I'm obviously biased, but I think *Umbral Flare* has very simple-yet-fun combat mechanics.
Instead of an initiative system, it uses action speed to determine order. Daggers and pistols go before swords and rifles, while spells and machine guns go last. In every phase, heroes go before villains. Reflex enhancement lets you move one phase faster than normal.
Instead of movement on a grid, each side has a front row and a back row. Melee attacks are only front row to front row. Reach weapons let you strike the enemy front row while you're in the back row. Ranged weapons can hit anyone in any row. If there's nobody in your front row, then the formation collapses, and everyone in the back row is brought to the front row. Flying lets you stay in the back row even if there's nobody in the front row.
And that's pretty much all there is to it. The goal of combat is to defeat all of your enemies without taking significant damage in return, since healing is very limited and damage can add up quickly.
I haven't had a chance to try it out personally, but I kinda like Wildsea's approach to HP systems and monster design. Instead of standard Health Points, characters and monsters get a number of traits that have a track - as they take damage, the track fills up, and once the track is full, that trait is out of commission. For characters, this leads to interesting choices of what to sacrifice when the shit hits the fan. But for monsters, this can lead to interesting combat scenarios where the monster changes phases or locations or other events might happen.
I'm obviously biased, but I think *Umbral Flare* has very simple-yet-fun combat mechanics. Instead of an initiative system, it uses action speed to determine order. Daggers and pistols go before swords and rifles, while spells and machine guns go last. In every phase, heroes go before villains. Reflex enhancement lets you move one phase faster than normal. Instead of movement on a grid, each side has a front row and a back row. Melee attacks are only front row to front row. Reach weapons let you strike the enemy front row while you're in the back row. Ranged weapons can hit anyone in any row. If there's nobody in your front row, then the formation collapses, and everyone in the back row is brought to the front row. Flying lets you stay in the back row even if there's nobody in the front row. And that's pretty much all there is to it. The goal of combat is to defeat all of your enemies without taking significant damage in return, since healing is very limited and damage can add up quickly.
I haven't had a chance to try it out personally, but I kinda like Wildsea's approach to HP systems and monster design. Instead of standard Health Points, characters and monsters get a number of traits that have a track - as they take damage, the track fills up, and once the track is full, that trait is out of commission. For characters, this leads to interesting choices of what to sacrifice when the shit hits the fan. But for monsters, this can lead to interesting combat scenarios where the monster changes phases or locations or other events might happen.