Iaijutsu Dueling

[Galadrin]

Hi, I came up with some basic rules for running an Iaijutsu Duel and thought I would share. Yes yes, I am aware that this form of dueling wasn't invented until at least 3 centuries after the Heian period, but just in case anyone wants to play Blossoms are Falling in the age of the katana... ::ducks::

Iaijutsu Duel
Iaijutsu is a very rigid, formal form of dueling. If dueling to the death, simply use the Fight! rules, except that both opponents start at lunging distance with sheathed katana. When dueling to first blood, use the following rules for iaijutsu dueling procedure.

The duel takes place over two exchanges and both duelists start at lunging distance with sheathed katana (no need for positioning tests at the start of the battle). A duelist may only script maintain positioning except for the volley in which he scripts a draw weapon maneuver (in which he must script a close positioning).

There are only three possible maneuvers a duelist can script in the duel. Before he scripts a draw weapon maneuver, he may only script avoid maneuvers. At any point, he may script a draw weapon maneuver. Directly after a draw weapon maneuver, the duelist must script a strike maneuver. After a strike maneuver, he must script "stand and drool", having made his attack and left himself over-extended.

The first duelist to land a hit wins the duel (first blood). Breaking the above procedure is considered to be dishonorable and invalidates the duel.

Tactics: Effectively, a duelist who strikes first will likely face an avoid, miss his target, and then easily get hit himself (since he will stand and drool after his attack, with his weapon extended beyond his target). The only advantage is that he does get the first chance to hit, and thus a chance to win before his opponent even makes an attack. Even an incidental hit is enough to win (or perhaps a mark, if "first blood" is taken literally). If you are striking first, attempting to strike while the opponent is drawing his weapon is best (drawing a weapon takes two actions, and makes for a pretty good window to land your strike).

Whadya think?

[Merritt Baggett]

So what happens if both duelists strike on the same round? Play for 2nd blood?

It seems ok, but if it were me, I'd probably just have both duelists make an opposed skill check, modified by whatever relevant FoRKs and traits there were and then let the winner of the check describe how he won (i.e. by striking quickly, or dodging and catching the other guy off balance or whatever).

But try it a few times both ways in your campaign and see what works.

[luke]

These rules are kind of neat (though they are, essentially a straight up variant of Fight! and not equivalent).

I think your suggestion can be combined with the above scripted version, Merritt. If simultaneously Striking, the test could be versus.

Though that does take some of the fun out of it!

[Galadrin]

Thanks for the comments! It is very much a straight up Fight! with a few "narrative" limitations. I love how Burning Wheel can capture complicated, nuanced combat without adding any special rules. Legend of the Five Rings 3e has pages of rules trying to accommodate iaijutsu dueling and those rules are boring and lifeless. Burning Wheel easily and faithfully handles this, is exciting, and never fails to impress me.

@Merritt, that is a good suggestion too. At first I figured I would handle it as you said, with a simple versus test. Then I realised the Fight! mechanics can capture the critical/cool aspects of the iaijutsu duel (the tense stand-off, the sudden strike, leaping inward while the target dodges to the side). It's also neat how you can better guess when an B3 Agility opponent will strike than a B5 Agility opponent (due to the number of actions a B5 has each exchange).

EDIT: Oh, and to answer your question, near-simultaneous strikes were probably as common as they are in modern kendo fencing. If both hit, you could probably make opposed agility rolls to see who landed the first hit, or simply go in order of greatest agility. As a side note, as a GM I would also allow bidding for initiative in the above dueling rules.