Duelling in a Dead Game: The Riddle of Steel

Introduction

The Riddle of Steel is an RPG by Driftwood Publishing from the early 2000s which apparently became pretty popular on its release, generated a lot of interest and then faded away into obscurity. From what I can find online it seems the designers made some bad choices in terms of expansions for the game and the company went under.

It's very gritty and brutal with rare but powerful magic that prematurely ages wizards who fumble their spells, and a very detailed combat system that reminds me of real life fencing. A bit like what I've heard about Harnmaster.

The game is long out of print and very rare, and the company's website has disappeared. Luckily the Quickstart Rules are still online, so let's make a couple of characters and have them fight!

Character Creation

We're going to make two noblemen from the land of Cyrinthmeir, a rich feudal state ruled over by its king and the Gathering of Lords. The dastardly Count Ofrich has insulted Count Ansert's mother at court, making a rude comment about her nose in front of the Gathering of Lords. Ansert has challenged him to a duel in the streets of the capital city.

In the quickstart rules there are four categories of ability and you assign them priority from A to D, receiving points and dice for your weapon profiencies based on that. The categories are:

Social class and wealth: Your social standing in the strict feudal society.

Attributes: These are the equivalent of D&D's STR, DEX, INT, WIS and CHA.

Vocations: In the core rulebook these are skills, in the quickstart rules they're basically classes.

Proficiences: Your skill with weapons. This determines how many D10 dice are in your dice pools for different weapons.

Count Ofrich

Ofrich is a noble, so we'll prioritise his social class and wealth. He has personally fought in two wars and is well trained in combat, but is generally lazy and workshy, being a noble. We'll assign his priorities like this:

A: Social Class and Wealth

Nobility. This won't affect anything in the short scene we're going to play out.

B: Proficiencies

9 dice to assign to weapon proficiencies. We'll assign 6 to rapier and 3 to dagger. These numbers are added to Ofrich's Coordination (CRD) to determine how many dice are in his dice pools for those weapons.

C: Attributes

18 points to spend between the temporal (physical) attributes and the mental ones. I won't go into detail on these, they're pretty obvious. There are even more of these in the full rules but the quickstart rules cuts them down to four.

Brawn (BRN): 5

Agility (AGL): 5

Wits (WTS): 2

Prescence (PRS): 6

There are spiritual attributes which concern things like the character's long term goals and philosphy, for character advancement purposes. We'll ignore those.

There are also derived attributes that we get by doing calculations to the main ones above:

Coordination (CRD): 3

Resistance (RES): 5

Move (MOV): 7

D: Vocations

1 at VR (vocational rating) 9. We'll pick Knight. This provides skill in horsemanship, first aid, hunting, heraldry, military strategy, tournament etiquette.

Ofrich is a human with fair skin, brown eyes and black hair with a moustache. He is 41, arrogant and overconfident. As for equipment, Ofrich comes prepared for a duel. He brings his rapier and keeps a dagger at his belt. He wears a sleeveless leather jack (that's what it calls it in the rules). Under this he wears a white cotton shirt and blue cloth britches on his legs.

Count Ansert

Ansert is also a noble. He has less combat experience than Ofrich, having spent more time in outdoor pursuits common to the upper class of his homeland. 

A: Social Class and Wealth

Nobility.

B: Attributes

20 points to spend.

Brawn (BRN): 7

Agility (AGL): 5

Wits (WTS): 3

Prescence (PRS): 5 

Coordination (CRD): 4

Resistance (RES): 6

Move (MOV): 8

C: Proficiencies

6 dice for weapon profiencies. He gets 5 for sabre and 1 for dagger.

D: Vocations

1 at VR (vocational rating) 9. We'll pick Knight like Ofrich.

Ansert is a human with fair skin, blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. He is 34, guarded and slightly too trusting of others. He brings his sabre and dagger, and wears a leather jack with sleeves over his white cotton shirt and cloth britches.

The Duel

Counts Ansert and Ofrich meet outside the city hall, each accompanied by a gaggle of footmen, doctors and friends. They agree to a fight to the death and, standing a few feet from each other, they draw their swords and salute. "Engarde!" Count Ofrich shouts suddenly, and they advance on each other.

The first thing they need to do is declare attack or defence. If we were playing for real, each player throws down either a red or white die (or token). Red for attack, white for defence.

