2020 Day 26: 7th Sea
A few years ago, whilst I was in a 7th Sea larp in fact, John Wick produced a 2nd edition of 7th Sea which is meant to have more streamlined rules. I really do love the world, I love the fact that you can play in a European sandbox without worrying about real history (or real physics etc). I am not convinced by some of the elements in 2nd edition. So I’ll make my character in both to compare.
In 7th Sea, you are all heroes - you try to do the right thing, hopefully in the right way. Although if you are playing Vodacce the latter might be tricky. It recreates all the great seafaring nations of Europe but with their heights of power all at the same time and with different names, different relations, different gods and real nightmares. But it still has the feel of playing in a swashbuckling version of mid-millenia Europe.
Jean-Pierre de Bisset was a humble Castilian soldier who was meant to be guarding a royal teenager, a ward of the Don, when the Montaigne used Sorté (a screaming teleportation magic) to launch a surprise attack. The ward was taken, his friends killed and he swore revenge. He obtained some help unaware it was from Los Vagabundo, a pro-Castilian secret society, and they set him up with a false Montaigne identity. (This was actually my LARP character for two years, and his story ended up being about his duality which extended far more than written here. He was dangerously stretched on his abilities.)
7th Sea has a 20 questions setup. My trouble with that kind of thing is that once the game begins you often find your answers were wrong. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s not my favourite way to get inside my characters’ heads. But it’s too long for here anyway so I'm skipping it.
1st ed mechanics
The basic mechanic is the same used in L5R: roll Trait+skill dice (d10s), keep a number equal to your trait and add them together. Any 10s “explode” before keeping so you have the chance to make incredibly high rolls. And you can make “raises” by adding multiples of 5 to the difficulty. I do like mechanics where you set your own difficulty.
2nd ed mechanics
The basic mechanic is that you roll a Trait+Skill number of d10s. But in this version, you make groups of 10 and each extra group you get beyond the first is a raise that can reduce risks or take opportunities. In practice you will get half your dice pool +/-1 in raises every time (and it made us wonder why we were rolling). That you will almost always succeed except in the most dire circumstance is a deliberate choice of the game. Apart from the bennies for heroes and the GM, that’s basically it. There are special rules for duelling, sailing and various types of magic, because they are a strong focus of the game, but it’s kept as simple as possible.
1st edition stats - point buy
- Traits: Brawn 1, Finesse 3, Wits 3, Resolve 1, Panache 2
- Skills (Knacks): Artist (Writing 2), Courtier/Servant (Etiquette 3, Fashion 3, Unobtrusive 3), Criminal/Spy (Stealth 3, Ambush 1, Lockpicking 1, Sincerity 3), Performer (Acting 3, Cold Read 1, Disguise 1), Athlete, Fencing (3)
- Linguist + Language (Montaigne) 3, Keen senses 2, Patron 6
- Background: Hunting (3)
- Arcana: Virtue - Propitious (escape again); Hubris - Loyal
- Traits: Brawn 2, Finesse 3, Wits 2, Resolve 2, Panache 4
- Backgrounds: Soldier - earn a hero point when you stick to the plan regardless of personal danger; Spy - Earn when you take a great risk to uncover a secret.
- Skills: Aim 1, Athletics 1, Empathy 1, Hide 3, Intimidate 1, Notice 3, Perform 3, Scholarship 1, Tempt 1, Theft 1, Warfare 1, Weaponry 3
- Advantages: Riot Breaker (good against mobs), Able Drinker (unimpaired by drink, ever), Opportunist, Poison Immunity, Foreign Born (Montaigne), Linguist, Patron (Los Vagabundo)
- Arcana: Virtue - The Fool - Wily (escape danger from the current scene); Hubris - The War - Loyal (get a hero point for going back for a fallen comrade)
- Story: Redemption: Rescue the Princess. Will earn a swordsman school. First step: find word of where she has been taken.
I am going to be honest, I prefer the basic mechanics of 1st edition and I think the swordsman schools and sorcery were much more evocative in the detail. Having said that, 2nd edition has much improved character creation including much better established advantages; and I found the Arcana much more positive than 1st edition. I suspect that I would use 2nd edition just because it’s easier for players to understand; but I would consider whether to use the mechanics as written after a few sessions if they aren't working.
Regardless, I love the setting, especially after playing in it for almost two years, and I love the idea of characters who feel like proper swashbuckling heroes.
7th Sea cover
https://www.chaosium.com/7th-sea/