setting and old school play style felt like a mismatch to different genres.

Currently, Runequest 6 is a somewhat generic fantasy system that incorporates a lot of developments from offshoots of the original, like passions from Pendragon. I haven't played it, but it LOOKS like a worthy descendant of the original Ryunequest, with grounded considerations like weapon length playing a significant role.

Re: OSR-ish game with weapon lengths?

Ridiculossus 13 Apr 2014 16:04

Oh my god. Another Runequest. That is really un-funny.