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Swashbuckling in old California


seneschal

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I'm running a Zorro-inspired Western campaign for my wife set in 1820s/'30s California.  At present, I'm planning to use Action! System for the game.  But has anyone run a similar campaign using BRP?  Colonial outposts, black powder weapons, sword fights, masked avengers, over-the-top derring-do?

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Never ran such a scenario and I envy you the experience! Don't forget to look up a bunch of swashbuckling taunts to add flavor!

"I've known wenches wield a butter knife with more skill, my soon to be dead friend!"

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Johnston McCulley's colonial setting for his Zorro novels was only semi-historical.  Early 18th Century California was in rapid transition from Spanish to Mexican rule, and from a mission-based culture to a feudalistic giant ranch culture.  The two co-existed for only about a decade, hence the time period for my campaign.  The Franciscans established their chain of coastal missions in good faith, genuinely wanting to help the Indians even if their methods were coercive to modern eyes.  Spanish/Mexican military leaders and settlers, however, viewed the missions as a convenient step to creating cities using Indian labor, ousted the friars and deprived the converts of their land.  The ranch lords, however, quickly found themselves in the same boat once the United States won ownership of California during the 1846 Mexican-American War.

 

Broader North American context -- Lewis and Clark were exploring the Louisiana Purchase and the U.S. was battling the British in the War of 1812 while the Franciscans were still establishing missions in California.  Zorro thwarted evil military commanders in the Spanish/Mexican colonies while folks in the U.S. were building canals and railroads, establishing new states, relocating the Cherokee and other tribes to what became Oklahoma, and arguing over slavery.

 

Meanwhile, in Europe Beethoven was writing symphonies and Napoleon was doing a pretty good job of taking over everything.

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What that means to you for role-playing purposes is that old California is a heady mix of devout friars and hard-working converts, soldiers and settlers, vaqueros (cowboys) and Indians, all-powerful aristocratic ranchers lording it over their impoverished mestizo and indio field hands.  There's constant revolution and political turmoil, with law and order enforced only by the local presidio (military fort).  Compared to the East Coast, California is a rather low-tech place, brute force labor making invention unnecessary.  Mexican troops rely on their aging single-shot muskets, which is why masked avengers can avoid their volleys and get away with so much flashy swordplay.  These soldiers tend to be poorly paid conscripts, mooks, who obey their brutal upper-class officers without question.  The people need heroes who will enforce justice and protect the poor against the powerful -- which is where the player-characters come in.

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It's a tough fit for BRP. The major challenge for something like that is that most people don't wear armor, so combat ends up a bit too deadly than it should be for the genre.

 

What would help is to do something like what was done in Flashing Blades (an RPG with more than a few similarities to BRP) where half the hits were minor wounds that only did about 2 points of damage (think minimum damage in BRP). 

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Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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It's a tough fit for BRP. The major challenge for something like that is that most people don't wear armor, so combat ends up a bit too deadly than it should be for the genre.

 

What would help is to do something like what was done in Flashing Blades (an RPG with more than a few similarities to BRP) where half the hits were minor wounds that only did about 2 points of damage (think minimum damage in BRP). 

It is true that Zorro is definitely pulp material.  In terms of combat, he outclasses everyone except the story arc's Big Bad, who doesn't get to confront him until the climactic duel.  The soldiers and other opponents are mooks, low skills and low hit points.  The problem in BRP is that a better combatant can still get nailed by a group of inferiors -- which is exactly the situation in the books and especially the films.  Zorro routinely dodges volleys of rifle shot, duels five troopers at once, etc.  The BRP rules wouldn't let him get away with it for long unless he is very lucky and/or very cautious (which, of course, he is).  Still, if you're a lone guy trying to escape from 20 or more people shooting at you, one of 'em is bound to get lucky sometime.  In fiction, Zorro, Batman, the Shadow, and James Bond get away with battling hordes of goons all the time.  But RPG characters don't have plot immunity.

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I'll second the Flashing Blades suggestion. It'd be a great system for this. Even so, numbers tell in Flashing Blades just like BRP. You need to be highly skilled to engage numerous opponents in that game.

 

For BRP (or Flashing Blades for that matter) you'll need some mook rules - especially for firearms. I'd suggest allowing the hero to Dodge firearms attacks. Bullets from mooks should only "crease" the hero for minimum damage. Maybe full damage if they get a Crit?

 

Overall this looks like a really fun game in a period mostly overlooked by RPGs. Let us know how things go. It'd be great to document some of your game session synopses here if you are so inclined.

