István the 2nd Level Hungarian Soldier.
Helvéczia by Gabor Lux, is a picaresque fantasy role-playing game. What is picaresque? A blurb from the back of the book:
A re-imagination of old-school fantasy role-playing in a late 17th century Switzerland that never was, Helvéczia is a fast-paced and colourful game of guns, dames, deviltry and steel, based on swashbuckling tales, penny dreadfuls, local legends, and the strange stories of the Brothers Grimm.
There's no way to digest this game so quickly, but I did make a character...
Starting with stats, I rolled using the recommended method of 4d6 drop the lowest, just one set, you're allowed to roll two sets and choose the better:
Strength: 17 (+2)
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 12 (+1)
Intelligence: 11
Wisdom: 17 (+2)
Charisma: 10
Strong and wise.
Being a soldier (subclass of fighter) he gets a +1 to combat and the ability to carry over damage if his attack reduces someone to 0 hit points.
Melee Total: +7 (fighter, strength, soldier, Hungarian)
Ranged Total: +3
There are three saves: Bravery, Deftness, and Temptation. Bravery is his prime, the other two are secondary.
Bravery: +4 (con)
Deftness: +1 (dex)
Temptation: +3 (wis)
Hit Points: 20 (2d10 + con/ max 10 at 1st level)
Initiative: 0
Armor Class: 15(17 in Melee -- Hungarian) -- Cuirass. I put this poor guy into debt twice just so he could have a cuirass! Who does he owe? The Rotschilds? The Lehmanns? Goldmann-Sachs? Those names sound familiar?
I made him Hungarian as a tribute to the author. This gives him some combat bonuses but also some ill fate, -2 to a random save each adventure.
Virtue: 11 (middle of the road, which way will István go?)
Skills: I chose Climb, Ride, and Medicine. They are soldierly.
Climb: +4
Ride: +2
Medicine: +4
A halberd for a weapon: 1d10+2 damage, critical: x3
Money Left: 3 Gold Thalor
And there you have it. István, the 2nd level Hungarian Soldier, in debt, off to adventure in the Switzerland that never was. Probably tired of the Ottomans.
A few days ago, after being gone from my house all day, I returned to find an upright package on my porch leaning against the siding.
It had been raining ALL DAY.
It was one of the books I've been waiting on, but my heart sank, as in my gut I knew that it was Helvéczia! All thoughts exited my head as I quickly entered my domain to check the damage, for I have had a poorly packaged book, by a well known author, completely and utterly destroyed by rain before. It was promptly replaced by a better packaged one, and that creator will remain anonymous as I'm not trying to embarrass anyone.
This package was soaked!!!!!
Miraculously, Helvéczia survived unscathed. What a relief!!! My mind was blown at my fortune!
And then it was blown again by the contents of the game. Just check out this spread...
Well done, Gabor, well done.
BTW you can purchase Helvéczia here: https://emdt.bigcartel.com/
