New Membership Advantage: Sea Dogs

Every one knows that Avalon is blessed by the Sidhe. But the Sidhe's blessing extends beyond the shores of the Triple Kingdoms. Any letter of Marque Queen Elaine signs for her Privateers contains a Sidhe blessing as long as the Sea Dog ship remains in the favor of the Sidhe.

Memebership Benefits

• Whenever Queen Elaine signs a letter a marque and reprisal for a Sea Dog ship, it comes with Sidhe blessing. The collective Reputation of the crew gets turned into a Drama Dice pool that any Sea Dog can use for actions during a Sea Chase and Sea Combat.

Ship Rules

Ship Stats

In the ship creation section of the Player's Guide there are rules for building ship. Most of the numbers have no quantitative value. To fit this I have assigned value based on ships during the Age of Sail.

Brawn - Ship's Guns

1 = less than 10 Guns

2 = 10 - 20 Guns

3 = 20 - 30 Guns

4 = 30 - 40 Guns

5 = 40 - 50 Guns

6 = 50 - 60 Guns

7 = 60 - 70 Guns

8 = 70 - 80 Guns

9 = 80 - 90 Guns

10 = 90+ Guns

Modifiers to increase a ship's brawn above 10.

+1 Fully crew Gun Crew per gun. +5 men per gun.

+1 Trained Gun Crew.

-1 Skeleton Gun Crew. <2 men per gun.

-1 Untrained Gun Crew.

Finesse - Ship's Crew

1 = less than 20 Sailors

2 = 20 - 50 Sailors

3 = 50 - 90

Sailors

4 = 90 - 140

Sailors

5 = 140 - 210

Sailors

6 = 210 - 300

Sailors

7 = 300 - 450

Sailors

8 = 450 - 650

Sailors

9 = 650 - 900

Sailors

10 = 900+ Sailors

Modifiers to increase a ship's Finesse above 10.

+1 High Morale.

+1 Trained Sailor Crew.

-1 Low Morale.

-1 Untrained Sailor Crew.

Panache - Ship's Speed

1 = Average Speed of 2 Knots.

Top Speed of 3 Knots.

2 =

Average Speed of 4 Knots.

Top Speed of 6 Knots.

3 =

Average Speed of 6 Knots.

Top Speed of 9 Knots.

4 =

Average Speed of 8 Knots.

Top Speed of 12 Knots.

5 =

Average Speed of 10 Knots.

Top Speed of 15 Knots.

6 =

Average Speed of 12 Knots.

Top Speed of 18 Knots.

7 =

Average Speed of 14 Knots.

Top Speed of 21 Knots.

8 =

Average Speed of 16 Knots.

Top Speed of 24 Knots.

9 =

Average Speed of 18 Knots.

Top Speed of 27 Knots.

10 =

Average Speed of 20+ Knots. Top Speed of 30 Knots.

Ship Battles Rules (Option)

Ships have traits like heroes and villains. Ships traits are Brawn (Guns), Finesse (Crew), Wits (Maneuver), Resolve (Hull), and Panache (Sails). Ships combat is very similar to combat between heroes and villains. Each one of the stats also have a corresponding ship position that is in charge of actions for each trait. Master Gunner for Brawn. Bosun or Captain for Finesse. Helmsman for Wits. Carpenter for Resolve. Master of the Tops for Sails.

Ships Roles

• Bosun: Finesse and Crew. Gives orders, decides what actions the crew is to performed. Initiates boarding actions.
• Master Gunner: Brawn and Guns. Rolls Attacks and damage given rolls.
• Helmsman: Wits and Maneuver. Maneuver ship, Ram opposing ship.
• Carpenter: Resolve and Hull. Repairs, rolls damage received rolls, and assign critical hits.
• Master of the Tops: Panache and Sails. Rolls Initiative and Movement. Run, Escape and Pursue.

