That's good. It would have sucked if I'd ruined the LARP with bad design.
As for the issues with Jade, dueling, and picking out suitable Lords: The dueling mechanic can be abused to break the game. If they conspire, the players can set up a series of duels that reveal a number of the true-love pairings. There are a number of safeguards against that--one of which is the Duke's insistence that dueling is a bad thing under most circumstances. (Another is the Lords' Rule #1, which is that the Ladies never get to learn the dueling math.) This disproportionately screws over Jade, as you both undoubtedly noticed. The counterbalance is that Selle, of all the PCs, has substantially the easiest time picking out his true love. If he's smart, he'll catch on quick that he's supposed to be with Jade, and spend the entire evening trying to maneuver that into happening.
no subject
As for the issues with Jade, dueling, and picking out suitable Lords:
The dueling mechanic can be abused to break the game. If they conspire, the players can set up a series of duels that reveal a number of the true-love pairings. There are a number of safeguards against that--one of which is the Duke's insistence that dueling is a bad thing under most circumstances. (Another is the Lords' Rule #1, which is that the Ladies never get to learn the dueling math.)
This disproportionately screws over Jade, as you both undoubtedly noticed. The counterbalance is that Selle, of all the PCs, has substantially the easiest time picking out his true love. If he's smart, he'll catch on quick that he's supposed to be with Jade, and spend the entire evening trying to maneuver that into happening.