Well, we played our intro session today. I took the caravan idea and changed it to: The King of Gelure has just declared himself emperor and attacked Ouestenreich. The players are part of a caravan of people fleeing the crushing defeat of their side, seeking sanctuary in Farrensire - unaware that the border march lord has sold out to the Emperor.

Anyway, we did a couple of sample fights, and to my surprise, the players pretty much grasped the combat system straight away - not merely the mechanics, but the art of balancing their dice pools.

I did run a few sample combats last Wednesday with two other players, and it didn't quite go so well (but it was predictable). The first combat went like this.

Round 1
Declare initiative: both players throw red.
Declare attacks: both players go all out attack.
Resolve attacks: both players die.
One player: "Well this is a crap combat system!"

We did do another fight which didn't go quite so badly, and the naysayer started to appreciate the potential but still has doubts.

The session we played today was a much more thorough workout of the system, and it does flow pretty smoothly (with the aid of Brian Leybourne's damage table program, anyway). But I imagine most people here knew that already :)

Anyway, lots of fun was had all round.