Violence, Part 2

Now that you know why duels are fought, let’s you and me talk about how they are fought.

First, a duel is fought in a series of beats. Each beat, one of the duelists is the aggressor and the other is the defender. The duelists trade back and forth… unless a switch in momentum occurs. A maneuver striking the opponent off guard. We’ll get to that later. First, let’s go through the duel step-by-step.

Step 1: Gather Dice
Each duelist (and there are only two of them) gathers together whatever dice they can. The relevant Traits are Prowess and The Sword, plus any aspects they can invoke and tag. Players should double check with the GM, as usual, for rulings on invoking aspects that may or not be appropriate to the circumstance.

Example
Shara has stumbled into a duel. This is something she does not want to do. Not yet, anyway. She faces off against her opponent and I have to figure out how many dice she has.

Her Prowess is 3 and her skill at The Sword is also 3. That’s six dice. Not a lot to play with. If I want to play it safe, I’ll use at least 4 for the risk, leaving me only 2 to bid in the strike auction (not to mention use as wagers later on).

Fortunately, Shara’s sword has some Style banked. I pull two Style from the sword, giving me a total of 8 dice. That’s a bit better. She also has an aspect I want to invoke: “I know exactly how to hurt you.” The GM tells me that’s fair. Someone is going to get hurt after all. I get three dice from my aspect, giving me a total of 11 dice. Let’s look at the total:

Prowess    3
The Sword    3
Style (from sword)    2
Aspect    3
Total    11
 
So, for this part of the duel, Shara and I have eleven dice to play with. Okay, let’s see what happens next.

Step 2: Strike Bid
Time to determine which duelist makes the first move. Not necessarily the most successful hit, but the first one. And sometimes, that’s all you need.

With all those dice in hand, each player secretly sets aside a number of them, depending on how important it is for him to get the first strike. This is called the strike bid. Both players reveal their strike bid at the same time. The player who sets aside the most dice for the strike bid has the option to go first or second.

Example
With those eleven dice, it’s time to figure out how important it is for me to get the first strike. I know I want to use at least four dice for the risk (to beat the 10). That leaves me six. The more dice I have, the more wagers I can make, the more Style I can get. Of course, if I lose the bid, I lose the dice. I waste the dice, in fact. Bidding dice to go second. I’d better make sure I don’t do that.

So, I decide I’ll put four dice into the strike bid. My opponent reveals two dice. I get lucky. I get to pick whether I go first or second. I pick first. I have eight dice left for the duel.

Step 3: Declaration
Each duelist declares what he will do, starting with the duelist who won the strike bid. The duelists trade strikes, back and forth, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

This step starts with the first duelist declaring a risk. He states his intention clearly. “I want to stab your wrist,” “I want to cut your thumb,” or even “I want to cut out your eye.” Say it loud and say it proud. No room for the timid here.

The first duelist declares his intent and then the second duelist responds, declaring his own intentions with clarity and pride. His intention could be “I parry your worthless excuse of a lunge,” or “I bend sideways, leaving you open for a counterattack,” or even “I spin out of the range of your blade.”

The declarations are important. They set the standard for what happens next. Setting the bar.

Example
Shara won the strike bid, so she has the option to go first. She takes it. I announce, “I slice your leg, just above the knee.”
My opponent, looking to counter that, says, “I parry, putting your blade out of my way.”

We’ve both announced our intentions. Now, it’s time to see who is right and who is bleeding.

Step 4: Risk
Both duelists make their wagers secretly. Then, each rolls their remaining dice.

Both duelists check to see if they roll at least 10. If either of them fails to roll at least a 10, they completely fail at their declaration. Complete Failure. More on that in a moment.

If both duelists succeed in rolling at least 10, see which rolled higher.

The duelist who rolled higher succeeds in his intent. He is the victor. He has complete success.

The one who rolled lower gets only a partial success. He is the defeated. He has partial success.

Complete success means you get to use all your wagers.

Complete failure means you don’t get to use any of them.

Partial success means you can only use half your wagers, round up.

Step 5: Consequences
This is when the bleeding happens.

A successful attack means the victor may apply all his wagers against the defeated. The defeated may, if he wishes, subtract one wager from the victor’s pool, trading wager for wager. In other words, he can sacrifice his own wagers to cancel the victor’s wagers, one for one.
As soon as all the sacrifice is done, the victor applies his wagers.

If the attacker is the victor, he may Injure his opponent.

If the defender is the victor, he may Parry his opponent’s attack.

