Swashbuckling more

[Dangerious P. Cats]

Originally Posted by aesir23

Excellent, I'm happy to have both of those styles at my disposal now.

I'd love to see a write-up of the Highland Broadsword style that you've now mentioned twice. Is it perchance the style that Rob Roy would have used?

In that case here is a style based on the writing of Page and Angelo's Hungerian and Highland Broadsword. In the system beats and slips (retreating) are popular, as are defencive attacks. This style represents one taught primarily as a sinlge sword system although Targe (shield) and Dirk (a dagger or knife) were common parts of the system. For cinimatic skills I worked off the principle of mythic notions highlanders being strong hairy men capable of throwing large stones about the place.

Skills: Braodsword, Wrestling
Techniques: Counter Attack (Braodsword), Feint (Braodsword), Disarming (wrestling)
Cinimatic skills: Breaking Blow (Braodsword), kiai, Power blow (Braodsword)
Cinimatic Techniques: Snap Weapon
Perks: Drunken fighting,

Optional Traits:
Adavatages: Claim to hospitatlity (clan), Weapon master
Disadvantages: Code of Honor (highlanders), Berserk, sense of duty (clan)
Skills: Brawling, Two handed sword, Main-Gauche, shield

[The Wrathchild]

Couldn't a specualtive Sword-and-Gunman style look something like:

Primary Skills: Broadsword, Shortsword, Guns/TL5 (Pistols)
Techniques: Counterattack (Broadsword/Sabre) etc.
Cinematic Skills: Kiai
Cinematic Techniques:
Perks: Naval Training, Off-Hand Weapon Training (Guns & Shortsword)

Something in that vein.

This setup would revolve around the need to use a single shot pistol for more than the shot itself. I'm thinking that a good-sized pistol can be grabbed by the barrel and used much like a baton, battering away with the hilt. Some might prefer Main-Gaushe here, but I imagine that the pistols were generally a bit heavier than that. The Broadsword/Shortsword combo is helped by the tight default.

[Dangerious P. Cats]

Originally Posted by The Wrathchild

Couldn't a specualtive Sword-and-Gunman style look something like:

Primary Skills: Broadsword, Shortsword, Guns/TL5 (Pistols)
Techniques: Counterattack (Broadsword/Sabre) etc.
Cinematic Skills: Kiai
Cinematic Techniques:
Perks: Naval Training, Off-Hand Weapon Training (Guns & Shortsword)

Something in that vein.

This setup would revolve around the need to use a single shot pistol for more than the shot itself. I'm thinking that a good-sized pistol can be grabbed by the barrel and used much like a baton, battering away with the hilt. Some might prefer Main-Gaushe here, but I imagine that the pistols were generally a bit heavier than that. The Broadsword/Shortsword combo is helped by the tight default.

I'd be inclined to inclue brawling for using the pistol as a club.

I wonder what other styles you could include? Things like boarding axe fighting or forntiers man rifle skills.

[The Wrathchild]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

I'd be inclined to inclue brawling for using the pistol as a club.

Now that you mention it, i remember something about Brawling and improvised weapons ... but the box on it and the skill description for Brawling does not seem to support it - where it it from?

I wonder what other styles you could include? Things like boarding axe fighting or forntiers man rifle skills.

Definately. Both The Patriot (the Gibson one) and The Last of the Mohicans have wilderness-savvy protagonists fight with rifles - both firing them and whacking about with them staff-style - and axes/hachets/tomahawks, backed up with knives.

[fredtheobviouspseudonym]

In "Gentleman's Blood," there is a chapter on Pushkin's life -- and demise.

He wasn't able to digest a one-ounce lead ball. A duel -- and Pushkin lost.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

I'd be inclined to inclue brawling for using the pistol as a club.

Some pistols of the era were designed to be used as clubs with the Axe/Mace Skill.

[Kale]

Brawling is given as the skill for pistol-whipping, but for modern pistols that are relatively small and only weigh a couple pounds. Blackpowder weapons are much larger, so you'd probably need either Axe/Mace or a Weapon Adaptation perk to use it with Brawling.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

I'd be inclined to inclue brawling for using the pistol as a club.

I wonder what other styles you could include? Things like boarding axe fighting or forntiers man rifle skills.

Don't forget the boarding pike, and maybe a musket-and-bayonet system. I don't know if we know anything about either before the 19th century.

I think Axe/Mace is official for using low-tech pistols with a barrel grip, but you could always butt-strike using Brawling (the Hammer Fist technique from MA).

[Dangerious P. Cats]

Originally Posted by aesir23

Some pistols of the era were designed to be used as clubs with the Axe/Mace Skill.

I though all pistols whipped with brawling. I'll have to modify my style.

Originally Posted by Polydamas

Don't forget the boarding pike, and maybe a musket-and-bayonet system. I don't know if we know anything about either before the 19th century.

I think Axe/Mace is official for using low-tech pistols with a barrel grip, but you could always butt-strike using Brawling (the Hammer Fist technique from MA).

There are manuals on the use of bayonet, mostly military men (and there were all men back then) trying to get the army to institute a standardised bayonet program. It is assumed that the techniques were draw from skills taught in indevidual regiments (this happened in for a number of weapons). I assume that boarding pike was based on early pike and two handed spear styles. Actually what skill uses pikes? You could write a pike style based on earlier pike works. The days of pike and musket are dicussed in Swashbucklers after all.

[fredtheobviouspseudonym]

Clifford Rogers has done very good work on this and related topics -- see "The Military Revolution Debate," in which he has an article.

Also, there are "fechtbuchs" (literally "fight books") showing how to use, among other things, polearms dating back to the fifteenth century. As a boarding pike is basically a spear, and a cutlass a curved short sword (possibly broadsword depending on the length) there would be literary references for any Earth seventeenth century swashbucklers and these would be easily justifiable for any such persons in your campaign world, if not Earth.

The ARMA website will have plenty of references. http://www.thearma.org/