The French Invade Texas
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The year is 1684 The world is in turmoil The French Invade Texas A (nearly) 24 hour Role Playing Game featuring the fateful expedition of Sieur de La Salle expediteur of the French Crown by Jaap de Goede The French Invade Texas, © 2009 Jaap de Goede – 1 - License Copyright (c) 2009 Jaap de Goede, Amersfoort, Netherlands Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License 3.0 or any later version published by Creative Commons. Those parts originally coming from the public domain, including the artwork, are still public domain. It is advised that the user checks whether copyright conditions hold up in his or her country before copying or distributing all or part of this work. A copy of the Creative Commons license can be found at: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode . This document was prepared on an Asus EEE PC using Open Office 3.0, and GIMP 2.1 Version 10-06-09 01:04:52 The French Invade Texas, © 2009 Jaap de Goede – 2 - Acknowledgements Most of the background of this game, the public domain artwork and some of it's historical texts are thankfully borrowed, transcribed and taken from Wikipedia. This author wishes to thank all those who have worked on this beautiful, extensive and monumental encyclopedic work and make so much knowledge available within a few keystrokes. Excellent information on La Salle's expedition is also to be found on http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/stlouis/lasalle.html Historians and archaeologists, thank you for your great work! Thanks to the mapmakers, painters and artists who made the original works, and thanks to those who scanned these works too. And thanks for releasing them 70 years after your death! Thanks too to my wife and daughters who put up with me during the 24-hour challenge. I hope I still have given much more quality time than I expected during the writing days. And last but not least thanks to the people at 1km1kt and the free role playing blog for posing this challenge. It has so far been an interesting exercise in staying focussed, and making the most of my vulnerable time in a day. During the writing hours I have The French Invade Texas, © 2009 Jaap de Goede – 3 - slept (not much), taken care of two daughters aged three and six, cooked, done household chores and even spent social time. I had not expected to be able to free almost 15 hours of writing and researching time. Oh yes, I'd also like to thank La Salle himself and all the people who put up with him during his wrecking quest into Texas, trying to find the Mississipi in the wrong place. Without him I could not have written an historic (little bit more than -) 24-hour rpg. So mr. La Salle, whoever and wherever you are now, thanks for the idiotic idea and pushing through. Not smart to lose so many lives of your people though. Disclaimer: This rpg was written in about 30 hours on June 8 and 9 of 2009. It was layed out in 5 hours, and before starting real writing I had spent part of an evening and a few hours in the morning surfing and reading on internet about this intriguing period of history I knew very little about. So, technically this is a 35 hour rpg or a 42 hour rpg depending on how you look at it. Enjoy, Jaap de Goede, Amersfoort, Netherlands, June 9 2009 The French Invade Texas, © 2009 Jaap de Goede – 4 - CONTENTS Front Page...................................................................................1 License........................................................................................2 Acknowledgements......................................................................3 Introduction................................................................................7 Playing the Game........................................................................9 Being Storyteller or Raconteur.............................................10 Rotating the Raconteur Role...............................................11 Game Rules...............................................................................12 How to Roll the Dice...........................................................12 Degrees of Difficulty............................................................13 Opposed Tasks and Combat.................................................15 Wounds and Death..............................................................16 Disease and Poison...............................................................17 If a character played by an Acteur dies.................................18 Creating a Character or Hero....................................................19 Expanding a Character or Hero...........................................20 Characteristics......................................................................21 Skills....................................................................................22 Role Playing.........................................................................24 Les Personages, the Heroes.......................................................26 René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle...............................26 Extra: De La Salle's Background.....................................28 The French Invade Texas, © 2009 Jaap de Goede – 5 - Les Compatriottes...............................................................31 THE SETTING........................................................................38 The Ships............................................................................41 THE ADVENTURE SEEDS...................................................44 Part One – An Unfortunate Start....................................44 Part Two – The Discovery of Texas......................................47 Karankawa.......................................................................50 Part Three – Building Fort St. Louis...................................52 Alonso de Leon...............................................................55 Juan Bautista Chapa .......................................................56 Coahuiltecan and Quems.................................................57 Part Four – The Texas Tribes...............................................59 Caddo or Tejas.................................................................61 Wichita or Jumano..........................................................62 Atakapa Cannibals...........................................................63 Part Five – The Silver Mines................................................64 Melchor Portocarrero, Conde de Galve............................66 Part Six – Mutiny................................................................67 Andrés de Pez y Malzarraga.............................................69 Tonkawa..........................................................................70 Aftermath..................................................................................71 Map of Mexico Bay...................................................................72 The French Invade Texas, © 2009 Jaap de Goede – 6 - The year is 1684 The world is in turmoil. The Christians fight amongst each other. The English are between civil wars. The Spanish King is insane and epileptic. The Spanish are at war with Everyone. And... The French Invade Texas This is a short role playing game based on historic fact. However unlikely that may seem. In it you will play Robert Cavalier de La Salle, famous explorer of the French crown, or one of his compatriots. Together you will sail to the new world, south of New France and Louisiana. Your mission is to plunder the Mexican silver mines of the Spanish. To settle in a new colony at the mouth of the Mississipi river. To free fifteen thousand native Americans from the Spanish and convert them to the French cause. And most importantly, you will invade Texas. The French Invade Texas, © 2009 Jaap de Goede – 7 - Imagine a world where the Pirates of the Caribbean are still kind of real. Where the Last of the Mohicans are not the last by far. Where Robinson Crusoe might have stranded in the wrong ocean. Where the legacy of the Aztecs is still alive. Where the United States of America is not even a distant idea. China may lie just behind California - or not. Maybe the world is round, maybe it is not. And imagine that you are an explorer in this world. A French explorer, ready to discover new land, new riches, new cultures, new adventures, new enemies, new challenges and a new life. The French Invade Texas, © 2009 Jaap de Goede – 8 - Playing the Game To play this game you will need at least two people, including yourself, although a game with four to six would be more fun. Also you'll require a couple of six-sided dice, pen and paper - good spirits and a rich imagination. Since you found this game you probably have all of these, so congratulations! Together you will recreate the stories of La Salle and his companions, and rewrite history while you play. Oh yes, having good food at hand is also a very good idea. Role player love originates in the stomach. One of the players will be the Storyteller, or "Raconteur". It means the same, but it's French, and sounds better. The Raconteur gives the outlines of the story, referees the game, and plays all the roles not filled in by the other players. As you are the one who picked up the booklet, you may well be the best choice for the task of Raconteur. The other players are all Actors, or "Acteurs". Again, that's the French word. The one best suited to play a leader (or the one who feels most like it) should