Start of the Encounter

At the start of Combat each ship states it's intention. Ships basically have two intentions, engage and run. If both ships decide to engage, skip to combat round (See start of combat.). If both ships decide to run, both ships escape without combat. If one ship states engage and the other states run, then perform chase actions. During the chase, additional actions maybe performed. Actions and raised are called before dice are rolled.

Chase Actions

Both ship's Master of the Tops the roll Ships Panache + Master of the Top's Rigging Knack, keep ships Panache vs. TN of Opposing ship's Wits x 5. (Ships with Silk sails, Wide Rudder, or Well trained crew receive a free raise. Only one free raise maybe used in this way. Ships with poorly trained crew, small rudder, or tattered sails must call one additional raise. Only one raised must be call.) Ships Raises maybe called for additional successes.

Fleeing ship actions

• Run like smoke and oakum: Full run. All successes are used to escape.
• Gun and Run: If ship has stern chasers, successes maybe divided up into gunning damage (keep 1). A number of raises equal to ships brawn maybe used. If a ship has a brawn of 3, then the fleeing ship may use maximum number of 3 raises for damaging the chasing ship. (3k1)
• Strike the colors: End pursuit and surrender/parlay to chasing ship.

Chasing Actions

• Full Chase: All successes are used to catch fleeing ship.
• Gun and Run: If ship has stern chasers, successes maybe divided up into gunning damage (keep 1). A number of raises equal to ships brawn maybe used. If a ship has a brawn of 3, then the fleeing ship may use maximum number of 3 raises for damaging the chasing ship. (3k1)
• End pursuit: Call off the chase, let fleeing ship escape.

Ending the Chase

The ship which gets a number of successes equal to the opposite ship's Panache wins. If fleeing ship wins, it escapes. If chasing ship wins, combat begins.

Start of Combat

Before ships roll Panache (Actions for Combat) like in 7th Sea combat. Both ships performs a free movement action. Both ships roll Ship's Panache + Master of the Top's Rigging vs. 15±Weather Conditions. Raises maybe called for additional temporary drama dice that can be used during combat. Ships that succeed roll get temporary drama dice equal to number of raises called. Ship with highest roll, gets a bonus temporary drama dice and is said to have the Weather gauge. If both ships have actions on the same phase, the ship with the weather gauge advantage goes first.

Start of the Round

Master of the Tops rolls ship's Panache (Actions). Master of the Tops hands action dice and temporary drama dice to Bosun or Captain.

Phases

There are 10 phases in ship combat like in regular combat. On a phase that the ship has an action, the bosun orders an action to be preformed. (Actions can be held to be used later.)

