Combat Mechanics

The fundamentals of combat are this:

Each player has some health, basically between 6-16 depending on class and level. Not a ton. It's counted with bingo chips. Monsters, same. A typical basic monster has 2-4 health.

Each player is one of the four basic character classes (fighter, rogue, wizard, cleric). Each class has a weapon they use. That weapon is represented by a die, or sometimes two dice, which are custom. (Casters obviously have some spells, and the ones that are attack spells act like weapons here)

For example, the die for a dagger has one pip on three sides, and zero pips on three sides. A sword has one pip on two sides, two pips on two sides, and zero on the others.

To attack, you roll your die, and that's how much damage you do.

Basically it simplifies to-hit, damage, critical, etc. into one die roll with values easily comprehended by a child. There's no 2D6, there's no D20, no saving throws. No armor, even, though there's a shield item that absorbs one hit.

There is also "stunned" as a special, which is lose-a-turn.

That's about it.

It still has all the variance of a "real" RPG's combat. Players cringe as they watch the dice while low on health, cheering when the monster misses them, or when they get a critical hit on the monster. Enough that adults are enjoying playing even without kids, in fact, which I didn't really expect going into it.

I think it may make a good "light" party game for a crowd that's not going to play Catan, but might play Apples to Apples or One Night Ultimate Werewolf.