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{{work}}
{{quote|
It is invincibility--to strike with all and to be struck by none.
It is understanding--to ask questions and to know the answers.
It is peace--to walk without fear, to know that the end is in your own hands.
It is skill--to feel the elegance found in violence, and to know the beauty found in stillness.
It is Spirit--To gaze into the face of your God and to know him before he comes for you. }}
''The Riddle of Steel'' is a d10 tabletop role-playing game published in 2002 by the now defunct Driftwood Publishing. The system is set in a [[Low Fantasy]] equivalent of Earth called Weyrth and prides itself on historical accuracy and a realistic combat system.
The designer, Jake Norwood, was a senior Free Scholar in the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts and is the current president of the Historical European Martial Arts Alliance. As such, there is a corresponding increase in the level of historical accuracy when ''The Riddle of Steel'' is compared to other systems, such as ''[[Dungeons
It comprises four books:
# the ''Core Rulebook''
# ''Of Beasts and Men''
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A fifth book, ''Of Sorcery and the Fey'', was planned, but Driftwood Publishing went bust before it was published.
----
{{tropelist}}
* [[Anachronism Stew]]: Semi-averted. There are historical samples of each weapon in reality and they are limited to locations similar to those of Europe in the Dark Ages, but Renaissance era Europe coexists alongside the Roman Empire.
** With the Flower of Battle supplement, it is entirely possible to run ''[[Deadliest Warrior]]'' style duels between almost any two kinds of fighters from any period in history stretching back to Roman times and coming as far forward as the early 19th century.
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* [[Blade Lock]]: Winding and Binding, with specialization available to Western swords.
* [[Breakable Weapons]]: Optional rule for subpar equipment.
* [[Bow and Sword
* [[Cast
* [[The Combat Pragmatist]]: A very highly recommended character type for those who wish to maximize their survival time without twinking for ultra-high damage reduction (and is still damned effective a strategy for even those sorts).
* [[Cool Sword]]: Anything with Fine or Superlative craftsmanship. The Companion adds Weapons of Power, which are weapons that have Spiritual Attributes of their own.
* [[Dual
* [[Every Japanese Sword Is a Katana]]: Averted. The Flower of Battle notes that most combat was done with the wakizashi and that the katana was mostly used when one knew a battle was imminent.
* [[Groin Attack]]: Thrust to Zone X, or upward swing to Zone VI.
** [[Rule of Funny|Males take worse penalties from these attacks than females do.]]
* [[Guns
** Or if you have a really really awesome TN for the Read Body Language skill.
* [[Iaijutsu Practitioner]]: Available as a maneuver.
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** And is pretty much useless against any sort of armor better than leather. Its cutting attacks, however, are given the best possible TN one can roll against (5), and the attendant Kenjutsu proficiency has the terrifyingly awesome Evasive Attack maneuver. It generally balances out to being a reasonably solid weapon against anybody not wholly decked out scalp to soles in metal armor.
* [[Knife Fight]]: Always ends badly for the participants.
* [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me]]: Shields are very effective in this game, despite inflicting a not-insignificant penalty to one's movement and Combat Pool in the case of the larger types.
* [[Made of Iron]]: A high toughness score does exactly the same thing as armour. It is possible to stack 10 toughness and 8AV to render oneself nigh invincible.
* [[Made of Plasticine]]: With more average toughness and less heavily maxed out armor, however, a good solid hit WILL put your sorry ass down for the
* [[Master Swordsman]]: [[Shaped Like Itself|Masters]] in the various schools of combat.
* [[Multi Melee Master]]: Necessary for polearms.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tabletop Games]]
[[Category:The Riddle
[[Category:Tabletop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddle of Steel, The}}
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