Welcome to Lace & Steel LRP, a live-action game of swashbuckling and intrigue.

Please use the tags to nagivate - 'Character Gen' would be a good place to start.

Let us ignore the great civilised times of Khem and Greece and the world united beneath Alexander for now and concentrate our history in the west, in line with the Mithraic Calendar, let us begin with the founding of Rome by the twin Romulus and Remus, suckled by wolves in the forest.

0 The founding of Rome. The Rule of the Seven Kings begins, one King from all the Races - Harpy, Satyr, Half-Horse, Human, Pixie, Troll and Wolf.
144 The Creation of the Roman Republic
363 The Gaulish Barbarians attack the Republic and Rome falls for the first time.
393 The Republic is written by the Roman Philosopher Plato
430 In the East the World Emperor Alexander dies. The Greatest Empire the World has ever seen begins it's slow fragmentation and decay.
489 - 607 The Phoenician Wars, Rome establishes itself as the centre of the next great Empire
607 - 709 The Civil Wars and Expansion of the Empire, the names of Marius, Sulla, Pompey and Caesar become famous.
709 The murder of Julius Caesar. The Corruption of the Republic leads to growing decadence.
726 The founding of the Empire under Octavian
783 Pixies in Jerusalem found the Christian religion
1083 Constantine founds a New Capital for the Eastern half of his Empire, Constantinople.
1086 Constantine's conversion (and through him the Empire's) to Mithraism
1148 The Empire is split following the death of Theodosius
1159 The Vandals (forces of mainly harpies and satyrs) cross the Rhine
1178 The Pixies begin to march from Jerusalem
1187 - 1206 The Rise of The Centaur Empire under Atila and Bleda
1208 The Vandals sack Rome
1208 The Pixies take sacked Rome with huge bloodloss on their side
1280 Justinian is the last crowned Emporer of Constantinople
1318 Justin becomes the first Hierophant of Constantinople and the recognised Leader of Mithraism
1363 The Desert Trolls found Islam.
1553 Charlemagne The Wise attempts to unite the Germanic states under a non-mystery tradition of Mithraism based at Wittenburg.
1597 Viking Raiders attack Seville
1738 Desert Trolls sack Barcelona
1753 - 2132 Mithraist Forces and Desert Trolls fight across the Iberian Peninsula
1807 The Rise of Madrid as the western capital of Mithraism.
1848 Hierophant Urban II calls for the first crusade to retake Rome.
2012 Ghengis Khan's Centaur Horde takes part of Eastern Europe for the World Empire
2032 The Centaur World Empire extends as far as Vienna
2047 The Civil War in the Centaur World Empire disintegrates and the Khanate of Crimea is formed.
2090 - 2206 The Hundred Years War between Burgundy and Aquitaine, and France
2101 The Black Death kills a third of Europe
2206 Constantinople is beseiged by the Ottoman Turks and much of Greece is taken.
2227 The kingdoms of Castille, Aragon and the Navarre established in the Iberian Peninsula.
2231 Aragon and Castille come together to form the Mithraic Inquisition to maintain orthodoxy within their kingdoms.
2251 Leonardo Da Vinci paints The Last Supper in Milan and the Italian City State nobles make Christianity a fashionable part of the new thought of the Rennaisance. The Cardinal of Madrid denounces Italy as the most decadent part of Europe. The Inquisition gains power from the Heirophant to operate across Europe.
2255 The University of Wittenburg founded
2270 Martin Luther re-energises the Non-mystery tradition of Mithraism.'Butcher's Mithraism' is popularised in Wittenburg.
2283 Nomadic Pixies avoid Spain. Christian Pixies are persecuted there.
2323 The Cardinal of Madrid announces that he has converted all Islamic Trolls in the Iberian Peninsula to Mithraism.
2371 The current war raging across the Germanic States began, originally based around the conflict between Butcher's Mithraism and Orthodox Mithraism. Of course now it's been going on so long it's more about all of the states gaining a little extra land and the Habsburgs and the Bourbons gaining power.

History

Though the Romans would have dated Germania from about 762 most of the modern Germanic States and Principalities have only come into being over the past few hundred years and Ruritania is no exception. Also their borders are under much dispute and change. What we know as Ruritania was founded by the first King, Rudolph the Great in around 2191 around the original city of Strelsau. The Elphbergs have been a continuous line since that date


Geography

Ruritania is located between the larger countries of Bohemia and Saxony, bordered on it's west side by multiple principalities which are often subject to change.
It is a land of forests and mountains and it's two great settlements are Strelsau and Zenda. Strelsau is the capital city and is currently ruled by King Rudolph the Red. Most of the areas of Ruritania are ruled by Dukes beneath the King.

Ruling Family

The Elphbergs, that rarest of things, a noble family of satyrs. King Rudolph is the son of Queen Flavia, the vanished Queen. In Zenda there sits Duke Rupert, cousin to the King and noblest of the Ruritanian Dukes.

Or: What You Will Need To Know for the Playtest

As pregenned characters will be used, it puts everyone into the same boat, or at least more than it would do usually. In terms of introduction the the system, I can do worse than talking through the various parts of the character sheet, and saying why everything's there and what it does.

[note: The Character sheet is still a work in progress, and the ones roled out on the playtest will be... anotated, as it didn't take long after printing them all that there was a lot they needed but didn't have. They will still suffice for reference purposes, however, and the document refered to lies here.]

Character sheets for Player Characters and NPCs are different, as there are some things that a character needs that a one-use NPC doesn't.

We'll start by looking at Hit Points, Fatigue (typo'd to Endurance on the sheet), Wound Level and Drive. These are common to all PCs and most NPCs, and one should refer to the combat rules to see the main use of these. In short, Hit Points is the amount of damage you can sustain before dying; Fatigue is how tired you are (or aren't, as the case may be) and is capped by your current Hit Points, but can be lost in other ways as well; Wound Level is an indication of how much damage you can take in one go before it really bothers you; and Drive is your heroic or villianous determination to succeed at a task, or just keep going.
Physical damage drains Hit Points, physical exertion drains Fatigue, and mental exertion drains Drive. These qualities can be recovered by various means:
Hit Points can be restored by First Aid, Medicine, and some magics, but recovery of Hit Points is not easy or quick, and so they should be sold most dearly.
Fatigue</b> is recovered by anything that allows you to get your breath back, or otherwise restore yourself. 10 minute's sit down counts, as does a hearty meal. It is usually restored at a rate of one Fatigue per restorative step taken, provided that your Fatigue is not restored above the maximum for that restorative: 10 minute's sit down can restore you from a panting and gasping 1 Fatigue to a rather knackered 2 Fatigue but no further, but a more extended rest with some provisions may allow you to recover to 3 Fatigue, and so on.
Drive is recovered by anything that restores your sense of welbeing or your focus. Like Fatigue, it's easier to takes steps to restore yourself from 1 to 2 Drive than it is to restore yourself from 4 to 5. Unlike Fatigue, Drive doesn't come back through rest or basic trail rations, and requires more special treatment.

