Chapter I: An Arrival in Paris

Death Before Dishonor! is a literary variant of the traditional pen-and-paper roleplaying game, in which each player assumes the role of a character (alternatively known as a "player character" or "PC"), who acts as a protagonist within the fiction of the game.

Who this character is, how they act, what they choose to do is the province of the player. The mechanical aspects of the character -- birth, abilities, skills and so on -- are the means by which that character interacts with the world.

This chapter explores these rules and how they are used by the referee to adjudicate the outcomes of a character's actions within the fiction. Since they all are preparatory for play, we felt it appropriate to style them "An Arrival in Paris".

This chapter is divided into three parts: How to Play, The Protagonist, and Timekeeping. The first part explains what the game is, how it works, and offers suggestions and examples for play. This includes What Kind of Game is This?, On Discretion, Joining Death Before Dishonor!, Orders & How to Write Them, and An Example of Play.

The final part, Timekeeping, explains how characters may act within the fiction by creating limits regarding the timing of actions within the game, laying out when certain fixed events occur, and offering a rough roadmap for how orders are structured. It is made of Turns & Actions, Campaign Calendar, and subsections for Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.