And Rodriguez remembered all those passes and feints that he had had from his father, and which Sevastiani, a master of arms in Madrid, had taught in his father's youth: and some were famous and some were little known. And all these passes, as he tried them one by one, his unknown antagonist parried. And for a moment Rodriguez feared that Morāno would see those passes in which he trusted foiled by that unknown sword, and then he reflected that Morāno knew nothing of the craft of the rapier, and with more content at that thought he parried thrusts that were strange to him. But something told Morāno that in this fight the stranger was master and that along that pale-blue, moonlit, unknown sword lurked a sure death for Rodriguez. He moved from his place of vantage and was soon lost in large shadows; while the rapiers played and blade rippled on blade with a sound as thought Death were gently sharpening his scythe in the dark. And now Rodriguez was giving ground, now his antagonist pressed him; thrusts that he believed invincible had failed; now he parried wearily and had at once to parry again; the unknown pressed on, was upon him, was scattering his weakening parries; drew back his rapier for a deadlier pass, learned in a secret school, in a hut on mountains he knew, and practised surely; and fell in a heap upon Rodriguez' feet, struck full on the back of the head by Morāno's frying-pan.
- Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley, Lord Dunsany
With the exception of their being listed in the character creation rules, I find the lack of mention of Lackeys one of the great disappointments in FB's rules-as-written. But, like mistresses and other things, I wonder if I just lack the context (either En Garde or a sufficient spread of source material) to fill in the (seemingly deliberate) lacunae.
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts, Mike?
I've toyed with adapting the 1e AD&D henchmen rules for lackeys-as-armed-retainers. That would make a good post for next month.
DeleteAs far as ordinary sevants go, I rule that a character gets a number of sevants equal to their Social Rank - 1D6. The cost of these servants is rolled into the monthly upkeep, and they are typically not able to go 'adventuring' with the player character - only a lackey may do so.
I'm also working on some rules for property, which will include guidelines for the number and types of servants associated with a townhouse, villa, and so forth.
hmm. A different kind of L. ok. like it.
ReplyDelete