Hôtel de Sully

Figure 1: The Hôtel de Sully as it looks today.

In my most recent adventure write up one of the PCs had to enter the Paris mansion of the Duke de Sully in order to find and steal an old marriage contract. This is an actual location which still exists in Paris today. The floor plans, engravings, and modern photos provide a lot of detail for GMs to use. The ready availability and intrinsic suitability of these material is, I find, one of the advantageous of running a campaign in an historical fiction setting.

The Hôtel de Sully is a hôtel particulier, or private mansion, in the Louis XIII style. It is located in the Marais district at 62 rue Saint-Antoine. The Marais was a fashionable district where the rich and famous were building new residences. It was home to the Place Royale (now the Place de Vosges). This was a newly built set of luxury apartment buildings around a central park. Prior to his construction of the Palais Royale, Richelieu maintained an apartment in the Place Royale. The Duke chose to build his new Paris residence in this fashionable neighborhood to give access to the Place Royale and to L'Arsenal.

Figure 2: Hotel with entrance from the rue Saint Antoine. (North is towards the top.)

It looks to me like the building shown in Figure 1 is identical with the building depicted at the north end of the floor plan above. The coach gate on the south portion of the floor plan above faces the rue Saint Antoine which is south of the hôtel itself. The stables are in the lower right of Figure 2.

Figure 3 below shows a modern view of the coach gate.

Figure 3: Here's the view (looking north) from the rue Saint Antoine today.

Engraving of the elevation of the Garden side of the Hotel de Sully taken on line AB. (Line AB runs east to west.) The scale at the bottom is measured in toises. The old French toise was equal to six feet (toise means foot) and this measure is very close to the the old English or the American foot. 

As best that I can tell, this view is looking from the main garden towards the south and the building corresponds to the highlighted area below. (Note that I have rotated the plan so that left and right (or east and west) on the plan correspond to left and right on the engraving above. North is now at the bottom of this version of the floor plan.

Engraving of the view and profile of the Hotel de Sully, taken on line CD of the plan. (Line CD runs south to north.) Note the cutaway showing the staircase. Again the scale is measured in toises. 

My best estimate is that this is the west interior side of the courtyard corresponding to the highlighted area below. I believe the low wall on the left of the engraving corresponds to the west wall of the small, square garden shown in the floor plan.

Figure 4: A higher resolution scan of the floor plan and Garden as shown in Figure 2.

And here is the Wikipedia article on on the Hotel de Sully. Although in reality Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully didn't actually purchase the hotel until 1634, in my campaign I had him build the hotel and begin its construction prior to the historical construction period of 1625-1630. Just one more reason why my  campaign is historical fiction.

A Cool Picture and a Xmas Pirate Adventure Idea from Wine and Savages

I liked this picture. For more, check out the Comic Alliance "A True Tale of St. Nicolas" by Benito Cereno and Evan 'Doc' Shaner.

SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT

I think that gets my point across and I trust that makes my meaning clear for those of you that are running characters in my H+I Campaign stop reading now.

Now for the rest of you, go check out the Wine and Savages Annual Xmas Pirate Santa post. I didn't see it in time for Christmas, not even for Eastern Orthodox Christmas, but I may still be able to use it later, maybe when Christmas rolls around in the campaign calendar (it's August right now). The adventure idea looks wacky and fun, especially as a change of pace from the usual political schemes. I think it would work well for the one PC Pirate character: Hippolyte de Bouchard AKA the Foul Corsair.

The Novice: A Free Adventure for Honor+Intrigue

The Novice

This adventure is designed for Honor+Intrigue. It is based on an adventure of the same name that I ran in my Honor+Intrigue campaign. This is set in France in the year 1624, but with minor changes it could take place any time between the Middle Ages and the French Revolution or in any Catholic area in roughly the same time frame. With a bit more modification, the adventure could also be transferred to a fantasy setting provided it has monasteries or convents for seclusion.

The Assignment

One of more of the player characters are asked or ordered to escort a maiden to the Convent of the Blessed Heart which is located two days ride from their present location. She is to be safely conducted to the convent where she is to remain and become a novice.

The GM should select an appropriate friend, superior, or authority figure as the source of the assignment. The party maybe be doing this for a fee, as an exchange of favors, or because their superior commanded it.

While the maiden and her parents (François and Heloise Deville) were visiting the local capital, the maiden’s father either died or became incapacitated. As part of his will, last orders, or a dying request he expressed the desire for his daughter to enter the convent. The maiden’s mother is overwhelmed at the loss her husband and just wants her daughter kept away from “bad influences in the capital” and from people who “may have designs” on her innocent young daughter.

While the maiden, along with her mother and father, were visiting the capital city, the maiden was relentlessly pursued by Adrian Chenevier the Chevalier de Branville a very wealthy young nobleman of knightly rank. The Chevalier is well known in the capital and has a reputation as an infamous seducer of women. (Treat the Chevalier him as having the Flaw: Infamous.) To date, with the support or her father, the maiden has rebuffed his efforts. With her father’s death, the situation may change.

