In every Three Musketeers movie the good folks square off versus the vile enemies. Verbal barbs are quipped and weaknesses are probed before swords clash. The cry of ‘All for one!’ echoes through the annals of time. Now, Honorbound doesn’t have a lot of combat in it. But I wanted what little there is to be memorable. Mimicking cinema. The Swashbuckling scene was born:
How It Works
The Swashbuckling Scene is divided into two phases that characters may do one action in each. Banter happens first, Skirmish second. We also cleared up how Riposte works. Don’t know what to do? Gird Your Loins to hoard valuable Saga Points.
We playtested three combats here: Honorbound Emergency Playtest 2. It is exactly what I wanted in the game. Intimidation, authoritative orders, and slight-of-hand was blended into combat seamlessly. There is a slight update to the interrupt rules but overall, this is the final scene structure.
A Dee Sanction Adventure
Before I jumped back into Honorbound development I was working on an adventure for the Dee Sanction system. With a contest due date of Sept 15th. I feel I am too close to completion to back out of the contest deadline. So, I am diverting a little time into layout and some minor tweaks to get this ready for presentation.
If it does well, I get to run it on the Raspy Raven Discord channel during a week long Dee Sanction celebration. So, finger’s crossed! When time permits I will clean up anything else and publish it before Christmans. Here’s the pitch:
It has been one week since Nicolaus Copernicus’s coffin was delivered to John Dee in London. The corpse’s eyes were carved out and a note stuck through by a silver dagger plunged into its heart. This was not the coprse of the astronomer.
A message? Perhaps. A trap? For certain.
LofKR Play Report Part 1
Just because our hair is on fire stress testing Honorbound doesn’t mean other playtesting groups aren’t plugging away on other projects set for a kickstarter in 2026. Legends of the Khurst Riders mechanics are getting all the way down to fine honing. It is evocative and summons up old west tropes easily during gameplay making it feel woven from Tall Tales and legends.
The Raspy Raven Discord has been an invaluable resource for running games and I will post our play reports here as well:
The Players:
Hamish, Faeblooded Tinhorn, cursed by Superstition
Hector, Infernal Pact Blood Merchant, cursed by being Marked
Heinrich, Spirit Touched Agent, cursed by Torture
Victoria, Changeling Hawkshaw, cursed by Identity Crisis
The Riders were summoned by a murder of rhyming crows:
‘Rise to action mine sworn knights
To heed the Sheriff
Until the hangman alights
No blood of innocent fall
One soul each to heed my call.’
An angry mob led by Okiche (the widow) was threatening to overpower Sheriff Harken (most likely drunk) and Deputy Jawai (bald woman) at the jail to lynch Fiona Conley (red braids, wild eyes) for killing Hide (local barber) during a crooked (?) game of poker at the Motley Steer Saloon.
The Riders were able to disperse the mob without bloodshed as Hector gave his version of Sermon on the Mount (what are you hiding sinners?!), Victoria reaching out to sense kin on Fiona (skinwalker!), and Heinrich using words instead of bullets to bully the Clan Conley runts, “Put down the rifle before I shoot you where you stand…”
Time was running short, so quick interviews revealed:
- A telegram had already been sent to summon the nearest judge who will be here in 2 days.
- Clan Conley is an inbred legion led by Mama Conley, a woman of legend.
- Fiona is betrothed to Red Liam who just got back from the war.
- Fiona says Hide drew a gun on her and she killed him in self-defense, she’s innocent!
Sheriff Harken outlined the situation: If we let her go the town will lynch us, if we jail her Clan Conley will come for her. He then not so subtly suggested the Riders just shoot her between the eyes…