Tizun Thane

On 1/1/2024 at 4:52 AM, AlHazred said:

The Adventure of the Strangers' Path, by Gareth Jones: This was the tournament Pendragon scenario from Convulsion '94. It's set sometime in the late 540s, and begins at King Arthur's Court, then goes into strange territory. It's an interesting scenario, based on the author's own interpretation of the Arthurian Grail drama. It's also, IMO, somewhat heavy-handed. It has some very evocative and extremely weird encounters, and definitely feels like something that could have dropped out of The Mabinogion or Perlesvaus. 12 pages long, very detailed.

So, I managed to read this nice tale, and I completely agree. Some nice stuff. Some weird stuff, and some weirder stuff. Not playable as written, but interesting ideas to steal for your own games.

3/10 (as written) 8/10.   

On 2/6/2024 at 5:13 AM, AlHazred said:

In Holdtölte #31 (June 1995), there's an adventure for Pendragon called "Apró szívesség" ("A Small Favor"). Looks like the author is signed Mordred...

I badly translated this adventure. Enough to understand what was going on.  It's a magical adventure, too much to my taste, a bit like a D&D Adventure.

Some old friend of your father have a big problem and asks for help. This adventure have a vampire (!), some faeries, and some demons.

I do not like the inclusion of a vampire in a Pendragon adventure, because I never felt the vampire have any place in Pendragon (coming from a different folklore). Demons should be rare and fearsome, not foes to fight.

Some nice ideas.

5/10 (7/10 if rewritten).

19 hours ago, Udy Kumra said:

• Grail Quest and Twilight: If for whatever reason you just want to experience the tragedy of the ending of Arthurian legend, you can start here. I don't think it's a great idea though lol.

 

Agree. Strange idea to start here. This eras are great to play, because you played the golden age of the reign of Arthur.

For the Conquest/Romance period, until there is new material from Chaosium, I highly recommend Knights Adventurous, because every lord, every army, is here. Great Source.

On 3/1/2024 at 11:59 AM, Morien said:

5. ROMANCE

To be honest, there is plenty of good stuff published during the third and 4e edition.

Blood and Lust, The Spectre King, Tales of Chivalry and Romance... Heck, even Tales of Magic and Miracles is useful.

14 hours ago, AlHazred said:

I've gotten 10 and 11, and "Spear of Wyrds" is a 2-part campaign outline for Pendragon, heavily dependent on the Saxon character generation system in issue 9. It looks like it's very different from what was eventually published in Saxons! and I'm curious to see it. I'll save a review of the scenario for when I have the character generation system in my hands.

Very promising, indeed! 

I used Book of Battles. It's a bit difficult to learn the system at first, but it's really good. 

On 12/27/2023 at 9:37 PM, SaxBasilisk said:

he pope asked if she and her companions would visit Monte Cassino to find why the construction of the monastery was slowed down. Upon arriving, the abbot Benedict said Mass before Sara and Gwefrfawr. Gwefrfawr noted a blurred inscription below the altar, and Benedict admitted that the site had formerly been a deserted temple of Apollo.

Good Idea! The monastery was built at the time, isn't it?

Many of my knights died, in their 20s, 30s, 40s.

Among the PKs who did manage to survive, they usually retire in their 40s, in order to play younger characters.

I remember distinctly 2 knights:

•  1 very unlucky character with the age rolls, becoming unplayable as a knight when he was 51 (Strength 5 or 4, it was pathetic).
• 1 very powerful knight, religious and chivalric knight (of course). He was a RTK and he absolutely refused to die, no matter what. With his glory, he managed to win against aging (better than L'Oréal!). He was the biggest badass grandfather character I ever see. At the end, he died at Camlann as a NPC, saving Arthur.

He had 8 living children whith his childhood sweetheart, 18 living grandchilden.  He finished with something like 50k Glory points. 

