Update from April, 2004

Based on feedback from several players, new work has begun on Death Before Dishonor over the past several months.   This does not necessarily mean that the game will be up and running soon; rather, the start time will be announced as we complete the planned work.   Much of the help that was offered by various parties have failed to materialize, so the work is currently being done by the GM alone.

Good question!   To improve playability, the rules originally published as "Have at You!" have been introduced into the DBD rules set.   Secondly, new skills have been introduced, including Horsemanship, Marksmanship and Graces, in addition to the ubiquitous Swordsmanship.   Further, just as previous iterations of the original En Garde! rules set has included Military Ability, we have included Political Ability, which functions similarly.   The distinction between Skills and Abilities is quite straightforward: Skills are used for man-to-man events, such as dueling or horse racing.   Abilities are designed to be collaborative functions, whether a military campaign or a political activity.

Other changes include the following:

• Classification of Character Actions into Free, Primary, Secondary and Opportunity categories to clarify character actions,
• A redesign of the Influence rules using Influence Points rather than "Classes" of influence,
• Special Moves for Swordsmanship and Horsemanship skills,
• A unified skill resolution system, so that all skills are adjudicated in a similar fashion,
• A redesign of the Fencing Tournaments to make them more based on character skill,
• Introducing Marksmanship Tournaments,
• A recreation of the Horse Racing rules, with Player Characters able to participate in Track Racing or Steeple Chases,
• Introducing Court Balls held by the King,
• Introducing rules for Treatises, Sonnets, Opera and Patronage,
• Redesigned rules for Skill Improvement and Schooling,
• Completely redesigned rules for Dueling with steel or shot,
• Rules for Repartee "combats",
• Rules for travel outside Paris and life in the Provinces,
• ... and that's just the beginning!

As a gamer, I have always enjoyed rules that were in some way evocative of the period they were portraying.   This is what I have striven for during the rewriting process of Death Before Dishonor.   At its core, DBD is a wonderful mixture of pure En Garde! and innovations from past players and game masters.

As the Game Master for DBD, the editorial process falls mainly on my shoulders.   My criteria for change is quite simple:

1. Is it necessary to change it?
2. Will it be simpler to adjudicate? And,
3. Will it add appropriate flavor?

If the answer to any of these is "no," then it remains as it is.   One of the most time consuming tasks in the adjudication process is the current Dueling system.   While it works well, and allows player input in terms of selecting combat options, it is somewhat slow to run.   Each combat option forces the GM to recalculate percentages to hit and parry.   The damage system is also rather clumsy, forcing the use of random numbers.   I have thought for some time about options to the current system, but all the ideas I had were even more cumbersome, or sacrificed the player options in favor of simplification.   Neither of these were suitable solutions.   What you will find in the Rules section is the result of a complete overhaul of not only the Dueling system, but all systems within the game.   The goal is to eliminate inconsistencies and streamline the flow of adjudication to become less of a hassle for the GM, allowing faster turnaround.

In turn, I hope to provide players with a broader palette of options to accomplish the goals set for the character.   There will always necessarily be holes in every rules structure (for example, you will not find rules for dog racing or cock fighting), but the goal is to be as complete as possible while offering simplified adjudication.   Ultimately, the combination of having these options available, and the rapid turnaround of orders, should provide a faster-paced game.

Sorry, no.   Due to the depth of the redesign, it is just too difficult to take the additional time to convert each and every character to the new rules.   We will be starting anew to allow for characters to buld a history of their own in a completely new Paris.   The new game will begin in the early years of the reign of Louis XIII, and new players will be encouraged.

Easy, peasy.   If you'd like to preview the rules in their (more or less) finished state, go to the Rules page.   If you'd like to make a comment about the rules, please e-mail the GM.   If you'd like to participate in the rules rewrite or adjudication processes, please e-mail me with the subject line, "Glutton for Punishment".   No, it's not a joke -- at least, not much of one!