By Matt Seaborn

Damage worked out using a contested roll.

Every weapon has a Goal roll to represent its damaging capability, and every type of armour has a goal roll representing its protective ability then the damage done can be the result of a Contested roll.

The attacker rolls to hit, takes the VPs and uses them to complement a 'To Damage' roll, using the weapons damage goal rating (plus strength if applicable). The defender rolls against his armour's Goal level. The damage done is the number of successes of the armour roll subtracted from the successes of the damage roll. If the 'To Damage' roll fails or if the number of defending successes exceeeds the number of damaging successes then no damage is done. Depending on how lethal you want combat, the damage done can either be the successes or 1+VPs. If you are using lethal combat then if you get hit by a sword and you are not wearing any armour you are STUFFED, which is fairly realistic. For more heroic action, 1+VPs is probably more appropriate.

Alternatively, the armour should constant, which is probably preferable as it is simpler and makes armour more predicatable.

So, to make this idea clearer, an example:

A warrior attacks an armoured opponent. He makes a roll to his (using his Melee + Dexterity as normal) and hits for 2 VPs. He is using a sword with a damage goal of 8, he has a strength of 6, so his total 'To Damage' goal is 8 + 6 + 2 = 16. His opponent is wearing half-plate with an armour rating of 10. He rolls a 14, getting 4 success, (14 - 10). If you doing lethal combat then this is 4 points of damage, if not then it is 2 VPs (1+1).