Re: Thought for the day

Martin Bazley wrote:

> In a distant and second-hand set of dimensions, the words of The
> Wanderer  filtered slowly through the cosmos...
> 
>> Antoine wrote:
>> 
>>> (lifted off oook with modifications):
>>> 
>>> All missile weapons should have massive to-hit penalties at point
>>> blank range. ("The hill orc is too close to shoot! You miss the
>>> hill orc.")
>> 
>> This idea crops up in many places in fantasy, and it has never made
>> much sense to me.
>> 
>> As long as you can still pull back the bow and point it in roughly
>> the correct direction...
> [snip]
>> Is there something I'm missing about "primitive/medieval missile
>> weapons" in general which would make the trope of "hard to hit
>> things at very close range" make sense?
>> 
> Yes - not having enough room to pull back the bow.

As I acknowledged in the part snipped, this would apply for longbows and
perhaps for shortbows, but would not seem to apply for crossbows and
might also not apply for slings and so forth.

Also, that would make it impractical or impossible to fire at all, but
that is not the same as making it harder to hit once that is overcome.
(A few possible explanations for this have been posted by others.)

-- 
    The Wanderer

    My usual .sig is on vacation while I adjust to my new computer