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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 3767334" data-attributes="member: 812">Swashbuckling tales are my favourite mode of RPGs. I have been working with the d20 ruleset, tweaking things here and there to encourage swashbuckling play, and I have developed a couple of principles, that can be embodied through a number of mechanics.There are two key mechanical principles regarding swashbuckling play.First off, the mechanics must encourage some confidence in the players that their efforts to buckle their swash will succeed. This is what Action Points or Swashbuckling Cards do -- a player is more likely to try something wacky or risky if they feel like they can sort of "stack the deck" in their favour. It doesn't have to provide total security -- that's not the point -- but many mechanics penalize crazy actions and so discourage such play. For example, if a player has to make a Jump check to get up on a table, they're unlikely to do so since the possibility of failure is too risky to bother for the +1 bonus for higher ground. That's a penalty. Likewise a character hanging from a rope will, in most games, suffer an attack penalty, so players will always look for an attack option that DOESN'T involve swinging on a rope.Action Points make it possible for players to offset or ignore those penalties and therefore they are more likely to try such actions. Likewise Swashbuckling Cards, many of which allow unorthodox actions without penalty (or even with a bonus: "Let The Wookie Win" gives a +10 bonus on an Intimidate check, which encourages a player to try and use a skill that generally gets little use).The second mechanical issue is that the mechanics must encourage variety in tactics. This is an area where d20 suffers, in my opinion. In any standard d20 game, especially D&D, it almost always the best tactic for skilled melee characters to close with their enemies and use full attacks to deliver as much damage as possible. Jumping up to the chandelier and two-footing a bad guy in the face is just not as effective. The full attack action inhibits swashbuckling play.This one thing I like about True20. Because it has no iterative attacks, all characters always have a move action to spend each round, so they might as well swing on the chandelier.Attacks of Opportunity are another swash-de-buckler rule -- they put pressure on characters to move LESS, since moving exposes you to AoO's. Again, characters with multiple attacks are almost always better off NOT moving, just standing toe-to-toe and delivering damage.None of this means D&D needs to be changed. I like D&D. But it's not a swashbuckling game.======================NoteMy Swashbuckling Cards are not currently available as Scratch Factory is down at the moment. I apologize for this and will update when they're available again.</blockquote>

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