The two counts both choose defence, circling around each other. Ofrich attempts to taunt Ansert and goad him into losing his cool and attacking. To do this, Ofrich will do an extended Prescence roll: he'll roll 6D10 (as his Prescence is 6). The TN (target number) that he needs for success will be Ansert's Prescence stat, which is 5, but one success isn't enough in an extended roll. He needs to get 5 successes (again based on Ansert's Prescence).

If he doesn't roll 5x 5s in one go then Ansert will taunt him back. If Ansert doesn't get 6x 6s in one roll, Ofrich will roll again and add his new successes to the ones he got last time.

Ofrich taunts (Extended Prescence roll: TN: 5, RS: 5)

1, 2, 2, 3, 9, 10

2/5 successes.

"You know perhaps I shouldn't have said your wife has the nose of a goblin." Ofrich shouts at Ansert. "On second thought I should have said 'twas like that of a diseased mountain troll!"

The sycophants behind him erupt in laughter but Ansert is unfazed, still circling him. "Silence you dog, or I'll tear that ridiculous 'tache from your face and stuff it into your babbling mouth."

Ansert taunts (Extended Prescence roll: TN: 6, RS: 6)

3, 3, 6, 8, 10

3/6 successes.

Ofrich glares at him. "You'll do no such thing, boy. I was commanding armies while you were still frolicking in the woods with your hoop and stick!"

Ofrich taunts (Extended Prescence roll: TN: 5, RS: 5)

4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 10

2+5=7/5 successes.

The usually calm Ansert roars in rage and charges forward. He attacks, Ofrich defends. The first combat round starts and we move into an exchange. Here the attacker attacks using a portion of their dice pool (their choice how many) to perform a maneuver and the defender defends in the same way.

Round 1, Exchange 1

Ansert will attack using a swing maneuver since his sabre is an edged weapon. He'll use 4D10 from his pool of 8 and he'll aim for zone IV, the chest and shoulders. His Attacking Target Number (ATN) for his sabre is 6, so any 6s or above will count as successes, which in this case determines damage.

Ofrich declares he will defend by parrying this attack with his rapier (If this was a player vs the GM they'd shout these things out at the start of the exchange, out of character).

Ansert swings at Ofrich's chest (4D10, ATN: 6)

2, 5, 5, 8

1 success.

Ofrich will defend using the parry maneuver and 4 of his 10 dice pool. His Defending Target Number (DTN) with his rapier is 5.

Ofrich parries (4D10, DTN: 5)

1, 3, 5, 7

2 successes.

Ofrich rolled more successes than Ansert so his parry works.

Ansert launches himself at Ofrich, swinging his sabre madly but Ofrich easily deflects the sword with his own.

Round 1, Exchange 2

As Ofrich won the first exchange he now gets the initiative for the second half of the round and attacks using the rest of his dice pool. He declares he'll thrust at Ansert's belly, and Ansert will respond by parrying.

Ofrich thrusts at Ansert's belly (6D10, ATN: 5)

2, 3, 7, 7, 9, 9

4 successes.

Ansert parries (4D10, DTN: 5)

1, 2, 4, 8

1 success.

Ofrich has won this exchange with a margin of success of 3 (his successes minus Ansert's). This is added to his rapier's damage stat of 5 to determine the total damage done: 8.

Ansert deducts his Brawn and Armour Value (AV) on the area he was struck. That's 7+2=9, making Ofrich's damage -1, which counts as zero.

After knocking Ansert's sabre out of the way Ofrich jabs his rapier at his opponent's stomach but it slides along the leather jack harmlessly.

Round 2, Exchange 1

Both fighters' dice pools are refilled for the new round. Ofrich has the iniative as he won the last exchange, so he declares he'll thrust at Ansert's belly again with 5 dice from his pool. Ansert declares he'll counter it with 5, another maneuver (called a riposte in fencing).

But wait, Ofrich declares this is a feint! He's going to sacrifice a die from his remaining pool to pull back from his attack at the last moment and go for Ansert's arms instead. He now has 4 dice left in his pool after sacrificing 1, and can add some of them to the attack at a cost of losing an extra one for each one added.

So Ofrich will add 1 extra die, losing one. This gives him 6D10 to roll in his real attack and leaves 2 still in his pool to use in the second exchange this round.

Ofrich thrusts at Ansert's right arm (6D10, ATN: 5)

2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 10

2 successes.

Not a great attack. Ansert is attempting to counter this. He sacrifices 2 dice from his pool to do it, and uses 4D10 for the defence part of the maneuver. If he beats Ofrich's 2 successes here he'll steal the iniative and get to add 6 dice to his counterattack (he gets bonus dice equal to what his opponent rolled in the attack he's countering).