Actions

• Firing Broadside: Master Gunner roll Ship's Finesse + Gunnery keep Finesse vs. opposing ships' Wits x 5. Master Gunner can call raises for additional unkept dice to damage. If successful the guns hit and roll damage. Roll and keep a number of dice equal to Brawn.
• Raking Fire (Stern Rake or Bow Rake): Also know as crossing the T. Broadside attack against the bow or stern of the opposing ship. Roll Ship's Finesse + Master's Gunnery keep Finesse vs. opposing ship's Wits x 5 + 10, due to the fact that the attack is along the narrowside of the ship and thus making it harder to hit. If Attack is successful, roll damage as normal except if the opposing ships takes a critical hit, the first critical hit is scored against the Ships Helm and rudder (Wits) for Stern Rake. For Bow Rake, the first critical hit is scored against the Ship's Sails (Panache)
• Returning Fire (Hold, Interrupt Action, or must be used as ships next action provided the opposing ship doesn't use another action): If a ship performs a raking fire, the opposing ship may respond with a Returning fire. Ship must have chaser guns, Bow chasers if Raking ship does a Bow Rake or Stern Chasers if the Raking ship does a Stern Rake. Returning fire ship's gunner rolls Ship's Finesse + Gunnery vs. opposing ship's Wits x 5. If successful the ship's gunner roll the ship's Brawn Keep half round down (minimum of keep one). This action does not cancel the opposing ship's Raking Fire.
• Ramming Action: Helmsman rolls Ship's Wits + Pilot vs. opposing ship's Wits x 5. Both ships take damage with his action. A helmsman may call two raises to reduce one critical hit suffered to own ship. To determine the number of critical hits, add the ramming ship's Speed (Panache) and Ship's Hull (Resolve). Divide number by two and that is the number of critical hits each ship takes. Ramming ship rounds down for odd number of hits. Opposing ship rounds up.
• Maneuvering Action: Action designed to give a ship an advantage during combat. Helmsman rolls Ship's Finesse + Pilot vs. opposing ship's Wits x 5. If successful the gains the weather gauge and a free raise to the ship's next action (provided the ship maintains the weather gauge). If ship calls an raises, ship gains a number of temporary drama dice equal to the number of raises called. Drama dice can be used at any time during combat provided ship maintains the weather gauge.
• Close within Pistol Range: Maneuvering action designed to put the ships so close together the hulls nearly touch. Helmsman rolls Ship's Finesse + Pilot vs. opposing ships Wits x 5. If successful ships are in short range, all gunnery actions receive a +5 to rolls. Bosun can order Boarding actions.
• Repair: When ship received hits from the opposing ship guns, the ship's carpenter rolls and keeps the ship's hull (Resolve). If the carpenter rolls equal to or higher the damaged received is superficial. The bosun can order the carpenter to repair the superficial hits. Carpenter rolls Ship's Finesse + Carpentry Knack vs. TN equal to the number of superficial hits taken. This reduces the number of superficial hits by half (rounded down) minus 5 for every 2 raises the carpenter call.
• Break from Combat: Ship combat is not going the way you expected and it is time to run. Master of the Tops rolls Ship's Finesse + Rigging vs. opposing ship's Wits x 5 to speed away. If successful consult Chase actions. Raises maybe called to be used for successes in chase actions.
• Boarding Action: Once ships are in short range, (yard arm to yard arm, or after a ship has rammed the other) Bosun can order a boarding action. Board party tries to swing over to the other ship or board planks are dropped and sailors try to run across to the other ship. Of course the opposing ship will try to repel boarders, making it an opposed roll. Bosun rolls Ship's Finesse + Leadership or Incitation vs. the opposing Bosun's Ship's Finesse + Leadership or Incitation. If boarding side wins, end ship combat and enter into normal combat or consult Boarding action chart in Pirates nation book. If the repelling side wins, then action fails. Bosun can use another action to order another boarding attempt.
• Strike the colors: The Captain (or next in command, if Captain is incapacitated) may order the colors to be struck. By giving this order the the Captain is surrendering the fight.

Specialty Weapons

• Grapeshot or Canister shot: Inflicts two fewer kept dice to damage, but if ship suffers a critical hit, the first hit goes to Crew (Finesse).
• Chainshot or Barshot: Inflicts two fewer kept dice to damge, but if ship suffers a critical hit, the first hit goes to Sails (Panache).
• Carronade: Carronades are short barreled cannons that fire heavy pound rounds. Designed for close range attacks. Ships armed with Carronades are only accurate at short range and inflict two fewer kept dice to damage, but if ship suffers a critical hit, the first hit goes to Hull (Resolve).

Damage: What happen when a ship's trait reaches zero.

When a ship receives a critical hit, one of its traits is reduced by 1 + 1 for every 10 the ship missed its hull check by. Carpenter decides which trait is reduced. This is what happens when a ships trait is reduced to zero, or below zero.

