I made a very simple system which boils all actions down to 3d6+x+y vs DC where 'x' is a stat and 'y' is a skill. More info on it http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=30000.0

It had some strong points. The minimalist skill groups made deciding what to roll very easy, as did the passive perception values. Narrative was rarely paused throughout the game, though I had mechanical justifications for if a character noticed something or not. These items where liked by the group, or at least no one voiced any ill concern.

The combat system did not do near as well as I would have hoped. Using a simple wound tracking system, where hits where not cumulative resulted in drawn out exchanges, and no real sense of impending death. Changing the wound tracking to have each hit add it's minus helped some, but surprisingly not as much as I would have expected. It was also determined that the base defense of 10 was to high, most rolls either would not hit, or hit by two small a margin to matter. All and all combat felt stale.

I'm thinking that I may change the wound system by a small degree. The new thought, which I've stolen from a friends game, is that each successive wound is an additional roll on a wounding chart. I'm torn as this has been a proven method to insure a sense of dread and suspense in combat, but is also is an extra step. Well I guess I can implement it and see what the group thinks.

Thoughts?

I was wondering too, about my system that I am designing because it has an heavy emphasis on bleeding, more than actual damage. Just like you said, what I fear is that the game won't feel very "dangerous" if the characters don't get a "you just severed the arm and he looses a load of blood" during the whole fight. Only bleeding damage would kill the combat mechanic I think. And your feedback made me realise that even more, thanks :)

Maybe your weapons could have a base damage, where when they land, they always deal X amount of damage + a condition (like bleeding, crippling and whatnot).

weapons work (currently) by adding a flat value to your roll if it was a successful hit. If an attacker beat the defender's DC by 2 and was using a one handed sword (+3), he would deal a damage of 5. This would insure a higher wound on the wound track and invoke some altered state (bleeding, crippled limb, what have you).
I like the method because it is simple, I dislike it since it means you can never have a slight wound from a large weapon. Yes a battle axe is more likely to lop off an arm, but that doesn't mean it will on the most minimal of successes.

In regards to a wound chart, instead of making additional rolls, have you considered making the results a modifier on a single wound roll? This setup heavily depends on how you arrange the chart, but it's simpler than a rolling five times and applying five entirely different conditions.

3d6 yields a pretty tight normal distribution, so you should be able to dial in a weapon's usual effect pretty reliably at the expense of your table looking slightly odd.

The current charts I've made up function similar to what you stated rather than my earlier post, since what's the point of having a lightweight system if the game is bogged down on making a bagilion rolls.

Each damage type has it's own chart, with each success from the roll going farther along the track to more and more grievous harm. Weapons add less damage now, since I can have heavy hitting weapons do multiple damage types that become more lethal the higher the roll, but can still do minor damage from bad rolls.
There are only 2 rolls that may happen after the hit has been determined a success. Consciousness and Death, both are at a DC of 8 (subject to play testing) which does not change, but minuses from injuries effect your roll, It's possible to die from one good blow, though unlikely, or survive massive trauma, again unlikely.
The charts have different minuses and different levels of success needed to trigger a save versus death or K.O. roll. It needs an abundance of play testing, which I probably won't have time for, but worse case scenario I can just make it up as I go with the charts as a rough rule o' thum.b

and no real sense of impending death.