Elan En Garde! Game

A. INTRODUCTION
Dueling is a socially acceptable, if not strictly legal, way of settling disputes between gentlemen. The winner receives satisfaction for his honor and the status accorded a victor. The loser receives humiliation, grievous wounds, and sometimes death. Dueling may only occur when in Paris: there is no dueling while on campaign.

B. TYPES OF DUELS
Duels are either formal or impromptu.

A formal duel typically arises for some personal cause. Matters such as place, time, weaponry, and surrender point (all the way from first blood to no quarter) are prearranged, either by the prospective combatants or by their designated seconds. Seconds usually accompany the duelists to the encounter in order to see that the matter proceeds according to agreement, and to ensure that when the duel is over someone is present to convey damaged combatants to a surgeon -- or dead ones to a coroner. (Note that a second may not be able to enforce an agreed-upon surrender point; a character may be slain if his opponent chooses to run him through rather than accept his capitulation. This is an act of murder. The second now has a new role: witness to the crime.) Challenges to formal duels may be announced for all of Paris to hear, or they may be issued in direst secrecy, depending on the cause, but it is fairly difficult to keep a duel itself secret; unless it is fought in the privacy of someone's home it is likely to be noted in the monthly resolution.

The typical impromptu duel occurs when courting gentlemen meet on a mistress's doorstep or when regimental enemies find themselves in the same vicinity. The opponents set to it immediately with whatever weapons they happen to be wearing; their seconds are drawn from whatever gentlemen may be with them at the time. Once the duel has been fought the issue of honor is considered to have been properly addressed, and the combatants are allowed to pursue whatever actions brought them into proximity. There are two places where meetings of regimental enemies do not give rise to duels: at church (there are no regiments in God's eyes) and on the grounds of the Louvre (the King objects to bloodshed in his front yard).

If a regimental duel breaks out when more than one member of either or both regiments are present, the duel generally commences between the two highest-ranking officers; the victor will, if he is not too injured, then fight the next-highest officer of his rival regiment. If the victor of the first duel is too injured to continue, then he passes the baton to his next-highest subordinate. The fighting continues as long as there are men from both regiments present and willing to duel.

C. TERMINOLOGY
Turn. A duel is composed of an indefinite number of turns. In each turn, both antagonists will simultaneously perform a single action.
Action. Each action represents a single discrete movement by a dueler. Each action takes exactly one turn. All possible actions are listed on Dueling table A.
Routine. A routine is a grouping of individual actions into a coherent pattern. All possible routines are listed on Dueling table A. For instance, a lunge routine consists of three actions and takes three turns to perform. Characters must perform routines in the exact sequence shown. At the conclusion of any routine, a player is in a position to begin any other routine.
Sequence. A sequence is a list of routines depicting a character's actions in a duel.

D. RECORDING ACTIONS
All players will submit a dueling sequence with their orders for the month. (Those who do not will be assigned a sequence randomly, should the need arise.) Players may submit more than one sequence, provided they indicate under what circumstances each sequence is to be used. In resolving a duel, the two duelists' sequences are compared to resolve each turn. If the duel takes longer than the sequence(s) the players provide me with their orders, then I will return to the beginning of the sequence and start the process again.

Each action recorded in the sequence must be part of a routine listed on Dueling table A. All actions in a routine must be performed in the exact order given on the table, and no routine may be begun before the previous routine is completed. The one exception to this is the slash routine, which may take one of three forms. The first is X-X-S. If the previous routine ended in a rest, then the first rest (X) may be omitted and the routine shortened to X-S. If a cutlass is used then the slash sequence is X-S-X-X-X, and is never shortened. If you make a mistake in your sequence I will correct it, rather than penalizing your character.

A sample sequence is as follows:

TURN	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Action	X	L	X	CL	K	X	X	X	X	S	P	JB	X

Each turn in the example has one action recorded for it. Turns 1-3 make up a lunge routine (X-L-X). Turns 4-8 are a kick, 9-10 an abbreviated slash (the kick ends in a rest or X), turn 11 is a parry, and turns 12-13 are a jump back routine. Your submitted dueling sequences may be as long or short as you desire.

E. INFLICTING DAMAGE
When a character makes an attack (lunge, slash, cut, kick, throw, or riposte) his opponent may sustain damage. To determine damage the attacker's action is indexed with the defender's on Dueling table B. The result is multiplied by the attacker's Str. This figure is subtracted from the defender's End as damage. Note that both characters can be both attacker and defender in each turn. Damage is sustained simultaneously. If a player's End goes below half its original level, he must add one mandatory rest routine into every 12 turns. If a character's End reaches zero he is dead.