• Brawn: If a ships brawn is reduced to zero the ships gun crew and guns have been disabled and can no longer fire. Ship can no longer fire any of its guns.
• Finesse: Most of the crew is either dead or incapacitated. Ship can no longer operate and is flatting adrift.
• Wits: Rudder and Helm have been shot away. Ship can no longer maneuver until rudder can be fixed. If a ship has oars, the ship's Wits are still zero, however the ship can still maneuver as if it has a Wits of 1. Dice do not explode.
• Resolve: A ship does not start sinking until it receives a number of critical hits equal to twice its resolve. When this happens the ship starts sinking. Either consult the Sinking ship chart in the Pirates Nation book, or the ship sinks after 20 minus the ship's hull trait.
• Panache: The ships masts and rigging have been shot away and cannot move. If a ship has oars the ship's Panache is still zero, however the ship can still maneuver as if it has a Panache of 1. Dice do not explode.

New Membership Advantage: Brotherhood of the Coast

Every sailor that signs the ship charter knows that they have sealed their fate to the gallows if caught. This creates a special bound between every sailor that sails underneath a black flag. Your brothers will die and kill for you. It is expected you do the same for them. There is no room for cowardice aboard a pirates ship.

Memebership Benefits

• While aboard ship, and provided none of the articles of the ship's charter have been broken, all your basic needs are provided for, clothes, weapons, share of ship's provisions, and of course lodgings.
• FREE Raise to all Actions while aboard ship.

Fear Rules (Optional)

According to the 7th Sea GM's Guide,

When Heroes encounter a creature with Fear, all who view the creature must make a Resolve Roll against the Creature’s Fear Rating x 5. Those who fail lose a number of unkept dice from each roll equal to the creature’s Fear Rating while facing it.

After looking over the rules, they seem kind of weak. If you have fear rules it's because you want the players to fearful of these creatures. So a creature with a rank 1 fear has a TN of 5 to avoid. A player with Resolve of 2, is almost guaranteed to succeed in their roll. A player with a resolve of 1 has a 60% chance to succeed. In the GM's Guide they gave an example of Ghost with a Fear rank of 3. So a ghost should be pretty scary. But the TN to avoid the fear is 15. A Player with Resolve of 2 has 28% to succeed. Where a Player with 3 Resolve has a 66% to succeed. The average person would probably be scared, but someone with just a little more will, is likely uneffected. The other problem I have with the rules is the you fail is the all or nothing effect. So here is the new rule I came up with.

When Heroes encounter a creature with Fear, all who view the creature must make a Resolve Roll against the Creature’s Fear Rating x 10. Those who fail lose 1 unkept dice + 1 unkept dice for every 5 you failed the roll by upto the creature’s Fear Rating while facing it.

Example: The party encounters a ghost. The ghost has a Fear Rating of 3, meaning the Party must make a Resolve Test against a TN of (30). Reme rolls a 32, he succeed and therefore has no effect. Gregor rolls a 27. He loses 1 unkept dice to all of rolls while facing the ghost (1 because he failed the roll, but not more then 5). Jean-Marie rolled a 7. She loses 1 unkept dice, but because she failed the roll. Now because she fail by 23 she loses 1 unkept dice for every 5 (that would have been 5), but because the ghost has a Fear Rating 3, she only loses 2 more unkept dice, for a total of 3. Equal to the Fear Rating of 3.

If a character has a Fear Background, then that player has to roll for fear equal to Rank of the background when face there fear. If the nature of their fear also has a Fear Rating. Then they add their Background Rank to the Fear Rank.

Example: Einhardt is afraid of snakes. He has the background at Rank 1. When he encounters snakes he must roll Resolve vs. TN 10. But let's say he is fighting a really large snake that has a fear Rank of 2. The snake now has a Fear Rating of 3 to Einhardt. The other Players Roll Fear vs. TN 20, while Einhardt has to roll Fear vs. TN 30.

Savate (New Swordmans School)(Optional)

Introduction
About a year ago, I was looking to create a new swordsmans school based off the real-world French Fighting Style of Savate. Then a friend of mine found Poisoned Shadow's version. Well, I really liked it, but it added a bunch of new Knacks, some that seemed like old knacks with a little twist. Personally I not a big fan of new knacks, especially went it could be cover by an already existing knack. So with that in mind, I created my own Savate School. Here it is. Enjoy.