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While watching episodes Disney's old Zorro TV show on Youtube last night I noticed something that might help the PCs.  Spansih/Mexican troops may have access to muskets at the barracks, but when they are patrolling the countryside they carry lances -- something not unusual for cavalry units of the period.  So the masked avenger's foes typically have 6-foot-long cavalry spears, sabers, and maybe a single-shot black powder pistol or two among them.  That's another reason why these mooks are less likely to mow PC heroes down with a wall of hot lead:  they're lancers, not British Redcoats.  If they can't skewer adventurers while on horseback or catch them with a lucky spear throw, the soldiers are forced to dismount and draw their sabers.  The player-characters are all fencing masters, naturally.  ;)

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I doubt that lancers of any description in the early 19th century or even a hundred years before actually threw the lances they carried. It was mostly a terror weapon as it out-reached the swords of the non lancers and thus was hoped to cause them to give way. Often the lancers in European or Eastern armies were used in the rout of an army when the fleeing troops could easily be brought down with a thrust in the back. As light cavalry they were often used in a scouting role and carried a carbine for use on foot or when on sentry duty. Swords varied but could either be a sabre or a straight-bladed sword that used the point.

 

The Lancers in California were almost a militia and patrolled in small groups armed with lance and shield, musket (.69 cal) a pair of pistols of the same bore, a dagger and a short sword similar to a European hunting sword.

 

http://www.militarymuseum.org/soldados.html

Nigel

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Thanks for the link to an interesting article.  The troopers in the TV show were better dressed but more poorly equipped than the ones in the piece.  If I were overburdened with duties and only paid once every five years, I might not be enthusiastic and energetic about hunting an elusive outlaw either.

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Here it is, the original Zorro novel in its entirely:

 

https://librivox.org/the-curse-of-capistrano-by-johnston-mcculley/

 

Johnston McCulley, a prolific pulp author, wrote 73 Zorro novels and short stories (as well as adventures about 12 other heroes).  Curse of Capistrano aka Mark of Zorro is the first and most readily available one, although there are omnibus volumes of the tales available on Amazon.com.

 

http://tinyurl.com/n4hutkf

 

The Zorro mythos was greatly expanded by comics, feature films, cartoons, TV shows, novels by other authors, and movie serials -- which had Zorro's son, grandson, son-in-law, and great-grandson (and maybe grand-nephew) picking up the mantle of their famous ancestor.  Unlike the Phantom, they never pretended to be the same guy as the original, and the costume varied a bit with each incarnation.  Foes ranged from run-of-the-mill gangsters to evil Aztec high priests to living idols.  Somehow, the bad guys never figured out the whole family secret legacy thing.

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If I were overburdened with duties and only paid once every five years, I might not be enthusiastic and energetic about hunting an elusive outlaw either.

I imagine that most of those soldiers have relatives being oppressed by the Alcalde and his minions. They're secretly rooting for Zorro! Maybe they should only hit him if they roll a fumble?

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It is true that Zorro is definitely pulp material.  In terms of combat, he outclasses everyone except the story arc's Big Bad, who doesn't get to confront him until the climactic duel.  The soldiers and other opponents are mooks, low skills and low hit points.  The problem in BRP is that a better combatant can still get nailed by a group of inferiors -- which is exactly the situation in the books and especially the films.  Zorro routinely dodges volleys of rifle shot, duels five troopers at once, etc.  The BRP rules wouldn't let him get away with it for long unless he is very lucky and/or very cautious (which, of course, he is).  Still, if you're a lone guy trying to escape from 20 or more people shooting at you, one of 'em is bound to get lucky sometime.  In fiction, Zorro, Batman, the Shadow, and James Bond get away with battling hordes of goons all the time.  But RPG characters don't have plot immunity.

 

 

Yeah. In the films, tv shows, etc. Zorro rarely gets injured, and when he does it is rarely very serious. But with the way BRP works, anyone who fights as much as he does will eventually get clipped jut from the laws of probabilities. And when that happens the injury has a very good chance of disabling the big Z.

 

 

It's not a question of relative skill and stat ratings. It's simply the inherent style of the game system. In BRP even someone with a skill score of 05% can get lucky and take down a better skilled opponent with one hit. It is what keeps the fights tense and dangerous, and is a big factor in the game and one that really differentiates it from RPGs like D&D, where level is so dominant. Normally amor mitgates this effect, but the lack of armor makes swashbuckling characters more vulnerable than those in a high fantasy setting.

 

 

 

 

The BRP method goes against the swashbuckling genre. Awhile back someone wanted to do something like this with Pendragon, and ran into the same problem - namely that in Pendragon much of the characters ability to continue fighting is due to his armor soaking up damage, thus turning serious blows into minor nicks or stopping them completely. 

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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With Legend, you could mimic this with a number of Heroic Abilities - Swirling Cape might give the opponent a reduction in their chance to hit, for example.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

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Aren't there already optional rules in BRP to mimic this? I thought there was a sidebar on using POW points for things like reducing damage or "downgrading" an opponent's attack. Maybe I am thinking of AA rules though... For a pulp game make the POW cost cheap to reduce damage to minimum or force mooks to re-roll to hit.

