in the 1st Edition DMG page 61, Gygax discusses the idea of heroic combat versus realistic simulation combat:
"Combat is divided into 1 minute period melee rounds, or simply rounds, in
order to have reasonably manageable combat. "Manageable" applies
both to the actions of the combatants and to the actual refereeing of such
melees. It would be no great task to devise an elaborate set of rules for
highly complex individual combats with rounds of but a few seconds
length. It is not in the best interests of an adventure game, however, to
delve too deeply into cut and thrust, parry and riposte. The location of a hit
or wound, the sort of damage done, sprains, breaks, and dislocations are
not the stuff of heroic fantasy. The reasons for this are manifold.
As has been detailed, hit points are not actually o measure of physical
damage, by and large, as far as characters (and some other creatures as
well) are concerned. Therefore, the location of hits and the type of
damage caused are not germane to them. While this is not true with
respect to most monsters, it is neither necessary nor particularly useful. Lest
some purist immediately object, consider the many charts and tables
necessary to handle this sort of detail, and then think about how area
effect spells would work. In like manner, consider all of the nasty things
which face adventurers as the rules stand. Are crippling disabilities and
yet more ways to meet instant death desirable in an open-ended, episodic
game where participants seek to identify with lovingly detailed and
developed player-character personae? Not likely! Certain death is as undesirable
as a give-away campaign. Combat is a common pursuit in the
vast majority of adventures, and the participants in the campaign deserve
a chance to exercise intelligent choice during such confrontations. As hit
points dwindle they can opt to break off the encounter and attempt to flee.
With complex combat systems which stress so-called realism and feature
hit location, special damage, and so on, either this option is severely
limited or the rules are highly slanted towards favoring the player
characters at the expense of their opponents. (Such rules as double
damage and critical hits must cut both ways ~ in which case the life
expectancy of player characters will be shortened considerably - or the
monsters are being grossly misrepresented and unfairly treated by the
system. I am certain you can think of many other such rules.)"
Gygax, G. (1979). Dungeon Masters Guide. Random House, Inc.: New York, NY
