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  1. I used the same weight that was mentioned earlier in the thread. And based everything off of an equivalent division of the weight. It seemed to be a reasonable dimension for the dimensions mentioned (man-sized.) But, you're right. It should be factored as a volume based on the weight of the bronze in the bell. And the silver/gold price is probably better as a surface area calculation as well. As to the cost of the bronze I based it off of the cost of brass as I said since there's commercial price lists for brass pots. It's from the price list here which is a good reference, I think. http://medieval.ucdavis.edu/120D/Money.html As to the feasibility of the bell, it's not feasible. I thought we were idly speculating as to the weight of an obviously comical scene where Vikings were taken out by a bell obscenely large. Bells of this size are only find in the Asia were they are hung and hit or in Russia where they are mounted with a knocker. Most of western Europe would have used much smaller swinging bells which would only be a fraction of the size.
  2. I'd have to think it would be more or less casted as solid bronze then decorated with gold and silver during cooling. Which seems to be a relatively common 5ft x 5.5ft would be reasonable dimension for it, it seems. Which, should be roughly 100000 pounds, according to the numbers for the Tzar Bell, it would probably have about 400 pounds of decorated gold and silver. So, 400£ + the cost of the bronze. A brass cooking pot (bronze would be probably slightly less expensive then this, but I didn't have any good weights there) was worth 2 schillings in 1349. Assuming a relatively equal ratio between British Pound and a Pendragon Libra, then a Libra would be 20 schillings. I would guess the cooking pot would be 4-6 pounds, but we'll go on the low side to be safe. Based of this, you're looking at the bronze cost being roughly 25000 cooking pots (haha) or 1250 Libra Estimated total 1250 + 400 = 1650 Libra. Assuming the succeeded the first time or were able to recover their failure with no material loss. Probably very unlikely to succeed on the first try considering the state of metallurgy. Though it would definitely be possible to do.
  3. Didnt they decrease damage for many animals in KAP5? In Lordly Domains, the one with the appendix of different animals and sizes, most of them were significantly more dangerous than they are now especially the auroch. Anyways, I'm not too concerned if a bear should be a danger to a knight in armor. Honestly, a boar is probably a little too dangerous if you're wearing armor. You shouldn't be in danger fighting a bear in armor. But, it should be dangerous to face a bear in hunting leathers and with a spear. Currently though, even a 21yr rookie hunter with a 15 Spear has little reason to be afraid of a bear. Assuming a 14 SIZ, a 15 Horse skill, there's almost no concern, barring a critical, that you'll be knocked of your horse. Further, a greater skill and higher damage at a time means the knight, in his hunting clothes, will likely still out do the bear in damage. In reality though, I would say that kind of skill matchup should heavily favor the bear. That's why you'd have 2-3 men with you. Going 1v1 with a Bear should be an accomplishment for a veteran hunter, like going against a Boar is. Currently though, less intimidating than a Red Deer. Which, I guess I know of a Deer killing an emperor and can't think of a Bear doing the same, so maybe it's accurate?
  4. I find the 3d6 damage is low even with only the heavy garments as protection. I do like the Mail, but with a 13 skill, and such low damage, the bear is relatively lackluster. I think a better Bear would be 18 skill (same as Boar, or Bull Trample) then a Maul with 4d6 (1/2 of the real damage). That would be lower damage overall and help make a Bear one of the more intimidating natural beasts, which it is apparently supposed to be considering it has no modifier to Valorous. In addition, I go back and forth between giving the horseback bonus against the bear. What do you all do? I'm kind of inclined to say no horseback bonus since it's so large, but it has no weapon, so there probably should be a horseback bonus because of that and being only size 25. However, RAW the Bear would only have an 8 combat skill that way.
  5. @Morien I agree totally. X5 is about what I do. That way if you go on a hunt and a whole chase and you kill a bear at least everyone gets 12 Glory out of it. And if you do it by yourself, it should be worth more than a wimpy peasant. Which it isn't currently. At that point, then I'd consider reducing the cost for killing a bear with a bow. @Atgxtg Bears are wimpy. This has always struck me as odd considering boars and bulls are these brutal mankillers. Which, considering everything, isn't that unusual, but at least a bear should be able to hurt somebody. They're like glorified wolves. Which, actually, in my opinion are more dangerous because they usually are in multiples. Bears are barely more dangerous than a hart.