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Aren't there already optional rules in BRP to mimic this? I thought there was a sidebar on using POW points for things like reducing damage or "downgrading" an opponent's attack. Maybe I am thinking of AA rules though... For a pulp game make the POW cost cheap to reduce damage to minimum or force mooks to re-roll to hit.

There is. IIRC though its in the GMing section, and is essentially talking about using POW (characteristic?) as Hero Points. 

 

SDLeary

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Here's a rough, unofficial Zorro chronology based on novels and movies:

 

The Life and Times of Zorro

 

1795 -- Diego de la Vega, son of Alejandro and Regina de la Vega, is born in California.  

1804 -- In the United States, William Clarke and Merriweather Lewis begin their exploration of the recently purchased Louisiana Purchase. At least part of this land is claimed by New Spain.

1810 -- Mexican Revolution. Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla's revolt against the Spanish is crushed within a few months.  Hidalgo is captured and executed in 1817.

1812-1815 -- War of 1812 between United States and Great Britain

1815 -- Finishing his university studies in Barcelona, Spain, 20-year-old Diego de la Vega returns to New Spain to find all is not well at the hacienda (Curse of Capistrano, Mark of Zorro). By 1819 he invents El Zorro to defeat the evil military officer oppressing the countryside and to restore his family’s fortunes.

1821 -- Agustin de Iturbide leads a second, successful revolt against Spain. He then becomes emperor of the newly independent country but is deposed by rivals within 10 months. Mexico is plagued by political instability for the next 40 years.

1834 -- Secularization of the missions begins in California.  Church lands are taken over by private ranchers over a three-year period by order of the Governor.

1836 -- Homesteaders from the United States revolt in the province of Texas. Texas wins its independence from Mexico.

circa 1842 -- An aging Diego de la Vega trains bandit Alejandro Murrietta as the next Zorro. Murrietta marries de la Vega’s daughter, Elena (Mask of Zorro).

1845 -- Texas becomes one of the United States.

1846-48 -- Mexican-American War. Mexico loses about one-third of its territory to the United States.

1849 -- Maya Rebellion. Maya Indians living in the isolated Yucatan Peninsula murder criollos (Mexicans of European descent) and mestizos (Mexicans of mixed descent). The rebellion is put down by 1852 but Yucatan state remains in turmoil for decades.

1850 -- California becomes one of the United States. Zorro successor Alejandro Murrietta (now using his mentor’s surname) struggles to keep his family intact while unraveling a terrorist plot (Legend of Zorro).

1861 -- Benito Juarez become president of Mexico. The Civil War fractures the United States.

circa 1861 -- Cesar de la Vega, son of Diego, is sent to Spain for his education as his father was. Falsely accused of murder by a romantic rival, the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, he becomes the masked avenger Don Q to prove his innocence (Don Q, Son of Zorro).

circa 1862 -- Yaqui Indians revolt in California, inspired by the pronouncements of a living idol, Don del Oro. Zorro takes charge of a people’s militia to defeat the Indians and the gang of traitors behind the false god (Zorro's Fighting Legion).

1863 -- French invasion. Archduke Maximilian of Austria attempts to become emperor of Mexico.

1865 -- U.S. Civil War ends.

1867 -- Juarez defeats the French and returns to power. Maximilian is executed.

circa 1869 -- In the United States, Vega descendant Jeff Stewart returns home from the Civil War to find Box County in the control of corrupt politicians. He dons the mask of Zorro to put things right (Son of Zorro). Perhaps inspired by Stewart's example, cowboy Ken Mason, no family connection, also becomes Zorro to battle bad guys (Ghost of Zorro). It isn’t clear whether it was Stewart, Mason, or a direct member of the Vega family who occasionally teamed up with the Lone Ranger (Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Hour).

1877 -- Porfirio Diaz rules Mexico as dictator until 1911.

circa 1889 -- After her brother is murdered, Idaho Territory farm girl Barbara Meredith battles crooked businessmen opposed to statehood as The Black Whip, using a costume and methods apparently borrowed from Stewart and Mason (Zorro's Black Whip).

1890 -- Idaho becomes one of the United States.

1910 -- When President Diaz jails a political rival right before an election, a national revolt breaks out.  Diaz flees the country.  Rival generals battle for power until 1920.

1919 -- Pulp author Johnston McCulley spills the Vega family secret in his popular magazine serial, The Curse of Capistrano.  Johnston ultimately writes 65 novels about the bold caballero.  The last, The Mask of Zorro, is published in 1959.

