Swashbuckling help needed... my players stay out!

[Desdichado]

OK, so I'e always billed my campaign as swashbuckling and horror. My first adventure, which took about six or seven sessions to run through, really got the horror and intrigue down great. The last session was to the PCs' Sanity what Black Monday was to the US Stock Market.

However, I'm thinking the swashbuckling aspect needs to be played up before it just turns into just another grim, dark world.

It just so happens that my PCs will be facing off against pirate ninjas (note: not an actual in-game term), probably in the next session, and I want to make sure these guys are doing some real swashbuckly action to set example. I've got plans for rapier fights balanced on banisters, I've got enemies leaping off balconies into hordes of mooks, I've got swinging from chandeliers (and throwing candles plucked from the chandeliers while I'm at it) all in the works, but I want to do a little more, and that's where I need some help.

I'm remembering the scene from The Three Musketeers (the one with Michael York, Richard Chamberlain, Oliver Reed, Charleton Heston, Raquel Welch, Faye Dunaway, etc.) where the four titular characters decide to go out to eat but realise they have no money. They get into a mock fight, piercing wine bags with their rapier (and then discretely collecting the spillage in bottles, punching each other so they fly over the fire (collecting the birds roasting on a spit while doing so, hurling loaves of bread at each other (that is conveniently caught in a bag, etc.)

I want that kind of action. But more serious. I want Jackie Chan style stunts where he uses whatever he can find in the environment to beat people. But I don't have time to watch any Jackie Chan movies between now and the session on Thursday.

Anyone got any ideas? How can I emphasise the derring-do, the thrills, the joie de vivre aspect of a good swashbuckling film in a way that makes everyone just sit up and say "Cool!" when I describe an action by an NPC? What specific stunt set-ups can you think of that I could implement?

 

[diaglo]

teeter totter see saw benches around a large table. of course the table is overturned. lands on the bench launching the guy at the end of the bench up into the air to catch the chandelier.

a wine cask/tun is rolled a la ... clint eastwood at the door/window to open an escape route.

a higher balcony is needed to that rings the rooms of the upper level over the common room. so the foes can leap down and out the opening to land on their horses' backs to ride of in a glorious escape.

or if you do it at a dock. they swing out of the hole into a boat. and row to safety

 

[Hand of Evil]

Action words - start looking them up and make them availabile to your players, a player does not jump from the balcony, he summersaults from it. Pick words that are extraordinary and have a flare.

 

[GlassJaw]

From a pure mechanical standpoint, it's really tough to do that sort of stuff, especially at the lower levels. You need really high skill checks, especially Jump and Tumble. I really like the wuxia style but it requires some tweaks to make it possible.

One option is to give everyone (or at least the swashbuckler type classes) a flat +10 to Jump and let them jump without moving at least 20 ft before (like the OA Acrobatics ability that some of the PrC's have). Also, check out the Weightless Foot PrC from Dragon a while back. I know you probably don't want PrC's but you'll at least get some ideas from a mechanical point of view. You could also make some feats that enhance these skills.

As a DM, you also have to be very liberal on letting the players do things. If you have enemies who do it, the PC's should at least be able to attempt it too. That means you need to have the mechanics to back up your NPC's, otherwise the PC's will feel like they are being restricted.

 

[Old One]

I agree with HOE...pull out the Thesaurus and jot down 5-7 "super-action" words to substitute for mundane action words.

Setting: I recommend a theater, if you don't already have the site set (or a tavern with a play). This gives you all kinds of reasons to have ropes, sandbags, elevated platforms, etc all over the place. Another option would be a church, tavern or other large building that is under repair - gives you lots of scaffolding, ropes, tools, etc for multi-height combat.

BTW - I have the 3/4 Musketeers on DVD and love them...the action scenes are very well done for 30 years ago. Puts the more recent tripe that tried to pass for Musketeerage to shame!

 

[jollyninja]

all i know is when the npc warrior who trounced them on initiative uses his first attack to lunch a stool into the air, his second to blast it at the pc's and his third to shove a table at them, they start to get both horrified and creative really quick. also, to add that "hong kong action" feel to my game, i gave everyone the improved unarmed combat feat as a freebie and have started giving npc's bizzarre nicknames. i give pc's bonus xp for playing up the style of game i am trying to run, currently a swashbuckling detectives game in eberron, and smack down the timid. in my game fortune favors the bold

 

[The_Warlock]

Though GlassJaw has good points about mechanics, if you want PCs who aren't absolutely built for it to get in on the play - make sure there are a lot of props that allow them to overcome a lack of skill points - ie, weighted ropes and pulleys so they can ride or hang on to something that takes them where they want to go. And in the absence of mechanics use the old DMs standby - 50% for a hero to pull some wacky stuff off, with bonuses and penalties for how well they describe it. Even give them bonuses if they get into the shtick of really describing what they want to do.

Also, wherever you place the combat(s), make sure you place a LOT of props and describe the fact that they are there well - if you don't tell the PCs that there is a tiered stack of crates on the wharf, they won't think to climb it for a rolling dive on their enemies. Many many props, and be as descriptive as possible at the beginning, even if it seems slow to start the combat, the better description, the more they will get into it when the action starts.

The One Warlock

 

[The_Warlock]

Specifc Props..

Stacks of crates that can be climbed and jumped off of, or toppled on top of enemies..

Chandeliers for swinging on or dropping on enemies..

Large candelabras or torch holders that can be dropped infront of charging enemies to trip them, or tabletop candelabras that can be used as makeshift main gauches in combat...

On a dock, cargo or fish netting to drop on people, or climb up, or both...

On a ship, open hatches to the fish filled cargo hold...

Harpoons or stacks of cannonballs (shotput anyone?)...

In a building, tapestries and wall hangings that can easily catch fire when the lit candelabras are kncoked over onto them...

Balconies, tables, chairs, benches...

Fireplace with boiling stew or broth for flinging in people's faces...or open fire places to bull rush enemies into arse first...

Hot iron pokers...

Servant bell pulls to climb on (making a ruckus) or cut and use to trip enemies as makeshift whips...

A sea taven with the helm's wheel of a ship mounted on the wall so it can be used to block attacks or be rolled painfully into an opponent...

On a ship, make sure there are lots of belaying pins in the rails...

Servants buckets and mops, and chamber pots if the fight slides into private rooms...

In essence, as much authentic but highly removeable, moveable furnishings...

The One Warlock

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

What specific stunt set-ups can you think of that I could implement?

Get your hands on the .pdf's of Chris Pramas' "Dragon Fist" game. It used a prototype of the d20 mechanic and can easily be used to create really cool stunts and actions. I, as well as many others here, still have copies of it secreted away!

 

[Desdichado]

The fight in question will be taking place at the High Lord's mansion; but the High Lord himself will not be present. Rather, his wife will be running a somewhat intimate and highly illegal and heretical seance for the titillation value alone.

At this point, the aforementioned pirate ninjas (once again; not their real name) will be found trying to assassinate... somebody.

So, any types of props and crazy environments that you could come up with in a palace/mansion of about Renaissance level with a few odd steampunk elements thrown in.