...Practically, if you're below 2 Fatigue, you can restore it at a rate of 1 per 10 minutes of sitting down until you have 2 Fatigue again. Further than that, you will be told if you recover Hit Points, and if you have taken a step to recover either your Fatigue or Drive, ask a ref and they'll tell you what gets restored and by how much.

Following neatly on from this, we shall now look at Ties and Antipathies. These are reflections of your passions, your ambitions, your allegiances, your emnities, and your fears. A level 1 Tie/Antipathy represents a fondness/dislike for a particular thing or person;
A level 2 Tie/Antipathy represents a more active love or hatred for the object;
A level 3 Tie/Antipathy is a consuming, life-dictating obsession.
In game, Tie/Antipathy levels may be 'burned' (3→2, 2→1, 1→0) for restorative effects.
Burning a level 1 Tie/Antipathy to 0 restores a point of Drive.
Burning a level 2 Tie/Antipathy restores a point of Fatigue.
Burning a level 3 Tie/Antipathy restores a Hit Point.
Note that multiple levels can be burned through if desired. Note that it is expected for Ties/Antipathies to be used appropriately, and at the end of a game one can petition for the resoration any levels burned, if they were burned for the cause. (Of course, if one has suitably exorcised a nasty antipathy, or been victorious in attaining oneness with a Tie, it may not be appropriate for it to be restored, but bonus XP will be given as a reward!)

Next on the sheet you will find, if you're a player, Statistics and Skills. As these are not necessarily reflective of things you can do, merely a mechanic for determining what you can do (Abilities), these are only relevant to PCs. Even for players, however, they are not used in gameplay itself, but are still useful as a gauge of a character's strengths. Descriptions of the Stats can be found here, and the Skill descriptions here.

More relevant to the playing of the game itself are Abilities. These are the things a PC or NPC can actually do. For brevity, they only have the immediately pertinent information on the front of the sheet, and a more full description on the reverse. These Abilities range from the ability to stitch a sword wound to the ability to smash someone's shield with the strength of your blow. Mechanically, magical workings are Abilities in all respects, although some have quite specific preparations.
Although I will discuss the exceptions in a moment, most Abilities are used by spending the prescribed amount of time (the Time Grade) performing a suitable action, after which time they are successful. Those who are better at certain Abilities (due to having higher levels in the Skills they depend apon) will be able to perform the actions faster. The Time Grade system is important, as if one spends a point of Drive, one can push oneself to get the job done quicker, and the Ability is completed in the next Time Grade down. The Time Grades (please find more details here) are generalised periods of time, that increase exponentially. They are designed to be fairly intuitive in their durations, but if in doubt, memorise the first few and get a ref to time the longer ones!
For example, say a trainee medic wants to damdage some cuts and scrapes some soldiers have acquired sparring. He intends to use his Heal Light Wounds ability, which restores 1HP to a wound from a Single point of damage if treated within 10 minutes (standard for First Aid treatments). His Time Grade for this ability is 3 Minutes (he's not very good), so he needs to spend 3 minutes cleaning the wound and bandaging it before the HP is restored. After that wound's done, he can move straight onto the next one, with no limit to the number of times he can do this per day. Should it be vitally important that he gets a final wound patched up before the time limit of 10 minutes is reached and the wounds become unhealable by First Aid (see the Combat section) he can spend a point of his Drive to speed a healing attempt up to the next Time Grade of a mere 1 minute (if in doubt, divide by 3). He can do this for as many times as he can spare the points of Drive.

Reaction Abilities (marked on the sheet with "rxn") are Abilities used on the spur of the moment, and these are always physical, and usually combat-related. Blows such as Strikedowns, and Dodges are good examples of physically demanding Reaction Abilities. These Abilities are used at will, but the Time Grade is then used as a 'cooldown' period, in which no other Reactions may be used. Unlike normal Abilities, no actions need to be performed during the Time Grade. Spending points of Drive does nothing here, but if urgency dictates that another Reaction be performed, the remainder of the Time Grade cooldown can be ignored if a point of Fatigue is spent.
For example, say a fighter has the Reaction Abilities of Strikedown (Time Grade: 3 minutes) and Dodge (Time Grade: 10 minutes). If he uses Strikedown to fell an opponent, he needs to wait 3 minutes (probably until the end of the fight) before he can use it or Dodge again. If he then gets struck by a dangerous blow that he judges it imperative to Dodge, he can spend a point of fatigue to do so right away, burning through his inner reserves of energy to save his skin.

More full descriptions of anything special a character or NPC can do will be marked on a character sheet, and/or discussed with the player.

This is a very brief overview of the world...well a bit of one of the continents of Lace and Steel:

Picture it as looking a little like Europe, of course the landmass is lacking those islands in the North Sea we know as Great Britain and Ireland, it's quite, quite empty.

Religion:

The thing that unites this continent of many, many countries, dukedoms and principalities is religion. Mithraism. Mithraism's main holy city is of course Constantinople (since the Pixies took Rome several hundred years ago).

Each City has it's bullring, even towns have them...some villages, where the Priest will conduct worship every Sunday and every feast day a bull will be killed to honour the gods, sometimes by a visiting Bishop - these Bishop Bull Fighters really are the celebrities of the continent. This is a religion of soldiers afterall and the priests are Real Men. Of course men and women sit separately in the bull rings but this doesn't stop the queue of women desperate for autographs and... something to remember their favourite celebrity by outside the priests quarters after every bullfight. Of course only the men get initiated into the real mysteries of the cult, and only the priests get told what goes on after the main service, in the inner sanctums of the temples/bull rings.

Why would anyone want to worship anyone else?

Well, the Pixies tend to be big on Christianity...which basically seems to be about being nice to everybody and that got their main guy crucified in Roman times. Course it's not just Pixies who worship Christ...or whatever they do, they have this whole three in one thing...ANyway, just like the Hierophant of Mithras sits in Constantinople the Pope of the Christians sits in Rome.

