STRIKING MECHANICS

When my brother and I were young, manufacturers produced an knee-high athletic sock with no heel. Sock manufacturers could save money by making a "one-size-fits-all" sock. We, as consumers, bought them (don't ask why). I still have pictures of my in my teens with tube socks.

My brother and I loved all things medieval and fantasy. By my brother's urging, I read Lord of the Rings at 14, and then the Hobbit, shortly after. But reading wasn't enough, so we had to go a step further. We invented a game that we called "Swingball." In Swingball, you'd take one sock in a pair of tube socks, and roll it into a ball. You then push the balled-up sock as deep into the other sock as possible, and grab the other end of the sock at the top. This created, in effect, a SOFT morningstar/flail, which we later found not to be all that soft after all.

So anyway, we'd stand across from each other, and whack each other with these "swingballs," simulating medieval combat with morningstars. And we'd do it for hours. And hours. And days, and weeks. We later went on to fashion cardboard shields, which *did* do some good. However, we found that "soft" swingballs could quickly chew chunks out of a cardboard shield with little more than a few whacks.

But I digress...

The point is that in the simplest form, one combatent would strike, and the other would either dodge or counterattack. If the blow was coming your way, you could get a pretty good idea of whether or not it would hit, before you got your chance to strike back. Try it--you'll see for yourself!

Any, this first-hand experience led to the fundamental game mechanics of DCG striking and dodging. One character must roll his DX or less to hit. The opponent can view the hit roll before deciding whether to dodge or to counterattack.

In all, a simple mechanic, but based in the real-life experience of the soft, yet painful "Swing Ball!"

DCG Adventures