Post originally by Banesfinger at 2004-01-13 14:02:43
Converted from Phorums BB System

Yes, I agree that the basic attack is similar to d20:
You make a attack roll, add your offensive bonuses, subtract the target’s Defensive Bonuses, and if your total is 1 or more, you’ve hit.
(D20 is attack roll + bonuses must be => target's defensive bonuses + 10)

"You then add a modifier to the previous total based on the weapon size (between -20 and +20) and look up that amount on one of 14 charts to determine the damage you’ve inflicted."

Damage result is where things differ. In d20 each weapon has a damage die (d4, d6, d8, etc) and is rolled and added to damage adds (usually only from strength).
While HARP does not have to worry about damage adds (it is calculated in the previous roll) you DO have to look up the resulting number in a chart.
Here is the difficulty - Players will have to have (or look on ) the chart. Unlike d20 where they have all the info they need on a single character sheet.

Perhaps a DM screen displaying this info will help. But anytime additional math and reference is needed, it will slow down a game (any RPG).

As for the complaints that there are alot of 'running' numbers (bleeding, stun, etc) in the game - I do not think that is an exclusive issue to HARP. Many of the new D&D 3.5 spells have been modified to have limited durations. Thus, any time 'buff' or 'de-buff' spells are applied, the DM is plauged with numbers and items to keep track of for 'x' amount of rounds.
This is a 'BAD' thing (IMO) for any RPG game (especially DM's who have large amounts of creatures to run...)

I believe this could have been solved by having 'effect' duration limited to a 'one-shot' or one round. Or for some effects, keep the duration especially long (say 30 minutes) to ensure that it is not something you have to 'count-down' during a combat.