Converted Dueling Styles for 7th Sea 2nd Edition

So here's something that I've been working on for a while, usually in a fairly casual basis.  Given that the latest installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise hits theaters today, it seemed appropriate to finally publish this.

7th Sea 2nd Edition - Converted Dueling Styles

A bit of background as to how this document came about: I had actually started this not-so-little conversion project way back in October 2016, long before the Explorer's Society option for publishing fan made 7th Sea material was officially a thing.  It started out pretty small, consisting of only a handful of adaptations of 7th Sea's 1st edition Swordsman Schools into workable Duelist Styles for the game's 2nd edition.  I did get a bit of feedback on the forum I initially posted the material at, some good, some bad, and some useful, but I ultimately chose to remove the material from that forum as things were starting to get a little too toxic for my taste.

One problem with the initial conversions was that I really didn't have a chance to play test these in mock combats as much as I would have liked.  Part of the reason it's taken me so long to finish up these conversions and then post them is that I've tried to run mock combats in a preset collection of scenarios (Duelist Hero vs. small Brute Squad, Duelist Hero vs. large Brute Squad, Duelist Hero vs. strong non-Duelist Villain, Duelist Hero vs. weak Duelist Villain, and Duelist Hero vs. strong Duelist Villain) to see how they shook out.  Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with how the various styles shook out.  They're not perfect, but as Steve Kenson (a game designer whom I deeply respect) said with regards to RPG design, there comes a point when you've got to say "it's good enough" and release it, otherwise you'll be "working on improving" the material forever.

From the very outset, I never intended to do conversions of every single 1e Swordsman School that got published (and there were a lot of them).  I mostly focused on the ones that I firstly found to be interesting and secondly that I could come up with something nifty for the style bonus.  One thing I tried to avoid was rampant re-skins of style bonuses for previously published Duelist styles.  If the only thing I could come up with for a style was a total re-skin, I simply dropped the the style.  There are a couple of exceptions as those Duelist styles I felt had enough in-game flavor to warrant their inclusion even if the style bonus wasn't anything truly original.

I did add a few converted Advantages, such as a revamp of the 1e Exploit Weakness Swordsman knack and the Left-Handed Advantage, as well as a little something for the professional pugilists out there that prefer bare-knuckles to bared steel.  I had considered doing a conversion of the Finnegan "Swordsman" School (aka Drunken Irish Boxing), but I ultimately opted not to, even if I did come up with a pretty nifty style bonus (which wound up being used for the Lucani style bonus instead).

Now, some of you may be aware that one of the initial releases for the Explorer's Society was the supplement "At Sword's Point," written by Rob Weiland.  What you may not be aware of is that I wrote a pretty scathing review of the product on DriveThruRPG (it's the only review of the product so far), due to the vast majority of the dueling style conversions being either clunky to the point of "why bother?" or being unimaginative tweaks of styles from the core rulebook.  I'm sorry, but if I'm going to take a Duelist style, I want to be able to do something that's not only cool, but isn't just a bland reskin of another style.  For instance, Rob's take on MacDonald, a style that favors using the Highlands claymore is just the core book's Ambrogia using different Traits.  There were a couple points where Rob and I had very similar ideas as to what a style's bonus should be (Lucani for instance).  To be honest, had this product been any good, I would have totally abandoned this conversion project of mine in favor of the "official version."  Yes, I gave it 2 stars, but that's only because I feel a 1 star rating is reserved for something that is complete and utter garbage that should have never been purchased in the first place.

I suppose one question that might crop up with regards with this document of mine is "why didn't you publish this as part of the Explorer's Society?"  Well, there are two good reasons.  The first is that I didn't feel this constituted an original enough work, since it's based very much off 1st edition material that belongs to John Wick.  The second is that trying to get this published for sale when there's already a similar product out there just felt incredibly tacky, as well as disingenuous given the rather scathing review I'd left for the product.  As to which one is "definitively better", Rob's "At Sword's Point" or my "Converted Dueling Styles," that's something I leave to the individual to decide.  If a table wants to mix and match, pulling Duelist styles from both files, then have at it.