Savate
Country of Origin: Montaigne

Founded: 166? No one knows for sure, but started gaining popularity in 1667

Description: With the social divide ever growing, Montaigne has become a more and more harsh place to live. Especially among the commoner class. This has caused a new breed of street fighter to emerge. It is believes to have started with the sailors and dock workers of Paix, but has spread quickly to every port in Montaigne. It is now making its way to other ports around Theah. Freiburg for one has embraced this new style. There is no formal schooling, it's students learn from the school of hard knocks in alleyways, pubs, warehouses and basements from other Savateurs. No one knows who the first savate fighter was, but many believe there was more then one creator and is believed that it has adapted many of its techniques from the Crescent Empire and Cathay fighting styles. It's main focus is using; kick, punch or whatever you have at your disposal until the fight is over. It tends to focus more on kicks because a well placed kick can do more damage then a punch, and a kick can be delivered to move places more easily then punches can, like knees and ankles. Most recently Savateurs have started using a staff or cane as part of their fighting style. The stick is used to steady a fighter during one of it's many kicks. Or it can be used as an improvised weapon.

The most obvious weakness of Savate is that its attacks are extremely aggressive, requiring a great deal of energy to deliver. A Savateur may tire quickly, and cagey opponents will use this to their advantage. Furthermore, the primary weapons of Savate—a variety of kicks—are always delivered with the leading foot (that is, the one closest to the opponent). This requires the Savateur to shift his weight to his back leg before striking, a telltale cue that an attack is forthcoming.[1]

Basic Curriculum: Dirty Fighting, Pugilism
Kick is consider a Basic knack at Hero Creation, Free rank to any Swordsman's knack (No membership to Swordsman Guild),

Swordsman Knacks: Corps-a-corps*, Beat**, Kick***, Exploit Weakness (Savate)

*Coup de pied bas - ("low kick", a front or sweep kick to the shin making contact with the inner edge of the shoe, performed with a characteristic backwards lean) low only

**Fouetté (literally "whip", roundhouse kick making contact with the instep), high, medium or low

***Typically the "Revers" kick (frontal or lateral "reverse" or hooking kick making contact with the sole of the shoe), high, medium, or low) but does not have to be, can be any type of kick.

Apprentice: Savate students start by learning how to kick faster, more accurately and harder. Your leg is strong then your arms, but can make you unbalance if your not careful. By practicing kicks they learn how to deliver kicks without sacrificing their balance.
Kick Attacks are made without calling two raises.

Journeyman: Savateurs have learned that just because you have knocked your opponent to the ground, doesn't mean the fight is over. They learn how to deliver a quick kick to the person laying on the ground to "encourage that they stay there".
When you succeed at a corps-a-corps attempt, you can immediately make a kick attack with a -10 penalty.
You gain one rank of Kick. This can raise your rank to 6. If it does not, you can later raise your rank to 6 by spending 25 XP.

Master: Chassé (side or front piston-action kick), high, medium or low. The Chassé kick as it is called, is a series of quick kicks delivered one right after the other.
You can do a series of kick attacks on one action. The first attack is at –5. If you hit their Passive Defense (even if they succeed in their Active Defense), then you can attack again at –10 to hit. Repeat with an additional –5 each time to hit until you miss their Passive Defense or decide to quit. Each hit does damage separately.

Reference
1. Taken from the Poison Shadow description of Savate's weakness.