  6. I'm not sure I'd reduce the glory for animals on a hunt killed by ranged weapons. Morien is right, of course, according to the rules, but the glory for the natural beasts are already so small it seems pointless. I personally don't do reduce the glory to 10% unless the player does it against a higher value target. A bear gives 10 Glory so it hardly seems appropriate to act in a historically knightly mannner and still be given 0 Glory for the act especially since it's a hunt and not something truly glorious like a mythical beast or knight. I would possibly consider it because this is a quest, but not for the game itself. I already feel like the incentives to hunt are a plenty sparse glory-wise. I usually give out the whole number to each member of the party (5-15 Glory) I do like having some jerk sneer at them and giving an opportunity to make checks, but I would set it up as if some respected older knight gives the advice and then some upstart knight scoff at the lack of Glory from the act and the rest of the knights present just let it go.
  7. Well, on this subject, I'd like to see the Book of the Entourage get a print on demand option too if possible.
  8. I agree with @jeffjerwin here. It definitely fits well into the later periods to run around with a crossbow since their supposed to be the equivalent of the Renaissance. I'd even go a step further and say that the use of bows for certain hunting activities would be used in the earlier period. I'm thinking for the hunt of Harts and other members of the deer family. As to what to do with the knights non-existent ranged weapon skills, I've always let them roll 2d6. Or, I would let them default to 1/2 their DEX. For the hunt as squires though, their definitely supposed to take it on with spears and armor. This is more of a quest then anything. A bear can be a very dangerous opponent to an unarmored knight, let alone a squire. I really like and use the old hunting rules from the Lordly Domains book. It's got a good set of stat blocks in the back for animals, the falconing rules are enjoyable and more interesting, and there's some good details on hunting too. You can get it on drivethrurpg.com for $8.
  9. Totally agree. We roll up the traits with 3d6 which is, I think, the best way to do it. You always get really interesting characters that way. I like passing on Passions (Not all of them of course. Love for example doesn't get passed on), but with a random flair. I usually let the players choose too if a passion is passed on. Personally, I'd be hesitant to even give a bonus or anything to skills since those can get quite out of hand fast.
  10. I turn the passions into a number of D6s plus modifier to come in close but maybe a little under the father's. Example, 15 is 3d6+4, but 12 is 3d6+1. 16 is 4d6+1. For traits, we give some points pre-squiring and let them shape the children's traits towards the old characters notable traits. Usually just a few points. With religious traits, they're more than similar enough. I think Paladin has a mechanic for inheriting some skills. Someone else would know better. I haven't looked at my version in a few months.
  11. I'd start in 506. I think the Anarchy is really important for prepping the ground for Arthur and not making him into some sort of Mary Sue. It's going to be rough, but if you're thinking of doing 30 years of Pendragon, I'm sure you've got a good group who can handle dystopia.
  12. Morien really knows his stuff here, so I doubt it was released in English. For what it's worth, I haven't heard of it either.
  13. Thirded(?) If that matters. I had always presumed that even if Lot took over young that he had inherited a strong Lothian that was in a dominant if not the dominant position in the North.
  14. The gamemaster character document lists Lot as born in 467. Which seems fine to me. He clearly inherited his lands to some extent and expanded them himself. Which I think is where his comment about a beardless boy comes from. Not so much that Arthur is young, but that he's young and inexperienced and of an unknown birth unlike Lot himself who clearly wants the position. Or it could be a clear case of hypocrisy of age. A pretty common thing for people. I agree with Morien on the other Kings though. Make sure to introduce Uriens when you're there. That way he doesn't come across as such an unknown.
  15. I usually have them roll a courtly skill and roleplay off it and if they do particularly well there may be glory involved. Then we have a few interactions with the host and we're done.
  16. I really recommend it. Much like everyone else, we use the book rather sparingly. Probably more than many on the forum though. I'd say we usually have a feast nearly every other year sometimes more often. But not Everytime there's a feast. The glory is higher than for some events, but not higher than others and considering the amount of time is similar to running a short adventure or a few combats, I don't think it's overinflated. We have ran into problems with late game knights and higher glory. Once you have relatively high glory in your 40s or even late 30s you end up drawing so many cards that you frequently have mandatory cards either as host cards or true mandatory cards in your hand and that lessens some of the fun of the cards.
  17. We actually run abbreviated stats for a boatload of people. The Entourage of some people is full with assistants with one or two stats. We use the age for squires. Just so we can see if they capture a horse in battle mostly and so we know if they can be made knights. A good number of my players have spent their money setting up squires as knights. We've even gone as far as to give whole stat blocks to certain important characters (specifically 2-3 wives). To keep things fast though, we do the +1 to skill to 15 for entourage and default wives and then roll over after. For the abbreviated characters. The knights they have never really change. And the squires we really only update the age. Quite a few backup knights have forgotten about their squire, but that hardly matters. This is up to the player though. About half of the players do a full load out, but the other half only track wives (or stewards) and squires. There's a significant advantage and usually more story from a having your own supporting cast, but there's more work. Though some people like it. I know I do when I play.
