So, here's the combat system I've been testing.  It's heavily based on ideas ripped from Risus and Tunnels & Trolls.  This is a very basic and stripped down description.

One little note I want to add is that I prefer running one on one games.  Therefore, this idea is very geared towards running a single player character and handling NPCs as simply as possible.  The general short shrift given to characters who aren't the "leader" is intentional.  It's a feature, not a bug.

The first step for a combat round is the Opening Description.  The GM sets the stage for what the enemies are doing.  The player plot outs what things they'd like to do without specifying results.  The order of the day is for the player to be descriptive and set a cool combat scene.  Ex: "I want to swing from the chandelier, hacking at the thugs as I pass, ending my swing on the alternate balcony engaging in a duel with the Baron Blackthorne."

A Combat Pool is determined for every participant in a combat.  This is determined by adding together the ratings of relevant Attributes, Traits, and weapons.  Here are a couple of examples:

Battle Droid (Henchman)
Reflex Attribute = 1
Droid Soldier Trait = 2
Stupid Blaster = 1
Combat Pool = 4 per Battle Droid

Jedi Asskicker (Champion)
Reflex Attribute = 3
Jedi Knight Trait = 4
Lightsaber = 3
Combat Pool = 10

Note that the Battle Droids are "Henchmen" and the Jedi Asskicker is a "Champion."  This will be important later in the damage rules.  Champions can take more damage than Henchmen, and this is determined by their relevant Combat Trait.

Good description in the Opening Description phase results in a bonus to the Combat Pool.  The cooler or more plausible and strategic it is, the larger the bonus to the Combat Pool, although it's usually about 1 to 3.  I'd probably give the "Baron Blackthorne" example above a 3.  Just about any description is worth at least a bonus of 1.

Next, the combatants are divided into two sides.  When there's only one combatant on a side, then it's Combat Dice are easy to determine.  They get a number of Combat Dice equal to their Combat Pool.  Assuming the Jedi Asskicker above is alone in the battle, he rolls 10 dice.

When there are multiple combatants on a side, one character must be selected as a leader.  This will usually (but not always) be the one with the highest Combat Pool.  The leader will roll dice equal to his Combat Pool.  The others on his side will assist the roll by adding their Combat Pool in pips to the total roll.  So, if there were two Battle Droids, one of them would roll 4 Combat Dice (his Combat Pool) and the other would add 4 pips to the roll.

Once each sides' Combat Dice are determined, each side rolls and compares the total rolls.  The side that rolls highest is the Attacker.  The side the rolls lower is the Defender.  If both sides are tied then neither side is Attacker or Defender.

There are two main forms of damage: Stun and Shock.  Two Stun equal one Shock after damage application.  Stun is transient and is removed after enduring it for a round if you can avoid more damage.  There are also two forms of Shock: Trait Shock and Attribute Shock.  Both are inflicted in the same way.  Trait Shock is transient, but more serious than Stun, as it is removed but only after combat is over.  Attribute Shock is serious and semi-permanent damage representing genuine wounds and such.

We represent Stun with Green glass beads.  Shock is represented by red glass beads.  Attribute Shock is reprsented by skull counters.

How are these types of damage inflicted?

The Attacker automatically inflicts one Stun by virtue of rolling higher.  In addition, for every 5 full points they roll over the Defender, they inflict one Shock.

Both sides inflict one Stun for every die that came up a natural 1.

Both sides recieve counters to represent the Damage Pool they get to assign during the following step.  Both sides can trade sets of two Stun tokens for a Shock token at this step.  Also, the Attacker and Defender can discard Shock damage that they could otherwise inflict in order to remove a Trait Shock token from a damaged character.

Now, with this Damage Pool determined, The GM and player describe the scene of combat.  As the conflict is described, damage is assigned to  targets.  This is usually a back and forth operation with the GM placing some damage of the enemies and the player placing some damage his side inflicted and then repeating until all the damage markers are assigned to targets.

After the back and forth description is completed, the round is over and damage is resolved.

If a target has two Stun counters on them, then the two Stun counters change into a Shock.

If a target has a Stun counter on it from last round, and has taken no new Stun this round, the Stun counter is removed.

If the target is a "Henchman" any Shock markers it has are changed to Attribute Shock markers (skulls).

If the target is a "Champion" any Shock markers it has beyond it's Combat Trait rating are changed to Attribute Shock markers (skulls).  The regular Shock markers are Trait Shock, and a Champion can absorb an amount of Trait Shock equal to his relevant Combat Trait.  Ex: The Jedi above would take no Attribute Shock until he had 4 Trait Shock (his Jedi Knight Trait).  Damage beyond 4 Shock would become Attribute Shock.

Any character which has more Attribute Shock (skulls) than his Durability Attribute (usually Body for regular combat), is defeated.

Any character which still has a Stun marker on them has their Combat Pool reduced by 1 next round.

Combat rounds continue as necessary.

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So far, I've run several isolated combat tests.  The rule about Stun damage on natural 1s was added after the first few test runs showed that a slight combat advantage made the whole thing very one sided.  The idea being that more highly skilled characters will throw more dice and therefore will inflict more damage through this route.  I'm still not entirely sold on it, but I don't know of a good alternate method.  On the plus side, it makes fights go a lot quicker.  

Duels against superior opponents tend to be much more entertaining.  The player narrates all kinds of things trying to generate the bonus dice needed to roll higher than the opponent.

The whole damage procedure of swapping out tokens sounds complicated above, but in my test runs it's extremely intuitive.  The only thing which tends to get futzed up is the carryover Stun.  Does this guy keep his Stun next round?  I think if we use another color token to represent this little hobgoblin that it might fix the problem.

I'm not too pleased with the damage reversing mechanics.  However, it's a part I really want in there.  I want it to represent the back and forth nature of a conflict.  Trait Shock isn't really damage.  It's more of a concept of being thrown off balance or pushed back or otherwise being pushed into a disadvantageous position.  Trait Shock is that Luck and Skill we've read about so long in relation to HPs.

I'd like to see a fully played out example with actual dice rolls. It seems that it might short shift the PC's whose individuality is important to them (usually.)

What about a fixed die pool, with the combat pool as modifier?