1920 -- Having murdered all his rivals, Alvaro Obregon becomes president of Mexico.  To prevent further chaos, he organizes the Institutional Revolutionary party (the PRI), which controls Mexico to this day.

1937 -- James Vega adopts his great-grandfather's adventuring persona to battle the Marsden syndicate, which is trying to seize the California-Yucatan Railroad (Zorro Rides Again). Despite the fact that McCulley is still publishing his novels, the Marsden gang doesn't catch on. Vega's well-publicized exploits in New York City possibly influence young Bruce Wayne, who launches his career as a costumed avenger two years later.
 

2015 -- International motocross champion Diego de la Vega, 17, rushes home from Barcelona after learning that his father has been kidnapped only to discover that Pueblo Grande city officials have seized the family's assorted enterprises as well as the de la Vega estate.  Sneaking into the mansion, he stumbles upon a secret room containing five glass cases displaying Zorro costumes as well as journals written by their wearers.  De la Vega determines to become a sixth Zorro in order to rescue his father and expose the corrupt politicians responsible for his disappearance (Zorro: Generation Z).

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Holidays Zorro Might Have Celebrated

January 6, The Three Wise Men --  Instead of exchanging gifts on Christmas Day, Mexicans wait until January 6, when they remember the arrival of the three Wise Men at Joseph and Mary’s home to give gifts to Jesus, who was then a toddler.  In addition to gifts, Mexicans share a circular cake called Rosca de los Reyes (The Ring of the Wise Men).  The lucky family member gets the piece with a tiny porcelain doll, representing baby Jesus, baked inside.

January 17, Day of Saint Anthony the Abbott -- The saint loved animals and children.  On this day, Mexican children clean, groom, and even dress up their pets, then line up at the church so the priest can bless their animals.  No pet, goldfish to burro, is too small or too large to be prayed for.

Easter -- Mexicans don’t exchange eggs or chocolate candy for Easter.  Instead, they dance and hold feasts.  Traditionally, Judas Iscariot is burned in effigy, but so are hated politicians.  This may have been a problem for Zorro foes such as Captain Monastario and Luis Quintero.

September 16, Independence Day --  Celebrating Mexico’s 1821 separation from Spain.  Since Mexico has had multiple revolutions, there are multiple holidays celebrating them.  Diego de la Vega would not have celebrated Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates Benito Juarez’s 1862 victory over the French invaders, but Cesar and James Vega might have.

November 1 and 2, Day of the Dead -- Instead of celebrating Halloween, Mexicans hold picnics at the graveyard to honor their ancestors and remember their deceased loved ones.  Alejandro de la Vega, a staunch Spanish Catholic, and the friars of the San Gabriel Mission would have discouraged this vestige of pagan ancestor worship, but Zorro’s mother and grandmother, both Shoshone Indians, may have quietly observed such remembrances when no one was looking.

December 12, Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe -- This is the biggest Mexican holiday of the year.  Shortly after the Spanish conquest, an Indian covert to Christianity saw a vision of the Virgin Mary near the city of Guadalupe.  Mexicans flock to her shrine in Mexico City during the day, then celebrate with dazzling fireworks that night.

December 16-25, Christmas -- In Mexico, the Christmas celebration lasts a whole week and features daily nativity plays, called posada.  After each play, children attempt to break a candy-filled pinata.

Mexican Racial Mix

Criollos

Mexicans of pure Spanish (or other European) descent.  A tiny minority, they are the most wealthy and powerful members of the community, both in Zorro’s day and in the 21st Century.  They tend to be politicians, landowners of huge tracts, the masters of large businesses.

Mestizos

People of mixed Spanish and Indian heritage.  They make up the vast majority of the population, 70 percent or more.  They range in class from the poor to middle class, but don’t enjoy the aristocratic prestige of the Criollos.

Mulattos

Descendants of African slaves imported from the Caribbean to work the plantations.  They intermarried freely with the general population.  Another small minority.

Indios

Native Americans representing 50 culture groups.

The Paseo

Each Sunday evening, unmarried men and women age 15 and older gather in the plaza in the center of the village.  The girls walk in a large circle clockwise while the boys walk counter-clockwise.  If a boy wants to get to know a girl better, he asks her to walk with him.  If a couple holds hands, they are officially notifying the village that they are in love.

Turning 15 is a big deal for Mexican girls.  At that age, they officially become senoritas (aka as quinceaneras), or young women, and are granted more privileges and privacy.  A girl’s 15th birthday may be heralded by musicians serenading her outside her window.

Praying for rain

Rainy season May to September; maize requires lots of water.  If farmers don’t get sufficient moisture by June or July, they bring statues of Roman Catholic saints out into the fields and pray for rain.  Some indios may pray to Tlaloc, Aztec god of rain and fertility.  If they don’t get rain, search souls to see what may have done to deserve such punishment.

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