Combat & Duelling

Duelling is an important way of defending your honour, for all Gentlemen (except for those of the Aerial Corps, to whom it is forbidden). In addition, members of the armed forces are trained in a variety of combat styles to use against Enemies of the Crown.

Choose Your Weapons
Fisticuffs
Unarmed blows must be light taps from an open palm- no thumping, grappling, kicking, head-butting, biting, scratching, groping... Unarmed attacks from humans do no damage.
On the other hand, some non-human creatures, such as dragons, have talons. These creatures normally have far greater strength than a human. As such, talons automatically count as being accompanied by a shout of “Take That!” (see below).

Swords (& rapiers)
Swords must be padded foam LARP-safe weapons, and may be rapiers or sabres. No thrusts or headshots are allowed. All blows must be pulled- if someone says you are hitting too hard, you are. You must not hit people’s heads, hands or groins. Swords remove one hit point if a blow is landed, unless accompanied by a cry of “Take That!”

Pistols (& Rifles)
Pistols and rifles can be made of foam, or be cap-guns. They are fired by pointing at someone and shouting “BANG” (or using a cap). They automatically hit the target they are aimed at, and remove one hit point unless accompanied by a cry of “Take That!” They must be reloaded before they can be fired again; this takes at least 10 seconds of roleplay.

“Take that, you cur!” “Missed, you fool!”
Some Characters have extra abilities in fights. See the “Merits” section below.
Take That!
Characters who are experienced duellists know all manner of killing blows and thrusts. If they cry “Take That!” when landing a blow, the blow takes 3 hit points off the opponent.
Missed!
Some characters are particularly fast, or just plain lucky. When a blow hits them, they may shout “Missed!” The blow then does no damage, or only superficial damage.

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Masquerades & Massacres (Jane Austen's Aliens): Organiser
Maelstrom: Papa Abgal (The Rum Fairy of Doom, High Exarch of Entertainment)
Serenity: Xavier Yu Ji ('Pointy Hat Man')
White City: Too Many Characters To Mention!
Dark Ages Society: Godfrid Swine-Herd (Scummy Saxon), Hauk Ragnarsson (Rus Viking Flashman)

Collapse
Anyone who Collapses is unable to fight, they are bleeding and need medical attention. They drop to the floor, may not fight, may crawl to safety and may croak for aid. If they are not visited by a Healer, Doctor or Surgeon within 5 minutes, or if they are attacked whilst they are collapsed, they will die.

Healing, Surgery & Medicine
These are specialisations of the Education merit. Characters with one rank in Education may choose to specialise in Herb Lore, Biology or a similar area that could be useful for healing (making them a Healer); those with two ranks may choose to specialise in Surgery (making them a Surgeon) or Medicine (making them a Doctor).
• Healers, Surgeons and Doctors may all Heal anyone who is injured (NOT Collapsed). After being treated for 1 minute, the patient will recover one hit point. This can be done for multiple minutes, until the patient is back to their maximum hit points. 
• Doctors and Healers (but not Surgeons) may treat people for colds, flus, infections, and so on. This will require the presence of a ref.
• Healers, Surgeons and Doctors may all try Surgery on Collapsed characters. They will be given a bag of buttons (surgeons get a better composition than doctors, who get a better composition than Healers). They must roleplay treating the patient for a minute, and then draw a button to make a diagnosis. The button is then returned to the bag.
o Black: dead.
o Red: serious injury. The patient wakes up on one hit point, and may be healed further. However they loose one hit point from their maximum (as if they had the “Weak” Flaw). If this means they have a maximum of 0 hit points, they are dead.
o Green: minor injury. The patient wakes up on one hit point, and may be healed further.
o White: uncertain. The healer bandages wounds and stabilises the patient, but cannot work out precisely what is wrong with them. The patient is still on 0 hit points and may not walk or fight, but they're not bleeding to death any more. They must get medical attention from a second person with the Educated merit if they want to get hit points returned.

Death
There are several ways to die in this system. You may die from being attacked whilst collapsed, from not receiving medical treatment after collapsing, or from an accident during surgery. Any dead PCs should report to the Out Of Character area and notify a ref. The refs will make every effort to provide suitable NPC roles for players of dead PCs, if they want them.

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Masquerades & Massacres (Jane Austen's Aliens): Organiser
Maelstrom: Papa Abgal (The Rum Fairy of Doom, High Exarch of Entertainment)
Serenity: Xavier Yu Ji ('Pointy Hat Man')
White City: Too Many Characters To Mention!
Dark Ages Society: Godfrid Swine-Herd (Scummy Saxon), Hauk Ragnarsson (Rus Viking Flashman)

If you were wearing an eyepatch, I'd expect you to be careful. Aware of the fact you had no depth perception, etc. I'd be fine with you choosing to not wear it during combat situations for safety's sake. I'd also be fine with you continuing to wear it even in combat, so long as it wasn't obviously making you unsafe.

---------------
Masquerades & Massacres (Jane Austen's Aliens): Organiser
Maelstrom: Papa Abgal (The Rum Fairy of Doom, High Exarch of Entertainment)
Serenity: Xavier Yu Ji ('Pointy Hat Man')
White City: Too Many Characters To Mention!
Dark Ages Society: Godfrid Swine-Herd (Scummy Saxon), Hauk Ragnarsson (Rus Viking Flashman)