Duels between Pirates
A Duel between Pirates is not, never was and will never be a completely usual fight. In fact, Pirates are generally very irritable and if no custom had been developped to regulate their temper they'd be self-extinguished generations ago… which would be so sorry for enjoying this game!
Thus, a Pirate Duel is first of all a competition of flashes of whit and sharp insults. But that is not all of it! Any Pirate is supposed to have a saber in arm's reach, preferably even at the waist, it is wises…
Because a Pirate Duel also features one (or more!) passage of arms which determines the winner, not at the first blood - the first bleeding still being often fatal nowadays - but when one of the two opponents got enough to be ridiculed.
Here is how to proceed in detail. The two Pirates met - in a tavern, in which case the Duel happens ideally directly in the establishment! at the corner of a street or in the middle of a wood (cross if not applicable) - and challenged each other. And there begins the serious business…
Duellists and Witnesses
A real Duel, to be a honest one, concerns only two opponents simultaneously. The others, respecting the Pirate Code, aren't for that inactive onlookers and by their screams and applause they in fact decide on the winning Pirate at each passage of arms. They are called the Witnesses while the two opponents are the Duellists. The Witnesses are no other than the Players' Characters not directly involved in the Duel and the Game Master, who may find himself in the (un-?) comfortable situation to have to play both a Duellist and some Witnesses through the Non-Players Characters he represents!
The « Insault »
« Insault » means in short (and in salt!) « Assault of Insults ». That is our topic in the next lines.
For this phase in the Duel one uses the three packs of the Zebra Island Insults Cards™, face turned down, that is one sees only the back of the cards. For each pack there is a different symbol: « V », « A » et « N » respectively for « Verbs », « Adjectives » et « Nouns »… Didn't we hear « Help, help! » already from the audience? Please, calm down, we're not going to do an Engliche (or Criole) test! Let's have a closer look:
- The Game Master takes a card from the pack in the middle (« V ») and two Witnesses take each one card from the remaining two packs (« A » et « N »). The cards are not immediately turned face up. This is only when everybody is ready that the three card faces are simultaneously disclosed on the center of the table and so that they are easily seen by all.
- As soon as this is done, each of the protagonists, saber againt saber, must imagine an Insult or have a go at the other to touch him or her by the means of sharp words; the only constraint is to use each of the three uncovered words at least once and without altering their nature: verbs verbalise and names name, don't they!? Yet, to be honest, it happpens that - and that's a tolerable way - one of the Opponents be darier and goes with only two, or even only one, of the three words… It can even be a successful tactic if the combination of words is particularly crazy or complicated but it can also prove quite dangerous too!
- The first who launches such an Insault is declared the Provocator. The other one is called the Retorter. Thus, to determine who takes the initiative, there is no other rule than each Player's speed to spite an Insult in his or her opponent's face.
- Quickly after having taken the Insult, the Retorter must find a suitable Retort (that's logical!) to counter the devastating effects of the Insult on his or her prestige. The Retort need to have a link to the wit of the Insult to be able to counter it and it must come out quickly enough. The speed of the answer is judged by the Witnesses. If there are different opinions, there must be a discussion to reach a conclusion and it can be even wilder than the Duel itself!
(Cf. in that case maybe the section regarding all-on-all Brawls and Dogfights but the Pirate Code implies that the Fame of any Pirate entering into a fight during a Duel of Insults and thus interrupting it should fall through the drain…)
- Let us make a last note regarding the Retort: the Retorter may opt to use some or all of the words from the three unveiled cards on the table to make his or her Retort more punchy… Though it's no easy thing! The Retort still has to have a link with the initial Insault anyway but, of course, such a move shows elegance and virtuosity in the Art of Insulting and can be a decisive move in the current Duel.
"V" Cards
"A" Cards
"N" Cards
Duel Cards' Drawing
Evaluation of the result of the « Insault »
The winner of the Insault is determined by the Witnesses, based on the quality of the exchanged Insults and the respect of the rules of the Pirate Code. It goes also without saying that if not all the words are used or some of them are used in a wrong way by one of the Duellists, it can't help him or her performing well in the Duel!
It is proceeded with the vote at the simple majority following the method the Witnesses chose: secret ballot, hand(s)-raising or decibel-meter (inform the neighbours before in that case).
Once the winner designated, it is discussed if it is a short or a crushing verbal victory to determine a Level of « Spoiling », between 1 and 5; 1, 2 and 3 being the most frequently attributed values, 4 and 5 especially being for exceptional cases.
Hence, if there is still no need to refer to the section regarding all-on-all Brawls and Dogfights, the Pirat who won the Insault gets a Bonus equal to the Level of Spoiling for his or her next assault with the saber. His or her opponent gets even a Malus equal to the Level of Spoiling - one thus understand why Levels of Spoiling of 4 or 5 remain relatively rare: even blowing Insults cannot bring such an advantage, one really needs inspiration to achieve that and actually chop one's opponent finely with words! With such a Bonus and Malus, our two Duellists go on to a Passage of Arms, generally with the saber, less frequently with the foil or the sword. (But do not forget to check also the possible variations on Duels!)
