JasonPacker

Having run a few combats in RQ6 recently, I can say that player fluency with the system does help keep things from bogging down. Over a very few sessions, your players will learn what special effects they can use, which ones feel effective to them, and will develop signature styles that they return to with some regularity. Some never get past the called shot to the face, while others become enamored of trips or disarms. My biggest gripe with RQ6/Legend combat as compared to BRP is the lack of a non-sacrificial Dodge. One can always choose to Evade an attack, but one winds up prone in the process. This feels wrong to me, and all of the assertions by others that it is more realistic don't help with my qualms. It really is one of the only things keeping me from embracing RQ6 wholeheartedly.

You'll also find that combat actions (typically 2 or 3 per turn) have a good deal of weight, and that's another area where familiarity with the system will pay off. Otherwise there could be long pauses while a player decides whether or not to parry a missed attack, hoping for an interesting special effect, or if it makes more sense to hold onto that CA for an attack instead.

To my mind, the DEX Rank/Strike Rank rules in BRP are more finely grained, and allow for a greater impact from managing one's time resources well. I'm guessing that more often than not it's detail that isn't necessary, but it most assuredly does change the calculus on who acts when, and in what ways.

RQ6 also uses HP/location as a threshold for wound severity, so depending on the system you choose in BRP, you might find that working better or worse for you in terms of dialing up or down the deadliness of the system.

I decided to scientifically test out the sturdiness of the BRP hardcover, by rigorously beating it with the first object that came to hand. My conclusion was that the book was perfectly capable of withstanding multiple blows from a plank of wood...provided you removed all the protruding nails first. Unfortunately I didn't and now the book is a shredded mess.

Funny, my usual first target for a rigorous beating was the head of a recalcitrant player. Once creased the cover of a Dungeon Masters' Guide across the cranium of my friend Tom...

I am very partial to Classic Fantasy, and it is remarkably true to old school D&D right out of the gate. I suspect you'd be very pleased with it. The magic system uses the standard BRP magic, supplemented with spells to more closely emulate AD&D. Just read through it last night and looking forward to playing it.

I was thinking that SR could be broken down into Speed and Reach. Could determine WHEN a character acts during the round, but reach could work much like in D20, determining what targets are viable.

This would be even easier using the Classic Fantasy minis rules. I'm still not 100% sold on Actions as presented, but reach ought to be easy enough to deal with in that situation.

If I were looking to make such distinctions I'd look at weapon timing, weight and reach mechanics: halberds are a pig to use IME, as the are very head-heavy, so the finesse for reliable hooking is trickier (more effort to get the head moving, and to control it), but they impact harder; the ranseur in contrast is light and nimble; well adapted for hooking (well, pinning, technically, albeit I often fought using one with small back curving blades as well as the main trident like layout), but lacks the impact of a halberd.

So, if you were interested in that level of granularity, what is the best mechanic for dealing with weapon timing? Using the Strike Rank optional rules and giving the ranseur a lower SR than the halberd?

Layec, really looking forward to seeing the results. Hope you'll put them up for download when you are done.