Narrative over mechanics - Revenge of the Number

Players that have had some involvement in my games will probably tell you that I am forever striving for a decent combat system.  A combat system which does not slow-up the game, but which is yet authentic, realistic and dangerous - whilst also being flexible.

Can this be achieved?

My current take on it - a take that has been developing over the last ten years or so, is that combat should be intrepetive, like all game rules, IMHO.  Looking up tables, adding and subtracting a variety of bonuses etc. etc. all slows down the game into a number-crunching nightmare that steals the passion and excitement from the scene.  Yet I still believe it is important to have a final, random, dangerous element - so anyone entering into combat cannot be sure they won't die, or lose a limb or whatever.  Part of the enjoyment of roleplaying is not quite knowing where the story is going, and this is almost as true for the GM as it is for the players.  For the players, they are exploring a world, a narrative, and they really don't (or shouldn't) know what's in store for them.  But for the GM, the players, by their actions which of course the GM does not dictate, also modify the story.  But the dice do this also.  Through the success or failure of the players' actions, and to a certain extent, the actions of NPCs too - the story can shift and change dramatically.

As a GM I tend to use dice rolls in a variety of ways.  Firstly, in order to propel the story forward, the majority of incidental rolls (players finding stuff, overhearing stuff etc.) if its required to happen to drive the story forward and keep the pace going I employ the 'Gygax Rule' and roll the dice just for the sound of it.  Effectively ignoring the result.  Sometimes I need a little inspiration myself though, and if its not critical to drive the narrative forward, and I determine that a little randomness can provide for an interesting divergence or outcome, I will roll the dice and allow that randomness to tweak the direction things are going in.  How an NPC reacts to the players' behaviour for example (if its not critical to the story).  Barmaids fancying the dashing paladin, or the quirky mage, that kind of thing.  And then, at some critical tense scenes, I deliberately go against the grain, and roll the dice right in front of the players so there is no hiding it.  Because contrary to what John Wick says, drama can be derived from randomness, and I have witnessed many a heroic death brought about by the dice.

So as I strive to make combat effective, thrilling and yet dangerous -this is how I achieve it:

For the sake of expediency, combat rolls are heavily interpreted, I don't use table or charts and I pad out the dice results with description.  As I believe I mentioned in an earlier post, I use a 'tweak die' to generically influence how successful something was.  So the basic rolls determine success or failure, and the tweak dice determine the extent of the success or failure.  As combat is a fluid thing, one decent success, or epic failure can lead you into an advantageous position, or a leave you prone to further mishaps.  I use the dice rolls to embellish and describe the combat events that occur.  And this necessarily leads on to dramatic fights.  A series of fails can eventually lead a player to the point where the next blow from the enemy could be devastating.  And this is where the drama and story-telling come in.  After a series of four failed rolls, or poor tweaks the player is on his back, having been disarmed and his attacker looms over him, sword raised to finish him off - and it is that point that I will roll directly in front of the other players - but it is also at that point that another player can intervene, turn, and hurl their own axe at the looming attacker.

Such descriptions cannot be achieved when counting hit points.  I don't think.  Hit points take into account all that drama but distil it down into a mere integer.  What I'm suggesting is removing the numbers and interpreting the results of the dice, descriptively.

Play-testing awaits.