Hzark10

Also, depending on how you run things, brothers of PKs can be squires and be available immediately if they joint the group. Of course, they have to survive it...

Granted. I believe you are correct.

Traits and Passions are the meat of a knight. They can help or hurt your overall strength of character. One full of hate will be challenged to be Chivalrous, Hospitable, or Merciful. One who does not have Hatred in his/her heart, will have more opportunities to be Chivalrous. It is possible for one who has a true hate for Saxons, to be Chivalrous, but will be challenged in that almost every year as Saxons are one of the main enemies. It is also rare for a Saxon to ask for Mercy or surrender. There are plenty of opportunities for RPing here and that is a story unto itself.

Up to and including Badon, non-Berroc Saxons are hated. There are many reasons for this: Night of the Long Knives, taking of Cymri land, non-chivalric attitudes, and such. A Chivalric Knight is meant to be better, but not stupid. Quoting Fulk here. This is valid. Chivalry is meant to be extended to Ladies and other knights. You are supposed to be better. Not everyone accepts this view and it is one of the reasons for the eventual failure of the entire promise of Camelot, IMHO.

Granted, but sometimes I find myself taking the back seat... You raise good points, and that is why I always fall back to: YPMV.

Each to his own. I like to have the fullness of the campaign already ready to go, so my list would be different. Of course, Book of Sires would be at the top as it gives a much deeper background of the history and sweeping events than other publications. The fact that it has my name in it has nothing to do with it. Book of Uther for the same reason and gives much more info about Uther himself. Book of Knights and Ladies as it shows the differences between the various cultures and knights that come from them. GPC Book of Estate/Entourage as these help the PK develop their character as they are played. If you ask every gamemaster, they will have their own list, but I think it boils down to what your players like and want. Mine want full backgrounds and normally create their own, so that gives certain books more emphasis.

Yes, but do it once, and others will think twice about not paying, especially if the reason why is spread. Inflicting the more permanent types of damage also reduces the willingness to live there, a possible prelude to eventual occupation to take the land.

And the beauty of having a backstory already created when you first enter play. When I first saw the beginnings of the Previous History for KAP way, way back, I was hooked. In my of my campaigns, it was interesting to watch when players had some connections already established and they embellished those even more.

The standard PK history in KAP 5.2 has the chance to have both Hate (Irish) and Hate (Picts) which also may not come up that often. Part of the idea behind the Book of Sires was to give gamemasters the freedom to set their campaign anywhere in Logres. There is also enough info there to allow them to do so in the areas that go all the way to 484, such as Cumbria. Thanks for getting back on the Hate (Cumbrians) as I did not recall that off the top of my head and did not find it when I did a pass through it.

Yes, I chose those words specifically because most people would say, "Ok, granddad is gone, jump to dad's history." and not check for decisions that would be made. An example of this would be a move to Brittany because of Vortigern's policies. It is previous because from the PK's point of view, it is. However, the point is noted. If others agree, could be changed if spacing allows for it.

Also, what region did the knights come from?

Yes, I think you are catching on. As it stands, 5.2 the default is Cymri. Once you start using BoK&L or Book of Sires, then the additional ones open up. However, the meta-skills are only in the former.

Looks very nice. Since you have Spear Expertise listed, you may as well as put Cymri as the culture as they are the only ones who get this meta-skill.

Unfortunately, this was one of my sources that died on the internet. I ran across it once, took note that many were surprised by this claim, but then I could never find it again. As a result, I considered it not a reliable source and continued. I mentioned it as a possible source of YPMV if one wants to run a more robust Cornwall specific campaign. To conclude, Book of Sires established that Riothamus is NOT Arthur and dies.

If you get into the history of who the real King Arthur was, Riothamus is one of the names that many feel could have been the historical figure that King Arthur was based upon. During my research, I ran into one account that said he did not die in that battle in Europe, but did not return to Cornwall either. Instead he was discovered to be ruling a small kingdom in Europe years later. Regardless, he is NOT King Arthur and he dies, as most consider to the the truth, in that battle in Europe. "What-If's" can a basis for your own King Arthur campaign and game-masters/players should feel free to explore possibilities. In my own shorter campaigns, one of the PKs, a female, did manage to have an affair with Prince Madoc and did sire a male child. We ended the campaign at Baden, but the possibility of him pulling the sword was one of the questions that plague all of the players. "

There is plenty of options if you want to create a fresh perspective on the pre-Uther things. We tried to make sure all the major characters were included and if the GM is willing to use YPMV rule, players could find themselves involved in a very different campaign. Who says Constantin did not have a child on the way unknown to everyone when he was killed? There is nothing about his wife. Who says Riothamus dies when he goes off to Europe? Or Auerlius becomes Budec's legitimate heir and becomes King of Britanny instead and Uther is the one that invades in 466? Interesting ideas all around.

I quite agree. Vortimer actually succeeded in driving off the Saxons off Britain during his four battles. After the last one, Rowena visited Vortimer. What happens next I purposely left vague depending where you come from, but the end result was the Saxons came back to a peace conference which became known as the Night of Long Knives.

Yeah, you got it pretty well correct. Depending on which version of his history you are drawing from, he had some religious problems, but the moving of tribes early on were meant to stop the Irish who were the main enemy on the west side of Cambria. Hengest, as Vortigern's father-in-law would definitely have influence.

Congratulations on your ancestry. Vortigern, in Book of Sires, seems like the grand enemy. But, there is another side to him that I hope to eventually show. It was Hengest who betrayed Vortigern and the Cymri.

I would not necessarily change it to the lineage as you correctly point out, both Katigern and Vortimer, Vortigern's sons by his first wife, rebel against the father. Vortimer does so twice. So, Hate (Vortigern) would not transfer to Hate (Vorigern's family). Vortimer is actually made King of Logres for successfully throwing the Saxons out. One aspect of Book of Sires has, is the potential of being a "GPC" for campaigns starting in 439. In this case, this Passion would play out very much. But, as background, the gamemaster should decide on how to handle this and similar Passions where the object of the passion dies, or similarly is removed from the game.

Ah, but his son will turn up in a few years.... You could naturally let it die by lowering it one a year, make it non-inheritable as the object is long gone, transfer it to another person, or transform it into a directed trait: suspicious of the high king, or leave it as is. "Don't get grandpa started on Vortigern. We'll be here all night listening to it." Perhaps trait divided by 5, rounded up, for value. I did not purposely seek an answer to that question, but I did ask it. And I forgot about following up on it later.

Do you feel you, as a game-master, have a better handle on the PK's backgrounds, family, and passions? Just curious.

I would also have the option of a knight who has fallen, try to secure a horse as well. Squire roll, fight someone on a horse and take it from him, but agree he is not part of the eschille until he somehow rejoins it. If the unit stays in place, then the knight immediately can rejoin. Otherwise, it will take at least one round when the knight is fighting alone.

And, just out of curiosity as well, were the players (and you) enjoy the detailed descriptions of their background?

Page 7 of Book of Sires says both the grandfather and father gain Glory when they marry. If you want to be more energetic, you can even roll to find out where she comes from.