I'm new and baffled!

[Brian Leybourne]

Not only did they learn the combat mechanics, and to respect the blade, but they saw first hand graphic proof of what SAs are for.  Couldn't have had a better starting scenario if you'd scripted it that way, Brian.

Yeah mate, and the players all went away with this kind of awed "I wasted all these years playing D&D and the like?" look in their eyes afterwards.

Even more so than in many other walks of life, good first impressions are everything in RPG's. A session like this can make or break (in our group, anyway). Needles to say, it wasn't a break.

And even better, I look like a Godlike GM thanks to a cool system and some luck... :-)

Brian.

[Tywin Lannister]

I wasted all these years playing D&D and the like

I'm so glad I had a gamemaster who made his own system, which is also very realistic and gritty.
And which I inherited. So I have actually been playing TROS-like games for years and years.
:-)