Of course some of the desert trolls in the near east are quite big on the Pixie Religion...well sort of, they think the Pixies have corrupted the message of Christ and they follow the teachings of a human called Mohammed. This did lead to the Turkish sweep across Europe only a few hundred years ago to try and take Constantinople and end the corrupt religion of Mithraism. They besieged Constantinople and swept up as far as the Alps taking most of Eastern Europe as a battle field. It's widely held that Europe would have fallen had it not been from the Harpies sweeping out in battle units (as they never had before) from the mountains and beating the dessert trolls back beyond Constantinople and back into Turkey.

There are less organised religions, out in the countryside of Europe the satyrs follow the local gods and spirits and an eight festival wheel of the year culminating in the Spring Rut. The Half-horse mystery religion also celebrates The Rut in spring but unless your a half-horse no one really knows what's going on there - whilst the satyrs have no religious centre the Half-Horses perform a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to Brittany, unless you've been initiated who knows what goes on there.


Geography:

Europe is made up of many, many countries and city states. Constantinople is a theocratic City State ruled by the Hierophant of Mithras (right at the edge of the Islamic Ottoman Empire). Surrounding Greece is a mainly rural country, loosely held together and home of mostly satyr villages. Some of the outlying islands, Corfu and Morea are actually part of Venice, one of the Italian City States.

Working our way up along the Black Sea Coast (on the European Side) we have Wallachia and Moldavia, again full of Satyr villages, interspersed with some harpy and half-horse settlements. The North Side of the Black Sea is mostly taken up by the Khanate of the Crimea, the rulers of which are the remnants of the last incursion of the barbaric Centaurs from the East into Europe of couple of hundred years ago.
North of the Khanate and forming the most Eastern Border of Europe is the Tsardom of Russia, a land full of faeries and gods know what else.

Back inland from Moldavia and Wallacia which surround Transylvania, a country made up of the principalities of Crisana, Maramures, Banat and Carpathia. Dark legends surround these principalities, especially those of Carpathia, these are leftover tales of the atrocities performed in the Ottoman War.
To the west Transylvania is bordered by Hungary, a truly civilised land of humans and half-horses creating art in the twinned cities of Buda and Pest. The Royal Line of Hungary are Half-Horses. To the South Hungary is bordered mostly by Greece but also, along the coast by another land claimed by Venice. To the North is Poland, a land of mostly humans, some pixies and a surprising number of trolls. To the East is Austria, with it's most royal of royal families, humans by the name of Hapsburg - they share family blood with the ruling line of Castille and they make both Vienna and Castille famous for the quality of their very different musicians.
To the south Austria brushes up against much of the lands which Venice has claimed, and below them the multitude of the Italian City States, the largest of which are Savoy, Genoa, Florence, Naples, Milan and Tuscany though there are many smaller lands and towns within Italy, some even claiming to be free and democratic, some of which, like Rome are theocracies. To the very south is the island of Sicily, home of pirates. These are places of a thousand different rules, races and creeds, but the highest of which is honour and no one takes his honour more seriously (to the point of ridiculousness) than an Italian - gods forbid you ever call any of them Italian's to their face of course, particularly the Venetians loyal as they are to the chosen code of their city.

To the North of the Italian States, forming part of the Eastern Border with Austria is Switzerland, trading nation of Europe, made up of 13 cantons, 6 forest democracies populated mainly by various fey and trolls and harpies and 7 city cantons ruled over by princes and other noble families, some human, some harpy and one troll. These are the mountains from which the harpies flew in the Ottoman War and where the harpies really play their games of power and ownership. 'ware waking in the mountains covered in strange tattoos, especially in Unterwalden, for it means that some harpy family now owns you and according to the laws of the land there's not a thing you can do about it.

West of Switzerland is the northernmost borders of the land of Burgundy, a dukedom that has been formed and reformed four times, the legends of Europe say it's collapse pre-courses some dreadful disaster befalling Europe (the first Dukedom collapsed before the fall of Rome to the Pixies, the second before the Ottomans beseiged Constantinople and the third before King Sebastien inherited the throne of Portugal). Surounding the other borders of Burgundy is the sprawling Kingdom of France, a land that is mostly rural and nominally ruled by the King from the very urban sprawl that is the City of Paris in the north. To it's south the natural border is the Pyrenees, though France only touches their Eastern most edge as the Queendom of Aquitaine, a matrichal country mostly takes up their length and borders the south western edge of France. On the other side of the Pyrenees are the very Mithraic Countries of the Navarre, Castille and Aragon. Castille's royal family shares blood with Burgundy and Austria and the Habsburgs are the most powerful human royal family in Europe.
Beyond these kingdoms is the Kingdom of Portugal, ruled for the past hundred years by King Sebastien - there are rumours they have found the legendary fountain of youth somewhere within their borders.

The coastal borders of these countries on the Medettereannean side are beset by Sicilian and Corsican pirates. Somewhere in Aragon the only ship from the Far East to make it to Europe was beset by pirates and now the only trace of it's passing is a rather good brothel by the name of The Cherry Blossom. On the Atlantic Side the coasts are beset by Pirates from the African Coast that run under a loose guise of rules and call themselves The Brotherhood. The Brotherhood will pillage up the Western Coasts of Europe beyond Aquitaine, France, up even as far as Brittany sometimes. Brittany is a land mainly of half-horses and a wealth of legends. Moving along the coastline of Europe into the North Sea we are beset by Viking Pirates from the Northern Lands though they tend to avoid half-horse vessels as well as the heavily armoured ships of The Hanse.

The Hanse Lands form the north-eastern border to the Kingdom of France and they are an economic alliance of a variety of countries that spread across the northern lowlands of Europe, to the west they are bordered by France, to the South by the Germanic Principalities which are too numerous to mention ranging in size from a single city to large countries which take days to cross, to the North they face the sea or the Danish Border, the land of Denmark ruled by the Wulf, a title which is fought over proudly every seven years and may be taken by human, troll, half horse or satyr. No harpy has ever held the Danish throne and no pixie either though legend has it that once a mermaid ruled, who took the form of a human and at the end of her term cast it off to dive into the North Sea in the form of a seal. To the East the Hanse Lands are bordered by Prussia and Saxony. Saxony a land ruled by Satyrs and Prussia by militaristic half horses who see themselves as the guardians of Europe (the satyrs of Saxony might ask where these 'guardians' were in the Ottoman War - a less than discrete Prussian Half Horse might look Eastwards to the Steppes).

