Riddle of Steel - Wait, it's back?

[Sutton]

10 men walk out into the arena. They are all wearing black and gold tunics, and carrying a variety of weapons - Halberds, Longswords, Daggers, etc.

"Today, we have something a bit more traditional - From Master van Koln's school, we have an exhibition bout - an up-and-coming student, Lothar Becker, is challenging his superiors to see if he is worthy of the title of Free Scholer. There will be a series of bouts, using blunted weapons, with three solid blows needed for victory. While it may not be as... visceral as some of our other fare, these are masters of their craft - so we should be in for quite a show despite that. Now, without any further ado, let's welcome out challenger!"

Stone Arena active today.

Mispelling is to avoid Mile's "censoring' of the word Hol-a, which turns it into Hey automatically, including in the middle of words.[/i]

[sgtkill]

Out from the entrance to the Arena walks Lothar. He has his head held up high with a smirk of confidence on his face. He has prepared for years to achieve the honor and skill to be there today and hes proud he made it this far. Seeing his opponents, a cloak of confidences overcomes him. He is wearing a gold and black sparring uniform. His school's emblem sewn onto the breast of the outfit. As he approaches the 10 men standing, he bows and says."It is a great honor to be here. I shall prove my skill and worth to obtain the rank of a Free Scholer."

[Nightmare Zero]

Zack enters the Arena and takes a seat in the audience. "Nothing like a good fight to improve yourself."

[Sutton]

The lead provost answers: "We will see. Christof, you will start." One of the other men, evidentially Christof, walks forwards with a great sword rested on his shoulder. He bows curtly, then positions himself about 8 paces from you, salutes and enters a combat stance.

Now, among other things, the Advanced Combat Book I recently [strikeout]found after losing[/strikeout] rescued from evil gremlins includes advanced Stance rules - These are optional, and grant you additional options to chose from for your stance.

In no particular order, the new stances are -

High Forward: -2 dice on defenses versus anything but overhand blows and high thrusts, but +1 die on defense against those. +3 dice on stabs above your midsection, +1 on other stabs.

Middle Forward: +2 dice on defenses versus attacks targeting the midsection, +1 die on defenses versus attacks targeting the head and shoulders. +1 die on thrusts targeting the head and chest.

Low Forward: +3 dice on defenses versus attacks to the legs or groin, +2 dice on defenses versus attacks to the midsection, and -1 die on defenses versus attacks to the head. +2 dice on swings to the arms, -1 die on all thrusts and -2 dice on all other swings.

High Back: -2 dice on defense of the Hands/Arms and Lower Legs. +3 dice on swung attacks to the head, shoulders or arms, +1 dice on other swung attacks, -2 dice on thrusts.

Low Back: -2 dice on defenses of anything but the hands or lower legs. +2 dice on swung attacks to the legs and upward swings. -1 die on other swung attacks, -2 dice on thrusts.

Charging: +2 dice on all attacks, -2 dice on all defenses.

All of these STACK with the basic Offensive/Neutral/Defensive, so you can build up quite a large amount of bonus dice, at the expense of giving your opponent a very clear picture of what you are going to do.


Christof is entering a defensive Low Forward stance.

[sgtkill]

Lothar returns with a salute and enters an Aggressive Middle Foward stance.

[Sutton]

Okay, initiative time. I've noted down Christof's intiative (though based on his stance it doesn't take a genius to figure out what he's planning). How about you - Aggressive or passive?

[sgtkill]

Going for aggressive

[Sutton]

Okay - as a time saving measure we'll be running each exchange via Instant Messenger while we are both on - I'll post rules summaries of each exchange as they occur.


Lothar moves in to attack his opponent, opening with a diagonal cut from above with 9 (7 from pool, 2 bonus) dice - exploiting the weaknesses of his opponents Low Forward stance as best he can. Christof parries with 10 (9 from pool, 1 bonus), not wanting to risk being hit.

Lothar rolls 6 successes and Christof rolls 6, which is a tie. Lothar is able to retain the initiative into the next exchange.


Lothar slashes downwards and Christof immediately reacts with a parry - he stops the blow, but is knocked off balance enough that Lothar is able to continue his offensive without difficulty.

[Sutton]

As we move into exchange two of the round, Lothar makes another 8 dice attempt at Christof's head - Stances are no longer in effect, but it's still a nice target. Christof is going to Full Evade for 7 dice.

They both come up with 5 successes, meaning Lothar will have the initiative into the new round.

As Lothar resumes his assault Christof dodges away from a slash which cleaves only air, but still isn't able to put enough distance between him and Lothar to give himself time to respond effectively.

[Sutton]

Lothar cuts horizontally at Christof for 8 dice, who burns 2 dice on activation costs and Counters for 14 dice.

Lothar rolls an ASTOUNDING 7 successes on 8 dice, and Christof has 9 - that's 2 Measure of Success on the counter. In the next exchange he'll make an attack rolled on the Counter Table with 2 bonus dice. The table rolls a 7 - Thrust to the Face.

Lothar swings horizontally at Christof, who parries in such a way as to create an opening for a counter attack - it looks like he'll be making some swings of his own soon.

[Sutton]

Christof stabs to the face with 3 dice, in an attempt to turn the moment of this duel around - Lothar spends 3 activation cost to perform a Disarm for 4 dice - if he succeeds the defense, Christof will need to make a knockdown roll at a penalty to keep his hands on his weapon.

Christof rolls 2, and Lothar rolls 3 - The attack is stopped.

Christof succeeds his knockdown roll, so he keeps his weapon, but Lothar still has taken back the intiative as we enter the third round of combat.

Christof thrusts past Lothar's overextended weapon - but Lothar manages to catch the crossguard of Christof's great sword with his pommel and nearly wrench the weapon out of his hands before Christof can pull his sword back.

[Sutton]

Okay, new round, so the pools are once again at full - Realizing he's onto something, Lothar attempts another disarm - the activation cost is only 1 this time, as disarming offensively is easier - for 7 dice. Christof parries for 10.

Lothar gets 5 successes, and Christof gets all of 2.

He then fails the knockdown roll, meaning that as we begin the next exchange his sword his on the floor.

Lothar doesn't let Christof get away that easy - he hooks the crossguards of the two weapons together and levers the sword out of Christoff's hands, sending it clattering to the stone floor. Things aren't looking good for Christoff, though Lothar has earned himself some applause from the crowd, and some amused chuckles from the other fighters.

[Nightmare Zero]

"Heh, maybe I should challenge him next?"



"Nah, I don't think he has the heart for it."

[Sutton]

Lothar follows up his disarm with an 8 die slash to the torso - Christof attempts to Duck and Weave for 7, which is a difficult evasion that negates reach penalties on your next attack if you succeed.

Lothar gets six successes. Christof gets nothing.

Lothar slashes. Christof tries to twist out of the way, but fails utterly. He takes a hit in the torso. The provost calls a hold. "Christof, you have died. Keep better hold of your weapon, if you don't wish to repeat this travesty with live steel. Lothar wins this round."

[sgtkill]

Lothar Bows."A great fight Christof. You were a worthy opponent."