Parry and Close combat

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Carrot

This might be a psychic imprint from THE OTHER GAME THAT SHALL NOT BE MENTIONED though...

You know that SJG doesn't give a fig if you mention Dungeons and Dragons, right?

More on topic, I think that's just training from D&D 3e+ - in DFRPG (and GURPS and a lot of other games) you don't get "free" attacks from the enemy moving near you. You also don't get a free attack when they walk around you (like you would in D&D 3e+) and when they make a ranged attack adjacent to you, and the various other situations where D&D gives out free attacks.

Attacks of Opportunity are a game mechanic designed to artificially enforce behavior on the game board for game design reasons.