  18. I agree with everything you say here in general, but if someone plays a squire, which is what I was talking about, I'm not going to make them do nothing. That's not cool or fun. Same for court situations. The scale just needs to be different. The squires need to be giving speeches to other squires.
  19. We've had people play squires made from the Book of Entourage rules. It's very dangerous. They've been mixed into the group and hopefully the player is ok with being treated like a squire, but that could be a good chance for trait checks. Anyways, squires in the party work well, they're just very fragile. I would roll a separate enemy for them in battle. Just so they don't get butchered, but the rest of the encounters are based on luck. Hopefully the player has sense enough to avoid as much conflict as they can. Presuming they live, they could be a really fantastic knight since they'll start with more glory and higher skills than a regular knight. Part of the risk of having your only heir die at 14 though!
  20. I found that the rates for mercenaries shown in the Savage Mountains for the Cambrian campaigns to be very reasonable. The cost for a knight is going to be much more, but those are solid, I think, for non-noble. I personally make knights more or less u purchasable as mercenaries, but they have sergeants who are listed at similar cost. I also give my players a small discount (5-10£) for paying for the three month (whole summer campaign season) costs. I also intend to introduce a scaling up of knight and soldier numbers in our campaign beginning in the conquest period until late in the period of the Wasteland. That way the lands produce more of the numbers we see in the battle size estimates. Then during the Wasteland, we'll drop the number back down to Uther's period. The remainder will become the mercenaries and the disenfranchised that join Mordred. Probably even some former PC knights. Which will be good for the story.
  21. I presented the information to my players and they came up with a pretty reasonable plan. Assuming the numbers based on the GPC and total troop numbers based off of that, the players decided to strike one brother in a blitz-like battle. Then deal with the others. Numbers we're still a problem, but with a little help from Salisbury and the friends they had made, plus the piles of loot they didn't know how to spend they were able to assemble a pretty decent force. I would say there's plenty of reasons for neighboring groups to lend soldiers to a presumable competent and veteran knights of moderate fame. Both Silchester and Salisbury benefit from a friendly Rydychan since both of them are on the front line with the Saxons and/or the Cornish. The players will almost certainly want to marry the Countess. I allowed it and didn't run into any problems. As long as you're willing to hand wave the need to run their county, (and why not? All of the other dukes, Kings, and counts in Arthur's time are busy adventuring year long). There are other solutions, but this seems to be the common one.
  22. @7dot62mm I've always been curious about the map folio, but considering I like making maps, it seemed like a waste. Are there any maps in there not shown in the books?
  23. I think a wiki would be a great idea, however, they're very burdensome and that burden almost always falls on the already bust GM. So, I've toyed with running one, but the initial setup time is usually immense. I have a 8+ year game of MSHRPG running on Obsidian portal with regular-ish updates and it's too much. I personally, have tons of paper files and run an Excel sheet with macros to automatically update ages, death, skills, and track a few other sortable things. I find having stuff in paper makes it easier to encourage the players to keep notes. I found a document for KAP, unofficial I believe, that is basically lined paper for people you may know and that helps them. Meanwhile every player has their own folder for characters, and the player's share folders for printouts and other group documentation(most maps, but I'm luck unlike most that I can print out enormous maps, 36x48in, and lay them on the table). I keep a journal of major plot events and ideas on a year to year basis and I keep folders for each segment of the game, battle, court, quest, general, tournament. I also keep a binder of custom NPCs that I've premade. And, honestly, I still consider this less onerous than starting a new wiki on Obsidian Portal. I will say, note taking of NPCs has to be done by your players somehow. Or they won't remember anyone. Give them the chance to invite their favorite NPCs to their events. That will help. When the time comes for a wedding, say, "Who do you want to invite" and stare blankly at them. If they need prompting, slide the blank NPC list to them after a few tense moments and a pencil. They'll start writing them down after. 😉 Edit: I forgot to respond about maps! I made a bunch of maps that I shared on the forum. You're free to use them however you want. I would appreciate, if you go wiki route or even just print them out, if you said, "These were made by Username(or a guy) on the BRP forums. Cool, right?" Hahaha
  24. I imagined it was more because he'd probably been married for at least a decade with 0 kids with his wife.
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