Part of the Prussian Border comes up against Austria, so lets move along the Baltic Coast, The Polish corridor is next along the coast, home of sea trolls who rule the ferries that move across the baltic to the Scandinavian Lands with as much of an economic grip as do the Hanse ships further out in the north sea. Further to the East is Lithuania, ruled by ogres, along east and north is Livonia a barbarous land of satyrs, trolls and half-horses, next is Estonia, a land supposedly ruled from the forests reputedly there are few if any humans in Estonia, the small land of Ingria forms the border between the Baltic, Estonia, Russia and the Kingdom of Sweden populated mostly by Ogres and Trolls.

So that's Europe. Full, as you may have noticed, of strange creatures...there are many and varied civilisations and they mix well enough, better in some combinations than others.


Different Races:

Pixies - made up of two main types - Nomadic Pixies sitting in brightly coloured caravans pulled by horses and telling pretty tales around a campfire about their savour who is to come and restore the beautiful green lands which are theirs.
Christian Pixies usually more settled in houses, sometimes even in urban environments (the inventor of the spork was a pixie living in Venice) following the word of the Pope who sits in Rome. Both types have a reputation for theivery and lies and flighty behaviour but they are quick thinkers and inventive. Up in the Georgian Mountains theres tell of a Pixie who invented a new advance in warfare - the Pixie Kite to defend against the highwaymen and bandits up there.

Satyrs - earthy sorts, these fellows pay attention to the natural cycles and more than the other races stick within their own villages, though across the Italian City states they have become more fond of urban dwelling. They have something of a reputation for less than civilised behaviours. Somewhere in the Mediterranean is one Captain Flavia who runs a pirate ship of some ill-repute...or, as the pirates say, the best brothel on the high seas.

Half-Horses - proud and civilised, prizing academic achievements in all classes, they will tell you how they originated from the Ancient Land of Khem and taught the first humans to speak. They are most integrated with humans across Europe and though it is uncommon to meet them in the military in France just try telling a Prussian that they aren't natural fighters! They don't join with the Mithraic religion despite their integration and are private about their spiritual and religious leanings.

Harpies - they prize power above all else, what form that power comes in largely depends on the culture the harpy has been brought up in. There are some fanatical harpy priests of Mithras in Transylvania and Hungary though in Switzerland they tend to prize the trade routes and controlling the economic gains of a particular area. To the other races they can appear harsh and cruel. It is not unknown for them to claim a particular right or ownership simply to gain it by dint of claiming. This is viewed as perfectly acceptable by most of harpy society.

Trolls - Aquatic in nature these creatures are simple, but this is not the same a dim by any means (or at least not in all cases) they value land and property for the material gains that these things promise. Money in the bank isn't important to a troll, but money under the mattress is. Toll Bridges, Coaching Inns (often of dubious quality) and Ferries tend to be favoured means of earning, they're usually fairly unsociable creatures preferring villages to cities although in the Scandinavian Countries there are samll cities and large towns apparently populated almost entirely by Trolls and Ogres.

Humans - Inventive and mainly urban dwelling these creatures together with pixies are responsible for most of the new fangled inventions, the flintlock, gunpowder, folded steel... yes...most of these inventions have been bloody in intent. Their religion of choice across Europe seems to be Mithraism, this possibly says something about them.

The civilisation of Lace & Steel accomodates various races of varying strengths and temperaments, of which six are available to players. These are as follows:

• Humans are the most populous of the races thanks to their ambition and their will to accumulate and hang onto power. Humans have no special costume requirements or roleplaying guidelines, but nor do they have any special skills or abilities to speak of. That said, the kingdoms of what we would term Europe are largely human-centred, and humans therefore have an easier time moving within them socially.


• Satyrs are highly social, highly physical creatures with a rustic civilisation. They are passionate and rambunctious, and like food, shiny things, and other such pleasures.
  Costume: furry legs and even hooves are encouraged, and horns are a must.


• Pixies Pixies are small, flighty, and, well, pixyish, with good humour and a strong tendancy towards levity. Despite many centuries of passive and active discrimination, they are quick to forgive (or forget) slights and can be very enthusiastic about causes they support.
  Costume: fairy wings are a must, and butterfly-like antennae are also good.


• Half-Horses are an ancient, civilised race, now highly integrated into human society. They are strong in body and mind, and they prize pragmatism and reasoned thought very highly.
  Costume: horse tails and hooves are good starting pieces, although we encourage any attempts to give the impression of being horse from the waist-down!


• Harpies are foul-tempered creatures with a low regard for other members of their species, let alone other races. They are shrewd and intelligent, and hungry for power of various forms, be that political, magical, or otherwise.
  Costume: Harpies are physically bird-like, and require wings that hang from arms, and talons if possible.
  Movement: Harpies do not stand or sit, they perch.


• Trolls are grumpy and generally antisocial, with little real society to speak of south of Scandanavia. They are argumentative and aquisitive and, while not stupid, are simple-minded in there approaches to whatever they do.
  Costume: Trolls are technically amphibians, and should have green-grey skin colour and lank, damp hair (hair gel recommended).

Hit Locations

Damage inflicted to a character in Lace & Steel is tracked globally (damage taken off a pool of Hit Points), with 0 Hit Points and below indicating eventual character death. However, the area hit is of importance as well. As no character can suffer more than a small number of serious wounds before succumbing to them, the grade and location of all serious injuries should be remembered.

The consequences of being struck with damage will depend on the type of location struck:

• Body hits are strikes to anywhere on the torso, head or neck. Although such shots are not encouraged, the crotch counts!
• Limb hits are strikes to the arms and legs, which are taken to include shoulders and buttocks (one of the more popular places to get hit).

 

Levels of injury

A wound causes a certain number of Hit Points off a character's total. This represents the shock and blood loss caused by the injury. In addition to this, damage calls above certain grades will cause disabling effects of various severity and permanence.

Light Wounds

Light Wounds are caused by blows of damage grades below your character's Wound Level (which is 2 for an average human, meaning that Singles fall into this category). Such wounds take the relevant amount of damage off the character's Hit Points (and tear clothing, and hurt), but have no other effect.

