From the introduction:
The Realm of the Gateway was designed to be a realistic, tactically oriented system, geared towards allowing a creative approach to combat. Instead of a simple “I roll, I hit, I do x damage, next” it was designed to be more cinematic and exciting. Players have many tactical options; do I defend and lose out on a counterattack or do I take the hit and attack back? Do I swing wildly, or do I try for a called shot and hope for a special effect? Th ese choices, and many more were designed into the game to encourage the players to be creative. Th e downside is, however, that combat can be slow. After playing the game for awhile you will learn the charts and tables by heart and combat will go faster, but not every battle will need to be an epic battle. Let’s face it, I know the rules backwards and forwards (I wrote them, after all) and I have to admit I take shortcuts and simplifications for many battles. So, to help you as both GMs and players, we have offered you this document, a simplified combat system that you can use to speed up your game as you see fit. Feel free to use some or all of the ideas here as you see fit.