I decided to go through some classic rule sets, to re-familiarize myself with them, as well as find interesting things that can serve as inspiration.
First up: Chainmail 3rd Edition
A familiar quote, but funny to find it included in the originator: “Follow the spirit of the rules rather than the letter.”
Combat-related:
- Rounds (called turns here) are 1 minute. Guess only AD&D stuck with that (iirc).
- There are two systems of handling movement. In the Move/Counter Move System (Initiative), there is split-moving, and missile fire from those troops takes effect immediately during movement. The same is true for pass-through fire. Other missile fire takes effect two steps later during the missile fire step. In the Simultaneous Movement System (Initiative), there is also unordered melee contact after half movement (not explained => opportunity attack?).
- Split-move & Fire: For horsemen armed with bows. Half move, fire (as missile step), then half move again. Can be fire upon by opponent’s missile troops during the firing pause.
- Pass-through Fire: Stationary missile troops can fire at any enemy troops within range at the half move portion.
- I guess anyone involved in those two maneuvers can still fire during the missile phase as well? => double bow fire rate.
- Crossbows fire every turn as bows, but bows fire twice if not moving. Half movement and missile fire is possible (but also if more than half of movement is moved and they beat the opponents die roll => attack roll, since missile phase is simultaneous?). Heavy crossbows fire every other turn (get a bonus to attack roll), but half move and reloading/firing is allowed + the same rule for more than half movement, but only for firing.
- Bows are pretty powerful!
- Indirect Fire: Bows can fire over other troops at 2/3rds range and higher armor category.
- Throwing weapons can always be fired against charging troops => pass-through fire?
- Soft cover reduces missile casualties by half, but is negated by indirect fire. Arrow slits make troops missile proof.
- Missiles cannot be fired into a melee.
- Missile troops mixed with melee troops can move a bit out of melee.
- Repeating crossbows exist and fire as bows at -1 hit probability and lower range.
- Charge is possible if movement (relatively straight line for cavalry) ends in melee contact. Doesn’t seem to do anything extra besides an increase in movement? There’s an impetus bonus when charging across level terrain or down moderate slopes, added to number on the combat table. Troops charged by cavalry must check morale.
- Cavalry can Charge if Charged (at half move & half charge => dmg?), either for themselves or in support of nearby friendly units. Charge Move adds a bit more movement, more for mounted troops.
- Flanking increases attack to next higher class.
- Morale checks are not indicated, as they can occur during the missile or melee steps.
- Fatigue is applied after certain rounds of moving and melee. Effects are attacking and defending at lower value, and morale drops as well. Restored by resting for one turn. Guess where that’s where the resting rule in BX comes from.
- Complex post melee morale rule and optional complex prisoners taken rule.
- Since melee step is simultaneous, long weapons (1st round only, then shorter weapons go first) or high ground attacks first.
- Lower weapon classes (= short/light) get double or triple attacks against higher weapon classes.
- Parrying subtracts 2 from the roll in exchange for no counter attack (parrying depends on weapon classes involved, can break weapons or get counter attack if successful). That’s a pretty fun rule, could easily be imported into other system after fiddling with the specifics a bit.
- Mounted combatants gain bonuses against unmounted combatants, and horse can attack as well. Mounted combatants can be dismounted by stating intent to do so and attacking successfully. Being dismounted possibly stuns 1 or 3 turns. Remounting/dismounting voluntarily requires a half turn (?). Pretty simple mounted combat rules, I like it.
- Combat tables of weapons vs armor.
Troop-Type-related:
- Knights are basically Cavaliers, charging automatically if in range (unless obedience roll is made) and have an order of precedence of troop types to charge.
- Mercenaries are basically permanently confused unless in melee, rolling each turn for what to do.
- Commander adds bonus to morale and other rolls of attached units, but morale is checked at malus if commander is killed.
- Leaders get a +1 to all dice and their armor is considered the best for their origin.
- Berserkers are treated as leather armored + shield, despite not wearing armor, and attack at +2, but will always attack and fight to the death. That’s a class right there, basically the barbarian iirc.
- Troop Point Values! Includes additional costs for extra weapons such as pikes, ranged or artillery weapons. You could make a simple system for hiring retainers/mercenaries out of this, which I suspect is what was done for later editions.
Misc.:
- Optional weather tables for clear, cloudy and rainy. Excess heat doubles fatigue, hard rain causes mud which reduces movement by half.
- Siege rules! Ladders are indestructible, oil is deadly. Also saves against rocks.
- Jousting is done by selecting an aiming point (attack) and a position in the saddle (defense). You could make a cool swashbuckling/martial arts system out of this.
Fantasy-related:
There’s some fun things here, especially when looking at how things changed in later editions.
- The fantasy supplement figure listing made me think of a cool rpg title: Wights & Wizards.
- Halflings shoot slings as far as bows fire and gain accuracy bonuses (guess you could call them Half-Slings).
