Well I'm in the middle of running a game at present and am settling down well with extended contests in combat. I quickly ran through three (!) last week, keeping the AP tallies, advising on the bid (though not always letting on), pre calced auto augments, and letting the players focus on the descriptions and dice rolling. I think it works well.
However! In my back pocket was my 'get out of narrativist' jail card in case I was faced with civil disorder.
All Player Heroes have the following wound levels:
Scratched -1
Hurt -2
Wounded -5
Seriously Wounded - half traits
Incapacitated (or Not quite dead if in Python mode)- Out for the count
Dead (on the cart)
Other charaters can have one or more wound levels depending on how important they are. If cannon fodder they have one wound level.If a huge boss monster give them lots with early ones being things like 'Distracted -1' or 'Somewhat Inconvenienced -2' or 'Noticed you really for the first time -3' :-)
Glass beads can be used to mark wound levels or even a pencil and paper..
Combat is a series of simple contests. with a series of results something like this:
Critical/Fumble = 3 wound levels Critical/Failure = 2 wound levels Critical/Success = 1 wound level Critical/Critical = Something mutually spectacular - Narrator decides Success/Fumble = 2 wound levels Success/Failure = 1 wound levels Success/Success = Lowest roll gets a +5 positional advantage next rollFailure/Fumble = +5 positional advantage next roll Failure/Failure = Lowest roll gets a +5 positional advantage next roll Fumble/Fumble = Something mutually bad happens (including possibly mutual -1 wound levels)
I toyed with having 'Tough' traits being used to shrug off Wound Levels as further simple contests, or 'Ignore Pain' traits ignoring the penalty but taking the wound level.
Not complicated, simple to apply, but haven't felt the need to use. This isn't tested and would need a bit more thought before using.
Cheers
-- Graham "Live free, die well"
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