Heya all, I just made a very small version of FitD with a vague knightly theme. Feedback appreciated!
My full goal will be attached to a manor growing system and with successive generations of knights.
Knight Chivalric
Overview
In Sword and Glory you play knights. You are professional, highly skilled, gentry-soldiers. You seek glory, treasure, power, and the respect of your peers. You achieve this by protecting the weak, raiding enemies, finding treasure, negotiating with dangerous factions, and slaying monsters. You own a horse and weapon, land, have rights as a noble, and can act independently of your liege when not summoned to war. You have a coat of arms to identify you.
Character Creation
You have three attributes; Prowess, Finesse, and Resolve. Prowess represents your athletic and martial capabilities, Finesse your deceptive, creative, and subtle capabilities, and Resolve your charisma and willpower.
You begin with 0 dots in each and have 3 to spend, with no attribute higher than 2.
Create a heraldic device that suits your character. Indicate the name of your manor by choosing or rolling on the table below. This becomes your character’s last name.
Easton
Presley
Hartwood
Oakholm
Blackhaven
Redfield
Ashmarch
Kinhall
Illmere
Darkwood
You begin the game with a horse, two noble weapons, a manor, and land. You rule around a hundred homes who live in a village near your manor. You and your fellow knights have formed a banner and sworn an oath to adventure together.
Playing the Game
To play the game, the GM begins by describing a situation. All of the players then discuss the situation and narrate the actions of their characters, to which the GM responds with more information or changes the situation. When appropriate, the game master will say when and if you need to make a save for an action to succeed. This will usually be when your action has a risk.
When you describe an action that is dangerous, roll d6 equal to the dots in your attribute. This is called making a save. If the highest die number rolled is a 6 you succeed. If a 4 or a 5 you succeed with consequence. If 1 to 3 you suffer a consequence.
If you have no dots roll two dice and take the worse. If you roll two sixes, this is a critical success, and gives extra effect.
Consequences
Consequences come from the position the characters are in. For example, the consequence of a failed climbing roll may be a sprained muscle from cramping, or failing a roll to ingratiate yourself with a king may mean embarrassment.
Consequences may also be situational, such as moving a person from one area to another, innocents harmed, extra time taken, opportunities lost, and so on. The most common would be adding checks to a clock, representing a worsening position. If adding checks to a clock, add 1 for being mildly effective, 2 for standard effect, and 3 for being highly effective.
If a consequence would affect your character in an ongoing way, such as an injury, being insulted, enchanted, or so on, note this on your character sheet. If you have a consequence of a certain type, taking an additional consequence of a similar type indicates your character is usually no longer able to continue acting in the scene, or potentially, at all. This could be from being critically wounded, distraught, terrified, or so on.
Clocks
Each time you are placed in a dangerous situation where you may lose or gain something, and wish to play this out in detail, a clock may be created to represent your fictional position in play. Clocks tend to be 4, 6, or 8, though other numbers are possible.
Rolling consequences on the die adds checks to your clock. When your clock is filled the consequence occurs. This could be trapped, stuck, insulted, revealed, embarrassed, wounded, or some other debilitating situation. The exact loss should be defined by the GM and players when engaging in the action.
Not all situations require clocks; if the situation is designed to be quick, or take only a single roll to deal with, no clock needs to be made, and the consequence is applied normally.
If you have a consequence written on your character sheet you suffer -1d when that consequence would apply.
Healing Consequences
Healing damage is always based on narrative position.
Some damage is short term and may be resolved with a few minutes or hours rest. If you have extended downtime, like several days rest, you heal all damage.
Scenes
To begin any scene the GM describes the scene, and the obvious intentions of NPCs or situations. The players then describe in any order (such as clockwise around the table) what they do on their turn, and make saves if appropriate and apply consequences. Then any additional NPCs who were not interacted with follow through with their own actions, unless their actions would naturally go first.
NPCs do not roll. If they would apply a consequence, this is usually done through a result of your die results, though can be done directly. Only players roll the dice.
Whatever the situation, if a clock is being used, the checks placed on the clock are 1, 2, or 3 for ineffective, effective, and highly effective, respectively. This is adjudicated dependant on situation.
For example, two armoured knights fighting each other with sword and shield may do two checks with a success, do two checks and take two checks on a success with consequence, and simply take two checks on a fail.
In terms of combat, armour and shield increase the size of defensive clocks. Each item increases the size of the clock by 1.
This is also be the case for situations around social engagements. Good arguments and situations may increase effect or lessen consequences.
Example: Sir Maleaunt with sword and shield is fighting the raider Aella with a great axe. When creating the clock, Sir Maleaunt’s ‘injured’ clock begins at 4 and will be upgraded to 6 for having armour and a shield. Aella has a clock of 5 for having armour.
No matter the situation, the amount of checks given or taken are representative of the story as it is taking place, and additional description from the players may change number of checks given or taken.
Sir Maleaunt is cautious of the great axe, and describes himself as waiting for the next strike from Aella, charging in as the axe is lifted, forcing his shield in to the raider’s shoulder. He rolls a 4 – success with consequence. Normally the barbarian would do 3 checks on the clock, but due to the description, the GM indicates the axe is less effective, doing 2 checks instead.
Tier
Tier represents the general quality of equipment and training a person has. Knights begin at Tier 2. A great king may have Tier 4, while a peasant rabble may be Tier 0. Each difference in Tier gives +1 level of effect to the higher Tier character.
Example: Sir Maleaunt is a higher Tier than Aella, so his standard effect will be 3 instead of the normal 2. Aella has a great axe, and does 3 checks due to the dangerous axe he wields.
Improvement
Each adventure your knight goes on has the chance to teach them how to improve. Each time your knight fails an attribute check they mark the progression clock. Once the 6 clock is completed, the attribute gains a dot.
Starting Adventure
It is an age of warlords, a year after the High Queen Eremia Penllew died at the hands of Sir Bycour the Betrayer at the battle of Camlin Hall. You are at Spring Court of your lord, Eudas, and have gone hunting together. You see a strange sight; a dead lioness being ravaged by three wolves, red, black, and silver. Before the dead lioness is a young she-cub growling as the wolves circle.
When you return to the road you see three knights with weapons attacking a small carriage bearing the gold-and-black lion of the High Queen. The three knights bear the heraldry of the wolf in different colours – red, black, and silver. Inside the carriage is the granddaughter of the High Queen, just born to the now deceased princess in the carriage. The little baby bears the mark of the lion upon her shoulder – she is the rightful High Queen, Fiona Penllew.
Arriving soon after is Eudas, the PC’s sworn lord, and vassal of The Betrayer.