Serious Wounds

Serious Wounds are caused by damage grades greater than or equal to the character's Wound Level, but are below 2x the Wound Level (which would imply damage grades Double and Triple for an average human). Other than the Hit Points lost, these wounds cause a burst of pain and shock that disables the area hit for the next ten minutes, or until a Hit Point is restored to the wound from whatever source. If this is a Body hit, the character is knocked out or otherwise writhing in pain. If this is a Limb hit, then that particular limb is rendered useless for holding anything, or supporting weight. Players are encouraged to roleplay the effects of being hit very hard in the affected area – whatever they consider such effects to be! If the character spends a point of Drive, however, they may resist the disabling effect, but take the Hit Point loss as normal.

Grave Wounds

Grave Wounds are caused by damage grades greater than or equal to 2x the character's Wounds Level, but below the character's total Hit Points (which equal 5 for an average human, implying such wounds would be caused by Quads). These wounds cause Hit Point loss as usual, and disable the location as for Serious Wounds. Unlike Serious Wounds, however, the disabling cannot be resisted with Drive, and is a lot more severe in terms of lasting effects. If the wound was a Body hit, then the character comes around after ten minutes as before, but without the option of coming around sooner through medical attention or spending Drive. What's more, for the rest of the day the character is forced to act at half speed, and should cry out in pain whenever they exert themselves! If the wound was a Limb hit, then the limb cannot be used at all for the rest of the day. A character may opt to spend a point of Drive to ignore the effects of a Grave Wound for ten seconds, but after that time the effects of the wound return.

Critical Wounds

Critical Wounds are caused by damage grades greater than or equal to the character's maximum Hit Points. These reduce the character's Hit Points to zero (but not beyond!), but as the damage was inflicted all in one go the consequences are more severe and exceptions to the usual pattern. Body hits kill instantly, with no chance of recovery or grace period. Hits to limbs will sever or otherwise leave the limb needing amputation even if Hit Points are restored to the wound (see below).

First Aid

Not all of the damage inflicted from any sort of wounds is instant. Much of the damage done will be in the form of the resulting blood loss, and the ongoing pain of the wound. For the sake of convenience, all these factors are rolled into the grade of the damage that is instantly inflicted, but they can be arrested or eased after the fact with First Aid.
With the exception of Critical Wounds, the various First Aid abilities Bind Wounds can be used on each wound to ease the pain and shock, and arrest the blood loss. If done within ten minutes then the wound recovers by 1 point, and 1 Hit Point is restored to the character. Each wound inflicted must be treated in turn, taking the relevant grade of time, but each treatment restores 1 Hit Point. Abilities of greater magnitudes exist, but they all follow the same pattern.
Critical Wounds are more serious. Those that haven't caused instant death will cause death by bleeding in short order. If a Critical Wound is inflicted to a limb, the limb is permanently severed, and bleeding to death will occur within 3 short minutes unless a Cauterise ability is used. Successful attempts will restore 1 Hit Point, as per binding, saving the injured character from death.

"So, when do I die..?"

In short, death occurs after a character is reduced to 0 HP, and their wounds become permanent – i.e. they were not healed by at least 1 HP within the prescribed time allowed for that wound, usually ten minutes, except for Critical Wounds to limbs.

Not that it is entirely possible to be injured below 0 HP. In such cases, death does not occur any quicker, but more HP will need to be restored to them before the wounds become permanent. For instance, if a character limping along on 1 Hit Point gets hit by two further Singles he is now on -1 Hit Point. In order to put him back safely above 0 HP, both of these wounds must be treated, restoring 1 HP apiece. Again, the exception to this rule is Critical Wounds, which will either kill outright, or reduce instantly to 0 HP -- the reasoning behind this being is that once a blow is strong enough to sever a man's arm in one swing, then no amount of additional strength or finesse will make the arm any more severed.
 

The damage you can do has a grade attached to it, which will be related to the skill you possess in using a particular kind of weapon. They can be thought of as follows:

A Single is a shallow cut, or serious bump.
A Double is a serious cut, or a deep, nasty bruise.
A Triple is a nasty gash, cutting deep into muscle, or cracking bones.
A Quad is a deep wound, hacking almost to bone, or a broken bone.
A Quin is a blow that will cleave limbs, or pulverise bone.

...and so on: Sex, Sept, Oct, Non, and Dec, but a Quin will be enough to kill an average, unarmoured human outright in one blow.


Damage Grade Requirements

The damage grade one can call is the Talent of the weapon skill possessed, and the grades break down by level as follows. Where the grade is listed as ' - ', the weapon does no damage at that level.

level	Cutting Swords	Polearms	Zweihanders	Knives	Staves	Axes
0	Single	Single	-	Single	-	Single
1	Double	Double	Double	Single	-	Single
2	Double	Triple	Triple	Single	Single	Double
3	Triple	Triple	Quad	Double	Single	Double
4	Triple	Triple	Quin	Double	Double	Triple
5	Quad	Triple	Sex	Double	Double	Triple
6	Quad	Triple	Sex	Triple	Triple	Quad
7	Quad	Quad	Sept	Triple	Triple	Quad
8	Quin	Quad	Sept	Triple	Quad	Quin
9	Quin	Quad	Oct	Triple	Quad	Quin
10	Sex	Quad	Oct	Triple	Quin	Sex

This list does not include Thursting swords, the damage of which is handled differently.


Untrained Weapon Use

Some weapons are simple enough that even the most sheltered noble or ignorant peasant can use them in a pinch. All weapons can be used defensively, and certain weapons can be used offensively if a point of Drive or Fatigue is used per blow landed.
Blows landed with Knives will cause a Single if a point of Drive is spent (representing the act of will necessary for the fighter to get in close and cut on their victim).
Blows landed with Polearms or Axes will cause a Single if a point of Fatigue is spent (swinging a spear is tiring if you're not used to it).
Blows landed with Swords will cause a Single if either a point of Fatigue or Drive is spent, making swords quite flexible.

( A-C )( D-K )( L-P )( R-Z )

[Still to add: Talent description]

All Abilities, spells and mundane works alike, will be presented in a set format:

Name - Primary Skill @ level, Secondary Skills @ levels; Time Grade
Description


What this means:

Name
The most commonly used name for a spell, or a minimal description of what the Ability does.

Prerequesites and Starting Level
Listed will be the skill levels that must be attained before the Ability can be purchased. The skill and level in bold is the primary skill associated with the ability, which means:
When the primary skill increases a level, all abilities with that skill as the primary go up a level with it.
The prerequesite skill level is also the ability's starting level, and whenever it is bought, that Ability will be bought at that level. This is important if Abilities lower than the Skill level are bought, as they can be 'topped up' in level up to that of the primary skill.

