[MA] Historical Style: Bolognese Sidesword

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

You can find my write-up of one of the styles in this tradition at http://gurpswiki.wikidot.com/mas:bol...-dall-agocchie

I definitely would not include any Grappling skill! There is a perk which lets you make off-hand parries with another skill (probably Main Gauche, Rapier, or Shield [Buckler] for this style) but that is not prominent in any of the 16th century manuals I have read. The unarmed defences against the dagger should probably be a separate style, since (working from memory) Fabris treats them as a separate module and since amongst masters of the 16th century only Marozzo discusses them and he also puts them in a separate section. So a wide range of unarmed parries, grips, and throws was certainly not something which every student learned.

Conoisseur (Fencing) is very appropriate, because this was a culture where showing good style was at least as important as getting the most hits on the salle floor.

On the other hand, most masters back then did-quite sensibly-incorporate something rather resembling grappling or brawling into their system for the obvious reason that one cannot tell when one might need it.