Injure and Parry are the two basic maneuvers (yes, that’s a game term). Advanced maneuvers may only be taught by fencing masters and each takes an entire Season to learn. I’ll put the advanced maneuvers here so all maneuvers are in the same place. If you want to learn those maneuvers, try looking up the Seasons chapter.

Injure (basic; aggressor; causes Injury)
If you put the hurt on your opponent, you deliver an Injury. Successfully hitting your opponent causes a rank one Injury, listed as “Injury 1.” Each wager you add to that increases the Injury’s rank. So, if you add two wagers to a successful hit, you’ve given your opponent an Injury 3. (One free rank for successfully hitting your opponent and two additional ranks for your two wagers. That’s a total of 3.)

The bigger an Injury, the better it is for you, the worse it is for your opponent.

Parry (basic; defender; free Style)
If the defender rolls higher than the attacker, the defender is the victor and the attacker is the defeated. The defender can then successfully parry the attacker’s attempt at harm. This means the attacker can now deduct wagers from the defender’s wager pool. That’s a good thing for the attacker.

Parrying is a good rest action. It gets you out of getting hit, but more importantly, it allows you to transfer all your extra wagers into Style points. Remember: you can turn any excess wagers into Style.

Advanced Maneuvers
All of the maneuvers below cost 2 wagers to execute. Each also costs one Season action to learn. Get studying.
Bash (defender/attacker; 2 wagers)

Throwing your weight behind your sword, you hope to throw your opponent off balance. Both you and your opponent roll Strength + Athletics (sorry: no wagers). If either of you do not make the risk (roll 10 or higher), you fall to the ground. The higher roll steals the momentum and may make an immediate attack against his fallen foe.

Bind (defender/attacker; 2 wagers)
You may wish to lock your opponent’s blade with your own. This ends any further maneuvers for the beat and both duelists transfer any remaining wagers into Style.

Blind (attacker; 2 wagers)
You slash at your opponent’s eyes, momentarily stunning him, blinding his vision. Your opponent loses a number of wagers from his pool equal to your skill with The Sword.

Feint (attacker/defender; 2 wagers)
A feint to the wrong direction can throw your opponent’s guard off, giving you an opportunity during the next beat. Declaring a feint by throwing away two wagers gives you a number of Style points equal to your skill with The Sword. These Style points can only be used in the next beat.

Lunge (attacker; 2 wagers; add Str to Injury)
A lunge is a dangerous maneuver, but if effective, can be devastating. A ven without Strength cannot make a lunge. Making a lunge requires two wagers. The duelist adds his Strength to the Injury rank. So, that’s one automatic rank for success plus the duelist’s Strength, plus any additional wagers he wishes to add.

The drawback of the lunge maneuver: you may not spend any further wagers that beat. Not to attack, not to defend yourself. All remaining wagers transfer to Style.

Riposte (defender; costs 2 wagers)
For the cost of three wagers, the defender can try a riposte. A riposte is a quick counterattack made by the defender. Like I said, this costs three wagers. The defender now becomes the attacker and may make an attack against his opponent with his remaining wagers. The attacker may only defend with his own remaining wagers.

If the attack is successful or if it fails, a riposte does not count as an attack. The duelist making a riposte does so at the end of the attacker’s beat, giving him first attack in the following beat.

Injury
The ven get hurt, just like us. They feel pain, just like us. They die from injury, just like us. The ven are just a little more butch, that’s all. But they can still be killed. It just takes a little more effort.

When your character takes an Injury, it has a rank. The rank is an indictor telling you how severe the Injury is. You can have multiple Injuries. A cut above the eyes, a sprained ankle, even a missing hand.

Injury 1 and Injury 2 are flesh wounds. A sliver of pain. Just a distraction. Any Injury 1 or 2 heals in an equal number of days. Injury 1 heals in one day. Injury 2 heals in two days.

Injury 3 and Injury 4 are crippling wounds. A deep, piercing wound through the chest. A missing digit. An ear torn from the side of the head. A blinded eye. A rank 3 Injury heals in one Season. An Injury 4 heals in two Seasons.

Injury 5 is a mortal wound. Any ven who takes an Injury 5 is automatically knocked to the ground, helpless. He cannot protect himself. A single action by a ruthless enemy will kill him. He is helpless for one week minus his Fortitude. For the rest of the Season, the character can take no action without spending a Style point. His Injury 5 heals at the end of the Year, losing one rank per Season.

Unfortunately, the last rank from an Injury 5 never fully heals. It remains as a scar on the character sheet.

Any Injury can be tagged, just like an aspect. Your opponent, by tagging your Injury, gains a number of bonus dice equal to the Injury.

This is important now.

The ven are just that tough.