Section I: Character Creation

I.I Prelude

A Lace & Steel adventure is romance, melodrama, magic and daring-do. Capturing a feeling of fun and fantasy is more important than stacking up the body count. Combat should be a part of the drama, not the heart and soul of your game!
 

I.II Introduction

I.III So What Is the Atmosphere of Lace & Steel?

LACE & STEEL is set in a world that is reminiscent of our own seventeenth century Europe - specifically 1640s, which was the time of the English civil war and the thirty years war. The fantasy lands of "MITTELMARCH" have been chosen as the game's setting in preference to a historical setting to encourage a feeling of fun and fantasy. Games set in historical environments usually seem too restrictive, and this has been the great failing of most games which use the "swashbuckling" genre.
 
Several important decisions about the game's equipment lists and background have been made deliberately. Flintlock weapons have been edited out, since match-locks and wheel locks capture more of the feel of the period. You will also find no rules for "rapier and dagger" fencing, since the use of the main gauche went out of fashion the instant rapiers became light enough to both parry and riposte
 
The game systems have also been designed as they are for good reason. The card based combat systems are entertaining, but have a heavy reliance upon luck. This means that newcomers to the game are not completely disadvantaged when playing against more experienced hands. The combat system has enough fun and action in it to appeal to folk who swear that they hate role playing games (try showing it to some non gamers and see if they will agree to play with you now.)
 
Magic has been included in the game environment as an important facet of the game's feel of fantasy. Nevertheless it is very difficult to roll a character that qualifies as a Sorcerer. This is to make such characters rare - if it was easy to be a Sorcerer, then everyone would be one.
 

I.IIII Character Creation

• Favored characteristics are rolled for twice, with the final characteristic score being taken as the highest of the two dice rolls.
• Slighted characteristics are also rolled twice, with the final characteristic score being determined by the lowest of the two rolls.

I.V Disposition

CHARACTERISTIC BONUSES OR SLIGHTS

Some cards will dictate a characteristic bonus or slight for the character in one or two particular areas. Characters who have a bonus in a characteristic should roll twice for the indicated characteristic and take the highest score thus rolled. The characteristic may never end up with a score of less than 11.
Characters with a slighted characteristic should roll twice for the characteristic and take the worst score rolled. Slighted characteristics may never end up with a score higher than 9

DISPOSITION

The character's significator is used to give the character a disposition or personality. Each card of the lesser arcana has a disposition tied to it. Record this disposition on the characters record sheet, and use this as a basis of the character's role play.

Remember that a character's characteristic scores will give vital clues as to the overall personality of a character. A character who's disposition is sneaky and secretive will be played differently depending on whether it is smart or slow witted.

THE DECK

Tarot cards used in this game may be drawn from any normal Waite Tarot deck (don't use an “Egyptian Tarot’ or a “Crowley Tarot”, since these use different types of cards).

I.VI Rolling a Character

STAGE ONE                                                                             .

To create a new character, firstly decide the character's race, age, and sex, and then draw a significator for the character from the tarot deck. Now the player is ready to determine his or her character's characteristic scores.

STAGE TWO                                                                     .

Roll the character's Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, Drive, Charisma and Magical aptitude scores on 2D6+3. Add 1D6-1 to the character's Magical aptitude if its initial dice for its Magical aptitude characteristic score was 14 or 15.
 

STAGE THREE

Work out the character's ratings for Maximum hand, new draw etc. Do not work out repartee and sorcery ratings unless the player feels it to be necessary.

STAGE FOUR

Go to the rules section on skills, and generate the character's social class. The character must then have its skills selected and recorded.

I.VII The Characteristics

• STRENGTH is the expression of the brute force which the individual can apply. It is also used to indicate the character's physical size and bulk. STRENGTH is a measure of the character's ability to lift weights and arm wrestle, and its ability to resist damage and shock.

• ENDURANCE is the measure of the character's fitness and stamina. As such, it represents the amount of time that physical activity may be maintained. It should also be used in tests to resist disease.

• DEXTERITY measures the character's coordination and agility. It is also used as a measure of the character's hand eye co-ordination and skill at fine manual tasks.

• REASON is a measure of the individuals capacity for deduction, logic, memory and preplanning.

• INTUITION is used to determine the characters "sixth sense" - his ability to out guess his opponents, or make an accurate assessment of a character at first meeting. Intuition also represents the character's innate perception, and is checked whenever searching for hidden objects or trying to detect lies.

• DRIVE represents a character's willpower and determination. It is a measure of the motivation and self discipline that a character can bring to bear on any task with which it is faced. DRIVE is tested whenever a character wishes to embark on a long and difficult project, or when his determination comes under attack.

