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(+1)(-8)

Great little game you’ve created here, packed with content in such a small book.

Some comments:

Not having an attack roll, with everyone always hitting, doesn’t seem like a good design choice. That’s where suspense and part of the fun lies, in those moments where someone’s about to die but they get saved by a miraculous hit or shot. By not having this you’re losing this and placing it all on the damage die, which is a guaranteed roll if you attack. The satisfaction of getting better at combat (not just an increase in hp) is also lost by going down this path. 

Light armour (1 AP) and heavy armour (also 1 AP):

Light armour includes a shield. What about heavy armour with a shield?

I’m going to run it with these house rules:

Opposed attack vs defence rolls, combatants add a level/HD bonus, damage die are exploding. Light armour is 1 AP, heavy 2, shield 1. Armour is ineffective/bypassed on attack rolls over 16. 

Cool little game, I hope to see some supplements and adventures in the future. 

(+12)(-2)

Please try playing without an attack roll first!

Of course, it may not be for everyone. But I can assure you that after years of play it is a well thought-out design choice that creates fast, interesting combat where strategic choices really matter, and it leaves plenty of time in the session for more adventure.

(1 edit) (+8)(-2)

Why bother paying for this wonderful game if you're just going to turn it into every other D&D / OSR game? Part of it's charm is that lack of attack role.

You should try playing it rules-as-written before applying some untested theory-craft to it. It's clearly not an oversight by the designer -- e.g. check out the praise on this very page for this exact decision.

(+3)(-1)

That's a primary design feature of Into the Odd.

(+2)(-1)

In this type of OSR game, combat is a failure state. If your group finds themselves facing an enemy in straightforward combat where all they're doing is pitting their numbers against the enemy's numbers, they've already messed up. The lack of an attack roll is not an oversight, it's a thought-out design decision to emphasize this principle.

If you rush into combat you WILL get hit every time you get attacked. That's a fact players have to deal with by finding ways to manipulate the situation to their advantage to gain the upper hand. There is no miraculous dice roll that's coming to save a player who's about to die, so it's up to the player to create these miracles themselves by engaging with their situation inside the fiction.

(-1)

This is exactly what I was looking for! I really enjoy almost everything about this game except for that single choice (attacks always hit.) I wasn’t a fan of it in Into the Odd either. 

But everything else is fantastic!