The thread on combat time got me thinking.

What is the most fun combat system you've played? Why is it your favourite combat system? (putting aside other parts of the wider system)

For me... I'm not sure.

I loved the old dragon warriors because it was quick, had armour bypass rolls, and folks HP didnt go up much over time.
I loved 2e shadowrun for the stun/wound tracks, dodge pool, and how a little pistol can be deadly if you have enough skill with it. Also quick.
I liiiike D&D cause fighting fantasy monsters is fun. But I'm not sure I actually like the system behind it all that much. Tends to take a while, which I generally dislike.

The one with the great players at the table.

I love combat in RPGs, but as long as the system is quick, its a good baseline for me. But the coolness of the combat comes from the players interacting with threats in my game world in interesting ways - aka using spells in different ways, fresh tactics, fun one-liners, etc.

But if we are just rating systems, then I gotta put Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1e) high up on the list because of the speed and crazy criticals.

GURPS, which is fast enough and narrates detail nicely.  Rolemaster is also fairly well set up and fast if you run it in parallel rather than serial.  All told though, I prefer GURPS combat as I never have to fight with it to reason out what happened.  It's the character creation on RMSS that I love.

Harnmaster, Fantasy Age, and GURPS in that order. Harnmaster for it unique hit point less design, Fantasy Ages for it Stunt mechanic, and GURPS which is just simply awesome can be handled very basically or with tons of detail.

DwD Studios' BareBones Fantasy. Combat is light with enough variation for fun, and a reasonable chance of "exploding dice" that can give really fun results.

My other favorite is from our homebrew system. Fixed damage by level. Opposed single die each rolls for combat. Simple to determine what size dice to roll. Quick to resolve. And fun results for both critical and fumble rolls.

Hands down, Marvel Superheroes Advanced (FASERIP!).  Love, love, love using the charts for combat.  D&D has always been good at scratching the itch.

Mongoose Traveller is quick and easy, because it's simple task checks. Lame players can still slow combat down to wargame speed. Just keep them away from the game table is all.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1000324Mongoose Traveller is quick and easy, because it's simple task checks. Lame players can still slow combat down to wargame speed. Just keep them away from the game table is all.

You should try a roleplaying game sometime.

Ninjas and Superspies is kind of fun using the Palladium system where defenders actually get to oppose attackers. All the silly martial arts are fun to play and describe.

James Bond 007 and Mayfair DC Heroes I always enjoyed as well.

Flashing Blades is incredibly cool as your decisions to use different weapons and different attack or defense postures actually affect the outcome. The only downside is there can be a lot of modifiers to keep track of as a ref. As a player it's not bad because you really only need to know the ones that apply for your character and weapon of choice. Flashing Blades is probably the best I've played.

Actually, as I think about it I'll add Palladium's rules from Mechanoid Invasion Book III and The Palladium Fantasy Roleplaying Game first edition.  The strike parry dodge system is brilliant, the weapons are distinguished by how they are used and are good at the things they should be good at, and the system is clean, simple, direct, stays well within its probability range.  A great, tight system.  It's a shame they fell into the clutter of later editions.

Apocalypse World 1e. I've played and enjoyed GURPS and Fantasy Craft and other more tactical systems, but I'm just not that much of a tactical wargames person, so the AW approach worked great for me. When combat happened, it was over within a few rolls, and we were able to move on to the stuff far more interesting to me. I was the combat-heavy Touchstone playbook, and I felt that the system really rewarded my choices when it came time to throw down. I also enjoyed all the options that could diffuse tension and remove the need for combat altogether, assuming you rolled well of course. Some basic Moves were pretty good for that, and some of the playbooks had Moves that could help further still. I haven't tried out 2e yet; I'm trying to reserve judgement, but the addition of a bunch of combat-specific moves(instead of just using the basic and playbook moves you already have creatively) rubs me the wrong way.

If I want to go detailed and tactical, it's usually some flavor of RuneQuest. Hit locations, critical hits/fumbles, weapon effects.
If I want to go abstract, but still retain an evocative combat, I'd use something more along the lines of Call of Cthulhu or an edition of Stormbringer.

Generally, the same rules-backbone but with sliding degrees of complexity based on what I'm in the mood for. Why? Because it's enjoyable to me.

Ranked order of fun in combat systems from best to least best (considering only good ones - everything here is a reasonable choice):

The Fantasy Trip
Flashing Blades
Behind Enemy Lines
Runequest
Boot Hill (2E preferred)
GURPS (basically TFT with all the options you could imagine, and thus a bit too slow)
Dragonquest (hybrid of 1E action points and other rules from 2E preferred)
1E Chivalry and Sorcery (kind of a crazy game, but if you know how to play combat can be a gas)
Any form of D&D after OD&D and before 3E (a counter intuitive pick, but great for diversity, speed and big melees)

Some flavor of BRP, (Mythras, Magic World, Openquest, CoC) depending on the need for crunchy detail... GURPS because it's so intuitive... and then DCC for it 'mighty deed' mechanic.

CP2020's Interlock. Fast, lethal, tactical.

Talislanta's house system is similar in weight (not actual mechanics). Don't need a lot of overheard, has room for narrative elements - just roll and compare and let the body-parts fly.