Range-based system for duels

[walruz]

[contracycle]

I think it would be wise to concentrate on this as a duelling system first.  If it can be brought to fruition, you can then take another look at turning it into a more general system.  Even there, it is indeed quite possible to have a duelling system in conjunction with a general system, if the setting is such that characters likely to use the duelling system are rare.  Frex, Highlander and Star Wars - in both cases a specialist duelling system would reinforce the special nature of those characters.

Fates Worse Than Death has a system that uses different weapon ranges in melee in some detail, although frankly I forget the specifics.  It might be worth looking at as a comparison though.

I'm not sure I'd worry about social combat just yet, but one suggestion that accords loosely with your ranges is the degree of escalation in a conversation.  The lowest degree of escalation is a calm and reasonable tone, passing upward to raised voices, outright yelling, full bore tantrums.

[dindenver]

Hi!
  First things first, um, I don't think you have to be so defensive. Some gamers might try and show you another way to look at things, but they are still going to be polite and not pressure you into any discussion you don't want to participate in...

  OK, after that, I say, if you are embracing your inner crunch, then use this system for all combat. Tracking this distance between multiple characters won't be too much harder than any other system that tracks range...

  If you wanna good idea about unarmed combat watch some MMA. There are some rules, but it seems like the best way to beat someone without rules is pretty close to what they do in MMA or UFC fights...

  I think that hostility is a good measure of range/reach in social situations as long as the maneuvers then follow the same theme and are somehow restricted as to what you can use based on hostility...

  Anyways, good luck man!

[Hereward The Wake]

You might want to look at Burning Wheel, it covers much of the things you talk about with ranges and multiple opponents and a system that works along similar lines for social combat as well.

I have worked to get a game that models real life combat, having been involved in WMA since an early age. I found that trackings pecific ranges really bogs things down, BW seems to do it quite well with its system.

You could also consider phases of the combat rather than specifc distances, free moving,  grappling etc

JW