FAB Formats: Duel - Best of Three Weapons

Inspired by historical duels, fighting games, and the core design and formats of Flesh and Blood TCG, I wondered if there was a more interesting way to play a best of three.

Recently, I heard from a professional weapons, armor, and martial arts historian about evidence showing that in some medieval-era trials by combat or later modern-era duels in Europe would allow each combatant to have a set of three weapons, and what some of those weapons were and where to look for more information about them.
    I've known about historical duels (and tournaments and many of their oddities and mind-bogglingly alien shortcomings) since I was a kid, but it had been a long time since I had done any deep researching or reenacting or armed combating (unless you count games like MTG, D&D, and WoWTCG).

As someone with a hyper-active imagination and deep desire to research, I can't help but come up with new rules, new game variants and modes, or bump into new information and run wild with it and rope in other enthusiastic people to take it a step further.
    But this time, instead of getting together a bunch of people from my local pub to spread the word and, if able, bring their armor to a random field for a mock trial by combat over the claiming of a mug of craft beer, or slice of pizza, or horn of magnificently-aged mead, I wondered how to apply the concept to my current hobby: Flesh and Blood.

What if instead of playing a best of one each round during the playoffs or grand finals at your local game store or small private table, you played a best of three with different weapons each round? And what, exactly, was involved in the historical duels I was inspired by?

Historical Precedents

In a trial by combat to decide which of the accusers and defendants is righteous without proper evidence (or the willingness to wait patiently and search for evidence or talk over the matter and come to a mutually or legally agreeable settlement), the one who killed the other or the defendant who was not injured in one long bout progressing from long to medium to short weapons would be declared the winner of the argument. (Codex Wallerstein. Gladiatoria. Hans Talhoffer 1449, Fechtbuch 1459, and 1467. Jeffrey Hull, Fight Earnestly - the Fight-Book from 1459 AD by Hans Talhoffer, 2007.)

"The first two bindings with the pike on the weak and strong"

All illustrations by Jörg Breu the Younger from Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletic (MSS Dresd.C.93/C.94) by Paulus Hector Mair, with translations by Keith P. Myers.

Many of the details about how these duels tended to start aren't applicable to a card game, and it's in the intricacies of the actual fighting and the teachings and writings and experiences of martial artists specializing in training people for these duels that fascinate me. From inspiring to mind characters, to fighting styles and specific approaches to an engagement and chains of attacks, to, of course, particular kinds of equipment and peculiar weapons.
    The weapon set combatants tended to bring (or be given) was a spear or poleaxe (rarely a "greatsword"), a sword (longsword, sometimes a messer), and a dagger (Peter von Danzig 1452), and sometimes a buckler or pavise. Combatants would meet fully armed, starting with their longest weapons equipped, then progressing to shorter and shorter ones over time as necessary.

"A Cut with a Throw out of the Hacken (Leg Hook)"

 

"A Double Thrust to the Face"

 

"A Strike from above with a Throw"

At times, a "long shield" (also called a "dueling shield") with large spikes or hooks might be used, either with a medium weapon (sword or mace) or on its own in a certain style of grappling.
    Duels could be fought specifically with swords between nobles and maces between peasants (as wooden-hafted maces were much cheaper and readily available), sometimes with a buckler or long shield. Duels were also expected progress to wrestling after daggers, or at any point a combatant could employ grappling or other techniques against their opponent to disarm them or knock them prone.

"A Double Thrust to the Face"

Historically, some of these duels were seen as being decided by a deity, but not all. In Germany, for example, scholars distinguished between a "means of reaching a decision" and a "means of obtaining proof" in which the religious/cultural belief that a deity would would decide who is right (by allowing the just combatant to live and their opponent to die) fell under the former, in contrast to evidence, investigations, and/or legal processes which fell under the latter. (Hugh T. Knight, Jr., Some Observations on the Judicial Duel as Practiced in Fifteenth-Century Germany, 2018. Robert Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water: The Medieval Judicial Ordeal, 1986.)