• CHARISMA is a measure of the combined effect of the character's physical appearance, personal beating and speaking voice. Characters who are enlivened by an inner energy may have a high Charisma characteristic even if their physical appearance is not immediately overwhelming. Add 1 to the character's Charisma if either its Dexterity or Drive characteristic is 13+. Subtract 1 from the character's Charisma  if either of the character's Dexterity, Reason or Drive characteristic scores are 7-.

• MAGICAL APTITUDE is used in conjunction with the magic system to represent the character's ability to use magic. A character's Magical aptitude characteristic represents the individual's ability to sense and interact with other worldly powers.

I.VIII Special Factors

• FATIGUE RATING A character's fatigue rating is found by averaging the character's Strength and Endurance (rounding up).

• HIT POINTS A character's hit points are found by averaging the character's Strength and Endurance and halving the result. All factions are rounded to the nearest whole number (0.5 rounds up)

• WOUND LEVEL A character's "Wound Level" determines the amount of hit points damage that a character can sustain before it loses part of its maximum hand rating. Divide the characters hit point losses from wounds by the character's wound level (rounding down) to determine the number deducted from the character's maximum hand.  A character's wound level is dependent upon the character's strength and drive. The following chart is used to determine a character's wound level.

•  MAXIMUM HAND RATING The maximum number of cards  that a character may retain m its hand during combat is dependent upon the character's dexterity. The following chart shows the relationship between a character's dexterity and its maximum hand rating:

• NEW DRAW RATING A character's new draw rating is dependent upon the character's intuition and Dexterity scores. Average these two characteristics, and look-up the resulting number on the following chart:

• MAXIMUM SORCERY HAND The maximum number of sorcery cards that may be held by any character is determined by the character's Magical aptitude score on the following chart:

• NEW SORCERY DRAW   Sorcerers may augment their hand of sorcery cards through new draws from the deck. The number of cards that they draw is determined by their new sorcery draw rating. This rating is determined by the character's Reason score on the following chart:

• REPARTEE HAND These ratings should be determined for characters who gains the courtly skill "repartee." Of course if you know how you can skip the rules for simulating repartee and have at it for real.

I.VIIII Determining Skills

I.X Race

CIVILIZED RACES

 A prolific and flexible race, Humans take very readily to seafaring and urban living. The humans of 'Other Earth's" southern continent are white skinned, and average between 160 and 170 cms in height. Half-Horses usually refer to Humans as "two leggers."

HALF-HORSES (“CENTAURS”)

Half-Horses (or ‘four leggers”) consist of a human like torso married to an equine body. Though smaller than a horse, Half-Horses tend to have at least 10 to 20 cm’s greater height than a human of similar strength, and weigh immensely more. Their equine sections come in a number of different colors, ranging from dapple grey to bay - characters should always specify their coloration.

Half-Horses have a similar strength in the arms and upper body to that of a human, but they are able to apply their lower body's strength very effectively to a number of tasks. Double the effective Strength of a Half-Horse in any task which requires the use of body weight (e.g.. pushing a wagon Out of a ditch). A Half-Horse is as speedy as a horse (effective speed = its Dexterity). Subtract a Half-horse’s burden level from its Dexterity when determining its maximum speed in this manner. A Half-horse’s burden level is found by dividing its total load in kilos by its (Strength + its fatigue raring), rather than its fatigue rating alone.

In addition, although the hands of a Half-Horse are as flexible as a mans, and their bodies as capable of twisting, leaping or side-stepping as a Humans, a Half- horse’s Dexterity will be penalized under many circumstances. Half-Horses must make a Dexterity roll whenever they attempt such simple actions as climbing a ladder, clambering through a window, or whirling quickly around. Half-Horses find it extremely difficult to move silently. Halve a Half-horses effective Dexterity
whenever its sheer bulk promises to get in the way (such as moving through brush). In combat, Half-Horses can lash out with iron hard hooves (add 3 to a Half-horse’s effective strength when delivering a low brawling blow). A Half-horse’s great length of leg gives them a reach of 1 in brawling combat. In melee combat against cavalry, treat Half-Horses as infantry but add three to their effective Strength when resisting a push from a horse.

Half-Horses wear clothing on their upper bodies, and 4-legger women wear apron-like skirts. The equine hind-body is never clothed or armored, and this lack of covering can be a cause of embarrassment. Many a love-sick young male
has had to hide his nether regions upon contemplating the charms of his sweetheart... The position of a Half-horse’s tail gives an extra dimension to its body language. Feisty young males hold their tails high, and a female might involuntarily hike her tail when in the company of a male that she feels attracted to. Four-leggers always comb out their own tails - combing our another person's tail is a sign of romantic attachment.