Drama Dice

Many games have a game mechanic that gives players a little more control over out come of actions or control over the story. Some games use Action Point, Style Points, Karma Dice, or Luck. 7th Sea is no different. It uses Drama Dice (DD). I know I've mention DD in previous posts but never addressed them. DD are used to give a little or big boost to the player. They start off each adventure with a specific number of DD and when they use there are gone. So you better use them wisely. There are ways to earn extra DD throughout an adventure. By doing really cool or stupid, or Heroic stuff. Or all at the same time. Or making it harder on themselves, usually by calling raises. Anything that makes the story more interesting.
While fight the Villain, the players says, "I want to pull the Barmaid I've talking up towards me, kiss her on the lips, then push back out of harms way. "The GM will say "Ok, but you'll have to call x# of Raises." Very swashbucklely, very cinematic, and if you don't get skewed like a shish-kebab, DD will come your way. Even if you fail, but fail with style, DD will come your way.

Now that we know what DD are. I have some questions for everyone, answer the polls on the left.

In the past we used Red Dice for Drama Dice. It doesn't matter to me what color we use, but I would like to a specific dice color represent Drama Dice. Since I'm about to place an order with Chessex, I figured I'd give you the opportunity to decide what color we use. Your choices are, Red, Teal, Green, Yellow, Orange, Blue, or Purple.
What color should the Drama Dice be? (Vote for 2)






Second question is more important because it will effect your character.
Normally You start off if the # of DD equal to your lowest trait. I like John's Rule, Highest Trait. So we going to go with that. But One problem I have with DD is that at the end of the Adventure DD get turned into XP. I don't like this rule because it cause people to horde DD. Drama Dice are meant to be spent so the second poll will address this.

At the end of an Adventure, What happens to Drama Dice? (Vote for 1)
A) Gets turned into XP as normal.
B) Does not get turned into XP and is lost.
C) Gets turned into XP at a 2:1 ratio (2 DD = 1 XP).
D) Does not get turned into XP but is Rolled over to next Adventure.
E) Something else.

Comments or Suggestions welcome

MURDER

"Murder's out of tune, and sweet revenge grows harsh."
~ William Shakespeare

The previous post we dealt with accidental death. Dying while in the line of duty. Murder is a different beast altogether. It requires forethought. It may not always be planned, but was always intended.

Batman, the one with Michael Keaton. The first time Batman faces off against the Joker, before the he becomes the Joker. The Joker falls over a rail and Batman grabs him. The Joker is helpless suspended over a vat of toxic chemicals. Batman has a choice, pull Joker up and save his life, or let him fall to his almost certain death. Batman drops him, but for a second he thought about saving him. Saving the man that murdered his parents. But in the end Batman sided with vengeance, sided for murder. Was the Joker evil? Yes. Does he deserve to die? Sure. Was it Murder? Absolutely. Batman's action caused the Joker's death, or near death at any rate. Batman knows it, the Joker knows it and later even says to Batman, "You made me, remember. You dropped me into that vat of chemicals. That wasn't easy to get over, but don't think that I didn't try." (I love that line.) So when your standing over the helpless body of the villain you've just knockout. The question you will have to answer, "Do you kill him? Murder him so he can hurt no else. Or do let him live? Both actions have consequences, consequences your character will have to live with.

Here's how we handle murder. When a character (Heroes & Villains) reaches 2x their Resolve. They fall unconscious, helpless, unable to do anything. They can spend a Drama Dice to get up but are unable to act for the rest of the round. But if they take an injury, even the smallest amount, they fall unconscious again. Any character may murder a unconscious character, provided you have an action. All you have to say is, "I kill them." or something similar. They spend a Drama Dice and their action. Done, that character is dead. Sorry about your luck, I'm sure people will say very nice things about you at your wake. Even if you were a heartless bastard.

What happens after a murder? Well what happens in real life? Life move on, there may be an investigation, people may be brought up on charges (Assuming the murderer has been captured). There's a funeral of some kind. Families grieve the lost of the loved one. Some hot-headed relative my vow to revenge the death. Or nothing happens, the murderer gets away. But if your the Hero that murdered the Villain, don't count on that last one happening.