11 hours ago, rustleinthewoods said:

Can ordinary lances be made safe enough for tournaments, or should these always imply a jousting lance?

Ordinary lances are deadly. You always use jousting lances in tournament.

6 hours ago, SaxBasilisk said:

Merlin quite unsympathetic

Merlin is unsympathetic in the old texts, even from a medieval perspective.

To be honest, Merlin as the archidruid of Britain sounds fake to me. There is no such thing as an archidruid. I much prefer the son of the devil explanation.

Anyway, in the sources, Nimue and Viviane are the same character. The GPC decided to make them distinct characters (why not, but I always wonder why). So you have to draw a line somewhere.

In the battle cards, for the Lothian knights, They have Siz 17 and Str 16. So, they should have 6d6 DMG, not 5d6 as written.

For the bodyguards, they have Siz 16 and Str 12, so they should have 5d6 DMG, not 6d6 as written.

The Champion is worth only 50 Glory points. It's a bit low. Not sure if it's a mistake or not.

In a few years, probably. KAP is my favorite RPG. 

At the time, I didn't have the GPC, only the Boy King. So I really want to play from 480 (with the Book of Uther). 

I am much more confident now about my own take on arthurian mythos. So yes, I would change things here and there to spice up the new campaign and keep the campaign fresh.

I like the way you've combined the Great Hunt and the Gorboduc adventures, with your own campaign, into a coherent story. Well done!

Was Nidian killed by the mercenaries in green? Why? Who are they?

16 hours ago, SaxBasilisk said:

Rhian the younger did not look away from the violence.

Who is Rhian? What violence?

thank you all! It's indeed a bittersweet feeling.

I still want to continue the campaign, like forever, but at the same time, I know it's a good ending

I played the Battle of Camlann a few weeks ago and finished the GPC campaign. Even now, it's hard to believe.

My IRL campaign started almost 20 years ago. We'd played from 489 to 516, I think. I only had the Boy King's meagre guidelines at the time.

Then we started again 4 years ago. 520 to Camlann, with the children of the original characters.

The first campaign was set in Silchester with Duke Ulfius. In 510, during the battle of Bedegraine, a novice knight (named Morien, of course) killed King Lot in single combat after taking down his great banner. The player had made a series of monstrous dice rolls.

To reward him, King Arthur granted him the barony of Lambor, and the campaign was refocused there.

Playing all those years, the campaign gained incredible density, in terms of genealogies, sworn enemies, the consequences of minor acts performed years ago by your father biting you or rewarding you. An incredible role-playing experience.

Towards the end, I played Mordred's rise in a different way to that described in the GPC. As a man obsessed with Justice and purity, secretly ashamed of his bastardry. But a rational man, a statesman who had won the king's trust. A bit like Stannis, the One True King, for the ASOIAF fans.

When King Arthur, thanks to the actions of certain PKs, forgave the Queen and Lancelot, it was all too much for Mordred, who plotted a coup against this tyrant incapable of dispensing justice.

I had a PK who was in the commando charged with arresting Lancelot, and who survived to tell this bloody tale (!).

At the battle of Camlann, I had 3 PKs in Arthur's camp, and 3 PKs in Mordred's camp. There was a knight in Mordred's camp, and his wife, another PK, was in Arthur's camp.

Much bloodshed and tears later, they were all pretty much dead.

I'm proud of the journey I've made. I'm writing this little message, full of English mistakes, to tell you that it's possible to finish the campaign, and that it's incredible to see the GPC through to the end.

200 is RAW. I still use 50 glory points and use the old system, when vassal knights were more common.

It's always a bit weird when the map of the polish castle is written in french, and the map of the french city of Besançon is written in latin ^^

I wonder how the Turks take the polish fortress in 1672 ? By Surprise? With gunpowder? 

Anyway, does someone know what are the fortifications of Oxford in KAP ? Or in real life during the middle ages?

