The first person in our group to buy D&D back when it was the 3 paperback set completely rewrote the rules before we ever played. Everything had a speed, an attack rating (such as 2D12+2) and a block rating (such as 1D6). So if I tried to hit you with my broadsword, I would role my weapon speed to see if it actually struck you. He was heavily into martial arts and firmly believed a lightly armored man could mostly evade someone in heavy armor with a heavy sword. So if I hit, you would start with your defense. You might roll 1D4-1 for your foil. Then roll 1D6 for your small shield (after rolling against its weight to see if it got there in time). If you blocked with your foil, there would be a minus to your shield. Then you would roll against your leather armor which might be 1d6. At that point, anything left is blocked by meat. Body parts could take so much damage, so if I gave 5 to your left arm, you would lose your ability to use that arm. Weapons took damage, seldom in a long battle would one finish with the sword they started with and anything slashing, cutting, or stabbing began losing effectiveness long before that.
Tactics mattered, if we could get 2 people attacking one, the one couldn't attempt to dodge both, couldn't block against both unless they gave up their attack.
We played that way all through high school. I came to college and played my first D&D and had no concept what I was playing. And they had no idea why I thought I could block with my weapon.
He also invented an alchemist class. The alchemist had to collect stuff to make potions, poisons, and, well, bombs. So we would attack some monsters just because he needed their slime, or blood, or whatever. That character was real weak to begin with, but by 10th level it was far and away more powerful than anything. A thermite bomb fired from a sling was unstoppable by almost anything that didn't have fire resistance.