Crimson Cutlass
A swashbuckling RPG using the ""Free-style""/""Quick & Dirty"" game system. The 1st edition was published in magazine format¸ while the 2nd edition as a boxed set of three 5""x8"" perfect-bound books. Action resolution uses a homemade Spanish tarot deck included with the boxed set. The system has 4 ""traits"" (Dashing¸ Cunning¸ Stout¸ and Lordly); four backgrounds (Soldier¸ Commoner¸ Aristocrat¸ and Noble); and various skills based on background (fencer¸ briber¸ goldsmith¸ equestrian¸ etc.). Books 2 and 3 cover scenario design¸ including extensive tables of randomized storylines and encounters. - A description from https://darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/encyclopedia/ with kind permission of John H. KimIn this game Rahm and Hilmer take their 'Free-style'/'Quick & Dirty' game system to it's maximum extent. Three 5'x8' perfect bound books¸ accompany a homemade tarot deck¸ in this boxed set published in the 1989 edition (original edition was published in '79). The box is decorated with colored line art of low quality¸ and conveys the swashbuckling subject matter of the game. The books are well bound¸ card stock covered¸ with the same line art of pirates burying treasure¸ and are identified one their covers only as 'Book One'¸ two and three. This three-book format is standard for Better Games. Book one contains all of the rules¸ book two provides for creating scenarios and three handles encounters. All of the interior art is sketch¸ line art of low to average quality¸ but appropriate to the general theme of the game.
The scope of the campaign possibilities extends way beyond pirates and musketeers. The rules extend into large-scale military engagements on land and sea.