Quote from: phydeaux on July 23, 2024, 04:29:58 PMHackmaster. No other game has a combat system like this and it's not unusual for people to try it and feel like they can't go back to another game. Real shame about the non-combat system parts, though.

...and what is the combat system like?

No turns at all. Second by second combat, where attacks take a number of seconds to execute (representing finding an opening), but movement is more free. That means no, the orc is not moving around the fighter to hit the mage. The orc moves left, the fighter moves left. The orc moves right, the fighter moves right.

You'd think this would be slow, but in practice, it's actually faster than most combat systems and a lot more exciting, imo.

Quote from: phydeaux on July 24, 2024, 04:21:56 PMNo turns at all. Second by second combat, where attacks take a number of seconds to execute

Sounds like Gurps or RuneQuest. How is it different?

TinyDungeon:  Normal roll, beat a 4 on a 2d6.  Really goood? get 3d6. Really bad? 1d6.

Simple

My flavour of RPG and combat system in an RPG is Rolemaster . For sure characters can die a LOT! That I know of its one of the most lethal RPGs out there.

Naturally, like anything in this hobby, its up to what kinda game people around the table enjoy but that is my bag.  If you are at all curious to see roughly how combat works check out the following video I made a while back which gives you an insight into just how deadly this game is ... certainly not a game for everyone!!

https://youtu.be/a7cYZyhO1J4?si=3F6STZvPNiWmDAwJ

Happy Gaming to you.

Quote from: phydeaux on July 24, 2024, 04:21:56 PMNo turns at all. Second by second combat, where attacks take a number of seconds to execute (representing finding an opening), but movement is more free. That means no, the orc is not moving around the fighter to hit the mage. The orc moves left, the fighter moves left. The orc moves right, the fighter moves right.

You'd think this would be slow, but in practice, it's actually faster than most combat systems and a lot more exciting, imo.

The house rules I used for 2e for half a decade were a mix of this and rounds.  It went initiative (d10), act on you initiative roll and following actions followed as your previous action completed (moves were 10' per segment, spells = casting time, additional weapons = weapon speed, etc).  The round ends at 20.  As you said, it's a good way to do it:  intuitive, fun, tactically deep, and much easier and faster than it sounds to run.  The advantages of using rounds are that it gives a reset each round, making it easier to not lose track of things, and the initiative roll adds some unpredictability and excitement to tactics.

Mythras is my favorite right now.  The actions, maneuvers, special effects, etc just feel right.

Rolemaster is a system I got a lot of use from in a MERP campaign.  Those critical charts are worth the price of admission.

Harnmaster packs a whole lot of realistic detail in a pretty simple process.

Hackmaster has a great initiative system, with some good elements to speed combat along and provide for furious exchanges of blows to occur.

Quote from: Hixanthrope on July 23, 2024, 11:01:04 AMFor me it's systems with impulse initiative. I don't want rng in my turn order, and I want guns to be WAY faster than swords, and movement to matter. RuneQuest, Feng Shui, and Bound to None go in this direction.

This is definitely my opinion, as well, except for movement. A reflexive and organic-feeling initiative system is practically a must, and the only game I have ever played which came within an order of magnitude there is Feng Shui. It feels organic, but it isn't reflexive with all the tick-tracking, and it doesn't help that there are a lot of ties cluttering the initiative cycle. There really isn't a game out there with "good" combat, although there are some with less bad combat, and there are a few games out there which had (past tense) good combat, but didn't age well into the smartphone era.

That said, I think position rules tend to get in the way of good combat more than helping. Most ranged weapons don't actually care about where you are standing that much, and most melee weapons come with a move or shift baked into the biomechanics of an attack. The major reasons rules put emphasis on movement are for flanking or attack of opportunity rules. These tend to produce weird behavior like the 3.5 conga line, or outright break immersion because retreating from melee doesn't trigger attacks of opportunity IRL. If you think about it, the best parts of combat tend to revolve around resource management, not position.

Savage Worlds.

Fast, Furious, Fun combat with a lite crunch ruleset. Characters are distinct while fitting on an index card, and combat allows for a ton of tactical thinking and variety of options.

Plus it can handle any number of combatants easily. You can feel free to let the PCs bring a ton of allies and control them in combat, and beef up the opponents to be just as numerous.

I've ran multiple, exciting battles that have ranged in the upwards of 40 to 70 characters on the combat map.

And there really is nothing like running a Zombie Apocalpyse game and actually covering the map with Zombies, forcing your players to fight through them to escape.