2023 Day 8: Duelling Fops of Vindamere
Greg Stolze is a legendary game designer so I had no qualms kickstarting this. And, despite my noted dislike of preconstructed scenes, I still think it’s a great one-shot game. Although it might take longer than 3 hours if players talk as much as I find they do.
First of all, Greg Stoltze is part of the grand tradition of games designers who studied English (or other languages) at University and it shows in his love of flowery prose. And it really works here when conveying the pomposity of the arena in which the game is set.
Which leads into the game itself: you have two stats: dueling and fopping. Well, close enough. You all play aristocrats as well as two beloveds who you take to all the events. At each event you get one action, all focussed around wooing the beloveds of the others. (Not all actually include wooing - some stand in contrast or oppose it.) And success on these endeavours can lead to win or lose conditions.
Duelling Fops logo: Love fast, Die Pretty
But if anyone thinks that winning is the name of the game, then I think they have failed. Instead, “The point is to go through ridiculous, overblown scenes involving the kind of snotty trifling elites that, in real life, you’d probably jump out a window to avoid.” The game is just a vehicle to enable that sort of fun.
And to that end the short scenes - roughly one per player for each of the seven events - allow you to build up the narrative tensions available only to those with too much time on their hands and without social media. Arguably, this could just be TOWIE but set in a fictional past.
The system, as much as it is and should be, is: roll 1d10. On a 10 or 1 you succeed or fail. Otherwise, add the result to two stats and hope to beat 15. Which is a 50% success rate if it was all random. (Foppish and Duelist both have counter-stats that are the inverse to them, so you will never all have low stats.)
Javonelle Flances
- Foppish starts at 3
- Duelist starts at 8.
(With that roll of 6, Javonelle is probably the winner of the last great tournament and the most renowned swordsman in the land. He is also, clearly, very serious.)
The name of his fencing technique: Impudent Rapier Discipline
His beloveds are his Addlepated Elder, who has suffered numerous head injuries. And his wastrel bastard son. I honestly don’t think Javonelle is foppish enough to have had an affair so I suspect that he married for position, inherited her spoiled son and decrepit parent - and then she took a leave of absence five years ago. He only cares about money and status, and these two are eating away at both.
He doesn’t even know their names, but I think it would be kind to the other players if they know who his beloveds are.
The elder is “Locust”, a skilled poisoner and assassin in her youth, she was sloppy just once and has paid the price since. She appears to be an old dear with lots of money and no idea what to do with it. She may accidentally kill someone. She can’t remember how Javonelle’s wife is related to her, but she comes with the house.
Steven is your typical lazy aristocrat youth, maybe 14. Almost anyone pretty or generous is going to entice him away, the only real question is when they get bored of his neediness. He probably spends most of the time at parties drunk. Because everyone needs a drunk pubescent 14 year old boy.
Note that the random beloveds come with stat changes, it just so happens that these two balance each other out exactly.
Foppish 3 - Serious 7
Duelist 8 - Aristocrat 2
Serious+Duelist is the combination most likely to maim or kill. I would recommend if you are in a position to do these things that you talk about it with the other players first. Javonelle’s weakness is that is he is terrible at seduction and social bitching.
Character sheet for Javonelle Flances
https://crankshaftconstellation.itch.io/fops