Once White Box had opened the door and role-playing became a growing hobby, there were several games offering a variety of role-play experiences. Gunslingers, spacemen, superheroes, post-apocalyptic mutants and with En Garde! swashbuckling musketeers. Released in 1975 and revised in 1977, En Garde! was one of the early alternatives to White Box and its imitators. It was also one of the games my friends and I turned to for a break from dungeon delving.
En Garde! is a different kind of role-play game from White Box on several levels. Built around a mechanic for fencing and swordplay, En Garde! adds character history and a mechanic allowing the player to make a number of life choices, roll dice and consult a table to see how the random whims of luck have affected the outcome. Game play as I recall (it's been some number of years ago) consisted of sitting around the table entertaining ourselves with the results from the tables and contriving stories about how exactly the outcomes described might have occurred for our characters. In other words, we treated En Garde! as a story telling engine prompting our imaginations to create stories about the fictional characters we played.
The 48 page journal sized booklet is divided into two parts, the first being rather detailed rules for fencing. Players choose routines which consist of a number of set-up, attack and recover moves. Once committed to, the routine could be aborted in order to make a hasty parry, but generally one had committed oneself. Comparison of the current moves of each combatant gave a result and woe to the swordsman who found himself in an awkward stance when his opponent launched a vicious lunge attack. part guessing game, part luck, I recall it was fun.
Part II of En Garde! gave the rules for character progression from birth to death in 17th Century France. Random tables determine social rank and wealth, whether one is accepted into the regiment one applies to, whether promotion and fame or death result from one's service. Along the way there are plenty of chances to go gambling, wenching and adventuring about Paris. Rise through the ranks, acquire a reputation as a swordsman, marry well and sire offspring, acquire a fortune and lose it through risky investment and lavish living. The choice of what to try is up to the players, the outcome is determined by a roll of the die. The details of how it came to pass are left to one's imagination and presumably to share one's thoughts on the matter with other players. No referee is really required.
En Garde!, Boot Hill, Gamma World and Traveler provided my gaming group the role-play alternatives we briefly sought on those days when White Box just wasn't exactly what we were in the mood for. The draw of Fantasy Role-Play is strong, however, and we always soon returned to our old favorite.
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