Four-legger society is noticeably “earthier” than that of humans, and has a more relaxed attitude towards sexual morals. Each spring, four leggers go through a “courting season”, where romantic interest runs unusually high. Most unattached males will become argumentative and stroppy, and fights become common. Mature aged sons will often fight with their fathers, or brother fight against brother as the family males contest for dominance.

All in all, Half-Horse behavior can often be modeled on a cross between Humans and horses. Half-Horses will involuntarily kick if their tails are pulled or their hind legs grabbed. An enraged four-legger will sidle up towards its opponent to allow fore feet or hind legs to come into play. The diet of four-leggers is exactly the same as that of Humans, although they ear a far greater bulk of food (usually grains and cereals). Their houses contain furniture designed for their height and stature (such as chairs upon which they rest their rumps). A polite four-legger wipes its hooves before entering the house. Half-Horses use horses as beasts of burden and drayage much as Humans do.

SATYRS

A Satyr is a small creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a goat. Satyrs are smaller and shorter than an average sired man, and have a maximum Strength of 11 and a minimum Dexterity of 9, Their lower quarters are  covered with shaggy fur, and they have short little tails which twitch back and forth when they become agitated. A Satyr also has a small pair of horns sprouting from it's head, and pointed ears.

Satyrs wear normal clothes on their upper bodies, but leave their lower sections bare. They never shoe their cloven hoofed feet. They live in small communities, though a fair few seem to have adapted themselves to town life.

Satyrs have a high libido, and many races are made uncomfortable by their habits of making constant sexual innuendo or of undressing people with their eyes. They are also regarded as a particularly sly folk. They are shrewd and cunning businessmen, and gain a great deal of enjoyment out of driving for hard bargains. This is balanced out by their tradition of being generous and polite hosts.

Satyrs are prone to excesses of behavior which the more sedate Human and Half Horse races find distasteful. They laugh loudly, argue volubly, fall into passionate love or affect attitudes of tragic melancholy with a speed which leaves other races breathless. This characteristic endears them to the faerie races, who have more truck with Satyrs than with any other species.

Due to the configuration of their feet, Satyrs find it more difficult than a human to perform tasks such as climbing a rope ladder. Their tall keen ears have better hearing than that of any other race - even pixies!

HARPIES

A harsh race which lives mostly in mountains, isolated islands, and other which other races seldom covet. Harpies have fanged human heads and gigantic, upright avian bodies. Female harpies have fanged feminine faces and mammalian breasts (which we presume are covered in feathers) At the forward joint of wings are long fingered hands (positioned much like the hands of a bat or pterodactyl). Their feet are the large, clawed members of some giant bird of prey.

Harpies are not a graceful race. Their sharp, angular features and prominent canines seem to speak of a cruel personality. Likewise, their voices have a harsh shrieking quality which other races find irritating to listen to. Much like the raptorial birds of the mundane world, Harpy females are larger and much more aggressive than the males (always favor a female Harpy's strength characteristic). The females are far more haughty and commanding than the males, and have a higher social status than their mates. Though the males desire their women, they also fear them. The males are allowed to take much of the initiative in courtship, hesitantly approaching the fearsome females seeking approval and invitation, but half expecting the worst. Love between Harpies can be a dangerous game for the menfolk...

Harpies have much the same characteristic brackets as Humans, but have difficulty performing delicate manual operations. Harpies may fly great distances but only if they are not suffering from an encumbrance penalty of more than 2. Reduce a Harpies wound level by 1 due to their hollow bone structure (minimum wound level of 1).

Harpies may not wield weapons while flying, and may only brawl with their sharp claws (which do damage like a dagger). Harpies wear clothes for their torsos, and hats on their heads. Their dwellings are usually designed only to be reached by flying creatures.

Harpies are not pleasant folk. When determining a Harpies disposition, draw twice, and take the personality which seems the most rotten. (but the player may choose to keep a “nice” draw if it is major arcana).

The races of faerie are the most fantastic and elusive of the creatures which inhabit 'Other Earth". Faerie races remain aloof from the other peoples, preferring the company of their own kind. Wandering members of these races have usually been cast out of their own communities due to their unorthodox attitudes, or because of misdemeanors.

The faerie temperament is capricious and often cruel. Similarly, a faerie's sympathies are also quickly aroused, which provokes him into extravagances of  generosity. Faerie races are inclined to be vain, proud and boastful, and are always talkative. They are much given to melodramatic postures! extravagant rages and quick sulks. They are extremely sensitive to ridicule, which prompts them to paroxysms of rage. They admire beauty, and also oddity to the same degree - to the faerie, these are equivalent attributes. A faerie's moods are seldom long lasting, and  they quickly switch from joy to woe, wrath to friendship in a manner which bewilders other, more stolid races.
 

