Recently, I had the opportunity to playtest Honor and Intrigue, a tabletop roleplaying game that draws inspiration from swashbuckling adventures like The Three Musketeers and The Princess Bride. As someone who's always been fascinated by both historical fiction and tabletop gaming, this was an exciting chance to combine these interests.

Honor and Intrigue uses a unique system that emphasizes both combat prowess and social interaction. The mechanics are designed to create dramatic duels and political intrigue, making every encounter meaningful whether you're crossing swords or crossing words.

The System

The the core mechanic involves rolling 2d6, adding your Attribute and Skill plus any additional Modifiers against DC 9. It's a refreshingly simple approach to taking action in the game, whether it's crossing swords or crossing words. Rolling 2 sixes causes an auto success (1/36) wheras two ones are an auto-fail. As you grow in abilities, this can actually start to become a bit restrictive, and it's actually recommended to shift to a 2d10 resolution mechanic to keep rolls from being a foregone conclusion.

Character Creation

Character creation is streamlined to facilitate swift immersion into swashbuckling adventures. Players allocate points to four core Qualities—Might, Daring, Savvy, and Flair—defining their character's physical and mental attributes. They then distribute points among Combat Abilities: Brawl, Melee, Ranged, and Defense, which determine their proficiency in various forms of combat. Instead of traditional skills, the game employs a Career system, where players select careers such as Noble, Duelist, or Poet, reflecting their character's background and expertise. This approach emphasizes narrative depth and versatility, allowing characters to perform a wide range of actions pertinent to their backgrounds. Additionally, players choose Boons and Flaws to further customize their characters, adding unique advantages and challenges that enrich role-playing opportunities. This method ensures that characters are both mechanically distinct and deeply integrated into the game's storytelling framework.

The Playtest Experience

Our playtest session was destined to be interesting as the scenario involved our group of ragtag pirates encountering a band of ninjas. That's right, we played pirates vs. ninjas. I'm not sharing who won the encounter, but the one-shot adventure was a fantastic balance of dueling, fighting, political intrigue, and even a smidge of romance. The system handled all aspects smoothly, creating a satisfying blend of social maneuvering and swashbuckling action.

What particularly stood out was how the game's mechanics supported the narrative. Every roll felt meaningful, and the success or failure of actions had clear consequences that drove the story forward, with the advantage system coming in clutch at significant moments.

Final Thoughts

Honor and Intrigue succeeds in capturing the feel of swashbuckling adventures while providing enough mechanical depth to keep players engaged. If you're a fan of historical fiction or just looking for a roleplaying game that balances social interaction with combat, this is definitely worth checking out.