Now if a Villain Murders a Hero. Then any surviving Heroes (All, 1, or none) may get the Vendetta Background at Rank 1 for free. (Maybe higher if the GM allows it) Remember you get bonus XP when Backgrounds show up in a game session.

I've also considered adding a new rule. A Murder Dice. 1 dice that maybe used by any Hero that has the Vendetta Background (it doesn't matter the rank of the background and only in the event that a Villain Murder a hero or someone close to the Heroes and it happened in game and not a Hero Creation). That dice is different from all other dice. It is Black and it is added to all rolls as a kept dice (the Dice does NOT explode). It can only be used for actions as long as the action helps the Hero(s) apprehend the Villain. Now there is only 1 Murder Dice, someone at any time make take it. Once they have it no one else may use it. The Hero may give it to another Hero (assuming they also have the Vendetta Background). If they do, they can not receive the Murder Dice again for the length of the adventure. If the Hero that has the Murder Dice fall unconscious or becomes helpless, then the dice can be taken by any other Hero (Same rule regarding the Vendetta Background), and the Murder Dice is treated as if the hero gave it away. Once the Vendetta background has been resolved, the Murder Dice goes away.

Any comments or suggestion are welcome.

Heroes & Death

This is something I've been thinking about as of late. When I first started playing 7th Sea, I was told that it's very hard for Heroes to die and would only do so if it was absolutely necessary for the story. Basically I interrupted this as "Heroes don't Die" or "Very Rarely Die" So I created Gunther the Overconfident, Berserker, Vesten Raider, Dual wielding, Whirling Axe Machine. He can't die right? and even if he does, well he would have died in battle. All the better for a Vesten Raider.

But now that I think about it, Heroes do die, if you don't believe me re-watch Lord of the Rings, Serenity, 13th warrior, 300, well I could go on. But anyway, going all the way back to your earliest stories, Heroes die. They died all the time. If fact they rarely escaped alive. But the one thing in common with all Heroes Death, is cause. They Died for a Causes. Their death was not arbitrary, it was not because of a bad roll, it was because of something SO important to them that they would rather die then fail.

Basically what I'm saying is Yes, your character is mortal and may die. But I'm not going to arbitrarily kill your character, and you will not die because of a bad roll. Nor am I out to kill your character. But like you, Villains will have Goals, and their goals are just as important to them as your goals are important to your character. Also, the villains will stop at nothing to accomplice their goals. If you stand in their way, they will make sure you are unable to stop them. If that means removing you permanently then so be it.
See the next posts on Murder.

Here's how it works. If you take a number of Dramatic wounds equal to 3x your resolve. The GM (Me, hee hee) has the option to say "Your character dies". You have the option to spend 2 Drama Dice, to say, "No I don't". Then by some miracle you live. Same rule applies to Villains. Say you deliver a hit that would kill him. The GM will ask you, "Do you wish your hit to be a killing blow?". You may say "Yes" or "No". If you say No, you gain a Drama Dice. If you say Yes, then the Villain is dead. Of course the GM may spend 2 of his Drama Dice to have the villain miraculously live. If this happens the Villain will not have any ill-will towards the player or party that left him for dead. He may harbor ill-will for thwarting his evil plan, but not the actual death itself. It's a natural hazard that comes with being an evil mastermind after all.

Next post we will discuss Murder.

Explosion Rules (Optional)

On Page 174 of the GM's Guide book there are rules for explosions. But I don't like the all or nothing Damage that you receive for either failing or succeeding a roll. So here is what I came up with.

For the most part everything on the explosions chart stays the same. Except for TN's. The TN is 10. It doesn't matter if the explosion has a rating of 1 or 10. The TN is the same. So the Player rolls Panache + Leaping or Sprinting, with a TN of 10. If they are successful, the explosion cause -1 kept dice, minus 1 for every raise the Player makes.

