[tbone]

Out of curiosity, I checked out Hackmaster Basic (free PDF download).

On the "count up" system for weapon speed, I'll mostly just repeat Curmudgeon here, but some thoughts:

While Hackmaster is presenting this "count up" as something unique, I don't see any real difference from GURPS in general concept: it's a system of checking, second by second, who does what.

The big difference that I see is this:

In GURPS, you can swing your shortsword this second, and then swing it again each second thereafter. Or you can swing your halberd this second, take a Ready maneuver the next second, then swing the halberd again the following second. And so on.

In Hackmaster, you can swing your shortsword this second, and then... take seven (!) Ready maneuvers in a row (borrowing GURPS' terminology; different words, same effect), and then swing your shortsword again. Or you can swing your halberd this second, then take thirteen (!!!) Ready maneuvers in a row, and then swing your halberd again.

Aye yi yi. I don't think I'll be looking to borrow from that...

That said, I can see that in play, things won't be as silly as they sound above. If pretty much every fighter is dealing with those looooong stretches of nothing, a lot of seconds will just whiz right by with nothing to resolve; actual strikes and rolls and deaths and all that will presumably play out as quickly as in any other game, player time-wise.

I guess the main difference is that in between those halberd strikes, Hackmaster characters who aren't swinging weapons have lots of time to do other things. Like move across the map, or cast spells... or maybe enjoy a nice cuppa... : )

Jokes aside, I can appreciate what the Hackmaster designers are looking to achieve: attack speeds that allow for one attack to be slightly faster or slightly slower than another. The system does allow that, though apparently by making the pace of all weapon attacks crazy slow. Not a solution I'm warm to personally, but again, I can appreciate what they're aiming for.

(Final note: I'm basing those comments on a cursory read of the rules. If I'm way off, smack me upside the head.)