Lord Earl: I felt it erred too much on the end of deadliness of weapons, and effectiveness of armour. Part of the experience of the game is that it feels like a game. In this case, we have 'berserker' characters running around with items that shouldn't grant much in the way of armour, but add to the flavour of things. I'd hate to see that ruined by someone's obsession with 'realism'.
Nevermind that weapons of the era ranged widely in how sharp or dull they might be entering a fight, or halfway through, or at the end of a battle -- or that variances in metal quality could tilt the odds wildly, craftsmanship -- or that fights might result in bruises and cuts rather than outright brutality and death. The death tolls in many battles is surprisingly low compared to modern expectations of that kind of warfare.
But in general, while I like to see consistency in these games (chain should provide more protection than soft leather, a chain shirt that guards the torso but not the legs should have a high armour value on the torso and low on the legs -- not the reverse, etc), I find notions of realism to be overwrought, and generally turn things into a dull slog to get the most effective armour, which then becomes another dull slog of riding around nigh invulnerable. The RCM had a very dedicated fan base. I don't know that it was overwhelmingly popular. I felt it used a sledgehammer where a mallet tap would do. When it came to attempts at realism, I preferred Spanky's 12th/13th century mod for original M&B (though the name currently escapes me); it created consistency and fostered the feel of the era without losing the M&B feel.
so if you wanted to make that mod