Time Grade
How long it takes to complete the Ability action. This can be decreased by one grade with a point of Drive, and will also decrease when levels of the ability are attained.

Description
A more lengthy description of whatever is being performed, with the relevant terms and conditions.


Example Ability:

Tailor Fashionable Dress - Tailoring 5, Fashion 3; 1 Month
Using fine materials and good attention to detail, create an item of clothing that wouldn't be looked down upon in discerning company.

This Ability can be purchased if the Tailoring skill is possessed at at least level 5, and the Fashion skill at at least level 3. The Ability's level is also level 5. As it stands, it would take the tailor one month's work in their workshop, or one week if they really pushed at it. As Tailoring is the primary skill, if that increases then the Ability would also increase to level 6, in line with the primary skill level. It would still do what it said, but a lot faster (1 Week, 3 days at a push) under the assumption that a level 6 Tailor has a better stock of quality materials, more staff, better techniques, etc.

Step One: Stats
First, decide what race you wish to play. Depending on the class of the game you are generating for, some races may be disallowed. You will start with a base line of the average stats for your race:

	Strength	Endurance	Dexterity	Reason	Intuition	Drive	Charisma	Magical Aptitude
Human	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Pixie	3	5	7	3	7	5	5	6
Satyr	4	5	6	4	6	5	6	5
Half Horse	7	5	4	6	4	5	5	5
Harpy	2	5	6	4	6	5	4	7
Troll	6	5	4	3	5	5	5	4

Next, tradeoffs: you may choose to alter your stats in pairs, with one increased at the expense of another, point for point. You may alter one pair up/down by up to two points, and alter three other pairs up/down by one point. Note that these pairs may not overlap, so no stat can be altered by more than once, and never by more than 2 points from the racial average.

Step 2: Skills
Check what Class you are genning for: this will either be Common, Middle, Gentle, or Noble. Take free levels in skills appropriate to your Class and sex - make sure that you have the right stats for the skills taken! See below, and consult the Class skills table.

Commoners will have a profession that they spend their time applying themselves to, linked to a particular skill. They are also free to fill their lives with any other pursuits available to their simple means.
Male commoners take:For each skill, take a number of points equal to its level, to spend on Abilities that have that skill as a prerequesite.
Certain races will also get special abilities, as befits their physiologies. See the Abilities section for detailed descriptions of what these do.
Pixies: Glide
Harpies: Take to Air; Migrate; Natural Weapons (daggers)
Half Horse: Outrun; Long Distance Travel
Trolls: Amphibious


Step 4: 'Finishing Off' XP spending
You then have 10XP to spend as you wish. This is according to the same rules as spending any other XP, which is as follows:

Increase a Stat by one point: 10XP
Increase an existing Skill by one point: 5XP
Buy a new skill at Level 0: 15XP (reduced to 10XP if training is available - at initial character gen this is assumed to be the case.)
Buy a level in an Ability: 1XP

Step 5: Derived Attributes
Of numbers that are of direct consequence in gameplay -
Drive is directly equal to your Drive stat.
Hit Points and Fatigue are the same number, which is the average of Strngth and Endurance Stats (rounding up).
Wound Level is a function of Endurance, given by the table below:

Endurance	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Wound Level	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	3	4

[Still to add: Examples, Ties & Antipathies]

In the world of Lace & Steel, there is international trading based around a standard value for gold and silver. Gold and silver currency is recognised anywhere, and is the established medium for trade.

• The largest unit of currency is the Gold Bar. Most commonly found in the vaults of banks, and inside the holds of gold freighters from the Dark Continent.
  
• Once at it's destination, the gold is melted and cast into 50 Dubloons per gold bar - which are palm sized discs.
  
• As Dubloons are impractical coinage for many purposes, most are quarted to thick wedge Pieces of Four, and maybe halved again to the popular Pieces of Eight.
  
• Silver is shipped in the form of Ingots, from many parts of the world. It can be melted down and cast into 100 Shillings, or 400 Marks.
  
• Silver Shillings are a little smaller and thinner than Dubloons, and fit very well into the bottom of a pint mug. Each one is worth approximately one Piece of Eight.
  
• The other silver coin is the Mark. There are four of these to a shilling.
  
• Smaller still is the Silver Bit, and there are four of these to a Mark. These coins are about the size of thumbnails. Due to the way that they are cast (simply and cheaply, with smooth edges), many are wary about trading in them, as they can easily have some silver 'clipped' from their edges without changing the appearance of the coin.
  
• Copper, brass and bronze coins are also common around the world, and are used for most day-to-day transactions of common folk. However, as there is no standard value for their base materials they are not used for trading.
  
• The term 'Penny' is a generic term for frequently found small currencies. Pennies come in many appearances and compositions, but are generally accepted as having a value equal to one hundredth of a silver Mark.
  
• Smaller still are the Ha'penny, or one half of a penny, and the Farthing, equal to one eighth of a penny.
  

For simplicity's sake, everything that takes time - be that reloading a flintlock or the duration of a magical enchantment - is considered to take a specific length of time, called a time grade. Some things decrease or increase the time grade of a process or duration, and in these cases, the time taken is the next time grade shorter or longer, as appropriate. The time grades are as follows:

1 Second - effectively instant, and the shortest length of time it's possible for an action to take.
3 Seconds
10 Seconds
30 Seconds
1 Minute
3 Minutes
10 Minutes
30 Minutes
1 Hour
3 Hours
12 Hours (otherwise known as 'Dusk til Dawn')
1 Full day
3 Days (allowing for rest, etc. in the case of a procedure)
1 Week (allowing for working patterns - this is a standard for downtime activity. Eg: if it takes an Alchemist '1 Week' to produce a potion, then this is considered to be his work for the week)
1 Month
3 Months (often refered to as 'A Season')
1 Year
3 Years
1 Decade
30 Years (often refered to as 'A Generation')
100 Years
300 Years
A Millenium
One Thousand Generations!

In case this is a bit hard to remember on the fly, just remember how long something should take normally, and when applying modifiers, you can safely bet that 1 increases to 3, 3 to either 10 or the next unit up, and vice versa.

There are many different ways in which magic - a good catch-all word for the invisible energies that exist in patterns in all aspects of nature - is manipulated, and the worlds of the different flavours of magician are just as separate as the worlds of one skilled craftsman and the next.