10 hours ago, SaxBasilisk said:

Sir Sara had indelicately tried to inquire after her husband Sir Marrok’s disappearance the year before

Nice.

10 hours ago, SaxBasilisk said:

Sir Gwef renewed her friendship with Sir Uffo. He complained that he was only inheriting Silchester, not his father’s old holding of the Vale.

Nice foreshadowing, again.

10 hours ago, SaxBasilisk said:

Sir Gwef asked if Merlin was primarily responsible for the May Babies.*

The Eagles told me the truth!

10 hours ago, SaxBasilisk said:

I would have liked to introduce Ywaine and Morffyd, Hector's twin children.

You mean Urien, not Hector, I guess ;)

Otherwise, I really like this year, and the way you handled Queen Margawse. Her alliance with the players looks very promising ! I really hope the PKs will find her lost son, and give peace to this bereaved lady ^^

17 hours ago, SaxBasilisk said:

This was an interesting session, to be sure. Most of us, save for one, openly rolls in the chat, so the players ended up having an incredible string of luck on the rolls. There was not a single round where the Battle Events table gave them a negative modifier, and they managed to maneuver through their encounters with giants and berserkers with ease. I promise I tried to do my duty to kill them properly, but they made it through.)

Lucky them! You used the battle rules in the Corebook, didn't you? They are nicer than the Book of Battles.

20 hours ago, SaxBasilisk said:

Agravaine and Mordred are (ahem) cousins to the King. They are also brothers to some of the most renowned knights in the land, including Gawaine, who serves as regent when Arthur is absent.

Nephews.

In my game, except a few NPC (Arthur, Guenever, Mordred, Lancelot) , everyone is fair game. The NPC can die, but the world is alive and bites back. If you kill Aggravaine (because he is a jerk?), the king will banish you, and Gawaine will kill you. 

In my campaign, king Lot was killed by a PK in 510. Morgan le Fay was killed in the 540s, and the knight was killed as well, ending the feud between them. 

If the title of property is lost, it could be hilarious.

Theoretically, Celyn's son first. The male branch has priority. (check Just)

In practice, it depends on the time period, who is in favour at Court, who is the most powerful, etc.

On 2/6/2023 at 3:32 PM, Darius West said:

For the Pagans it is the Cauldron of Bran.

The Revelation could be for pagan knights that Paganism will no die, but survive into the Catholicism. The Virgin Mary is "clearly" the "Great Goddess" of the Pagans, both Virgin and Mother. Different names, but the same Universal Truth underneath.

I found this explanation a bit crappy and new Age, but hey, it's in the Books.

I wonder a lot about that issue. My answer was:

play it like a big Christian Quest. They will fail, of course. They will be frustrated, of Course. Maybe they will convert. Maybe they will stick to their old faith. But the years of Old Gods are over. 

The Quest is simply not for them.

On 1/11/2023 at 12:10 AM, SaxBasilisk said:

to free the prisoner of the Castle of Chains, held fast in the tower. Castellan Bertolay, honoring hospitality, gave them welcome, but also told them they held no prisoner to release. Roderick made friends with the local Cameliard dissidents, but pretended to be drunk asleep when a visiting Eliavres sought to speak with him.

Sirs Harri and Sara, still suspicious, broke their oaths by prowling around after the household had gone to sleep and bribing their way past the tower guards. In the tower they found Queen Guenevere, who claimed to have been kept prisoner since her wedding night some years ago. She greeted Sir Sara fondly and expressed her gratitude

Very Interesting. The fake Guenever stotyline ^^ How did you handle the violation of hospitality?

On 12/13/2022 at 9:40 AM, Oleksandr said:

Another stupid idea i had was a group/clan of gewissi for players to rival with - with Cymri stats, Angles culture (using rules for hybrids), wotanistic version of "Odinism: Aegir",

I would make them Christians, with Angle Culture (so, a cruel view). They were probably christians at the beginning, and I do not see why they would convert to Odinism.