The Passage of Arms and inflicted Shame
Each of the two opponents rolls a d20 under the Mastery Level of
(« Sabres and Other Blades + Aplomb ») modified by the Bonus or Malus based on the Level of Spoiling. There are then three main possible outputs with variations in case of Critical results:
- Both opponents succeed at their Roll; in that case, both Players reduce the Shame Level of their Character by one – i.e. they cross one Skull of the Shame Gauge. If one of the protagonist gets a Critical Success, the opponent loses directly one more Shame Level.
- Both opponents fail at their Roll; in that case, due to their poor performance at Fencing, both Pirates get ridiculed and each one of them thereby loses one Level of Shame from their Gauge. If one of the protagonist gets a Critical Failure, he or she loses directly one more Shame Level.
- Only one of the two opponents succeeds at his or her d20 Roll; in that case, the other one failed at the Passage of Arms and he or she is the only one to lose one Level of Shame. The Shame Gauge of the winner remains unchanged. If the winner of the Passage of Arms obtained a Critical Success, then the opponent immediately looses a second Level of Shame. If upon that the loser obtained a Critical Failure, he or she additionally loses one Level of Shame, cumulable with the others…
You'll have noted, Dear Friend Game Master, that in the worst case a Duellist may lose up to three Levels of Shame while the other loses noen: a true pounding, so to speak!
The end of the Duel… continued!
As long as the Shame Gauge of both opponents is not entirely consumed, the Duel gos on and one follows all the steps again from the « Insault ».
The Duel comes to an end when the Shame Gauge of one of the two opponents - or of both a fortiori – is entirely crossed: this is the point where no more Shame can be taken in a Duel. The loser gets ridiculed like he never did, his or her Fame Level could even go down, especially if it's a crushing defeat. Some points in Better-Off Ridiculed Than Hanged could be acquired, up to the Game Master. Upon that, the one who lost can only recover one Skull from his Shame Gauge, which means that he or she can theoretically immediately take up the next challenge but with a high risk of being defeated from the first coming Insault. The Shame Gauge can only be fully recovered after a good night, either spent at sleeping or at drinking to forget. Other options include an island round-about swimming et cetera ad nauseam…
The Shame Gage of the winner is immediatelly brought back to its level at the beginning of the Duel, which means that he or she can challenge anybody else to a Duel. He or she even benefits an additional level in the Shame Gauge, not cumulative, for the very next Duel if it happens in the same place… The Fame of the winner may increase, depending on circumstances and the Game Master's evaluation.
Upon that, the winner and the loser cannot enter in a new Duel against each other as long as they didn't get some sleep or smashed, especially if they do it together…
Last but not least, in some circumstances one of the opponents start the Duel with only a partially filled Shame Gauge, at Game Master's discretion. Let's quote a common example: nothing goes against it in the Pirate Code but a Pirate can always challenge opponents from the victorious side to a Duel after having lost a Boarding fight. It is however a case when the usual sailor says to himself: « Let's be very quiet now and maybe everything will be ok » or prefers swallow the Shame of the defeat in silence. In fact, Dear Friend Game Master, you should consider that all Characters suffering the defeat should have a Shame Gauge Level of at most one (1) until a « suitable » time has passed, particularly in front of the winners. « Suitable » is to be evaluated case by case but signifies at least some jours to a few days , sleep and hangovers being able to shorten the required time…
Tie fights and short victories
In the case when the Shame Gauge of both opponents becomes empty at the same time, one precisely counts the Shame Levels lost in the last Passage of Arms; since each loss can be higher than only one Skull, it may well be that, if it were possible, the actual Level of the Shame Gauge is as low as -1 or -2. The winner of the Duel is then the one with the least negative Shame Gauge. But that is slightly too short a victory to be fully convincing. If both Shame Gauges fall down to the same Level, the fight is drawn but nobody has won anything in the matter.
Whatever the final result of the Duel for posterity, and more concretely for the present witnesses, in the case the Shame Gauges of both reached 0 or less, the opponents have to recover as if they both lost the fight (see above). Even if a short victory remains a victory, nobody has won so clearly that he or she can think of boasting and indulge in a next Duel in good condition. A good night of sleep or / and alcohol will be necessary…
Variations
On some islands or in some circumstances - one cannot find a sabre but only rhum and absolutely wants to challenge another to a Duel! - the Pirate Code, well known for its flexibility, allows without any problem the use of other means for Duel; the most common alternatives are rhum and grog and even, if nothing else is to be found, mashmallow, barbapapa or orange juice…
In the most frequent case, the drinking down of any sorts of liquids replaces the Passage of Arms and the dice then rolls versus (« Parched Throat + Got a Nerve! »). For the remaining everything happens identically, without forgetting the potential effects of Alcohol on our Friends Pirates (especially if challenges are successively given or taken in a row)…
In the case of Grog as in the case of Alcohol, the specific rules for Grog - that particularly strippy-caustic beverage! - may not be forgotten, which in turn can of course influence the result of the Duel. But as for the rest, the rules for Duel remain the same and the Roll of the Passage of Arms is done versus (« Knock it Back (Grog) + Got a Nerve! »).