So, after running some games of the scifi system, I've had some great feedback and put some thought into making adjustments to smooth out some mechanics. There's a lot of crossover between scifi and fantasy systems (since they're using the same backbone) so it makes sense to update them all at the same time. Mantaining three manuals has been challenging though!
The main fix has been to the approach to dealing with injury and healing. It's been a bit clunky, to the point that dealing with serious wounds (i.e. below 0 Hit Points) has been redone maybe eight times now. It's been a fine balancing act, but I think it's sorted out now.
The main change is the Bleed condition now just subtracts a hit point every round, and you have this condition while below 0 Hit Points - only magic or first aid will stop the bleeding, and even then only temporarily. As soon as you move or act, the bleeding starts again. This has been changed from the fatigue mechanic, which is seeing less and less prominence in the system as it evolves. I'm really only using that for special effects, or lack of sleep, and sometimes from heavy exertion.
Secondly, when someone gets to 0 HP or below, they make an opposed Endurance skill check (vs the attack roll) and if failed, they fall unconscious for 1d4 rounds. Success leaves them dazed for the same time, so there's always a consequence. Being unconscious takes a character out of the fight for a bit, and they are subject to 'death blow' as well, so it keeps combats short and punchy.
Other fixes:
* Revised most of the melee talents and some weapons. Each type of weapon has a very different feel, and different purpose. This is described in the melee weapons equipment section.
* Skill fumbles yield 2 points in the skill instead of 1. This is something we've been doing in our local games for a long time, I just forgot to put it in the manual!
* Healing effects rarely differentiate between wound levels. Only 'Second Wind' (manoeuvres) and 'Cure' (hedge magic) are restricted to minor wounds (injured but still above 0 HP). This frees healing up a lot more.
* Firearms have had their damage dice adjusted - instead of throwing a bunch of dice and possibly getting a terrible result, you now throw 1 dice and add a number to it, such as 1d6+6 (for pistols). This is easier to do and gives them a nice, higher minimum to ensure a powerful hit. Longarms no longer have a talent to speed loading, so they take 3 rounds to reload but hit really hard when used (as you'd expect).
* Tweaked a few manoeuvres, mostly in the premium edition.
* Fixed the overland movement table, as the math was all wrong (legacy stuff!) I'm aware that 6 metres per 6 seconds is a very slow movement rate, and I intend to recalibrate this soon. It'll probably just be doubling the movement rate for each race, and having the map grid be 2 metres per square instead of 1, so it'll play the same, but fit longer distances onto a table.
That's all for now. I doubt I'll be doing updates to the system for a while, as I really need to get back to writing this novel :)