Last year in June I ran a session of Flashing Blades at the North Texas RPG Con, In September I published the dueling aid that I made up for the event. In this post I provide the simple reskin (PDF File, 122.7 KB) and pregenerated characters (Zip file, 36.6 MB).

The reskin was easy. I ran an only slightly modified version of The Grand Theater from Parisian Adventure. It’s a great choice for a one-shot and for a con game. There’s no real plot to it. It’s just an excuse to get into duels in a theater filled with rugs, candles, chandeliers, and Frenchmen. And one Englishman favored by a high-ranking cleric.

An English spy has stolen French naval documents, compromising France’s strength on the seas! More importantly, the King’s Musketeers and the Cardinal’s Guards are vying to restore the documents and capture the spy before their rivals. Get ready to swing from the chandeliers, fight the Cardinal’s guards—or the King’s musketeers—and outwit the enemies of France in Mark Pettigrew’s game of adventure, intrigue, and… flashing blades!

I renamed the adventure En coulisse de l'Hôtel de Bourgogne—Backstage at the Hôtel de Bourgogne—for the simple reason that I’d recently read Cyrano de Bergerac and the even simpler reason that some of the Bourgogne’s history in the period—I chose 1637 to put it right smack dab in Three Musketeers territory—is available online. While Jacob Latchkey is a fictional English spy required by the original Grand Theater adventure, the rest of the Comédiens du Roi are real actors and actresses of the Troupe Royale; they would have played at the Hôtel de Bourgogne during that period and they very possibly would have acted in Pierre Corneille’s La Place Royale.

In our session the actual plot of La Place Royale didn’t play into the adventure; it did, however, give me an idea of who would be running around backstage and what they would be doing at various points in the adventure. La Place Royale certainly provides a lot to take advantage of if you need it, however. It’s…

…a five-act comedy that tells the story of Alidor who tries to trick his fiancée Angélique into breaking their engagement. Alidor’s friend Cléandre is in love with Angélique who is in love with Alidor who is in love with himself. Alidor and Cléandre plant a fake love letter to a fictional Clarine where Angélique finds it, thinks it is from Alidor, and ends their relationship. Angélique’s friend Phylis sends her brother Doraste to catch her on the rebound before Cléandre can move in, and Angélique agrees to marry Doraste that evening. Alidor and Cléandre create a second plot to kidnap Angélique from a garden before the marriage, be seen spending the night with Cléandre, and so be forced to marry him. But their kidnappers take Phylis instead. Phylis and Cléandre fall in love, Angélique is devastated by how far Alidor is willing to go to be free of her and enters a convent, and Alidor is happily single.

Actors at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, painted about 1633-34.

A very modern farce. I’m sure I see Marcello Mastroianni as the lead.

As part of the reskin I’ve provided an introduction to be read to the players, one for the King’s Musketeers and one for the Cardinal’s Guards. I’ve also provided a few historical notes, and a cast list for La Place Royale.

I’ve provided several pregenerated characters (Zip file, 36.6 MB). Most are either Musketeers or Guards, but there are also a few spies and even a free agent.

I also made up a rules summary to help me run the game more quickly; I’ve included it in the notes file (PDF File, 122.7 KB) along with the dueling aid. The dueling system of Flashing Blades is conceptually very simple, but it does consist of some slightly more complicated ideas than, say, D&D, because of its focus on duels. The combat system features light wounds vs. serious wounds, a potential parry of every attack, and special counter actions.

Combat is handled in a way that makes it an actual duel. If you’ve ever played En Garde, it’s basically En Garde with a roleplaying game attached. When dueling, each participant says what they’re doing for each phase; there are two phases per turn. Who goes first depends first on their chosen action type: Movement goes first, Attacks next, then Defense, then Counter, and finally Miscellaneous actions. And if both sides choose an attack, missiles go first, then pollards, then dueling weapons, then other weapons, ending with unarmed attacks.

If the unarmed attacker is still alive at that point, of course.

It’s a fun system, whether played for laughs or played seriously like poker or chess, each side trying to guess what the other side is about to do.

You can of course use the pregenerated characters (Zip file, 36.6 MB) and the cheat sheet (PDF File, 122.7 KB) in any Flashing Blades game. The reskin notes (PDF File, 122.7 KB) won’t make much sense without Parisian Adventure. However you use it, I hope you enjoy it half as much as I did!