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jeffjerwin

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jeffjerwin last won the day on January 22 2019

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  • RPG Biography
    Once upon a time wrote for Enclosure #2. Semi-professional game writer for Paizo and a few other companies. Copyeditor for Goodman Games. Started gaming with my dad in the early 80s.
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    HeroQuest, Pathfinder
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    Monterey, CA
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    Single father, librarian, Elizabethan historian

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  1. Hi. I'm the author. Lands of Tristram was commissioned by Green Knight but they folded before they could publish or pay me for it. A copy leaked to the web but I had nothing to do with releasing it. Greg asked me to rewrite it for KAP and it's awaiting the 6th edition. It's substantially rewritten, with scenarios and integrated with the newer books.
  2. Crossbows were used for hunting as early as the 15th century, and the Queen's hunting parties were a deliberately conservative past-time. https://todsworkshop.com/products/15thc-hunting-crossbow Crossbows are very accurate. I'd make them a standard piece of hunting gear for men and women for the Grail and Downfall periods. Crossbows are not used by knights when in battle, but are definitely used by them when hunting.
  3. Note that women did use crossbows (and bows) while hunting, if you have lady characters. https://books.google.com/books?id=-FNAAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA107&lpg=RA1-PA107&dq=queen+elizabeth+I+crossbow+woodstock&source=bl&ots=R-8RTkRA50&sig=ACfU3U0Zcw3b_Mfb1N3DhXt5_iYcalVz0w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiii6jy3MfpAhWGrZ4KHauOC40Q6AEwDHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=queen elizabeth I crossbow woodstock&f=false
  4. I think 510 makes sense. You could start with the 'tourney' at London before Arthur draws the sword from the stone and the PCs could witness it as the first adventure. You can steal most of the story from Boorman's Excalibur and most of the players will get into the story right away. Have them help Arthur search for a sword for Sir Kay.
  5. That's true. Welsh genealogies have Llew (Loth) and Arawn (Nentres) as the brothers of Urien and thus sons of Cynfarch.
  6. If the name is from MS 3859 then he's direct descendant of Llew hen ap Gwydion... which would make his ancestors interlopers in the North, presumably claiming rule via a female line. In the Guiron cycle, Lot is illegitimate, and his legitimate sister is the Lady of Nohaut. He is descended from one of the followers of Joseph of Arimathea, Perron, in the Lancelot-Grail. I would make him at least 30 in 510 to give his insult against the 'beardless boy' some meaning. Uriens has adult bastard sons in 510 so he would have to be about 40 in 510 and since Lot was his superior and seeming elder it would look better if Lot was at least a handful of years older than him, maybe born in 465. So 468 isn't impossible... Edit: also, the Lady of Nohaut is no older than her 30s in 522 when she meets Lancelot, which implies that Cadlew as Lot's father should really be the warlord in 485.
  7. What's strange is that the original hundred in medieval Wiltshire was Chalke hundred. I wonder if Churchford derived from a messy piece of handwriting Chalkhill > Churchford could look pretty similar, particularly if scribbled in pencil.
  8. In the Downfall period mercenaries abound (in parallel to not only Mordred's use of them, but also the 15th century and 'bastard feudalism'). Now the Wasteland might have been one reason for this, and the rise of a cash economy, but are there sound mechanical reasons for it in KAP?
  9. Though I can't share more I have worked on this region. Here's something I can fairly tell you: If you are featuring Listeneise you may want to read the Estoire du Graal and the Queste, not just the abridged story given in Malory. Needless to say, the Grail Kingdom is not a peaceful place in the centuries and decades prior to Uther and Arthur's reign, starting with the death of King Lambor onwards. You may also want to read the commentaries on the Conte du Graal written by Pickens (Perceval and Gawain in Dark Mirrors) and Cazelles (The Unholy Grail). Chretien depicts a kingdom devastated by war and in simmering conflict with Logres. Think more of Border Reivers, the Anglo-Scottish wars, and the wasting of the North by William the Conqueror.
  10. AS a Cornish AND Welshman I am a master of all the fighting arts.
  11. As a Cornish person I must disagree. Our martial arts involve wrestling giants and ambushes out of hidden fogous.
  12. Possibly second marriage, of course. Keep in mind, however, that the likely original of Leodegran is Ogyfran Gawr, 'Jackdaw the Giant' and his daughter's name, Gwenhwyfar, in Welsh means 'Beautiful Phantom'. Guinevere and her father were originally fairies. An aged king with a magic table and a supernaturally beautiful daughter and heiress are fairy tale rationalizations of this.
  13. Could be. As I recall, however, Guiomar first appears as Leodegran's ally and vassal (along with his brother Sadoine) in the Estoire de Merlin. As a vassal of Cameliard he's more likely to be part of Leodegrance's line than his wife's, as Leodegrance presumably married outside his kingdom (like most medieval rulers). In some romances, however he's specified as the Queen (Guinevere)'s nephew. This is chronologically improbable in KAP as he's already a knight in 510. But it also suggests that he is related to Leodegrance in the mind of the author, as he would have to be Guinevere's sister (?)'s son.
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