Flashing Blades

[1] Flashing Blades was designed by Mark Pettigrew, and was published in 1984 by FGU with illustrations by Bill Cucinotta, Rich Rankin, Neil Vokes, and Matt Wagner.

"[5] In Issue 40 of the French games magazine Jeux & Stratégie, Michel Brassinne did not get a good first impression from the illustrations, "which do not convey the eventful and colorful atmosphere of swashbuckling films."

But once past that, Brassinne found "that we hold in our hands all the ingredients of an excellent role-playing game, which, moreover, has managed to find the humor and good nature of these famous films."

He did warn that "this game is not aimed at beginners due to the complexity of certain rules and the emphasis on playing the characters' roles in a 17th century setting.

Swan especially liked the Advantage and Secret possessed by each character, writing that these "steer adventures in unexpected directions, and also encourage the players to pursue their own agendas, often at the expense of their comrades."

Swan found the game mechanics "detailed but not overly complicated" and the combat system "flexible ... without the burden of endless computations."