Failed attack rolls

[Ronnke]

The interpretation of what a failed attack roll means, comes up from time to time in my gaming. Kromm made the comment in a similar thread, quoted below, in which he says "you stood there doing nothing but defending". This has some implications, one of which is, does an unbalanced weapon become unready on a failed attack roll? Literal interpretation would suggest...

No opening = No swing of weapon (doing nothing) = Weapon is not unready.

If you are below zero HP, does a failed attack roll mean you "do nothing", hence no need for an unconsciousness roll?

What are your thoughts? Does a failed melee attack roll always mean do nothing and no swing of the weapon?

Originally Posted by Kromm

Mostly this. You failed at your roll to capitalize on an opening and/or seize the initiative, so you stood there doing nothing but defending. You can fix this by increasing your aggression (All-Out Attack (Determined) for +4, at the cost of giving your enemy an opening), falling back on textbook attacks when there's no opening (Telegraphic Attack for +4, at the price of attacking directly into your enemy's strongest defense), or learning to fight better (improve your skill, at the cost of many hours spent in the dojo, gym, kwoon, or whatever).

Missed attack rolls aren't blows that hit with insufficient force. Too many things in GURPS (Melee spells, Contact Agents, etc.) rely on a mere touch for that to be a good ruling. Blows that connect weakly are things like successful attack rolls met by unarmed parries that prevent all damage*, and successful attack rolls met by failed defense rolls where the ensuing damage roll fails to penetrate DR.

—

* It's safe to assume that in an unarmed fight, not all punches and kicks stopped by unarmed parries are warded off or blocked. Most are the blows you see sport fighters landing by the dozen in a match. A skilled fighter rolls with (not Roll with Blow – the realistic version), turns from, or otherwise minimizes the damage of these; his efforts count as a GURPS parry. These cases do result in contact under the rules.