"Afterword"

 " Behold, good gentlemen, here lies the man
who vilely lied about me, and
God knows what falsehoods he of late
accused me for in envy and hate
He betrayed me as he thought he might
bring to my reputation malice and spite.
He wanted to soil my good name
and slander me for evil shame
but God and the virtuous spirit of mine
defended have my life this time
God that gave me courage and power,
so that I was the victor upon this hour,
and won to day in a most honorable way,
For that I thank almighty God in all my days,
Forgive him for his sins O Lord above, you may
He has received his punishment today,
I am only content as here I stand,
defended have my honour with my hand
which is demanded of a man of my station,
who cherishes his name and his reputation. "

Humans are so bizarre.

New Perspectives - The World Design of Flesh and Blood Part 2

This week I dug my heels in to inspect the so-called "Savage Lands" of Rathe, continuing from where I left off.

While they are savage, and in spite of how much I love wild places and great fantasy art, the way the Savage Lands are presented in Welcome to Rathe is exhausting.

Barraging Brawnhide from Welcome to Rathe, art by Nathaniel Himawan.
One of the many savage creatures in the world of Rathe.

In Case You Missed It...

If you didn't see, I relaunched my Patreon page after a two-year break.

Recently I've been getting into Flesh and Blood TCG as a hobby, writing for myself about learning the game as well as thinking about the setting, Rathe, and making a tabletop adventure for the card game. So far, all of that has been on my blog here.

Over the next few weeks I'll be deciding where to continue posting my usual blog articles, whether I'll keep everything here on Blogspot or put them on both Patreon and Blogspot.

Either way, I'll be posting some previews and shorter ideas in Patron-only posts to fill time and maintain momentum between regular articles and bigger projects like OSR zines (Mork Borg), adventure paths (Eberron and Ravnica being my current favorite settings to write for, and Numenera and Asunder close behind), and of course anything related to my current focus on playing and learning Flesh and Blood TCG and designing a multiplayer campaign for that game (think a WoWTCG Raid Deck but with multiple chapters and a story).

I have a lot of ideas (tiny and colossal), and plans for most of them. So, for now I'll keep doing what I'm doing and see how far everything takes off.

Welcome, and thanks for reading! GLHF!

Welcome to Rathe - The World Design of Flesh and Blood Part 1

After playing Flesh and Blood TCG casually for a few months and failing to find a local playgroup two weeks in a row, I finally sat down to read Flesh and Blood: Welcome to Rathe in preparation for writing a campaign.

Excitement. That's what I've felt a lot of in the past few weeks as I've gotten into Flesh and Blood. Some of it is from having a new hobby to replace those that I've lost over the years. Most of it, I think, is from the design of the game, the art, and a handful of people I enjoy watching explore the game. I love seeing potential in things, and this IP and the studio of people behind it have a lot of potential.

Trading Card Games are an incredible medium for bringing people together. Their unifying force transcends age, race, religion, gender, and even social status, through a common language of "playing great games."
— Flesh and Blood: Welcome to Rathe, Legend Story Studios

These are the first words you see when you open the cover. I agree with them, deeply. Yet, after reading the rest of the book, I feel that some aspects of the world do not align well with that message.

That isn't to say I disliked the book, or its writing and information, or its art. I enjoyed all of those things, and I am still enthusiastic about Flesh and Blood as a game, and about its world—and creating spaces within that world for my own (and potentially others') enjoyment—because of its potential.

I love planting seeds and growing plants of all kinds, literally and figuratively. I view each of my worldbuilding projects in much the same way as I view gardening and taking care of my own and others' plants. Or, in this case, more like a large yard and all of its grass, trees, and shrubs, and potential gardens and visiting animals.
    This series is going to be about me digging into the setting of Flesh and Blood as it has been presented so far by Legend Story Studios, finding seeds (ideas) that interest me, and growing (developing) them into something I can use to create my own story and characters around.