Example: A Rank 7 Explosion would cause 7k7 dice of damage. Now the Player decide to roll Panache + Sprinting with 4 raises. The new TN is 30. The player is successful in their roll. The Explosion does 7k2 damage.

if the player would have failed to beat their TN of 30, then they would take the full 7k7 damage.

Now it makes walking away with no wounds a little more difficult, and makes explosions a little less dangerous. But it gives the players more control over their fate.

I guess if you want to have the Explosion be more deadly, you con always raise the TN to 15 or 20. But I like 10, it's nice number.

New Knack (Optional)

Not sure if I'll use this knack. I invented it after doing some playtesting for John Wick's Houses of the Blooded. And after a discussion was start one the AEG Forums.

Inflict Injury Knack
Anyone with who has an unsanctioned (or Sanctioned school that had Dirty fight as part of its curriculum) swords school my purchase this knack as part of their school. The knack casts 5 XP to start and is bought up as normal.

You call a Called shot to a location on the body. Use the Called shot table (*See below) to determine the number of raises needed. Roll Inflict Injury + Finesse, Keep Finesse If you hit, you do no damage but you (and maybe others fighting or just other swordsman) Gain the Exploit Weakness: Injured "insert body part" for that fight. It is considered a Rank 1 Knack. For every 2 raises you call beyond the raises for called shot you raise the rank of the Exploit Weakness +1.

Example: The Villain wants to Inflict an Injury to a PC's arm. So he calls a Called Shot to the arm. He rolls his Finesse + Inflict Injury with 2 raises, but he wants to inflict a Rank 2 Exploit Weakness you would have to call 2 additional raises. He would have to have to hit with 4 Raises. 2 for the Called Shot and 2 to cause Rank 2 Weakness. If he wanted to inflict a Rank 3 Weakness he would have to call 6 Raises (2 Raises for the Called Shot, and 4 Raises for thw Weakness).

If a rank 5 Weakness is delivered then that person has a permanent injury. (Permanent Rank 1 Exploit Weakness.) Anyone who knows of this weakness may exploit it.

*Called Shot
Arms/Legs = 2 Raises
Chest = 2 Raises
Face** = 4 Raises
Feet/Hands = 3 Raises

**Not eye, ear or nose, just face area. Although a face strike may hit one of these parts you just can't aim for it.

House Rules

Feint: Roll Feint + Finesse and call as many raises as you wish. If you hit your opponent, your opponent must call the same number of raises as you did, to actively defend.

Example: Player A attacks Player B with a Feint. Player B has a TN of 15 to be hit. Player A calls 2 raises (+5 per raise). Players A's new TN is 25 and he rolls a 26. Player A hits Player B. Player B wants to Actively defend. To succeed in his Active Defense, he must roll a 36 or higher. 26, plus 2 raise (36).

Double Parry: A double-parry is a parrying with two blades (usually a fencing weapon and a main gauche) crossed before you. You may declare that you are using this Knack instead of an ordinary Parry as an Active Defense. Success grants one free Drama die, which can be used on your next action. For every Rank with this maneuver allows you to hold this dice one action longer. Drama die carries over from round to round as long as you don't exceed the number of actions. In any event if you do not use the Drama die by the end of it's action phase, you lose it.

Example: You have 3 Ranks with Double-Parry. On your first action you successfully perform a Double-Parry. You have a DD to be used on one of your next 3 actions.

Aiming (for any weapons that you are skilled with that are thrown, fired, shot, etc.): You may sacrifice an action dice to gain an unkept die (+1K0) to be used on your next attack roll. More then one action may be sacrificed, but sacrificed actions not used by the end of the round are lost. If you perform any action other then attacking or take a Dramatic wound, you lose the bonus die or dice.

Example: A character has Panache of 4, so he has 4 actions every round. He could first Aim, then Shoot, then Aim, then Shoot. Or, he could Aim, Aim, Aim, Shoot -- or any similar combination, provided he could do so without having to reload or draw.