Gotta Go Fast

Yesterday, I found myself involved in a fascinating conversation on Discord about running. Not running games, no ... running during an encounter in the Basic D&D tradition.

Adventurers showing survival instincts / cowardice

I will start here where I started yesterday: with the rules presented in Old-School Essentials. They are pretty clear. You can only run away, and only during a pursuit. 

I will call attention to the phrase "characters run at their full movement rate." I glossed over this when I initially read it. Since you find this section in the Encounters - Evasion and Pursuit portion of the rules, I assumed it meant the character's full encounter speed (usually 20'/30'/40' per round). However, compare that to the OSE section on retreating from melee:

See how the rules specifically state full encounter movement rate in this portion. So, first a character must declare a retreat. Then, the character may move 20'/30'/40' away. Finally, if they're still out of melee in the next round, they may begin to run (using their full or exploration movement speed; 3x encounter speed) and the enemy may pursue (starting the Evasion and Pursuit procedure). Well, wait ... can they? According to OSE: no.

So, OSE implies that you can only run (or, flee at 3x encounter movement speed) during Evasion and Pursuit, and that you can only trigger Evasion and Pursuit before combat has begun. That's kind of a strange limitation, but okay.

Then yesterday, on Discord, user @dcullina called to my attention that this isn't exactly how Moldvay Basic reads. Moldvay basically defines running in the same way, though it is more clear that when a character runs, they move at 3x encounter movement speed (a.k.a. your exploration movement speed, or full movement speed, as OSE calls it).

However, the paragraph on retreating differs in an important way:

Importantly, this paragraph does not specify that you can only move at your full encounter movement rate, as OSE does. It states "any movement at more than 1/2 of your normal movement rate." To @dcullina (and to me), that means that you could retreat and move your normal movement rate or run at 3x your normal movement rate.

Okay, maybe we're splitting hairs; reading into it too far. Maybe. But, check out what Moldvay writes on Evasion:

The caveat about "if [...] combat has not yet begun" in this excerpt seems to be a stipulation for evasion being automatic, not for the ability to evade altogether (as in OSE). You can try to avoid an encounter whenever you want, but if you've already engaged the enemy, it can't be an automatic success.

So, let's recap. In Old-School Essentials:

• If you wish the retreat from melee, you must move away at your encounter movement rate.
• Even if you get out of melee, you still cannot move at 3x your encounter movement rate for the rest of this encounter.

And, in Moldvay Basic:

• If you wish to retreat from melee, you can decide to run, moving at 3x your encounter movement rate (and suffering the normal penalties for retreating).
• If you are outside of melee, you can decide to run at any time, moving at 3x your encounter movement speed and not being able to do anything else (map, attack, etc.).

There is more to debate here. And, to be fair to the author of OSE, Gavin Norman, he does mentioned this in his Author's Notes:

Gavin clarified on Discord that the later edition to which he referred is likely Mentzer Basic, specifically this passage:

To me, the most interesting question is why can't characters run away at full speed once combat has been joined in OSE? I don't see that restriction as clear-cut in either Moldvay or Mentzer. And, for me, I find that the game works better when you give players an option to retreat (unless they make decisions that get themselves into a really bad spot).

All of this kind of points to the absurdity of getting hung up on "rules as written." Everyone views rules through a different lens. Which interpretation is right? Whichever one works for your table.