Brigandine is a low-fantasy RPG drawing on the early wargame traditions.
Miniature wargames are a centuries-old tradition, enacting battles on a tabletop with miniature soldier figurines deployed strategically into combat. The hobby experienced a renaissance in the second half of the 20th century, with several gaming groups in the USA and UK developing new rules systems, tournaments, and conventions.
As these groups continued innovating, play began to focus more on just a few individual soldiers exploring castle ruins. With a resurgence in popularity of The Lord of the Rings at around the same time, the traditionally strictly-historical wargames began experimenting with more fantasy elements. The eventual result was the world's first table-top RPG, a game of fantasy adventure and dungeon-delving. Brigandine uses medieval wargame rules to emulate as nearly as possible the considerations of historical medieval combat. In particular choices of arms, armor, and battle tactics. It would be impractical to model every particular detail, but the goal is to draw out more of the considerations of real medieval melee combat. The assumed setting is a semi-historical late Medieval Europe during one of the many wars that tore across the continent. The world of the soldiers is mundane, even if it is full of superstition.
This does not mean there is no fantastical. Material from the fantasy supplements to medieval wargame rules has been incorporated and will show up during play. In the spirit of folkloric legends, the fantastical occurs only far from home, in another world beyond civilization. It is only in realms underground, or countries no man has entered, where magic and monsters will be found.
Each player controls one or many soldiers. These begin as simple fighting men, locked in one of the many wars that ravaged European civilization.
Each player is expected to control more than one soldier, chosen intelligently. As in a wargame, each soldier unit is worth some number of points, and the players have a budget for a total number of points with which to build their troops.
Collectively, the soldiers controlled by the players are termed the players' forces (PFs).
The character classes and their abilities derive from the soldier types of the medieval wargame rules.
Classes beyond the soldier types listed here may be discovered through play and exploration.
The referee is a special player, treated distinctly from the others. The other players are assumed to be working together, and to only control their own soldiers. The referee's role is to control every other aspect of the world, including any friendly or enemy characters the players might encounter.
The referee is not opposed to the other players. The referee is a neutral player adjudicating what occurs as the players interact with the world, with an eye to setting up rewarding challenges for the players in the game. These adjudications should be fair. The referee should reward good play, but also punish foolish or cautionless choices.
The enemy combatants controlled by the referee are termed the referee's forces (RFs).
The rules assume the players are acting cooperatively to defeat monsters or other enemies controlled by the referee. However, that departs some from the original wargame rules, which assumed the players fought each other.
If players prefer, they can instead play opposed, where they are attempting to defeat one another.
The referee will arrange a combat field (which could be an underground maze), and oversee all dice rolls. The total number of points for each player could also be increased above the usual to accomodate larger battles.
Prior to any other rule is Rule 0:
Whatever the referee says is the rule, is the rule.
This is true even when the referee contradicts these rules.
The referee's decisions may be petitioned, but never argued.
In so far as there is a core mechanic, it is that when a situation involves a possibility of failure with stakes for loss or success, then a die roll is called for. The roll may involve pools of dice, such as in skirmish combat, or only 2 dice, as in man-to-man melee. The dice used are normally d6, but depending on the roll may be a different shape.
Outside of combat, most checks will use opposed rolls against a target die. All character stats (ATK, AIM, DEF, IQ) are listed as dice, and the referee will call for a roll of the die corresponding to one of these stats. The referee will then roll a target dice, usually a d6, and the player's roll must beat the target die result. In opposed rolls, the smallest die must always be rolled first.
Some actions call for a skill roll. These are rolled on a to-hit matrix, requiring a certain number of hits to succeed.
Consistent with Rule 0, whatever the referee calls to be rolled is the proper roll.
There are often special exceptions to rules. A rule will not always list out every exception to it. Whenever rules seem to contradict, the more specific or more detailed overrules the more general.
When bonuses or penalties are to be applied, they should be applied to the stat to be rolled according to the dice chain:
d0-d1-d2-d3-d4-d5-d6-d7-d8-d10-d12-d14-d16-d20-d24-d30
A +1 bonus means move up one step in the dice chain. For example, if the usual die is a d6, to apply a +1 bonus, instead roll a d7. To apply a -1 penalty to a d6, instead roll a d5. If the usual die is a d8 and there is a +3 bonus, instead roll a d14.
The standard base die is the d6, which represents the ability of an average man. Many rolls exploring the dungeon will be opposed rolls against a target die, also usually chosen to be a d6.
Because the d6 is the base die, most die called for will with in the range d2-d10, so that the most important "funky" dice are d3, d5, and d7.
The dice d0,d1,d2,d3,d5,d7,d14,d16,d24,d30 are not as well beloved as their Platonic solid cousins. They can nevertheless be found for sale online from dice shops or other RPG suppliers. Below are some notes on these.
It is worth pointint out, the specification "d7" is not a literaly command to roll a seven-sided die. This is just one concrete method of generate a uniform random number from 1-7. Other methods, such as spinners, cards, chits in a bag, teetotems, computer RNG, plinko, or whatever else.
When rolling a d6, any natural roll of 6 is considered to "explode", and is then re-rolled. If the result is again 6, then the result is considered a 7 and re-rolled. If again a 6, considered an 8 and re-rolled. This continues until a number other than 6 is rolled. In this way, a d6 is still able to reach a result above the usual range.
This applies not only to d6, but any die in the dice chain, on a maximum roll (i.e. on a natural X on a dX).
For instance, a result of 5 on a d5 is re-rolled, and if 5 rolled again it is considered a 6 and re-rolled, and if 5 again considered a 7, etc.
Brigandine is based on rules for wargames originally played with miniature figurines. These figurines would be placed on elaborate battle maps featuring model trees, buildings, streams, hills.
This level of detail is not needed to play Brigandine --- though certainly invited!
Because players will be controlling multiple soldiers, and because things like marching order and formations are important, it is very useful to employ some sort of battlemap as a visual aid. This map could be the original sand tables with painted tin minis. More simply it could be hand-drawn paper and different beans, or could be a white board with "X"s scribbled where soldiers are standing.
Miniatures and a map are a play aid only. They show where soldiers are located, and relatively how far apart things are. It is not necessary to intricately track distances with rulers or grids, or measure out areas of effect. Distances on the battle map should be roughly proportional, but are otherwise whatever the referee says they are.
It is the responsibility of each player to move his soldiers. Wherever the soldier's figurine (loosely interpretted) has been placed, is where the soldier will be assumed to be located, for weal or for woe.
Maps and miniatures are never necessary, and if the players prefer, everything can be tracked in the imagination.