Eventually (whether or not I find other people who are interested and willing to be emotionally invested) this will culminate as a homebrew adventure series that can be played by using print-and-play documents or Tabletop Simulator.
    As a matter of fact, I already have a prologue adventure primed for playtesting, and the fair draft of my story outline and chapters are ready for further development. But first I'd like to learn more; ideally, everything I make for this project would merge with and expand on the existing setting and story threads with fewer seams and smaller voids, just as I want my homebrew game design to work with the existing systems, mechanics, and overall design of the official game.

First Steps - Flesh and Blood Sealed Deck #2

Yesterday I played my second FAB Sealed Deck event online in preparation for another in-person event this weekend.

Aside from organizing a few games online and playing over webcams in Discord while everyone is busy and/or my body aches too much to play in person, not much has been going on. A little packing, moving boxes an hour's drive away, installing doors, having a moderately stressful (mostly physically) time caregiving throughout the week.

I realized while sleeving my deck last weekend that I should have brought a playmat to make things easier, and remembered this one I love from Theros in Magic: The Gathering.
It's magnificent on its own, of course, but even more wonderful having unearthed it after so long, setting Tales of Aria cards around it, and taking a moment to appreciate all the art.

I organized my gradually-thinning workspace and materials, my self, and my thoughts in preparation for getting over upcoming anxiety hurdles (game-related and life-related). Then further prepared to play and compete by reviewing rules and thumbing through my previous pool and blog post to re-familiarize myself with everything.

Finally it was time to open more booster packs, still thankful that I can do so.

First Steps - Flesh and Blood Weekend Event

Last night I went to my local game store to play Flesh and Blood.

After getting a box of Tales of Aria, then playing Sealed Deck online, I was excited to make time over the weekend to get out of the house and play a few matches in person. To prepare, I rummaged around for a messenger bag and an old World of Warcraft TCG starter deck box to carry around my sealed pool and Briar blitz deck with some old Ultra Pro "Vizkopa Guildmage" sleeves, plus the other two Tales of Aria blitz decks in case the store didn't have any welcome decks.

I also took an hour earlier in the day before my afternoon work to review my sealed games, look over the rules again (I'm getting familiar with the basics but not the details just yet), and do a little fussing with my deck. I wanted to be able to stand my ground against someone with a more competitive constructed deck but still be able to play against new players and the other blitz decks, so all I did was replace a couple of cards in the pre-constructed Briar deck that weren't exciting, then designate a chunk of the rest of my sealed pool as "sideboard" cards.

That afternoon I ended up caregiving for an hour longer than I expected, mostly having a long, meandering conversation about some important things we need to keep in mind and answering good questions. Usually this isn't a burden, and wasn't stressful on its own, but it takes energy out of me and, this time, cut into the time I would have to change, pack, eat, and head over.
    When I got back home, I ended up getting nervous about the time I would have to re-sleeve and review my deck, and settle down and relax before the pairings started. So instead of taking half an hour to settle myself before driving to the store, I spent ten minutes running around and only getting a few munches of food in belly.

Once I was actually at the store, I saw that things were fairly slow with just a few people playing Magic (Commander) in the back and a few other people coming in to look around for a while (either casually "window shopping" or checking out singles for Magic and maybe some Pokemon cards). It was nice and very relaxed overall, and although there was a bit of noise it wasn't too distracting.
    One thing that helped was seeing exactly the brand and types of deck boxes and card sleeves I wanted to get (GameGenic box, KMC Perfect Fit inner sleeves, and Dragon Shield clear matte sleeves), and learning they weren't too expensive.

Everything packed neatly away back at home.

First Steps - Flesh and Blood Sealed Deck

My experience learning the Flesh and Blood TCG by opening Tales of Aria booster packs to play Sealed Deck.

This month has been exciting for Flesh and Blood players, with the Calling tournament in Las Vegas, then pre-release and release weekend for Tales of Aria. And I missed all of it. But, thanks to the generosity of family, I was able to take a minute to make a little extra money last month, save most of that extra money, and buy a handful of booster packs.

Then I learned I had leftover store credit with an online retailer from when I must have been playing a lot of Modern in Magic: The Gathering some lifetimes ago, and was able to pay only a few dollars extra for a whole booster box.

My first booster box ever, and my first time buying a Flesh and Blood product.