I’ve been hunting around for a good rpg for use with a 17th century France/swashbuckler theme and I’m thinking that BWG may be the answer. The Man lifepaths are fine despite being medieval and there are rules for gunpowder weapons already included. I think Fight! will work well too and the idea of circles and reputations fits well with the theme. I’ve been mucking around with Fight! to see how it goes and here is in the first of 3 examples. I’ve interspersed thoughts and questions throughout where I wasn’t sure of the ruling. This is mostly for my benefit but I hope I get some feedback from the following lengthly passages.
Example 1
Two antagonists in a simple duel to second blood. Both armed with rapiers (arming swords). Both unarmored.
-
- “the noble”, using standard B4 stats and skills from p563. Sword at 4 but otherwise no other skills to be used in the fight. [Rapier I/M/S 3/6/9]
-
- “the duelist”, using the stats on p565, basically Sword 5 and Brawling 4. Only has a rapier so won’t be using Two-Fisted fighting. [Rapier I/M/S 4/7/10].
Both have Su/Li/Mi/Se/Tr/Mo of 3/5/7/8/9/10. Both have Re 4.
Exchange 1. learning the ropes, nothing fancy. Noble plays it safe while the Duelist comes in hard and fast.
No positioning/engaging because weapons are of same length.
Noble: Block, Strike | Block | Strike
Duelist: Strike, Strike | Counter | Counter
Volley 1, Action 1: Duelist 0 successes vs Noble 1. The Noble luckily deflects the feeble attack, catching the Duelist of guard (+1D next action)
Volley 2, Action 2: Both are rolling Strike vs Ob 1 with 5 dice, this could get messy. The Noble slashes gaining 2 successes, only enough to cause a superficial wound as the rapier slices under the armpit; the Duelist’s delivers a quick jab to the Noble’s chest (2 successes)
Both combatants now have +1Ob from superficial wounds.
Volley 2: Both combatants step back into guard positions and eye each other’s bloody shirts.
Volley 3: Duelist splits 5 dice - 3 for attack, 2 for defense. The noble lunges forward but his blow is swept aside (each get 1 success and both have +1Ob); the Duelist delivers a riposte, slashing the Noble’s shirt but failing to find flesh (1 success but Ob2 due to wound).
Comment/query - do Counterstrikes count toward a weapon’s WS? I say yes but only if the counter was triggered, otherwise it resets the WS.
Exchange 2. Noble realizes he’s up against an aggressive opponent. Duelist Feints high and slashes low
Comment - where one puts the 4th action in a Re 4 script seems key. A Strike can easily go off against no defense due to the scripting. I think I’ve done the Feints correctly here.
Noble: Counter, Strike | Counter| Feint
Duelist: Feint | Counter, Strike | Block
Volley 1, Action 1: Duelist Feints high and slashes low catching the Noble off-guard (2 successes vs Ob2 due to injury), as the Noble gets another superficial wound. The Noble follows up with a thrust (Volley 2, Action 2) as the Duelist is caught out of guard (2 successes vs Ob2 due to injury); another superficial wound for the Duelist.
Volley 2: The opponents circle each other looking for a weakness before the Duelist darts forward (again 2 successes vs Ob2 due to injury) cutting deeply into the Noble’s shoulder; another superficial wound which makes 3, removing the Ob+1 penalty, giving a -1D penalty and forcing a Steel test (with -1D).
Noble’s Steel test, 3 dice = 1 success, with Hesitation 6, this gives 5 actions of Stand and Drool (with Re now 3 this is almost 2 whole exchanges). The Noble would be a goner except that the Duelist has the Instinct, “In a fair fight, always give opponents time to recover” - so the fight is momentarily disengaged as the Noble’s second helps him to his feet.
Shrugging it off.
During the momentary downtime the Duelist checks his wound, and rolls 2 successes on a Health test to remove the +1Ob penalty - “just a flesh wound”. The Noble tries the same for his Light wound but it’s tough to roll 4 successes on 4 dice and he keeps the -1D penalty.
Exchange 3. Noble knows he’s in trouble and needs to finish this quickly. Duelist knows he is now 1 action up on the Noble and that it’s only a matter of time.
Noble: Strike | Counter| Strike
Duelist: Block, Strike | Avoid | Avoid
Volley 1, Action 1: The Noble desperately lunges, trying to finish the combat quickly - but rolls no successes, the Duelist effortlessly parries (with 5 successes) sending the Noble staggering backwards.
Comment/query - the way I read the bonus effects from Block is that you can pick and choose effects. In this case 5 successes gets the Duelist a +1D to his next action (1), and the Noble looses his next action (3, with 1 unspent success left over).
Volley 1, Action 2: The Duelist follows through with a lunge - (6 dice = only 2 successes) but only grazes the Noble as he sidesteps. Noble now has +1Ob and -1D.
Volley 2 - knowing that the Noble is +1Ob and -1D and that he’s lost his 2nd volley the Duelist rescripts to Strike in Volley 2, leaving Volley 3 empty. Strike with 5 dice gets only 2 successes for another superficial wound to the Noble.
Volley 3: Blinded by pain the Noble lashes out ineffectually (3 dice, no successes and needed Ob2 due to injury).
Exchange 4. Doesn’t look good for the Noble but his Instinct, “Never yield when ladies are watching”, stops his surrender.
Comment/query - with these penalties the Noble is limited to what he can do, Counters for example have limited use because of the +1Ob penalty applied to both the Block and Strike rolls.
Noble: Feint| Strike| Block
Duelist: Set, Greatstrike | Avoid | Strike
Volley 1 - The Noble is flat footed as a span of steel skewers his flank (Duelist rolls 2 successes, again!). Damage is 4+1 from Greatstrike = 5 taking the wound to Light, another -1D and another Steel test; zero successes gives 6 actions of Hesitation which is now 3 whole Exchanges with a Re 2.
The Noble decides that his honor will be intact if he’s unconscious and chooses Swoon. The duel is over and the Duelist is victorious.
My observations and comments.
Fight! is awesome. It’s actually not as slow as I thought it would be and is very intuitive.
Having a higher Re is a huge advantage.
The positioning of that extra action for Re 4 (and Re 5) characters has a huge significance. I’d allow characters to pull Block/Avoid forward using the “Oh F&$K!” rule to combat this, though it still costs them an action and is going to end badly.
It’s hard to get wounds other than Superficial (though we did roll lots of 2 successes and not 3). That +1 damage from Greatstrike is actually a lot better than it wounds because it pushes you to a new wound category very quickly.
In actual combat failing a Steel test is going to get you killed - and let’s face it, you’re not going to beat your Hesitation on a Steel test even with it being open ended (unless you have a few handy Traits).
CS is only useful in a few particular circumstances. In the end, Block and Strike is where it’s at.