- Sprites/Pixies are invisible even during battle, but after first round can be fought normally. Can fly for 3 turns before landing.
- Dwarves/Gnomes are good at day & night and suffer only half loses against larger creatures. Hate goblins/kobolds.
- Goblins/Kobolds see in dark, but suffer in bright light. Hate dwarves/gnomes.
- Elves/Fairies are armed with deadly bows and magical swords. Can perform split-move and fire on foot. Can’t be attacked while invisible (no ability to turn invisible mentioned, guess they can just do that), but turn visible when attacking. Magical weapons add an extra die in combat. Gain bonuses against other fantastic creatures (including hero and wizard types). Elves are pretty op!
- Orcs react to light as goblins. Must roll obedience to not fight other orcs in range. Giant orcs exist.
- Heroes/Superheroes never check morale and add +1 morale to friendly units. Kill dragons with bow if rolling well enough. Rangers are hero types with +1 to attack. Enemies must check morale if a superhero approaches.
- Wizards can handle magic weaponry, become invisible until attacking, see in darkness, affect friendly and enemy morale as heroes, throw deadly missiles and cast terrible spells! Immune to normal missile fire, but must save or die against missiles from enemy wizards. Wizard missiles are fireball or lightning bolt, which destroy anything they strike (except for some creatures that get saves, dragons/elementals are only driven back by 1 move). Those are some cool wizards.
- Spells: Wizard must be undisturbed and not move. Can be counter-spelled. Number of spells & spell distance depends on level of the wizard. There’s a system for spell complexity, essentially roll to cast, effects are immediate, delayed or negated. Spell complexity goes from 1 to 6, the higher the wizard’s level, the easier spells are to cast. I guess roll to cast is the original system.
- Listed spells: Phantasmal Forces, Darkness, Wizard Light, Detection, Concealment, Conjuration of Elemental, Moving Terrain, Protection from Evil, Levitate, Slowness, Haste, Polymorph, Confusion, Halucinatory Terrain, Cloudkill, Anti-Magic Shell.
- Wraiths can fly, see in darkness, affect morale as superheroes (friendly & enemy) and paralyze by touch (actual contact or short distance away, negated by elves, heroes or wizards). Only harmed by magical weapons.
- Lycanthropes/Shape Changer are either werebears or werewolves, each brings animals of its type along (double melee capability in woods). Can see in darkness. Require four simultaneous hits by normal weapons, or one hit by magical weapon.
- Trolls/Ogres can see in darkness. Elves kill them twice as fast, hero types or magical weapons in one hit. True trolls are much more dangerous (= D&D trolls I guess), can only be killed by heroes, elementals, giants or magical weapons. Always fight alone and never check morale.
- Giants get bonuses due to oversized weapons and throw rocks without minimum range. Never check morale.
- Treants call trees to assist in combat. Immune to normal combat and must instead be set alight.
- Dragons (red) see in darkness, cause morale checks, detect hidden or invisible enemies in range and can fly. Immune to normal combat (exception being heroes). Fire breath can be done while flying overhead and kills instantly, except superheroes, dragons, wizards (save or die) and elementals. After three fire breaths, one turn must be spent stationary to regain uses. Automatically attack, similar to cavaliers (both friendly and enemy), and never check morale. Purple dragons are flightless with a venomous stinger on its tail (so it really was purple wyrm all along).
- Rocs/Wyverns/Griffons cause morale checks as heroes and detect hidden enemies in range. Never check morale.
- Elementals/Djinn/Efrett must be conjured by a wizard. Immune to normal attacks and gain bonuses against airborne/earth-bound/fire-using/water-bound creatures. Attack summoner if uncontrolled.
- Basilisk/Cockatrice turn anyone to stone who looks at their face, but superheroes and wizards get a save. Anyone touched or touching them must save (or turn to stone/die?).
- Giant spiders are unkillable by normal men, which must save or die.
- Wights/Ghouls are immune to normal missile fire, can see in darkness and are negatively effected by full light. Paralyze by touch for one turn. Zombies are the same, but with lesser attack capabilities.
- Magical weapons can be wielded by elves, hero types and wizards. Magical arrows always hit normal targets and kill fantastic opponents on a hit. Magical swords add bonuses to attack rolls and shed light (dispels darkness, but doesn’t count as full light). Magic armor subtracts from enemy attack rolls. Magical swords and armor also have morale?
- Combination Figures: Elric would be a hero type with wizardry and magic sword.
- Some creatures are good at sieges!
- Wizards can be lawful or chaotic. Magic weapons are lawful. Elves are neutral, leaning towards law.
Lots of stuff to be inspired by. Especially the fantasy stuff, from which you can pull some cool monster concepts/variations. The spell system can serve as a base for a class or replace vancian magic entirely. Some good basic systems for mounted combat, sieges, weather and (a lot of) missile combat. Most stuff will be addressed in later editions (OD&D obviously), but it’s fun to the primordial incarnation of things!