hey thanks! HEMA for me is like the perfect sport/martial art for a d&d nerd. We spend a lot of time researching and even more time practicing and then we bash each other in such a refined yet violent manner that it feels like we have an optimized rpg build somehow hahaha it is super rewarding and enriches a lot descriptions when rping melee combat.
I actually hate every other edition of Runequest that is not mythras (RQ6) which was developed by the design mechanism and later stripped of the license. It is super clean and, although super crunchy, I actually enjoyed it a crap ton compared to other super crunchy games like Mathfinder (sorry i love that joke). I love Pendragon, it is one of the most interesting rpgs I’ve read, along with mouseguard, but it is not super playable indeed.
What I believe is that you can have a realistic mind for descriptions and jam it into your gamey rules perfectly, making an unholy union of gameplay that feels super fun and cinematic!
That said, some things RQ6/Mythras does I think are perfect for the boiling pot of houserules. For example actions.
Each round you get 3 actions (can be more/less depending on stats) and you can use them to either move, attack or defend actively. Active defence mean vs rolls that allow counterattack, while passive defence means praying your enemy fails the roll. Armor is ablative, hp is location based and shields can be placed passively to defend areas of your body. It is a really fun system and easy to get the hang of it! Also weapons have TAGs that apply special properties like range and effects on hit (like staving someone and impaling them to restrain movement). It really ticks my bells lol.