Ansert counters. Parry maneuver (5D10, DTN: 5)

1, 5, 5, 5, 8

4 successes!

Ansert steals the initiative! He'll roll 1 of his own die plus the 6 he's stolen from Ofrich.

Ansert swings at Ofrich's right arm (7D10, ATN: 6)

1, 1, 3, 3, 5, 7, 10

Only 2 successes.

Ofrich attemps to dodge and stand, a basic dodge maneuver. But he only has 2 dice left in his pool and there's still another exchange to go in this round, so he'll use 1.

Ofrich dodges and stands (1D10, DTN: 7)

10

1 success.

Ansert wins by a margin of success of 1. He adds this to his sabre's damage of 8 so that's 9. Ofrich deducts his Brawn from this damage, but he's wearing a sleeveless jack which doesn't protect his arms. 9-5=4.

This gives a wound level of 4. Pretty bad as the maximum is 5! You're probably thinking wounds are like hit points in The Riddle of Steel, right?

Wrong! Now we've got to determine Blood Loss, Shock and Pain to see how it affects him. Checking the damage table for a level 4 arm wound, we get:

Compound fracture, heavy bleeding. Automatically drop anything held.

The wound gives Shock of 11, which means he loses 11 dice from his pool for the rest of this round, bringing him to zero dice. Since the Shock value is 1 higher than his current pool of 1, the remaining 10 Shock gets deducted from his dice pool next round, wiping out his entire pool.

It gives Pain of 8 minus Ofrich's Prescence which is 6, so that's 2 pain. This is permanently deducted from his pool until the wound is healed, so if he somehow survives two more rounds he'll only regenerate 8 dice out of his usual 10. However since he's dropped his sword he'll be using his dagger, which means he'll have 5 out of 7 dice.

And finally the wound has a Blood Loss target number of 8. From now on at the start of each round he'll have to make a Brawn roll vs TN 8, and if he gets no successes he'll lose one point of Brawn which will have a knock on effect on everything he does in the fight. When a character reaches zero Brawn they bleed out and die.

Blimey! I'm starting to see why this game didn't exactly catch on with players.

Ofrich wastes no time in attacking again. It looks like he's repeating his last attack, thrusting at Ansert's stomach, but at the last moment he pulls back and thrusts his rapier at Ansert's sword arm instead. Suddenly realising what's going on, Ansert quickly whacks Ofrich's rapier out of the way leaving him wide open. In the same movement he whirls his sabre around and brings it crashing down on Ofrich's exposed forearm. Panicking, Ofrich starts to move backwards in a dodge but it's too late.

The blade cuts through the shirt and hacks right into the bone. The braying crowd goes silent. Ofrich is stunned, and a gush of red blood flows out of his ruined arm as his rapier clatters to the cobblestones below.

Ansert takes a few steps back. "That's what you get for insulting my wife, you dog. Now run along home and don't cross my path again." He says.

Ofrich, stunned, comes to his senses. "No! We said we'd fight to the death and to the death we shall fight!" He grits his teeth and draws his dagger in his left hand. "I'll kill you, you terrible prick!"

Round 2, Exchange 2

At this point I'm realising the best way to keep track of how many dice are in the pools is to keep each set of dice in its own tray and remove the ones you've lost. I'm using Tabletop Simulator so it's not that intuitive.

Ansert keeps the initiative as he won the last exchange. He only has 1D10 left in his pool now, and Ofrich is in shock so he has none and can't make any defence.

Ansert swings at Ofrich's stomach (1D10, ATN: 6)

1

No successes.

Ansert, exhausted by the excitement of the last few seconds, halfheartedly slashes at Ofrich but the blow glances off his sleeveless leather jack.

Round 3, Exchange 1

First, Ofrich needs to roll for Blood Loss.

Ofrich rolls Brawn for Blood Loss (7D10, TN: 8)

2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 9

Success! (Only one success is needed here)

Ansert retains the initiative and regains his 8 dice. He'll use all of them since Ofrich won't have any dice to defend or attack with until the next round.

Ansert swings for Ofrich's chest (8D10, ATN: 6)

2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7

2 successes.

Damage: 2 (Margin of success) +8 (Sabre damage) = 10

10 -7 Brawn -2 Sleeveless leather jack AV = level 1 wound

A level 1 chest wound is "A light impact stopped by bone".

Blood Loss: 0

Shock: 2

Pain: 4 - 5 Prescence = -1

The Shock value is higher than Ofrich's current dice pool of zero, so he'll lose 2 dice at the start of round 4.

