Armor Class, Hit Points and other strange words of RPGs: between real history and tabletop legends

Pubblicato il 18/12/2025

When naval wargames shaped role-playing games

Many of the concepts we now consider fundamental to role-playing games were not born around a fantasy table, but have their roots in military wargames, especially the naval and strategic ones of the twentieth century. This is not a nostalgic suggestion or a community legend, but a documented fact supported by original rulebooks, authors’ notes, and historical studies on the birth of Dungeons & Dragons.

Understanding these origins allows us to read modern mechanics with greater awareness, clearly distinguishing what comes from a precise technical heritage from what was added later for narrative or gameplay needs.

Armor class

Armor Class is one of the clearest examples of this heritage. In naval wargames, ships were classified based on the level of protection of their hull. This system was not meant to define elegance, but to determine how difficult it was to pierce the armor.

With the arrival of Chainmail and later Dungeons & Dragons, this principle was adapted to character combat. Armor was not yet a narrative element, but a numerical value measuring resistance to being hit. The logic is exactly the same as that of naval regulations: the higher the protection, the harder it is to deal damage.

Hit points

Hit Points come from the same context. In wargames, damage was not represented by a single decisive blow, but by a progressive loss of structural integrity of a ship or a unit. A vessel did not sink after the first hit, but only after a series of effective strikes.

Dave Arneson used this principle in his early experimental campaigns, and Gary Gygax adapted it into D&D by turning it into the characters’ reserve of endurance. Once again, this was not a brand new invention, but a direct adaptation of a mechanic already well established in simulation games.

Levels and experience

The concept of level did not originate as a narrative element, but as an indicator of quality and effectiveness. In wargames, a unit could be a recruit, a veteran, or an elite force. Each rank represented a different degree of battlefield reliability.

Dungeons & Dragons translated this idea into character growth. Each level represents an increase in skill, resilience, and capability. The structure is the same, only the context changes.

Experience Points also directly derive from wargame scoring systems, where points were awarded for objectives achieved and enemy units defeated. Arneson transformed this tactical score into a system of personal and continuous character advancement.

Campaign

The term campaign did not originate in role-playing games, but in military language. It refers to a series of connected operations within the same theater of war. In historical wargames, it was already used to simulate conflicts extending over time.

In role-playing games, this concept remains almost unchanged. A campaign is a sequence of linked adventures, set in the same world, with characters who evolve over time.

The same applies to the concept of encounter. In military regulations, an encounter is the moment two units come into operational contact. In RPGs, it becomes the scene in which characters interact with enemies, obstacles, or critical situations.

Dungeon

The dungeon was not originally conceived as a narrative location, but as a closed operational space. The first room and corridor maps derive directly from wargame grids used to simulate combat and movement in restricted environments.

Likewise, in early editions, monsters were not treated as creatures to be described narratively, but as true tactical units. Each creature was defined through Armor Class, Hit Points, attacks, and morale. Exactly like a military unit on a technical data sheet.

Morale

Morale is a statistic that today rarely appears in modern RPGs, but it was central in historical wargames. It was used to determine when a unit would retreat, break formation, or surrender.

In the early editions of Dungeons & Dragons, morale is still present as a value for monsters. Not everyone fights to the death. Some flee, others yield, others scatter. This too is a direct legacy of military simulation.

Polyhedral dice and probability simulation

Polyhedral dice, now a symbol of role-playing games, were not invented for D&D. They were already used in some wargames and in recreational mathematics.

What Dungeons & Dragons did was systematize their use and make them an integral part of a recognizable gaming language. The simulation of probability, risk, and uncertainty comes directly from this tradition.

Knowing the real origins of role-playing game terms and mechanics takes nothing away from their magic. On the contrary, it allows us to better appreciate their depth and evolution. RPGs were not born from a single creative act, but from a stratification of experiences, regulations, and intuitions that come from far away.

Behind every Armor Class and every Hit Point, even before fantasy, there is the history of the simulation of war transformed into shared storytelling.

Blog Armor Class, Dungeons & Dragons, Hit Points, RPG mechanics, tabletop gaming, wargames