F. SURRENDER
Surrender is normally an option. A dueling character may offer to surrender to his opponent at any time. The surrendering character is considered the loser, and suffers the appropriate status point losses for losing a duel, while the winner gains the corresponding bonuses (see Dueling table D). A character is disgraced if he surrenders before being wounded. All players will submit a surrender threshold with their dueling instructions. If a character's End reaches or drops below this number during a duel, he will offer surrender. If a character refuses an offer of surrender and instead slays his opponent, there could be problems: he has committed a murder. If there were witnesses he could be disgraced or even face trial.

Players may specify in their orders that their character will not offer or accept surrender from specific individuals, regimental enemies, and/or everyone. As with life, there are aggressive bullies out there.

G. OPTIONAL WEAPONS

Although the rapier is the weapon most commonly used for dueling, characters may choose to arm themselves otherwise. For example, the regimental weapon for all cavalry regiments is the sabre; the Royal Marines use a cutlass. And then there are those who feel that when you really mean it, nothing but a two-handed sword will do. Dueling table C lists the optional weapons and their different characteristics in attack. In any case, opponents in a duel do not have to use the same type of weapon.

When determining damage from an attack using an optional weapon, follow the usual procedure, but multiply the result by the number on Dueling table C that corresponds to the weapon and type of attack used. For example, Porthos lunges with a sabre while Cyrano rests. Porthos's strength is 10; Dueling table B gives a multiplier of 2 and table C gives a multiplier of 1/2; therefore Cyrano must subtract 10 from his End (10 x 2 x 1/2 = 10).

H. WEAPONS BREAKAGE
When a slash is blocked or a lunge is parried, there is a chance that the defender's blade will break. Refer to Dueling table C and find the number in brackets beside the name of the weapon used. Subtract the defender's weapon number from the attacker's. If the defender rolls this number or lower on 1d6, his weapon is broken.

A broken weapon is treated as a dagger in all respects except for throwing. If thrown, it is treated as a sabre. A character with a broken dagger is disarmed.

I. SWORDSMANSHIP
If the difference between two duelists' Exp scores is 2 or more, mandatory rests will be added into every twelve turns of the sequence of the character with the lower expertise, according to the schedule below. The rests will be spread as evenly throughout the less-experienced duelist's schedule as possible.

    Difference in Exp         Additional rests for
                               lower-Exp duelist

            0-1                        0
            2-3                        1
            4-5                        2
            6-7                        3
            8-9                        4
           10-11                       5
            12+                        6

J. RECOVERY
In the event of a non-fatal outcome, characters recover from wounds at the following rate: 1/2 of the End lost in a duel may be recovered the first week after the duel. Each week thereafter, End points equal to the character's constitution are recovered.

A character with less than 50% of his End may decline a duel, regardless of cause, without loss of status points. If, however, a character in such condition accepts a duel, he will gain 3 status points immediately, regardless of the outcome of the duel.

K. DEFAULT DUELING CONDITIONS
The following default conditions for all duels will be assumed unless alternate conditions are specified in a player's orders:

• Offer all challenges with cause if presently over 1/2 of total END
• Accept all challenges with cause if presently over 1/2 of total END
• Accept all offers of surrender
• Offer surrender when reduced to 1/2 END or less
• Accept any offer to duel to first blood

* Slash is -X-S- if preceeded by a rest. Note that a cutlass slash routine is longer: -X-S-X-X-X-, and the first rest is not conditional.

^ Cut is part of the furious slash and furious lunge routines. It is not an action independent of these routines.

+ Riposte is part of the parry routine.

# If a parry successfully blocks an attack, a riposte will follow.

* When a weapon is thrown, 1d6 is rolled. On a 1 or 2, the throw is successful and the opponent takes damage. Any other result and the thrower has missed; the opponent is unharmed. In either case the thrower is now unarmed. When daggers are thrown, they hit the opponent on a roll of 1, 2, or 3. Two-handed swords and cutlasses may be thrown, but are somewhat different. Two dice are rolled. On a roll of 2 (snake eyes) the opponent has been hit and is immediately killed. Any other result and the thrower is unarmed with no effect on his opponent.

*If a hit is scored with a thrown two-hander or cutlass, the opponent is slain.

The winner of a duel increases his expertise with the dueling weapon by one.

A surviving loser of a duel receives credit for one practice session.

If the duel was only to first blood then the winner receives credit for one practice session while the loser receives nothing.

Anyone who fights a member of his own regiment is automatically disgraced.

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