(TFT) BladeCraft Lite

[Thorn <edt@dopey.ne.mediaone.net>]

<Nearly on topic, buy hey, it will certainly promote discussion.>


How to run a game without sending players out to scrounge copies on
Ebay:

Write one.



BladeCraft Lite.

The Figure: a representation of a combattant's location and orientation
on the combat map.  Also, used in BladeCraft as other systems use
'character'.  Figures have two attributes.  The first is a measure of
physical power and toughness, endurance and strength, and is represented
in BladeCraft's shorthand by the symbol for Iron, 'Fe'.  The second
attribute is a measure of adroitness, quickness of movement, and the
ability to respond to one's environment.  It is represented in
BladeCraft by the symbol for Mercury, 'Hg'.  Feel free to change these
symbols if you like.  :-)

The Weapon: No table of weapons here.  A weapon has Weight(Pb),
Leverage(Lv), and entirely too many optional attributes to discuss in
BladeCraft Lite.  A figure may use a weapon with Pb up to Fe, Pb over Fe
reduces Hg one point per.  Lv is better than Pb, anyway.  :-)  Lv
multiplies the Pb of the weapon.  On a hit, a weapon will do
((Pb*Lv)+Fe) or ((Fe*Lv)+Pb), whichever is less.

Damage: The damage a weapon does is not variable.  If you want it to be,
add a die or two of whatever size.  What do you apply this damage to? 
Whatever you have.  If you're used to earning over time the ability to
take a dozen sword blows, or if you're using these rules to depict such
a character, multiply your existing damage-taking number by whatever
factor lets you still take the same number of average sword blows.  If
you don't have a number handy, multiply Fe by 6 to get... Fe6 (and
again, change this label to anything you want).  Then multiply Hg by 6
to get Hg6.  Loss of all of either Fe6 or Hg6 removes a figure from the
fight.

The Strike Roll: Use three 10-sided dice.  One should be a contrasting
color.  These rules call it the 'Red' die.  (Red being the shortest
color name, a savings in keystrokes I have completely eliminated by
explaining it here.)  Strike rolls under the attacker's Hg damage the
defender; damage is applied to Fe6 if the Red die is even, to Hg6 if the
Red die is odd.  Some genres and campaigns may prefer to increase the
chance of knocking folk out.  If so, reduce Hg6 to Hg3 (or so), and read
the Red die as Hg damage on rolls 1-3, or some such.

The Numbers:  BladeCraft was designed with the following numbers in
mind.  Extreme variance from these numbers is not recommended, and may
break your campaign.  It will almost certainly break these rules.  You
might be able to edge lower by changing the strike roll dice, but then
Lv gets problematic...  Anyway, the numbers:

Fe, Hg: 1 (infants and imbeciles) to whatever, with 10-12 average
citizenry, and 15 'good'.

Pb: following the prevailing populace, so goblin weapons might Pb 9-12,
human weapons Pb 12-20, etc.

Lv: 1 is a minimum, unless you want to stage a pillowfight.  2 for short
swords, clubs and the like, 3 for longer swords and more military
weapons, 4 for those extreme examples such as headsman's swords,
O-dachi, Tetsubo...
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