"Napoleonic RPG's?" Topic

Are there any Napoleonic (or any horse-and-musket) RPG's out there? I've never played, but think a historical setting would be fun to role-play, especially with a few miniatures.

Look on boardgamegeek, there is an card game/RPG in development called Legion of Honor:

link

GURPS did a Nappy's sourcebook.

there was En Garde that was Musketeer oriented, but alas long
OOP.

En Garde that brings back memories we used to play that while watching football games on Sundays (that was back when the Pack was God awful)

There's Duty and Honour:

link

It seems designed to recreate the sort of feel of pulp Napoleonics, although I haven't tried it.

It probably wouldn't be too difficult to adapt one of the (many) generic RPGs to a Napoleonic setting. I would suggest you take a look at Risus:
www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm

En Garde! is still available.

engarde.co.uk/buy.html#Top

ooh, RPG = role playing games.

I thought Armand had found a photo conversion of a French grenadier holding a rocket launcher and had linked to it …

Hearts of Oak by Fantasy Games Unlimited is a set of rules for playing a British Napoleonic, or general Age of Sail naval officer.
It comes in the traditional 3 book boxed set format from the 80s.
Book one is a set of rules for naval battles, emphasizing sailing primarily.
Book 2 is more or less a sourcebook.
Book 3 is an RPG book.
There are also several scenario books that combine RPG with actual navalv battles resulting from the players' actions.

There is also an Age of Piracy RPG from GURPS called "Swashbuckler" that covers the same ground, and can be easily set in Napoleonic times.

The movie "The Duelists" is a good intro to Napoleonic RPG. "There are those who say that you never loved the
Emperor!"

If you want something more traditional try and get hold of Rolemaster and the At Rapiers Point and Piracy books. We ran a Napoleonic game using these with no trouble at all.

Thanks everyone for the tips! Legion of Honor looks like a heck of a lot of fun, though it's taking forever for Clash of Arms to put it out…

Duty and Honour, Hearts of Oak, Age of Piracy, and At Rapiers Point all look interesting… I've read some negative things about En Garde, so I'll probably avoid that.

Generic RPG's like Risus and Mini Six look like they would have a lot of potential – like I said, I've never played an RPG before, but as far as I understand most of the success depends on the GM dreaming up an interesting setting, NPC's, and scenario. I read about one of the first RPG scenarios – scouts entering a village with various agendas, etc – and it seems that something like Risus would be ideal!

There was another I just remembered, more pirate oriented,
called Crimson Cutlass. By Jack Rahm IIRC.

I would suggest using GURPS.

There is a free edition of GURPS 3rd Edition Lite, which is available here:

link

I point to this in order to use, without modifications, GURPS Age of Napoleon, which can be ordered though here:

link

Sometime in the future, SJG will have AoN available as a PDF, but right now you can still order a physical copy.

This is the only Napoleonic RPG I can think of at the moment. Although some folks whine about GURPS, the Lite versions are pretty enwbie friendly. And both the 3E and 4E versions of Lite are free.

I seem to remeber a game called Privateers and Gentlemen which I used to own. Beinmg as the naval rules therein were called Hearts of Oak it's likely that this is the same game as the OFM referes to above.

Use another set of initials. RPG gives me loose bowels and a tendancy to jump to the floor.

Use another set of initials. RPG gives me loose bowels and a tendancy to jump to the floor.

You played D&D 4th Edition too, eh?

No, all expense paid goverment vacation in a tropic climate.

Dint Arthur Harman or Paddy Griffith publish a Napoleonic RPG set in an OLD OLD OLD issue of Miniature Wargames. It included everything from his career path, promotion, getting drunk, battles, wounds, disease and gambling at home.. I distinctly remember on part where by drunk in your carriage home you are confronted by a burly man in a fur coat, who smells bad and is most unfriendly. You could choose to eject the working class brute or put with him, finding out its a bear (traveling dancing!) but there where lots of bits to it, from honour points to being a blackguard.

Hard Pounding was another set published in miniature wargames, players played the three or our officers in a single company, in line and had had to survive, lead their men or die heroically at Waterloo, despite French skirmishers, round shot, and lancers coming at them..

Definitely check out Duty & Honor for a ground based Napoleonic rpg, and Beat To Quarters for a naval based Napoleonic rpg. Both available at rpgnow.com, and well worth a look. Lots of support available at the company website too.

I'd love to find out about Arthur Harman's or Paddy Griffith pieces on the subject. Can back issues of miniatures wargames be got?

Does anyone know the MW issue that has the Harman or Griffith RPG article? I see that back issues are available on CD from WargamesFever.com

link

I would really like to track this down and get a copy.

Officers & Gentlemen was the title of my game of British officer careerism. You can download a pdf copy from the MatrixGamer yahoo group (where it was put without my permission, but I'm not complaining!).

I should point out, however, that it was more Military Monopoly than an RPG…

Hard Pounding was just an outline for a game, not a complete set of rules, IIRC. I regret I cannot remember exactly when/where it was published. I may – no promises – be able to locate a typescript copy in my physical files.

Arthur: Many thanks for the indicating where to find your rules for Officers & Gentlemen. I joined the group and downloaded the PDF. It looks quite interesting.

I'm always looking for unusual/non-traditional Napoleonic-era games.

I know I am late to the dance here, but Omnihedron Games has "Duty and Honour" per the description;

Inspired by the adventures of Richard Sharpe and Matthew Hervey, "Duty & Honour" is a role-playing game where you take the role of soldiers and officers in Wellington's army.

link

Billsfan, I'm not sure you can call it a vacation when you're dodging incoming fire…

And Oldbear, the 'dinosaur' in my gaming group says that 4e is more like the old whitebox days of kicking in the door, killing the monsters, and looting the room than anything he's played since the White Box.

Personally, I would take a look at Savage Worlds for Napoleonic roleplaying.

Incidentally, 'Hard Pounding' was published in Miniature Wargames #045.

Regards