Combat in Dragon Warriors, 1985...

This is the cartoon from the 1985 Dragon Warriors gamebook and RP system. It's across two pages, so read each page down, then diagonally across. A surprising number of rules were 'demonstrated' by Sir Balin, including falling, pit traps, and firing arrows at goblins in the distance in the dark...

Admittedly, most long term players have altered these simple and elegant rules slightly - shields, variable damage, splitting defence, but the fundamental basis is there, and it didn't involve THACO or any arcane charts.