Smoldering Wizard's Old-School Gaming Forums

Hey!

Its been ages, since I played old school (1996 os so). So please help me remember - what can a PC (or NPC) do in one combat round?

Since 3rd edition it has been quite simple for me - basically one move and one action. You can switch the action for second move.

How was it played in old days? Only move or action? Or something similar to 3rd edition? S&W rules are a bit ambigious on the topic.

If this is just left for the Referee - how do You rule it?

Best,

Ratmanof

Hello and welcome Ratmanof!

It is indeed ambiguous, and up to the referee to allow what they think is "reasonable". Generally this is one move and one action - where an action can be anything that might fit in one combat round, like attacking with a melee or missile weapon, digging a flask of oil out of a pack, throwing a chair, or casting a spell. As you can imagine there are lots of house rules out there. Many people draw on experience with other editions for this. The alternate combat sequence given in "White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game" (WB FMAG) is good, also there are several different sets of combat house rules laid out in Swords & Wizardry Complete that could be dropped into a White Box game (you can download PDFs of those editions here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4).

I'll add a bit about combat movement - I like to simplify this based on armor worn, it looks like this:

None/Leather: Base move of 12, combat rate of 12/3 or 4 = 40' per combat round.
Chain: Base move of 9, combat rate of 9/3 or 3 = 30' per combat round.
Plate: Base move of 6, combat rate of 6/3 or 2 = 20' per combat round.

In my games I also allow players to carry 1200 coins, no more - and at this level of encumbrance, whatever base move rate they have is reduced by 3. So a Fighter in plate armor carrying a sack of 1200 coins will move at only 10' per combat round.

If I'm the referee and you're the player, I allow you to move and to act in a combat round. "Actions" are up for discussion. You tell me what you're trying to do and I'll tell you if you can reasonably do that in a combat round (one minute in this rules set), keeping in mind environmental and other factors (is your character being directly attacked while attempting this action, for instance?).