So, there's the story on the how and why regarding the creation and sharing of this little project of mine.  I hope you find it useful, and that the Duelist style bonuses I've created don't prove to be more powerful than I anticipated.

As for the latest PotC flick... yeah, I think I'll wind up waiting for it to hit Netflix.  The trailers did little to make me want to see the film, and as much as I've enjoyed seeing Johnny Depp's performance as Captain Jack Sparrow, I think the character has worn out his welcome for me.

7th Sea 2e - A Villain of Honor

So not all that long ago, I posted a plethora of Heroes for the second edition of John Wick Presents' 7th Sea RPG, and even included a write-up of the adventure I used to introduce my Friday Night Skype group to the game.

Well, I'm back with some new morsels of 7th Sea goodness, this time turning my attention to the Villains.  Now admittedly, coming up with stats for a Villain isn't that difficult, given they use a much simpler method to determine their capabilities, those being Strength and Influence, which combine to determine their Villainy Rank, along with any notable Advantages that the Villain might have.  Still, it never hurts to have a few ready-made Villains on hand for your Heroes to face, either for them to confront, confound, and vex, or to be confronted, confounded, and vexed in turn.

Now, I won't be posting these Villains quite as frequently as I did the cavalcade of Heroes, and will instead aim for one new Villain each Saturday for at least the rest of this month and perhaps a couple more going into October.

Captain Charles du Chevalier, Musketeer Captain

Nation: Montaigne

Villainy Rank: 10

Strength: 6

Influence: 4

Advantages: Connection (Montaigne Musketeers), Disarming Smile, Duelist Academy (Valroux), Reputation (Chivalrous)

Notable Items: Rapier and main-gauche, Musketeer uniform, flintlock pistol with powder and shot

Appearance: Charles is tall and muscular, with the grace of an athlete and the bearing of king.  He is clean-shaven, which makes him look younger than his twenty-nine years.  His nose turns upward slightly at the sight of commoners, and he always condescends to those beneath him.  He is always polite, however, and rigidly adheres to the code of chivalry at all times; arrogance and honor can go hand in hand.

Background: Captain du Chevalier is the epitome of a King’s Musketeer: honorable, noble, and devoted to king and country.  He’s also arrogant and more than a little condescending to his social inferiors, but his heart is good and he faithfully adheres to the Musketeer’s code.  The third son of a landed nobleman, he joined the army for the excitement it offered, and was eventually selected to join the Musketeers.  Charles is a valiant swordsman, and fights to uphold the honor of his native country.  He is also an aristocrat, and affects the elitist snobbery typical of Montaigne’s nobility.  He has a hard time believing that a gentle of any stripe could commit a crime, and rarely persecutes anyone of breeding.  If he does become convinced such individuals are a threat, he will hound them to the ends of the earth; in his mind, a noble foe is ten times as dangerous as an ignoble one.  Unlike many of his peers, he knows that the peasantry of his homeland suffer and realizes their complaints are genuine.  While he sympathizes, he also genuinely believes that they were meant to suffer as they do, often saying that “if Theus wanted them happy, he wouldn’t have dirtied their blood.”

Notes: Captain du Chevalier made his first appearance in The Lady’s Favor, Part One of the Erebus Cross adventure series.  He could make for a good recurring adversary for a group of Heroes, given that he’s highly capable but also a man of honor.  Under the right circumstances, he might even make for a capable ally, as his commitment to defending king and country are absolute, and if pointed in the direction of a serious threat to either, he’ll waste no time working to thwart that threat, or at the very least give the Heroes aid in doing so.  He's really not much for scheming, and tends to spend his Influence to call up a contingent of rank-and-file Musketeers in the form of a Strength 10 Brute Squad with the Duelists special ability, or instead to all upon the aid of a Musketeer Officer, who has a Villainy Rank of 5 (Strength 4, Influence 1) with the Deadeye and Fencer Advantages if it appears things might get tough.

