Hey all,

I'm waiting for my friend's copy of TROS to come in (I'm short on funds) but can't help thinking about playing again! So I was wondering, in the test combats that we ran last weekend (caveat: using the QS rules), an unarmored character was deprived of his head pretty quickly.

He was overmatched in terms of CP, so it's not surprising. However, because armor is so effective and wounds are so devastating, it got me wondering if it's possible to run a TROS game during an era (historical or fictional) where the combatants aren't encased in armor. For instance, the 18th century, when duels were generally carried out with swords OR pistols, sans armor*.

Does the game play the same way, only the fighters have to be a lot more conservative? If so, this kinda makes sense to me, because I took a few fencing classes (foil) and a big part of the training is learning 'right-of-way': when to defend and when to attack, so you both don't end up impaled on each others' swords.

Does anyone know about that era, and have you played TROS in that kind of setting? How does it hold up to "reality" and how did it play?

*based on my totally inadequate knowledge of history, as learned through movies and tv.

It's pretty much identical.

Armor's a good crutch, but you'll still lose the bout if you don't have the skill. Thus, removing the armor isn't so much an issue if you still have the skill.

IMO, Rennaisance or similar-era games work fine, and can be a lot of fun.

Brian

Pick up the combat simulator from the Riddle of Steel website, and play around with duels between Max Steele and the Cut-and-Thrust kid. You'll soon see the advantages for armor, and the disadvantages.

What often happens when I play is that C&T ends up cutting Max, then playing conservative until he's started to bleed out, then finishing him.

Yeah.. As those before me have already stated, it's basically the same thing. Getting hit certainly hurts. It also increases the value of the parry.

Actually, I prefer armor-lite style games. Wounds do tend towards the more dramatic, so players really have to pick their spots (fights) carefully.

Chris