Hedge Magic
Hedge Magic is perhaps the most versatile and certainly the most commonly practised form of magic, as the term 'Hedge Magician' or 'Hedgewitch' can be used to describe almost anyone who is magically aware enough to 'see' magic in the world, and who has used this magic to accomplish remarkable things. As such, anyone perceptive enough can become a hedge magician, from the metalsmith who begins to get an idea of how fire really works, to the wise old woman who can cure ailments and has a garden of bizarre plants. Although most Hedge Magicians are taught or instructed in some way, there is less formal study than many of the other forms of magic, and so it is by far the most common form amongst the peasantry.

Illusionism
Illusionism is the ability to make things disappear, or to make things that aren't there appear to be so. Some illusionists believe that their magic is a purely mental discipline, pulling the wool over the eyes of all who look apon their work, but the similarities between illusions and the glamour magic of fairies - which works by creating a 'layer' of magic over the object which alters perceptions of what is within - are too great to dismiss entirely. Like fairy magics, the effects of illusion are fleeting, and Illusionism is not seen as a practical magic by any means, and is often viewed as a trivial (albeit impressive) parlour or stage trick, so only those with free time or pressing reasons to deceive have any time for its study.

Demonology
A dangerous, unhealthy, and socially damaging pastime, Demonology is concerned with the drawing down of entities from other planes for purposes of power, knowledge, or companionship of various forms... The techniques to accomplish this are many and various, as are the results, which range from simple incantations to draw forth imp-like servants, to extensive and perilous rituals to bring huge, monstrous entities into the world. Between these two extremes are the fierce and intelligent Demon Princes, the disturbingly alien Feeders, and the cruel Tartaric Devils, whose number includes the sought-after succubus. Demonology is a difficult discipline to pick up, requiring considerable amounts of study and obsession. Demonologists are not, therefore, the most sociable of creatures, which is okay for them, because they can summon all the company that they may require.

Alchemy
Almost as much a trade as it is a magical discipline, Alchemists can be found in many larger towns and cities, and offer a range of services to paying customers. Although many alchemists will have bigger ambitions, such as the transmutation of base metals, or the discovery of universal solvents, it is Love Potions, Healing Elixirs, and Poison Powders that pay the bills, not to mention the ever-increasing demand for gunpowders and other substances of mass warfare. In large cities, the larger alchemist laboratories may well be large commercial ventures, but even within those the individual alchemist is a very solitary creature, with his or her own secret (and valuable) methods and procedures. In spite of the market share of the creation of new and powerful substances that alchemy enjoys, the greatest alchemists are often the ones that have devoted their lives to the ends of their own ambitions for the magical properties of matter.

Artificiery
Probably the most demanding of the magical disciplines, Artificiery demands the finest tuned magical senses and the most skilful imaginations to the end of the weaving of magical powers into artefacts. Artificiers are rare individuals, and good ones even more so. They are artistic in temprament, and take immense pride in the works that they produce - a good thing as the best ones will most likely be employed by royalty to produce weapons and armour fit for kings - and there is no such think as a 'cheap' magical artefact. The greatest artificiers are bona fide geniuses, and in the unlikely event that one would be allowed access to a workshop of such an individual, one would see plans and concepts for many strange and wonderful things.

Astrology
As a commoner might consult a Hedgewitch for advice, so might someone of more gentle upbringing consult an astrologer. Astrology concerns itself primarily with the link between the motion of bodies in the heavens and events here on Earth, and are able to read the fates of individuals and enterprises in the stars. Astrologers struggle for validation however, as the connection between the Earth and the Heavens appears very tenuous, and their dependace on signs and portents makes the discipline seem founded on little more than superstition. Throughout their studies, however, Astrologers become experts at drawing meaning and symbology from all manner of events, and history has shown that kings and generals have ignored their advice at their peril.

Sorcery
All magics use manipulations of the magical nature of matter and reality, but Sorcery is the study of that magic itself, and that of its manipulation outside of the context of matter, or nature, or the senses. Sorcerors have had the opportunity to devote the time to a great deal of purely intellectual study of the various magical disciplines, and claim to have a more fundamental understanding of the mechanics of other magics than the practitioners. Rarely, if ever, do sorcerers possess the ability to perform the more involved workings of the more base magics as well as the usual practitioners do, and often miss the point of the magic due to their focus on the mechanics. They do possess great powers of their own, however, as the ability to manipulate the raw energy of magic is no mean feat, as anyone who has felt a blast of raw sorcerous magic will attest.

Necromancy
A complex an art as it is a maligned one (perhaps fairly), Necromancy is the appreciation and manipulation of the magical way in which the soul and the body are bound and control one another. Necromancers can tell you were the spirit goes when it dies, and, if the price is right, give you one last chance to communicate with the dearly departed - an invaluable ability for anything from the last words of a loved one to vital state secrets. They also understand the nature of burial sites as passages to the Underworld - a dark, labyrinthine place that only the desperate or foolish venture. More sinister still, once one knows what magic is needed to animate a human corpus, there is nothing to stop a determined Necromancer raising long-dead corpses for his own ends.

Detect Magic
It may be that you are perceptive enough to see the magical nature of the world, but not inclined to devote to any particular art, and so develop a good overview of the different kinds of magic that may be used, and their effects. Someone with a good nose for magic will not only be able to tell you that someone or something is enchanted, but to what end, and maybe even by whom or how long ago.


In game, magic works in an almost entirely analogous fashion to any other Skill (indeed, many magicians would scarcely see a distinction between the mundane parts of a process and the magical). The Skill is purchased if the Stat prerequisites are met (Magical Aptitude is always required, obviously, and Reason, Intuition and even Charisma all play their parts to varying degrees). The level of Skill that you possess in a magical discipline may give you certain talents in itself (in Illusionist, for instance, your level will determine the maximum size, etc. of Illusions that you can do on the fly), but the specific spells that can be performed are purchased in the same way as other Skill Abilities, with the Skill as the prerequisite. Some more powerful spells may have Cantrips - lesser spells with instant, petty effects - that also serve as prerequisites: for instance, the Ignition spell (which causes someone to suddenly burst into flames) has the Ignite Cantrip as a prerequisite, as well as Hedgemagic Level 5.

What limits magical working is not a limited pool of power, but time. Many spells, when first learned, take too long to perform to be useful in many situations, but more experience in the Skill and use of Drive reduces this time. See the chapter on using Abilities for more details. Some magic, such as Demonology, will have prescribed action that must be performed in the casting time, whereas other magic, such as the various hedgemagics, allow for a bit more improvisation, but the time must be filled with some action or vocalisation to focus the mind - even if that's just thirty seconds of banter and hand-waving before pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

Spells are listed in sections according to theme, and each spell lists the prerequisites needed, the base time taken to perform the spell, any prescribed actions required, and a description of the effects.

