[swaghauler]

Great minds think alike. I went to the Rune Quest rules too (with a little Fantasy Hero thrown in). I needed a system that allowed unfettered switching between HTH, Melee and fire combat. In my system, the characters generate a melee damage just like HTH damage. These numbers actually represent the number of DICE of damage you can do in an attack. When you launch a melee or HTH attack, you do ONE DIE (1D10 in my game) of damage for EACH point you roll under your skill. Your opponent can parry by rolling his skill. For each point he rolls under his skill he NEGATES ONE of your damage dice. The maximum HTH damage you can do is your HTH Damage Rating. The maximum Melee damage you can do is EITHER your Melee Damage Rating OR the MAX Damage Rating of the weapon you are using (whichever is LESS). The maximum damage you can parry is ALSO your HTH Damage. The Maximum Melee Damage you can parry is EITHER your Melee Damage or the weapon's MAX Damage. Parrying Melee weapons with HTH is ONE LEVEL MORE DIFFICULT and parried damage is inflicted on the parrying limb. The Defending player may reduce EVERY Parried Damage Die by the number points he rolled under his skill. Any damage dice reduced to 0 have no effect on the player who parried.

Melee weapons are given a MAX Damage. A Ballistic Pen (hardened for combat) or very small knife has a MAX Dam of 1. A bayonet has a MAX Dam of 4. a fireman's Axe has a MAX Dam of 8. You can do as much damage with a knife as you can with a rifle if your skilled enough.

I also use STUN DAMAGE. My characters' have a Stun Capacity equal to their CON + WILL (I added this stat) X 10. This regenerates at WILL + CON per minute. It is broken down like Wounds into levels (and behaves like fatigue). When STUN hits 0, your knocked out until it reaches a positive level. All HTH damage dice are STUN damage. Every 10 points of HTH STUN damage generates 1 point of wound damage. Head STUN Damage is doubled. Limb STUN is halved. All weapons do STUN too. Firearms, Spears, & knives do X1, Swords & axes are X2, Batons & clubs are X3, Explosives do X4 stun damage. This Damage system is good for teaching the players about the lethality of Twilight WITHOUT killing them. One good bar room brawl should do it.

I also use Knockdown. I figure a character's Knockdown by AVERAGING STR, AGL , & STA (Stature, which I carried over from V1). This is the number of Damage DICE (of any kind) it takes to knock you off your feet.