[TrippyHippy]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

Not really. Since combat is now treated as an opposed content, if the defender wins then the attack'er success is downgraded to a failure, and thus does no damage. So parry APs only come if to play when the both roll a critical.

No. The new parry table in the Deluxe edition (p54) shows:

- If both the defender and attacker succeed in their rolls, then the damage is reduced by the AP of the weapon.
- If the parry rolls a critical then the damage is reduced by twice the AP.
- If the attack rolls a critical, then the maximum damage is inflicted.
- If they both roll a critical, then maximum damage is applied and twice the AP is reduced.

The opposed contest rule, generally, is clarified in conjunction with this application in combat, on p22 also. The Deluxe book is open in front of me as I type this, and I've played in several sessions with that book, those rules, and my gaming group. That is what is stated, clearly, in the text of the rules, and with the examples given.

Nope. You made the most common mistake when learning how to play MRQ. You read the rulebook. According to Matt Sprrange and the folks at Mongoose, combat was always a single die roll for the attacker and the chart is a misprint. Believe me, people went over that for months on the MRQ site.

With respect, you appear to making a more critical error by not reading the book. Regardless of what may have been argued about on the net, the rules I have explained, in both the new and old books, are precisely correct. The rules in the old book don't work very well, but they do work, functionally, in the Deluxe edition. My preference, however, is for a slightly simpler system still, which is what BRP provides me with.

BTW, all this confusion is another difference. The rules in BRP have been a lot easier to follow.

I agree that the changes in the rules have caused difficulties in interpretation. We can see this in the free PDF rules on this site, which appear to actually conflate the old rules with the revised ones. My advice, honestly, is to enjoy all the MRQ setting supplements (which are still 99% compatible with BRP), use the MRQ rules as optional rules for certain things (like Hit Locations, character generation, or alternative magic systems), but use BRP for the core rules in most games.