In fact the Chevalier, frustrated at being thwarted, has planned to take direct action. With the help of his sycophantic hangers-on with a band of hired bravos, he intends to carry the maiden off to a cozy little love nest that he has prepared for her seduction somewhere outside of the city.

The Maiden (Louise Deville)

The would-be novice is a young noblewoman who is pampered and unused to travel. She will want to stop to rest, wash, refresh herself, pray at every religious shrine along the way, and drink a restorative glass of fine wine at every likely looking inn. If accommodated, the trip will stretch out to 3 or even 4 days. In addition the maiden will complain about the rigors of travel (the dust, heat, cold, rain, mud, bumps in the road, bad food, the quality of any inns, etc.). If she is not allowed her frequent stops then her voice will become shrill and her complaints will come nonstop.

Inn Ambush

About lunch time on the second day, the party will reach a road side inn. It is a good place to rest the horses and get a bite to eat or to drink before continuing their journey to the Convent. A group of "bandits" are waiting at the inn to ambush the party and kidnap the girl. The “bandits” are Branville’s hangers-on aided by a band of hired bravos. The Chevalier Branville pluse a total of 1 Hangers-On and 3 Bravos for each PC will provide an easy to moderate challenge for a typical party of Heroes.

Hangers-On (Average Pawns)

Might -1         Flair 1             Courtier 2

Rapier 1d6-1 Dmg; +1 Parry

Quickcut+1 (2 attacks at half damage @)

Bravos (Average Pawns)

Daring 1         Melee 1          Ranged -1     Defense 1
Duelist 0

1d3 Protection (Buff coat)

Rapier 1d6 Dmg; +1 Parry

Fist 1d2 Dmg

Bladework+2, Brawling+1, Lunge+2

 

At this point the GM needs to determine what is really going on. Select from or roll on the following table.

If there is second romantic interest, roll 1d6 or select from the following table to determine who the second romantic interest is. 

A fight occurs. Depending on what is really going on, the fight may include 3 or even 4 sides. If there are more than 2 sides, the GM can decide or randomly roll to determine what order the sides arrive. In some cases Branville may even temporarily be on the same side or appear to be on the same side as the PCs. 

If the party soundly defeats all opponents, they may continue to the convent. If the party escapes from their attackers or if one of the attackers kidnaps the maiden, then a chase occurs. If there are more than 2 sides, a multi-sided chase may occur. 

The Chase

Whoever has the maiden must try to stay ahead of or outdistance their pursuers. Adding in obstacles will liven up the chase. Roll 1d6 or select from the list below.

One Final Twist

The final twist is optional. For some parties or groups it may overly complicate the adventure or move the conflict away from the usual swashbuckling action towards a less welcome and more litigious or scholarly venue. 

Branville has obtained an order from a friendly magistrate, appointing him guardian of Louise Deville due to her father’s death or incapacitation. The party must now decide whether to comply with the order, turning the maiden over to her pursuer or to ignore that order, for now, and deliver the maiden to the convent. In the latter case, perhaps the person who gave this assignment to the party may be able to handle any legal repercussions. Alternately, the GM could create a follow up adventure for the party to handle the legal repercussions.

 

ADRIAN CHENEVIER THE CHEVALIER DE BRANVILLE (VILLAIN)

Roleplaying: Branville is always polite and his etiquette is perfect. He has a mannerism or affectation of frequently slapping his gloves in his other hand for emphasis while saying, “Well, well.”

Background: Branville is a lesser noble and courtier.He usually travels with six foppishly sycophantic hangers-on who laugh at his jokes, take his part, sing his praises and otherwise support him.

Might 0,         Daring 1,          Savvy 1,          Flair 3*

Brawl -1,        Melee 3,           Ranged 0,        Defense 2

Courtier 2,      Don Juan 2,      Duelist 2,        Scholar 0

Lifeblood: 8    Composure 3   Advantage: 4   Fortune 6

Language: French (Native), Spanish (Basic)

Boons: Attractive, Dueling Style (Spanish),*Good Etiquette, Great Wealth;

Flaws: Bad Reputation, City Dweller

Spanish Dueling Style: Spend 1 FP for +2 Defense vs. melee attacks

    Rapier: 1d6 Dmg; Parry +1

    Cloak: NA; +1 Feint, Bind

    Main Gauche: 1d6-1 Dmg; +1 Bind, Disarm, Swordbreak

Maneuvers: Bladework+4, Quickcut (Bonus+6), Tag+6/+2; Feint+6, Footwork+4; Dodge, Cloak Parry+6, Parry+4[+5], Riposte+4; Ranged Attack+1.

(Underscored maneuvers have been mastered.)

 
 
EDIT: I forgot links to a file. I've included both MS-Word to make it easier for you to customize and a PDF.