Ansert, frustrated by his failed attack lashes out at Ofrich, hitting him in the upper chest. His sabre connects with Ofrich but fails to penetrate his jack, leaving a bruise underneath it.

Round 3, Exchange 2

Ansert resets his combat stance and focuses. Ofrich is still hesitating, his right arm clearly broken and causing him a lot of pain.

Neither has any dice left.

Round 4, Exchange 1

Ofrich rolls Brawn for Blood Loss (7D10, TN: 8)

1, 5, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10

Success! He doesn't lose any Brawn.

We need to determine initiative since no one won the last exchange. I'll toss a coin to see what they both do: Ofrich attacks and Ansert defends. Ofrich loses 2 dice from his pool this round due to Shock, leaving him with 3. Note the dagger's high ATN - it's harder to land a hit with a dagger than a rapier.

Ofrich will thrust at Ansert's neck with 2 dice, and Ansert will dodge and stand with 4.

Ofrich thrusts at Ansert's neck (2D10, ATN: 8)

3, 10

1 success.

Ansert dodges and stands (4D10, DTN: 7)

1, 1, 4, 6

No successes.

Damage: 1+5=6

6 -7 Brawn = -1. No wound.

Ofrich suddenly snaps out of the daze he was in and lunges at Ansert, going for his neck in a desperate attempt to end the fight. Ansert is caught by surprise and grazed in the neck but it doesn't affect him.

Round 4, Exchange 2

Ofrich will swing at Ansert's arm with his last die and Ansert will parry.

Ofrich swings at Ansert's arm (1D10, ATN: 8)

3

No successes.

Ansert parries (4D10, DTN: 5)

5, 5, 9, 9

4 successes.

Ofrich is moving a bit sluggishly now so he's telegraphing his attacks. He tries to swipe at Ansert's arm but the Count easily knocks his dagger away.

Round 5, Exchange 1

Ofrich rolls Brawn for Blood Loss (7D10, TN: 8)

1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 10

Success.

Ansert will swing at Ofrich's head with 6 dice. Ofrich will counter, spending 2 dice for the counter and 2 for the defence roll.

Ansert swings at Ofrich's head (6D10, ATN: 6)

4, 5, 7, 8, 8, 9

4 successes.

Ofrich counters (2D10, DTN: 7)

1, 3

No successes.

Damage: 4+8=12

12 -7 Brawn = Level 5 wound.

Ouch! Let's see what the damage table says about a level 5 wound to the head: "Real, real messy. Decapitation or shattered skull. Instant death."

Ofrich stands there wide open having had his attack turned away. Ansert looks him in the eye for less then a second then quickly swings his sabre back around and catches him in the side of the head. There's a sickening crack and the blade digs into his brain. He stands there for a couple of seconds, Ansert holding the sword in place, before dropping to his knees and falling flat on his face, quite dead.

Ansert's friends cheer wildly behind him, and he hands his sabre to a footman. "What a waste of skin." He mutters as he walks off towards the alehouse. Ofrich's followers scurry away down sidestreets, and the slain nobleman's blood continues trickling out of his wounds, pooling in the cracks between the cobblestones.

My Thoughts

Well, that was the longest fight I've ever had in a solo RPG but it was one of the shortest in game time. It took me three hours in real life, but in The Riddle of Steel each round lasts two seconds so the entire fight took twentyfour seconds including the time Ansert spent trying to get Ofrich to admit defeat after breaking his arm.

To be honest I can't imagine playing a whole campaign like that. It's really exciting once you get the hang of the combat system but it's also so brutal that I think I'd probably avoid combat at all costs in case my character caught a sword in the neck in the first round.

I doubt it's meant to be played like a typical dungeon crawling RPG, since the rules mention only about three or four people can be in combat at once due to the danger of hitting an ally by mistake and not being able to defend against more than a couple of enemies at the same time. This makes total sense for realism. It reminds me a lot of the combat in the game Kingdom Come: Deliverance which is pretty realistic too.

There are simply too many stats to keep track of to keep it running smoothly though - e.g. if Ofrich had failed one of his Blood Loss rolls he'd have lost a point of Brawn, which would ripple down his character sheet and I'd have had to recalculate several attributes. It's just too much work for the player, and imagine the GM having to keep track of all these attributes for the enemy NPCs too. What a nightmare!

I'd quite like to set up a tournament using a rule system similar to this but not as complex: Create a group of crazy characters and make them fight in an arena until only one remains. If anyone knows a good system to use for something like this, let me know in the comments!