[Still to add: Mental Magics]

In Lace & Steel, characters, whether they like it or not, will be born and live within a certain social class.

Commoners make up the majority of people in the world. They live out humble lives and usually work for the benefit of someone higher up than themselves. Commoners may be labourers, soldiers, peasants, rogues, or many other things and pick up all manner of skills necessary for them to carry on making their living. Despite the world not being their oyster, they can live their lives free from the niceties and expectations of the upper classes, although it's hard to appreciate this when one does not necessarily know where ones next meal is coming from.

The Middle Classes retain their connections to the common folk, from whom they may have originated, but have the benefits of partial ownership over their lives and holdings. They will live better (and longer) lives than the commoners, and they will have established themselves as individuals in their own right, but they will still pay dues to those higher up. The Middle Classes contain merchants, minor politicians, business owners, and other such pillars of the community.

The Gentry are a well established class, who's existence is seen as vital for the ordered running of society at large. Gentlemen and Gentlewomen own estates, hold military and social office and are involved in the governance of towns, and they have a great many responsibilities to those under them. They do, however, have the disposable assets - such as servants, personal libraries and most importantly free time - to better devote themselves to more lofty causes.

The Nobility are they cream of society, and move in a world almost completely disconnected from the classes below. Nobles can be found in the top positions of the church, the military, government, and sitting on top of tracts of land of which even they sometimes cannot remember the boundaries. To the noble, politics is everything and everything is politics, and they will devote a wearing amount of their time to keeping up appearances. Despite having the resources to do whatever they want in life, nobles will often find themselves constrained by the weight of expectation and legal responsibility, and many will take up all manner of adventurous hobbies to break from the monotony.

Stats are universal characteristics that scale from 1 for the lowest ability level, through 5 as an average, to 10 for the highest available to player characters. They are primarily used for determining what skills are available to characters, acting as prerequisites. Some, like Endurance, are also used for derived values, such as hit points.

Strength - The character's raw physical strength and physique. Useful for heavy labour and hefting large weapons.
Endurance - The character's basic constitution and fitness. Useful for staying in the fight, and for a hard day's work aboard ship.
Dexterity - The character's hand-eye co-ordination and ability to focus on making their body do what they want it to. Useful for everything from lock-picking to swashbuckling.
Reason - The character's logical prowess and ability to learn and retain information. Useful for academics and anyone who needs to think about what they're doing from time to time.
Intuition - The character's ability to know without thinking and to act on split-second hunches. Useful for all sorts.
Drive - The character's will to go on, and force of personality when it comes to the crunch.
Charisma - The character's likability and ability to charm. Of course, players will have to provide all their own répartee and social graces, but Charisma underpins the social network that the character has created around themselves.
Magical Aptitude - The character's ability to sense the magic of various forms and combinations flowing across the land and sea. At a Magical Aptitude of 7, a character can actually begin to 'see' magic as a physical thing, and make their first steps in manipulating it.

Different races have different averages for stats, which is reflected in the number of stat points given for free, but the universal average for any Statistic is 5.

Whilst cutting swords, and axes, knives and glaives, may all get the job done in a simple, brutal fashion, there is no combat quite so noble nor requiring such steeled will as that which is fought with rapier. Reliant less on brute strength and more on skill, the honour duel by sword is considered the gentleman's way of resolving disputes when words have failed.

Thrusting and Cutting swords
In Lace & Steel, any suitable longsword phys-rep can be designated as a thrusting sword - a weapon of the rapier family with a thin, double-edged blade and a lethally sharp point - or a cutting sword such as a sabre or a cutlass. Cutting swords work just like any other melée weapon, but duelling swords work differently. As the blade is thin and light, wounds delivered by striking in the manner of a less sophisticated weapon deliver a maximum of a Single point of damage, irregarless of the Strength of the weilder. Extra damage can also be added, however, by using Technique, a derived measure of your dexterity and judgement with a light blade which is restored after every fight. Technique is mainly used, however, to make rapier duels more epic in scope, as special rules apply when rapier and rapier meet.

Contests of Technique
If a rapier is used to defend against a rapier attack, Technique is primarily used to deflect and evade the attacker's touches. If hit in such a duel, spending one point of technique will negate the damage of the blow entirely. No call needs to be made by the defender. The objective of such duels is therefore to get enough 'touches' to wear the opponent down before delivering blows that cause damage. (Note: when a combatant runs out of techniques, and subsequent opponent's blows hit their mark, it is polite that he indicates that this is the case - a small yelp of pain will suffice - indicating the end of a duel "to the blood")
All hits in a rapier duel are assumed to be Singles, and need not be called. At any point in a duel, however, a combatant may opt to spend Technique to boost the damage grade of his strike at a ratio of 1:1, and call Doubles, Triples, etc, as appropriate. As a decent swordsman may have Technique of 5 or 6, lethal strikes with a rapier are possible by this method. No matter how much Technique is used in such a an attack, however, the Technique cost to negate the damage is always 1, making such lethal lunges highly risky, or the mark of an (over)confident swordsman.

Desperate Measures
If you find yourself beaten down to 0 Technique, all is not lost. If you can get enough distance from your assailant to stand still for 3 seconds with your guard down (by leaping onto a table, running up a flight of stairs, swinging from a chandelier, etc.) then you can regain 1 Technique point. This can be done at any time, but only once per combat.
Alternatively, when it's really, really important that one does not get injured (say in a first blood duel), then Technique and Fatigue can also be used to Dodge a blow as one might in any other melée combat, and this is covered elsewhere.

Mixed weapon combats
Note that the above rules only apply to duels between fencing swords. Blows from other weapons are considered to have been delivered with too much force to be countered effectively by a deft flick of the wrist. Conversely, touches from a fencing sword are considered too quick for heavier, more clumsy weapons, and if the blow from either party lands, it lands truly and the damage should be taken. When attacking an opponent who's choice of weapon is not clear (is it a cutlass or a rapier?) the call should be "Touch Single", "Touch Double", etc as appropriate, to give them a chance to ignore it if their weapon was in fact a rapier. Also note that a thrusting swordsman can still use Technique (and indeed, the Technique he would have usually held back for avoiding damage) to boost his damage grade, so think twice before picking a fight with any gentleman accomplished with a rapier.


[Still to add: extra techniques, fatigue penalties for lunges, etc.]