I looked at Flashing Blades (1984) a while back — it’s one of only a handful of swashbuckling Musketeer RPGs out there (it’s basically this and En Garde! until 7th Sea showed up, I think, and 7th Sea sorta feels like a stretch). Parisian Adventures (1984) is, well, it’s right there in the name. In addition to the four scenarios, there are some expansions for Paris that probably should have been in the original box set — a selection of exotic items, a short guide to the city and a 20-entry rumor mill table that is essentially an array of further adventure seeds.
The adventures are short and sweet. One involves the mystery of a missing (kidnapped) fencing master. Unraveling the mystery is no difficult task, but seems satisfying — it ends up in the catacombs beneath a church. The second scenario involves recovering stolen secret documents from a theater. Of course, whichever faction the players belong to (say, the king’s musketeers) have to beat the other faction (the cardinal’s men) to the quarry. Backstage brawls and accidental participation on-stage are a given. I can see this one playing out in glorious Technicolor in my mind’s eye.
Scenario three is about foiling an assassination while participating in a marksmanship contest. That one is probably the weakest of the group. The final scenario is a farcical scavenger hunt for presents for the mistress of one of the player characters; the primary dangers are being pelted with cabbage or becoming intoxicated. Also easily envisioned on the big screen.
Oddly, the art credits for the whole book are given to the Bain Sidhe Studio, which seems to consist of four folks including someone named Matt Wagner. Surely, not that Matt Wagner? This is the earliest example I can recall of farming art duties out to a studio, which is kind of interesting. I like the interiors, but boy, the cover leaves a lot to be desired.
Nope, I take it back. It is that Matt Wagner, but he didn’t do any of the art here, at least that I can tell. It mostly seems to be Neil Vokes, Bill Cucinotta and Rich Rankin, all of whom have their own comic credits. Wild!
Flashing Blades is a cool game. I got it new, and my original D&D group pored over it together. This happened a good bit in those early years, where we’d get a new game and sit down for a session or two and dig in. We didn’t end up formally playing it, but it left a good impression and a lot of ideas we borrowed for D&D. Over the decades I picked up all the adventure-supplements for it. They aren’t numerous, and most I found gathering dust on book and game store shelves. The adventures in general are fun, which wasn’t often the case in strictly-historical RPGs (my opinion only; I know many would disagree). If I got the chance, I’d love to give it a proper whirl.
It’s easily the most playable of the FGU games I’ve checked out, with the lone exception maybe of V&V.
I love the interiors….I wish the cover didn’t look like old CGI. I realize it is not, but lordy.
It’s a bit yick
Did you ever cover the Aussie game Lace and Steel? A fantasy swashbuckler with a card based dueling system that doubled for social repartee as well (“cutting remarks!”)
Oh man, that sound pretty great, I will keep an eye pealed for it.