Gary Gygax created a view of what a role play game "should" be when TSR
published "Dungeons and Dragons" In 1973. We all know how D&D went on to
dominate the market in RPGs but I am not interested in that. What I am interested in is
how D&D set the standard for what ALL RPGs look like.
It seems like I can play ANY RPG, no matter what the rules are. The experience of play is essentially the same as D&D. We sit around in a circle. We say what our party is doing. We encounter "monster" and kill them in an orgy of dice rolling. Basically, just what was laid out 18 years ago. But it was not always the case.
I date the take off of D&D to the publication of "Traveller" in 1977. Because, to my knowledge that is the first time another RPG came out that pretty well-followed the D&D format. About that time other fantasy RPGs (too numerous to mention) also started to tow the line of D&D. In the window of time before the format was set in stone there was at least one experiment in how an RPG could be different. That game was GDW's "En Garde!" published in 1975.
Being In the Main a Game of the Life and Times of a Gentleman Adventurer and his Several Companions Front Cover of En Garde !
I bought my copy of En Garde In 1977, just as D&D was busting out all over the place. I fully expected this game to be just like what I was used to. In fact when I saw that it wasn't I was put off. "This isn't D&D! I've been gipped!" And it isn' t D&D.
En Garde "originally devised as a fencing 'system, with background added to provide scenarios for the duels. After a time, it became apparent that the background was more full than the duels, and En Garde, in its present form was born."
The first 4 pages of rules cover how to run duels (many ideas of which show up In other GDW games, like Trench Foot). The remaining 40 pages cover what happens between the duels.
First major difference from D&D: En Garde is not about. a group of adventurers running about holes in the ground. Instead, it looks at the LIFE of a gentleman as he tries to advance himself. Since the game is not group centered, En Garde does not create the sense of group togetherness that D&D fosters. The main function of play is advancing in "Social Level." This is done by scrambling about trying to get "Status Points" (gained by dueling, drinking, whoring or heaven forbid going to war).
Second major difference from D&D: Rather than sit around and "role play" every minute of the day (a tendency brought on by D&D's micro time scale dungeon crawls) En Garde allows players to do ONE action a week. Players have a short negotiation period to decide who will toady with whom, then a monthly schedule is written. The bulk of the rules concern what things a player can do and how they affect his status. For example (from page 8)...
April 1607:
Porthos:
- 1. Go to Hunter's with Falstaff
2. Practice with rapier
3. Join Royal Foot Regiment as Captain
4. Visit Bawdyhouse and carouse
Falstaff
- 1 . Go to Hunter's with Porthos
2. Visit Bawdyhouse and carouse
3. Visit Hunter's
4. visit Hunter's
D'Artagnan
- 1. Court Mistress number 4
2. ditto
3. ditto
4. Visit Bawdyhouse
The list of covered activities is relatively short and includes...
| ACTION | EFFECT |
|---|---|
| Conspicuouse Consumption | Spend more money on upkeep to get status "I say Porthos what a nice coat. Is it new?" |
| Visit Clubs | Being a member says you are of the right set. |
| Gamble | You gain status if you win, lose money if you lose |
| Carouse | "My Pothos you can hold your liquor!" |
| Female Companionship | Nuff said |
| Borrow Money | "Yes Shylock, 30% Interest sounds fair." |
| Toady with your betters | It looks good to be seen with important people |
| Visit Bawdyhouses | Nuff said |
| Duel | Gain status if you win die if you don't |
| Seek Government Positions | It looks good to be an officer in a good regiment |
| Practice with your sword | to raise your stats |
| Go to war | |
| Abuse the power of your Government Position | Falsely accuse a friend of crimes, or sell bad pork to the army |
Third major difference from D&D: En Garde does NOT per se need a game master. The rules define the effects on status of various actions well enough not to require a single controlling player. When a referee is used he functions as a central record keeper rather than world creator. For new referees this is very helpful.
The best preprogrammed part of the game is how it runs "The War." Every campaign season the army marches out to do battle with, well, whoever. It is really unimportant to the young social climber. Actions are fought and players have the opportunity to control part of their own fate. Each campaign, the player rolls to see if he survived, to see if he was mentioned in dispatches, gets promoted, and to get plunder. Depending on how bloody the battle was, these chances go up or down. The players can further modify them by Reckless Bravery, or Poltroonery (hiding). The truly lucky (or reckless) player can make war a fast track to the big league. But watch out, one wrong move and the Baron of Whosy Do could be history.
The sum total of En Garde's differences is that it gives a very different experience of play from D&D. The rules are mechanically clean and simple, thus minimizing friction. There is a fair amount of static when the rules are first read .- but I figured them out with not much work even though it was the first RPG I ever bought. Maybe the nicest part of En Garde is that it does not overload the referee (a problem which is the greatest weakness of RPGs).
The En Garde Experience does have a corollary in present games, that being Character Creation. As they say in the rules, En Garde is a fencing system that grew into what can be described as a scenario generator. And that is more fun than hacking and slashing. The next GDW RPG Traveller carried on this tradition and began a trend that made generating a character more and more difficult. The nagging feeling I got from ever greater character creation is how it moves more and more away from the Role Play experience of En Garde to the ROLL Play experience of Chart Law.
I have not seen En Garde on the market for many years now. It is like one of those funny unbelievable monsters from prehistory. But the fact is that it worked and. was fun. Covertly tt made its mark on the role play experience. It is a pity it has been so ignored.
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© Copyright 1990 by Chris Engle
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