Noodling/Musketeers RPG

Random bits for a musketeers thing:

Honor

Characters all have an honor score. Perhaps 'respect' or 'repute' is a better name for this, since it doesn't imply "lawful good" behavior, and it basically only matters wrt what's public knowledge. Rough tenets are like:

• Don't abuse your position wrt social inferiors
• Act properly wrt social superiors
• Be loyal to your group
• Be brave
• Show good taste and manners

Note that in particular lying isn't a problem, and it's possible that two people can oppose each other stridently but both behave honorably. It is conceivable there might be different codes of honor depending on your group.

References

• The Three Musketeers (obviously) - note all the stuff that is permitted by their honor codes
• The Phoenix Guards - some argument for different people having different codes

Duels

There are two basic kinds of combat, formal duels and informal "duels" (aka fights or scraps or whatever). In the case of an informal duel, it's anything goes and no honor is at stake, so it's fine to cut the rope to the chandelier or throw wine in their face or whatever, and it is fine to team up N-against-1 or whatever. When there is a team up, positioning yourself to limit the number of people who can attack you (by hiding or taking cover or whatever) is a big part of the duel since even fairly weak opponents can be dangerous when they outnumber you. On the other hand, in formal duels you're much more limited in what you're allowed to do, but contrariwise you can use some more advanced skills/techniques that aren't practical in informal settings (maybe positioning rolls break up whatever dueling setups you build). Furthermore, in formal duels you gain honor based on the stakes (for participating, maybe more for winning - definitely lose some for turning down the duel depending on situation). It's still possible to gain honor for an informal fight, but not just for the fact of fighting - but if you, say, are in a tavern and some of your buddies get into a fight, you gain honor for helping them out. (I think it is probably possible to gain some honor if you treat a combat like a formal duel even if they are treating it like a fight)

References

• Princess Bride's Chatty Duel is clearly a formal duel but has a certain amount of non-swordplay allowed; not clear if this is a breach of the rules or just a description of them
• The Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story The Jewels in the Forest starts off with a fight where positioning is a big deal to deal with a numbers disadvantage
• The Phoenix Guards has a bunch of scenes of different kinds of fights

Money

Money is a big deal but the exact kind of big deal it is depends on your social class etc. If you're mercenary-class, then you tend to gain money from patrons or mistresses, or rewards from social superiors, or occasionally prizes in war or being actually hired as a mercenary. You spend it on stuff like a fancy horse or maybe a sword, or nice lodgings or clothing or whatever, or drinks for your buddies, or blow it gambling (this probably exchanges money for honor). When you're dead broke you sell off your fancy outfits, move to shadier lodging and drink worse-quality drinks, and maybe grovel to or flatter people you'd rather not grovel to (this exchanges honor for money). If you're noble-class, then you always have enough personal funds for stuff, but you have an estate whose fortunes wax and wane. You can be tied up in farming and dependent on agricultural returns, or invest primarily in other stuff and have to deal with that. There are some minor losses of honor if your estate gets too in debt, and minor gains if you keep it up well, but mostly it doesn't affect honor. You might get involved in stuff that affects honor depending on what your estate's invested in, though.

References

• Three Muskeeters has a bunch of good stuff about money
• Count of Monte Cristo is also a good reference here

War

Sometimes you have to go to war. This is a chance to make money and distinguish yourself, get awarded a noble title, and accumulate career-ending injuries. It can be kind of annoying for social stuff you're trying to get done since everyone will be out of town.

References

• Three Musketeers has some war stuff, I believe

Setting

This seems like the kind of thing where you have a bunch of mercenary companies, and part of the goal is to advance the status of your company. Also, there must be enough work in a relatively small area to support a pretty big population of mercenaries, implying a bunch of feuding city-states, but not constantly at war so everyone isn't tied up all the time. Probably the mercenaries migrate around to some extent - I imagine they're a little like sailors, where they have a home base but they're away half the year.

References

• Black Company
• Conan