FAIRIES

True fairies are small (10 to 30 cms high) humanoid folk who vary their outward appearance entirely at whim. They cannot normally be seen unless they desire it, unless they are observed using "detect magic' skill. Fairies tend to live in small communities called "shees" (which change aspect as frequently as their owners), and they seldom move beyond the bounds of such places. Time at the heart of a fairy shee runs at seven times the rate of the rest of the world. Faeries like to pretend that they are immortal, but in fact they are not (they ate so long lived that their claim is nearly true in any case).

Fairies are intensely magical in a way which cannot even begin to be emulated by mundane races. Fairies are magic! Their magic is only ever used for their own amusement, although they might bargain magical objects or favors with a mortal for an object which they value.

Fairies are jealous, impatient, malicious tricksters who are intolerant of intrusion. Woe betide an innocent trespasser who blunders into a shee! They might find themselves whipped with hazel twigs, or given the ears of an ass, or even showered with gold coins, since they enjoy dumbfounding mortals with good fortune no less than with sudden disaster.

Faeries are hedonistic and promiscuous, craving novelty. This has lead to a certain intermingling of fairy blood with that of the other races. Persons with a high proportion of fairy blood may be told by such signs as slit-pupilled eyes, webbed fingers, pointed ears or green fingernails.

Pixies Or "little folk" are a lightly built, dexterous race that love the forests, rivers, fens and mountains. In physical form they are small (110cm), delicate humanoids with sharply featured faces and naked rat-like tails. They have large slit-pupilled eyes, pointed ears, and delicate antennae which they use as organs of scent. Their most distinctive features are their wings, which are the delicate, patterned wings of moths or butterflies. The coloration of pixie wings vary widely from individual to individual, and can be as subtle in coloration as a moth's, or flamboyant as a tropical butterfly. With the aid of these wings pixies may perform short flights of a few meters duration (max distance = strength x 10), or slow a fall down to a manageable speed.

Pixies tend to live in closely grouped small communities, although there are quite a few town sized settlements. Their picturesque hive shaped houses are often placed in tasteful harmony with the landscape (usually high up in the trees or secreted amongst stumps and roots), and so their settlements can be missed by unwary travelers. Pixies are talkative and hospitable, passionate lovers and dedicated enemies. Their "cute" looks and erratic demeanor can sometimes blind other races to their keen sense of honor and their excitable passions (which can be a costly mistake).

Pixie culture emphasizes aesthetics. Pixie cuisine is excellent, although they  tend to eat the flesh of some insects, so be careful to ask what you are eating!  Pixies are brewers of fine wines, artists, musicians, surgeons and craftsmen - the makers of clever mechanisms and clever jokes. In the military they perform the function of skirmishers and scouts. Their small size stops them from riding anything larger than one of their little ponies, and from handling muskets and saddle pistols. Their close combat weapons are confined to the rapier and dagger - weapons which they use with energetic virtuosity.

Pixies roll only 2D3 for strength, but roll 1D6+10 for Dexterity. All Pixies gain  a bonus of +1 on their Intuition scores.

Average sized humanoids with broad, ugly noses, pointed ears and webbed hands. These folk live in small, isolated communities out in the deep forests. They are a coarse, jolly folk, and are more vulgar than the pixies, whom they consider overly nice.

TROLLS

Large, scaly humanoids with a Strength of  1D6+10 and a Dexterity of 2D6+1. Their skins are as tough as a buff coat. Trolls are semi aquatic, and tend to live solitary lives in fens or forests. Although not exactly hostile, they are petty. Trolls might build a bridge or plant an orchard, and then wait for a passer-by to cross the bridge or pick the fruit. The troll will then appear and demand payment at an exorbitant rate. When dealing with trolls, a person must be careful to specify his precise meaning, and look for hidden connotations in every word, phrase and act.

OGRES

Huge, powerful, hideously ugly humanoids which may reach almost 3 meters in height. An Ogre's Strength is effectively 25 to 30 (giving them a wound level of 5), and it's dexterity is about class 6 to 9. Ogres wield great  cleavers and cutlasses which do 2 extra points of damage whenever they score follow up damage, get a + 1 to their armor penetration and weight, and have a reach of +2. Some ogres might have horns, outlandish assortments of extra facial features, or even multiple heads!

Contrary to popular belief, Ogres are not necessarily stupid, nor do they always lack magic. Ogres love to eat the succulent flesh of children, and they will pay hobgoblins or trolls premium prices for any brats that they might catch. For this reason, Ogres are destroyed wherever they may be run to ground, and thus they are only found in remote or rugged terrain.