7th Sea Pre-Made Heroes - Estevan Santiago de Montoya

So as part of this week's series of pre-made heroes for the second edition of John Wick Production's excellent 7th Seas RPG, I now present a conversion of a 1st edition character that I very much enjoyed playing back in the day, even if the campaign he featured in didn't run nearly as long as our group would have liked (ah, the perils of a GM that gets too easily distracted with new campaign ideas).  Still, this character was a lot of fun for me to play in 1st edition, and even though his one outing as a PC in 2nd edition didn't precisely play to his skill set, he was still quite fun to play and I look forward to future opportunities to step again into this particular role.

So without further preamble, I present to you a talented swordsman from a nation that is reputed to be full of talented swordsmen...

Estevan Santiago de Montoya, Castillian Duelist
Traits:Brawn 2, Finesse 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2, Panache 3
Backgrounds: Diestro, Duelist
Skills: Athletics 3, Convince 2, Empathy 2, Intimidate 2, Perform 3, Ride 1, Scholarship 2, Tempt 2, Weaponry 3
Advantages: Disarming Smile, Duelist Academy (Aldana), Fencer, Quick Reflexes (Weaponry), Valiant Spirit
Arcana: Glorious (Virtue), Hot-Headed (Hubris)
Starting Reputation: 0
Starting Wealth: 0
Secret Society: Los Vagabundos
Languages: Castille, Montaigne, Old Thean
Personal Items: Rapier with a half-basket hilt, set of fine-quality clothing, set of traveling clothes

Appearance: Estevan is a handsome Castillian man in his very early twenties, standing just a bit taller than average, his figure lean yet possessed of the natural grace of a trained dancer and swordsman.  His thick black hair falls just above his shoulders, with several loose strands floating in front of his dark brown eyes, a wolfish smile adding a dash of roguish charm to his youthfully handsome features; this combined with the style of Castillian fashion makes him quite dashing figure.

Background: Though born to the ranks of the lesser nobility, Estevan has always been an adventurous boy, raised on a steady diet of heroic tales told by his doting father, the alcalde of the small town that his family had overseen for generations.  From a young age, Estevan often displayed the quick reflexes and sharp mind that were the hallmarks of a born swordsman.  At thirteen years, Estevan was sent to live with his aunt in the port city of Altamira, where his brash and adventurous nature often led him into minor trouble, but never anything too serious.  When of age, Estevan was enrolled into the prestigious La Universitad de Arcinega, and excelled just as much at his secular studies as he did his martial training at the esteemed Guild of San Marcos.  Upon graduating with a minor degree and having become a member-in-full of the Duelist's Guild, Estevan feels confident that he is ready to face whatever challenge Theus may place in the road ahead.

Notes: Yep, he's a two parts Inigo Montoya and one part Zorro, and woe betide you if he has reason to draw steel against you.  In this new edition, Estevan was still a fun character to play, and I very much used Antonio Banderas' turn as Alejandro in the movie The Mask of Zorro as an inspiration for both editions.  Now Estevan might seem a bit foppish at first, but he's no slouch when the need for action arises; I used him in a few playtest encounters, including some combats, and he made it very clear to me that a well-built swordsman is freaking devastating in a fight; this boy was able to tear apart a Strength 10 Brute Squad in s single round with no assistance, and Brute Squads of Strength 5 or less are just as easily dispatched (Feint + Slash = demolished brutes).  When I played him in a one-shot that my friend Eric ran, Estevan was largely able to solo the massive beast that was the primary adversary of the adventure, being the one to dish out the vast majority of the damage while taking very little damage himself, due in no small part to the Beat maneuver.

Of course, one neat feature of 7th Sea's second edition is that the Los Vagabundos have now gone global as a society, taking their Zorre-esque antics onto a larger stage, so it would very easy for Estevan to pop up in nations far from his native Castille.  On the downside, the way languages are now handled means that Estevan isn't quite as fluent in as many languages as he was in first edition, though the only language he's really missing is his fluency in Vodacce.  To that end, I've considered implementing a house rule for my games that ranks in Scholarship past the first provides fluency with another language rather than having it be reliant solely upon Wits.  Granted, I could have picked up the 1pt Advantage that makes him fluent in just about every language in the setting, but I never saw Estevan as being an omniglot.